The images from Dublin airport yesterday morning showing Billy Walsh on his way out of the country really hammered home the realisation that the head coach of Irish amateur boxing's High Performance Unit was bringing down the curtain on his successful time in charge.
But as confirmed by all parties, the ultimately unsuccessful contract talks involving Walsh, the Irish Amateur Boxing Association and Sport Ireland had been ongoing for quite some time.
February
On Monday night's Off The Ball, Walsh spoke to us about his decision to resign his role and take up a position with USA boxing and he confirmed that "this process has been going on since February and there's been times within that some of the pieces that I wanted in place were being rejected".
Irish Sports Council CEO John Treacy also emphasised that the process had been ongoing since February.
In their statement today, the IABA also said that it was the same month when Walsh received the offer from Team USA, commenting: "In late February of this year, Billy approached the Chairman and CEO of the IABA indicating that he had received an offer by Team USA to manage the women’s boxing team for what Billy himself termed as “crazy money".
August 22nd
This date is one of the most important in the saga, for want of a better word. A proposal by the Sports Council was tabled which was "supported by Billy Walsh, and the IABA representatives presented a realistic and fair framework to ensure his retention".
For their part, the IABA say that "the IABA attendees expressed their concerns with the draft proposal. We were given assurances at that point that those concerns would be addressed; however, what transpired was a different draft proposal".
According to Walsh - who had concerns of a non-financial nature - he told Off The Ball that he assumed all parties had come to an agreement on a proposal, stating: "As far as I was led to believe, the IABA had agreed the same and left that room that day and then on the Tuesday it all changed."
August 25th
Tuesday August 25th was when the IABA said the proposal was brought before their board by the chairman. However, in today's statement they said: "No formal vote was taken as the Chairman was of the opinion that the vote would be negative, which would have made it more difficult for the organisation to retain Billy’s services as head coach. At this point, we received a communication from Sport Ireland indicating that they had no further role in this matter".
September
By the middle of last month, there appeared to be some further movement on the matter, with the IABA saying that "through the good offices of Minister [for Sport] Michael Ring TD, a proposal was brokered by him that was agreed to in full by all parties and then presented to Billy and his advisors". This according to the IABA was followed by formal contracts and then amendments made by Walsh's solicitors "many of which were acceded to by the IABA".
October 19th
In their statement, the IABA state that the next contact they had on the matter was Walsh's letter of resignation, with the head coach also publicly announcing his decision to vacate his role that day.
On Off The Ball that evening, Walsh referenced the meeting from a month previously, stating that: "I wasn't in the room when they were making their agreement. I had left the room and I had agreed and as far as I was informed the IABA had agreed. So I thought it was happy days and it was all over and we were going to stay."
He also stated that "the financial terms were grand but then the non-financial part of it was unacceptable to me. That's why we don't have agreement".
Treacy also said that the situation had "fallen down on the non-financial aspects".
In today's statement the IABA say: "It is important to point out that in all of our dealings with Billy during this process, the vast majority of the discussions related to remuneration matters. To suggest otherwise, is a total misrepresentation of the facts."
October 22nd
Walsh flew out from Dublin airport, confirming his definitive departure by saying: "I just want to get out of here, that's all. It's all done. The talking is done."
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