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"I think the initial thing they're working on is FAI reform" - Dan McDonnell

Niall Quinn's group are looking at a 'bigger study of Irish football' as the future of the FAI re...



Soccer

"I think the initial thing they're working on is FAI reform" - Dan McDonnell

Niall Quinn's group are looking at a 'bigger study of Irish football' as the future of the FAI remains unclear.

Dan McDonnell joined Saturday's Off The Ball to discuss the current situation at Abbotstown - with six active investigations currently underway at the association.

"There's a lot going on with Irish football at the moment," he told Eoin.  "There's a lot of groups and interests and various parties here and there and trying to piece it all together is a challenge.

"You have Niall Quinn's group who, if you go back three or four months, they were putting together a plan for the League of Ireland. That was the whole thing about the academies around the country - one for each of the 20 clubs that would be funded with a bit of government support.

"So the plan would have been: education, setting up our own academies, producing our own players - that is generally still their plan.

"But obviously the landscape in Irish football changed since then."

"I think the initial thing they're working on is FAI reform - the board structures and stuff like that," he added.

Sport Ireland suspended funding to the association on 9th April which led to numerous investigations being launched - both internally and externally into the FAI's affairs.

"When Quinn's group were supposed to come to the table with some of their proposals, they pulled back and now they've actually broadened out into a bigger study of Irish football, beyond the League of Ireland. So, the whole governance of Irish football generally.

"The all Ireland league has come up a couple of times in dispatches in the last couple of weeks. There's been stuff about it again this week. I'm not sure the extent to which that is immediately going to come up and be part of any talks.

"I think the initial thing they're working on is FAI reform - the board structures and stuff like that," he added.

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Dan Mcdonnell FAI Irish Football Niall Quinn