It looks like Derry City are going to refuse a €5,000 grant from the FAI.
Last weekend, the Association confirmed that they were to give €100,000 to the 20 League of Ireland clubs "to assist each SSE Airtricity League club towards completing five-year strategic plans." That grant amounted to €5,000 each.
The grants have been widely castigated by many, due to the money the FAI earned from Euro 2016, and Derry City have decided to make a stand against what they count as a "disgraceful" amount.
"I think it’s absolutely disgraceful the way they have treated the clubs," Derry City's Chief Executive Sean Barrett told Derry Now. "The FAI received €11 million and to throw something like that at us is disgraceful when we as a club on its own have had at least six players coming through Derry City Football Club to go on and play international football."
"For us to be treated like that is not only 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."
Mr Barrett added that the €5,000 grant will go nowhere near helping any club with a strategic plan. "To ask anyone to do a five-year plan and then to give them to what equates to £4,000 is disgraceful. It doesn’t scratch the surface."
Derry City return to action against on Friday night at home to St. Patrick's Athletic in The Brandywell.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
