Football loses a true 'football man'

Brendan Menton profile: Emmet Malone on a popular figure whose administrative abilities did not match his love of the game

From the moment that it was announced at Ireland's second Japanese World Cup base of Chiba city that there would be an outside investigation into the way the association had handled its preparations for the competition and in particular the crisis in Saipan that led to the departure of Roy Keane, there were those who predicted that it would mark the end of Brendan Menton's days as the FAI's general secretary.

The manner of his departure yesterday, however, says a good deal about the 50-year-old Dubliner, his standing within the association and the way that it is likely to react to the far-reaching reforms being recommended by the authors of the Genesis report.

Menton insisted in Japan that a balanced report would acknowledge that the association had actually made considerable progress in the way that it handled its preparations and, though there were plenty of criticisms too, the Scottish consultants did indeed recognise that things at this World Cup were, for the most part, done far more professionally than eight or 12 years previously when Ireland also participated at the competition.

Alistair Gray and his colleagues at Genesis were, however, clearly taken aback at the way at the FAI is run on a more routine basis and the extent of the changes recommended in this report can leave little doubt that the existing management and the structures within which it operates are seen as having fallen well short of what has been required.

There may well be a case for a complete clear-out at the top of the organisation but there was little, at least in the summary of its findings presented to the media last night, to suggest that the position of Menton in particular had become untenable.

Indeed in his one direct reference to the organisation's chief administrator, Gray described the role expected of Menton, providing a professional leadership to a largely voluntary association with a turnover approaching €20 million, as "mission impossible".

As he confirmed his decision to depart, Menton - whose father was a co-founder of Home Farm and who was involved with the north Dublin club from an early age first as a player and then as an administrator - referred to himself more than once as "a football man".

He is undoubtedly highly regarded for his devotion to the game and well liked within it but it is this perception of himself that many of those who work in Merrion Square see as a key weakness in terms of his management role.

Although Menton played a central part in the campaign of opposition to the Eircom Park project that ultimately cost Bernard O'Byrne his position as chief executive, he was generally seen as somebody who would go to considerable lengths to avoid confrontation and who sought to achieve change by consensus wherever possible.

However, in an organisation that employs just short of 50 people, many of whom have ill-defined roles, a more determined approach was always going to be required to effect real change, and there has been some frustration that he did not seem willing or capable of providing it.

Menton's decision to step aside at a time when the precise nature of the changes required have now been identified simply underlines that he did not see himself as well suited to performing what would be a very different job to the one he took on 18 months ago following O'Byrne's departure.

The fact that he sees a continuing role for himself within Merrion Square makes it obvious, on the other hand, that he does not feel he is carrying the can in the present situation. Those close to him say that he had become frustrated over a period of time that his position involved less and less direct dealings with the football side of the association's activities.

The fact that he will now deal with issues such as Ireland's bid to co-host the 2008 European Championship and the association's attempt to introduce UEFA's club licensing system while being relieved of the pressures of the business and legal side of the job should, it is widely agreed, suit him well.

It remains a little surprising, however, that an organisation that is being criticised for its rather laid-back attitude to its affairs is simply going to create another presumably well-paid post to accommodate a man who neither wishes to continue in his present post nor to depart.

At last night's press conference he conceded that his new position would be temporary but added that "It may evolve into something, it may not".

If the 2008 bid proves successful - something that remains a distinct possibility despite all of the problems associated with guaranteeing the availability of stadiums in Dublin - then his prospects of securing a longer-term future within the organisation would obviously be greatly enhanced.

Even if it is not, though, he remains popular and well enough respected within the game to ensure that he will probably be around for some time to come.