We are drawing closer to a clearer picture around the future of the FAI with a number of the reports into Governance having the finishing touches applied and a meeting of the FAI senior Council taking place this Friday to be followed by a press conference at Abbottstown.
There is no clear indication of whether the Council will have had an opportunity to study any of the reports or what they are likely to discuss but as the evenings grow shorter the clock is ticking faster towards a clearer picture emerging of just what exactly was happening at the Association over recent years.
There was further news yesterday on the ODCE investigation where the FAI, on foot of external legal advice, is seeking to claim privilege over two particular documents.
In a short statement issued yesterday we learned that “To date, the FAI has produced tens of thousands of documents to the ODCE, including 40,000 in a production three weeks ago.”
“Privilege was not sought over any of those 40,000 documents,” continued the statement.
“A previous privilege request regarding 14 passages, contained in a total of 16 documents, was upheld by the High Court earlier this year.”
“To date, the FAI has sought privilege on 16 documents in total from the tens of thousands submitted to the ODCE. The FAI continues to co-operate fully with the ongoing ODCE investigation.”
In addition to this, the FAI will be keeping a weather eye on the meeting of SSE Airtricity League clubs with Kieran Lucid in Dundalk on Thursday. That will include an update on potential plans for an All Ireland League which will then feed back into the clubs determination of how they want to restructure after the 2020 season.
There are rumours floating around about John Delaney heading a consortium to take over Waterford FC, that have been denied by owner Lee Power, and ongoing discussions about the future of Limerick FC which is currently in examinership.
The process to appoint four independent Directors, one of whom will be the new Chair of the Association is ongoing, the conclusion of which will trigger the search then for a new permanent CEO.
Some or all of these will be on the Council agenda for Friday. Interesting times.
Image Credit: Inpho.ie
