Rooney and FAI emerge smiling

Fran Rooney is expected to sign his contract with the FAI next week after he and the officers of the organisation reached an agreement on his terms of employment.

Rooney met with the association's five officers for two-and-half hours before all six men moved for a four-hour meeting with the Board of Management last night.

At the start of the board meeting, however, it was stated that an agreement had been reached and that both sides were happy that Rooney's position in Merrion Square would be formalised over next week.

Details of the agreement reached were not revealed to board members but there was a prolonged discussion over how yet another dispute amongst the association's hierarchy had been allowed to reach crisis point and how such a situation might be avoided in the future.

League chairman Brendan Dillon would say only that "a lot of progress has been made," as he left the meeting last night. Several other prominent board members echoed the sentiment and one explained that there had been a good deal of discussion on how the chief executive and officers would work together in future.

"Obviously it's unfortunate that this has all happened," he said, "but in a sense what we were talking about tonight is the nuts and bolts of Genesis.

"The bad publicity of the last week has been another setback for the association and there were quite a few hard questions asked about how that had been allowed to happen but I think it is something positive that once again we're coming out of a meeting like this feeling that something has been achieved."

Last to emerge from the meeting were Rooney and FAI president Milo Corcoran, who both insisted they were happy with the way the evening's discussions had gone.

"It's all been agreed," said Rooney in relation to the contract, although he added, slightly ominously, "we just have to run it past the lawyers and we expect to have it signed by the egm (where the rule changes relating to the Genesis report are due to be voted upon) on Friday week".