FAI chief says Marc Canham's successor does not need to come from Irish football
FAI CEO DAVID Courell says the resignation of chief football officer Marc Canham is 'disappointing', but says his successor does not need to be Irish nor sourced from Irish football.
Canham yesterday announced his intention to leave the FAI and return to England with his family, having first joined the FAI in August 2022. Canham will leave the organisation in three months time, with the FAI set to draw up an interim plan to cover the gap between Canham's departure and the arrival of his permanent successor.
The FAI plan to use an external recruitment firm to guide the process, and will next week assemble an internal panel to decide upon the final hire. Courell will sit on this panel, and he says there will be involvement of a board member at some point in the process, though he declined to say who that board member would be.
Courell say the plan is to hire a single candidate as a chief football officer, but says there are no preferences as to where they come from.
'We have huge talent and expertise within the Irish football community. I anticipate and hope that candidates come forward, it is an amazing opportunity,' said Courell at a media briefing today.
'With that said, am I exclusively going to say the search is restricted to these shores? No, we need to make sure we make the right appointment. If that person is Irish, then fantastic. But I am not going to close off, that would be irresponsible of us to do. We have to find the right person for the role.'
The successful candidate will not be given scope to rip up the FAI's football pathways plan, however, which was Canham's signature piece of work.
Courell was at pains to point out that, while the document was led by Canham, it is the product of 16,000 hours of consultation and thus is a piece of work reflecting the vision of the whole of the game in Ireland.
One of its main pillars, the aligning of all levels of the Irish game in a single calendar, has been met with stiff opposition, with the SFAI – the FAI's largest affiliate – calling for it to be reconsidered and the Leinster FA calling the voting procedure by which it was adopted 'flawed.'
Courell denied that Canham's exit is evidence that he had little confidence in its future direction.
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'His confidence in what the organisation and what we are trying to achieve has not changed,' said Courell of Canham.
'Marc took some time out with his family – he went on leave – to decide what was important for him. He returned from that break and decided for personal reasons he is electing to step away from the role. That should not take away from the confidence he has in what we are doing as an organisation.'
Courell said Canham's successor must be able to bring all of the game along with them, including any conscientious objectors.
'This is not a sleight on Marc, just a recognition that whoever takes over from the good work he has done will have to have the ability to bring our stakeholders with us,' said Courell.
'In that programme for change, there will be people who are naturally uncomfortable. It is very important that we have someone who can engage and communicate with people, so they can see the real value in this and take confidence that this is grounded in trying to improve Irish football.'
As to the fierce resistance to the aligned calendar, Courell is clear the FAI have been given a mandate to drive on with it. Initially endorsed by the board, the change was pushed to the FAI's General Assembly for a vote, which was ultimately passed by a narrow majority.
Asked as to how some affiliates now objecting to the change had representatives vote in favour of the very same thing, Courell replied, 'I can't speak for the internal machinations of the affiliates, all I can speak to is that we had unanimous support for the football pathways plan from our board and as part of that, the same goes for the aligned calendar. And most importantly we took it to a vote and it passed, that's all I can say.'
The FAI are visiting government buildings next week to brief politicians on the facts and details of their aligned calendar plan.
Elsewhere, Courell said Eileen Gleeson and Cathal Dervan remain employees of the FAI, but declined to say anything further about their roles at the Association. Gleeson was expected to return to a staff position following the end of her period as senior women's head coach, but no details on that role have ever been forthcoming. Dervan, a former broadcaster and sports journalist, was hired by the FAI in 2019 as director of communications and public relations. Dervan recently took a workplace rights claim against the FAI to the workplace relation commission, with the case quickly adjourned in February of this year as the FAI and Dervan had come to a deal 'in principle.'
Separately asked of the unusual situation that has arisen across the last three years, in which the men's U21 team sometimes were sometimes staffed with more senior press officers than the men's senior team in spite of a much smaller media presence following the U21 team, Courell replied, 'we are looking at everything that we do to make sure we are delivering effectively and efficiently.'
Courell also confirmed the FAI employ the services of an external communications company, Teneo, saying 'it's natural for an organisation of our size.'
'We have fantastic in-house comms support,' continued Courell. 'On occasion, there are merits in having an outside view to help us think things through with different lengths and that's part and parcel of any organisation to be honest, be it sporting or otherwise. We're not unique in this.
'I think our message can always be stronger. There's probably not enough recognition of all of the good work the Association is doing. That's why we are endeavouring to improve on our reach and cut through because we have so much good stuff to tell but unfortunately too often that doesn't get the headlines, so I'd ask for your support on that.'
Elsewhere, Courell confirmed the FAI hoped to have a commitment to invest in professional League of Ireland academies included in the government's budget later this year. Courell is adamant the government is willing to invest in academies, but they have needed more details and assurances around how that money will be invested.
'Their nervousness and questions primarily centre around investing into private enterprises,' said Courell.
'It's not something governments normally do and we want to work with them and clubs to give them the comfort and confidence. Even explaining that we have an established licensing process within our league, that we have visibility is something that can give comfort of where investments are going.
'It's about ensuring continuity of independent audits, giving the line of sight to Government to know where the investment is going where it's needed most.
Hence the introduction of a tiered approach. There is potential to look at a means tested element: if one club has a bumper season in Europe, should they get the same as the club the next season as the one who finished bottom of the league?
What if a club has a significant international transfer? Is there a reinvestment aspect to that revenue that they derive?'
Courell says the FAI are also developing a 'coalition of voices' from around the game to articulate the importance of this investment, and says he is open to Stephen Bradley, Damien Duff, or any other League of Ireland manager becoming involved.
'I'm open to whoever wants to come in and work with us,' said Courell. 'Genuinely I want to make sure we get this right.
'Too often Irish football has not come together. The stage is set, we have a window so let's show the group power of the game. Let's get it done.'
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