O'Byrne survives first wave of attack

The FAI chief executive Bernard O'Byrne defied his critics yesterday and survived the first assault on his leadership as the recriminations started over the way in which the abandoned Eircom Park project was handled over the past two years.

Confronted with a surprising unanimity amongst the association's officers, who asked that he take a period of leave while an investigation into matters relating to his conduct was held, O'Byrne flatly refused and again signalled his intention to stay on in his job for as long as he is allowed to.

Afterwards he remarked: "It was suggested to me that, in the light of all the heavy pressure in recent days that I might like to take a break. I declined. Hopefully the 10 days in Cyprus and Spain will qualify as a break."

O'Byrne's critics conceded afterwards that the outcome of more than four and a half hours of meetings yesterday was a disappointment but insisted once more that the only real question surrounding his position is the manner of his eventual departure.

Once again his handling of matters relating to the Eircom Park scheme were at the heart of the criticisms levelled at him. It was reported that at Thursday's meeting between representatives of the association and International Management Group (IMG) - the company who handled the marketing rights for the abandoned project - the group had threatened to press a claim for £5 million against the association unless it is given the same role in the move to Stadium Ireland.

The association's treasurer, Brendan Menton, reportedly told the meeting that to agree to such a demand two years before construction even begins on the new stadium and long before the precise terms of the FAI's tenancy there are agreed would be "commercial suicide".

The association's officers, who include Menton, National League chairman Michael Hyland and long-time O'Byrne supporter, Pat Quigley, are now expected to seek legal advice on whether their chief executive was in fact legally entitled to sign the memorandum of understanding which provides the basis for IMG's claim.

The company insist that they have exclusive marketing rights to the association's activities until 2006, that they had raised some £33.5 million in revenue, of which the £11 million from Eircom for the naming rights was the largest single part, and that the FAI's unilateral decision not to build the stadium does not affect their right to be paid.

It is a dispute that could well end up in the courts for it is contended by O'Byrne's critics within the association that as the chief executive is not a director of the organisation he has no right to sign contracts on its behalf without receiving authorisation from the board. This, it is maintained, was not obtained on this occasion.

Yesterday's meeting, where the IMG dispute was discussed at length was described as "fractious and difficult" by Menton afterwards. Matters were not helped by the fact that one of the issues up for discussion was the writs for libel issued against O'Byrne and Menton by Waterford United director John Delaney and against O'Byrne alone by Galway United's John Byrne.

By the end of the meeting the four-man subcommittee appointed to investigate the dispute over O'Byrne's usage of his company credit card had once again had its brief widened. It is now intended that it will look into every aspect of his handling of the Eircom Park scheme.

It is due to meet for the first time on Monday week, at a time when O'Byrne and most of the association's other senior figures will be away with the Republic's senior team, and so it is likely that even the question of the Visa card bills will take more than one meeting to sort out.

The next meeting of the board of management (effectively the association's directors) will take place on April 6th and it looks certain to be dominated by the wrangling over the organisation's leadership. Less that three months later the association's deal with the Government is due to take effect.

Still O'Byrne's critics continued to argue last night that his departure is inevitable but that it is important to get the process right. There is a belief that either the credit cards issue or the IMG dispute could provide the basis for his departure although both could drag on for some time to come.

While they clearly believe that their case against O'Byrne is cut and dried, however, O'Byrne continues to deny that he has done anything wrong and insists that he wishes to stay on. While those hoping to see him depart claim that they have the numbers to force his exit if it came to a vote even yesterday they estimated that the margin would have only been nine to eight, a terribly damaging split for an organisation with so much on its agenda at the moment.