Derry directors step down as FAI backs players

Derry City chairman Pat McDaid and three directors have resigned from the club board as players claimed this evening they were duped into signing the second contracts that led to the Candystripes being thrown out of the League of Ireland by the FAI last Saturday.

The FAI says it has accepted the players’ version of events and will send a delegation to Derry on Thursday in an effort to ensure the stability of the club now that McDaid has accepted his position is “untenable”.

McDaid said his resignation was to ensure the club has a chance of being readmitted to the league as a First Division team.

“It is with deep regret and sadness that I must announce with immediate effect my resignation as Chairman of Derry City Football Club,” a statement on the Derry City website read.

“I also take this opportunity to announce the resignations of Joe W Doherty, Peter Leonard and Francis Houston.

“I feel that this is an important step to ensure Derry City return to the League of Ireland and it’s quite clear my relationship with Mr (John) Delaney (FAI chief executive) and the FAI has reached a point of no return.

“This was articulated clearly by Mr Delaney on this mornings Radio Foyle programme and this has left me in a difficult position to say the least. Respectfully this is perhaps the only issue on which Mr Delaney and I can agree upon.”

Stephen McCarron, who is believed to have invested heavily in the club, will remain on the board.

"Stephen Mc Carron is remaining on the board of Derry City FC and I wish him and any future new directors the very best of good fortune for the future and its my genuine and honest hope and desire that the current difficulties may be overcome," added McDaid.

Delaney had argued the “dual contracts” given to some players left him with no option but to expel the club from the league and insisted that it would not be readmitted if it remained under the direction of the existing board.

He also warned players to reveal their knowledge of the contracts to him before noon tomorrow or face being prevented from forging new careers elsewhere.

A delegation of nine players met with the association and the Professional Footballers Association of Ireland (PFAI) at Abbotstown this evening and released a statement through the latter shortly after 10pm.

All bar one of the players claims to have been deliberately misled by the club in signing a second document they believed was merely a registration form. The player who realised it was a second contract, they insist, ensured the payment figures remained the same as were specified on the first.

“The events of the past week have come as major shock and disappointment to the players of Derry City Football Club,” a statement read. “Until the allegations of ‘dual contracts’ were made very recently, no player was aware of the existence of a second document which contained different figures to the one which we had originally agreed.

“The position is that at the beginning of the contract period, each player was presented with a document on Derry City headed paper which contained income amounts which we each individually agreed with the club.

“With only one exception, no player knowingly signed a second document. It now appears that, what the club had misrepresented to us as a blank registration form containing no figures, terms or conditions was, in fact, a second document upon which different figures were subsequently entered and lodged with the league.

“The full terms of this contract were never made available to the players and we fully believed that the wages which we were being paid were disclosed to the league in accordance with normal practice.”

“It has transpired that one of the players was aware of the existence of the second document but had ensured that the figures entered on it were identical to those on the original headed paper. No other players were aware of a second document.”

The players added that when they became aware of the situation they sought to clear up the matter immediately and insisted they are “deeply distressed” by the events and wish to distance themselves “entirely from the board’s conduct”.

“We hope that by addressing these issues and by clarifying our position, the club can now move forward and have a future in senior football,” they concluded.

An FAI statement released shortly before 11pm said: “The players of Derry City Football Club have put on public record the fact that they had signed two contracts, the standard player’s contract and a separate contract on club headed paper.

“As of today, the FAI has accepted these players’ assurances that they were not personally aware of any financial irregularities at the club. The FAI also recognise the difficulties that have been created by the club in not paying players for the last eight/nine weeks at Derry City FC, and the impact that has on each player and his immediate family.

“The FAI has also confirmed that it intends to send a delegation to Derry, on Thursday, with a view to beginning the process of returning the club to stability, now that the club chairman has accepted his untenable position.”