The latest controversy to strike the FAI may not be directly related to the proposed construction of Eircom Park, but there is little doubt that its timing is unfortunate for the association - and its Chief Executive Bernard O'Byrne - given the current state of play in the long-running saga of its proposed future home.

O'Byrne and other senior officials of the association are due to meet government ministers again today to discuss the possible use by the organisation of the proposed Stadium Ireland in Abbotstown. Such a move would obviously end the chief executive's hopes that the association will proceed with its own plans for the Eircom Park project at Citywest, a scheme he has been very closely associated with for more than two years now.

It is rumoured that the government will today offer to underwrite advance sales of corporate boxes and 10 year seats by the association if it agrees to come on board at Abbotstown. Such an offer could be worth anywhere between £35 million and £50 million to the organisation and, if it is made, would greatly increase pressure on O'Byrne to abandon his alternative plans.

So far, however, he has persistently denied reports regarding the value of government support offered in return for such a switch and has insisted that Eircom Park remains the most attractive deal on the table. It is a claim that is fiercely contested by critics of the scheme.

It is those critics who O'Byrne yesterday blamed for the leaks at the heart of the story relating to his usage of a credit card belonging to the association. While the source of the story remained unclear last night, O'Byrne stated that he was the victim of a campaign "orchestrated by some members of the association and helped by people at other levels" which has as its core aim the abandonment of Eircom Park.

In a press statement, O'Byrne stated he has "at all times refused to be dragged into this type of personal vilification".

However, opponents of the scheme within the FAI have been unhappy with the tactics employed by its proponents.

When the first criticisms of the Eircom Park project emerged the public relations firm employed by the association, Gallagher and Kelly, privately briefed a number of journalists against some of those within the association who were emerging as opponents of the scheme.

The motives of opponents were questioned while, in one case, wholly irrelevant details relating to a club official's past were revealed in an attempt to undermine his credibility on the issue.

The PR people earned around £10,000 a month for their work on Eircom Park and a number of calls for their dismissal went unheeded.

On a broader front, O'Byrne's long-time insistence that Eircom Park could be built for the original publicly quoted estimate of £65 million and persistent reference to advance sales for the project which turned out to be grossly overestimated has had the effect of damaging his own credibility.

In February of last year it was claimed by Irish representatives of project consultants IMG that guaranteed sales of more than £50 million had been raised through advance box and seat sales and this figure was endorsed by O'Byrne. Six months later O'Byrne himself continued to maintain that £65 million was still the figure for which the stadium would be constructed.

By December it had finally emerged that 21 rather than 54 boxes and 1,400 rather than 3,100 premium seats had been sold, leaving a large financial shortfall on the original projections. Little more than a month later the anticipated construction costs were revised upwards to £109 million.

Revelations that O'Byrne is to receive in excess of £250,000 in the event that Eircom Park is completed and that some £30,000 of the bonus had already been paid have not helped his cause either.