Mother of all FAI meetings upon us

THE mother of all FAI senior council meetings is finally upon us, and though Monday night's rash of resignations ensured there will not be a wave of confidence votes in the officer board, tonight's meeting is no less important for all of that.

It begins at 6.00 p.m. in the Westbury Hotel, to be followed by a press conference, not a minute before 8.30 p.m. and probably a good few minutes afterwards. The advice for all concerned is to bring a spare pair of socks.

For starters, the minutes alone of the weekly executive meetings which have taken place since the last senior council meeting in January, and all other relevant committee meetings, will eat into the evening

There follows the crucial interim report into the FAI's ticket management policy at USA 94 by Bastow Charleton, which is believed will seriously damage the association's aforementioned policy in general and not just at the World Cup finals of two summers ago.

Copies of the report were meant to be given to each of the officers, past (Joe Delaney, Michael Hyland, Des Casey and Pat Quigley) and present (Louis Kilcoyne) during yesterday afternoon but ultimately these were not handed to them until today. The remaining 47 members of senior council will receive - copies of Bastow - Charleton's report approximately an hour before the meeting starts.

Next it is expected that the vote of confidence in the president, Louis Kilcoyne - if he hasn't already resigned - will be conducted, after which he and the four officers will be granted permission to address, the council with statements - relating to the auditors' report.

There is some confusion as to the constitutional position which will pertain should Kilcoyne, as he is entitled to do, appeal any vote of no confidence against him namely, would he remain in situ as president until the appeal was heard at a subsequent general meeting or July's a.g.m.?

The FAI's rules and constitution have been well thumbed by the acting secretary, Brendan Menton, on this issue and several others in the last few weeks, but it seems as if Kilcoyne would not continue to hold the presidency during this timespan.

In any event, with time out taken for correspondence, tonight's final debate under any other business is likely to concentrate on what the association does next, and here there would seem to be three options facing the council.

They could decide to re elect an officer hoard there and then, to carry on running the association until the a.g.m. on July 13th. Alternatively they could elect an interim management committee to fill the vacuum.

However, a more likely option, given the time which is, liable to be taken up by all the aforementioned items on the agenda, is to defer such a decision. This possibility has been heightened by a recommendation from last Wednesday's executive council meeting to hold a special general meeting on March 19th.

The proponents of this move also believe it will allow the members of senior council time to reflect on what are the best options now facing the association. In this scenario, Brendan Menton could carry on running the association's affairs in conjunction with the administrative and temporary staff already in place in 80 Merrion Square.

One nagging concern, regularly floated by former honorary secretary and vice president Des Casey, is his position on UEFA's all powerful, 12 member executive council. Casey is the first FAI representative to assume such a high portfolio and there are worries that the association would sacrifice this influential position.

Casey himself flies to Geneva on Monday to meet with UEFA's deputy general secretary, Marcus Struder, to discuss his standing, but it's likely that UEFA will allow Casey time for his position to be resolved, at least as far as the proposed special general meeting of March 19th.