Brian Kerr has branded the FAI's grant of €100,000 to the 20 League of Ireland clubs as "ridiculous" and "Mickey Mouse stuff".
Derry City's chief executive Sean Barrett was heavily critical of the amount, saying that it was "disgraceful, it’s disrespectful and we will be not be accepting that figure. We will be telling them to keep the money. We won’t accept it."
Ex-Ireland manager Kerr has echoed that sentiment.
"To be honest, it's Mickey Mouse stuff, the €100,000 divided between 20 clubs for a strategic plan - a five year strategic plan," he said on eir Sport.
"Most clubs are fighting week to week to pay the wages, survive, pay fines, look after stewards, organise travel and so on. It was a ridiculous amount of money and the timing was very poor. I don't think any of the clubs are particularly happy. It's a long way from what needs to be done with regard to the league overall".
Strong views from Brian Kerr & @DamianLynch31 on funding in the LOI. #GalvDun #eirSportLOI https://t.co/ZhirYdKCox
— eir Sport (@eirSport) August 5, 2016
And while Dundalk are due to earn millions from their progression in Europe this season, Kerr pointed out that it all comes at a considerable cost.
"They will have lots and lots of costs. The players have to be rewarded, the staff have to be rewarded and there's travel costs, serious travel costs at very short notice for these games.
"And even playing the game at the Aviva Stadium, I don't know what the cut-off point is to make a profit playing at the stadium, but I believe it's about 25,000. So if you need 25,000 before you get to break-even, then you're going to need a lot more people to make money. It's a great heap of money if it's used well and Dundalk like lots of other clubs need a new ground or a better ground. The ground is not good enough for the level they are playing at and the team they have."
Kerr also shared his opinion about some of the reaction to Dundalk's success given that the League of Ireland still faces challenges that need to be addressed.
"There's been a propaganda campaign in the last few days about how great the league is because Dundalk have done well and the FAI have given the 20 clubs €100,000 between them. All of us that go to games regularly know what it's really like and it needs a massive revolution, not what we have going on."
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