FAI agrees to radical reform

The FAI last night committed itself to transforming the way it does business following the publication of a report from consultants Genesis which severely criticises the organisation's management structures and its preparations for the recent World Cup.

Brendan Menton, though, told first the organisation's board of management and then the media that he did not feel he was the man to implement the recommendations of the report, and the 50-year-old has stepped down as general secretary with immediate effect.

The association's honorary secretary, Kevin Fahy, replaces him, on a temporary basis.

Alistair Gray, the Scottish management expert who yesterday presented his company's report to both meetings, said that dramatic changes are required within Merrion Square where responsibility for the running of the game should pass from voluntary officials to a professional management team.

This would be headed up by a new chief executive and would ideally include four other new senior personnel who would oversee areas like performance, football operations, marketing and communications, as well as finance and administration.

He was scathing about the FAI's day-to-day operations, and said the lack of adequately defined roles for employees, or anything approaching proper management structures, had made substantial problems inevitable.

Those problems, he said, had come to a head at the World Cup, although he was far from universally critical of the association's handling of Ireland's participation at the competition. Having considered the contents of 88 interviews carried out by the company, including ones with Mick McCarthy and Roy Keane, Gray said the problems encountered in Saipan were effectively of little consequence in terms of hindering the team's preparations.

He pointed out that many players had been positive about the time spent on the island and that the issue of the late arrival of the association's skips from Ireland was not generally perceived as having been a major problem.

But he went on to note that, as the various difficulties encountered had aggravated the already difficult relationship between Keane, McCarthy and the association to the point where the team's captain and best player returned home, they had ultimately proved extremely costly, and he severely criticised the absence of either senior FAI personnel or a crisis management plan on the island.

Later, he added, the association's performance at the finals had generally been good, although he attributed this more to a mixture of personal initiative from individual employees and good fortune than to any considered preparations on the part of the FAI.

Nevertheless, he pointed out, the association had achieved many of its goals at the finals, including reaching the second phase of the competition and, it appears, although the figures aren't finalised, making a profit on its participation of more than €1 million.

He specifically made the point that, given the circumstances and the scale of the operation, the role of Brendan Menton had been "impossible", and there was little if any explicit criticism of the association's senior administrator.

As part of his broader assessment of the way Merrion Square is run, however, Gray made it clear the administration within headquarters has been well below the required standard and that firm and decisive action is needed if things are to be put right.

While accepting all of the these recommendations, Menton apparently decided on Sunday morning that he was not the man to make the changes, and he made it clear to the officers of the association that day that, although he will not be leaving the employment of the association, he would not be seeking the position of chief executive.

The FAI treasurer, John Delaney, said work on a plan aimed at implementing the various changes envisaged within the report would start immediately and would be put before the next board of management meeting, scheduled for the 29th of this month.

"There is real change in this document," he said, "and real recognition within the association that that is what is required."

He said the cost of implementing the report's various provisions, estimated by Gray at a gross figure of €400,000 (he also points to various potential savings which would enable the association to recoup much of this), would not deter the organisation, and he expected the chief executive post to be filled within three months.