SOCCER: The First Instance Committee of the Football Association of Ireland is set to meet tomorrow to finalise its decision on what punishment should be imposed on Shamrock Rovers as a result of the club's submission of incorrect financial accounts with its application for a licence last year.
There were continued rumours yesterday the club is to be deducted nine points and manager Roddy Collins is reported to have told the players to expect such a sanction at training yesterday morning.
Senior FAI officials, however, insisted last night the decision of the committee is not yet known and that while talk of a points deduction, ranging in scale from five to 12 points, has been widespread, nothing has been confirmed to the association.
Members of the committee, which is the key body of the association's licensing scheme, met with leading Shamrock Rovers officials yesterday week in order to obtain clarification on a range of issues relating to the licence application and the subsequent emergence of different accounts during the process of the club going into examinership.
Club chairman Tony Maguire, in the wake of that meeting, stated he felt it was part of the price that had been expected by committee members for what had happened. It was felt then the points deduction would follow within 24 hours but it is only now that the licensing body finally appears to be on the verge of moving the process on.
The delay in making the announcement has been caused by uncertainty amongst committee members over whether they are, in fact, entitled to deduct points as a punishment under the rules of their own scheme. The licensing manual would appear to suggest the only sanction available is that of withdrawing the club's licence, something that would be likely to result in Rovers being unable to continue to play in the league.
A decision had, however, been expected before now and there had been a desire within Rovers for the situation to be sorted out as soon as possible so potential investors were clear about the club's position in the immediate future.
One club source, nevertheless, said it would consider its position whatever punishment might be imposed and the possibility of appealing against a sanction had not been ruled out.
It has previously been suggested by a number of parties to the dispute that a deduction of five points would have some logic to it as this was the number of points gained by the club prior to the problems with the accounts being corrected.
Such a deduction, if imposed at present, would leave the club one point clear of bottom club Finn Harps. It is not clear what the reasoning behind the nine-point deduction would be in the event that it turns out to be true but the loss of that number would currently leave Collins' side with minus one point ahead of tomorrow evening's game at St Patrick's Athletic (a game which is now due to kick-off at 7.0).
The 400 Club, the Rovers supporters group which is one of six parties to have expressed an interest in taking over the club, has, meanwhile, announced it has so far generated some €250,000 from fans of the club.
"There has been an amazing response for far," said 400 Club chairman Jonathan Roche yesterday. "The fans have clearly demonstrated that we can mount a genuine bid to purchase the club.
"It is an emphatic statement of the fans' commitment that such a sum could be raised so quickly," he added.
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