FAI board support O'Byrne on stadium

The FAI's board of management yesterday presented a united front at the Davenport Hotel, Dublin, where the association's chief executive, Bernard O'Byrne, received "unanimous" backing for his stand on Eircom Park.

After a week in which a number of clubs publicly questioned the wisdom of proceeding with the stadium in light of the Government's decision to build a bigger one close by, O'Byrne got the public endorsement he was looking for from the board's members and insisted that he now wished "to get on with building Eircom Park".

The association's treasurer, Brendan Menton, who had said previously that "there are some issues which need to be addressed", sounded a more cautious note when he said that the expenditure on the development and planning stage of the stadium project would require "a prudent approach" to the organisation's finances over the coming years. However, he said he was satisfied that even allowing for the estimated £3 million expenditure required to get Eircom Park to the building stage, the association is in a strong position to meet its financial obligations.

O'Byrne, meanwhile, confirmed that even the doubters had opted to weigh in behind him at yesterday's meeting when he told journalists that "the board of management continues to be very pleased with the progress of Eircom Park", and that the board's members are "unanimously confident" that the project will be completed.

"We can tell you at this point that the project is now fully funded and that the only element missing is planning permission which we hope to receive soon."

O'Byrne agreed with Menton that the association's budgets would have to be closely monitored, but pointed to yesterday's confirmation of Don Givens as under-21 manager as evidence of the board's continued willingness to invest in the game.