PFAI general secretary Stephen McGuinness has called for John Delaney to meet him over the creation of a new fund to assist players and clubs in financial trouble.
The FAI announced the fund on Wednesday afternoon, which they claimed would be worth €300,000 and would help clubs who are experiencing difficulty in meeting contractual obligations to professional players.
According to the FAI, the cost of the proposed fund would be split equally between both them and the PFAI.
The PFAI welcomed the creation of the fund itself but lashed out at the FAI for failing to consult with them before the announcement and described as "mindboggling" the idea that the players' body should be forced to contribute half the funding.
On Thursday afternoon, both sides remained at loggerheads over the breakdown of the fund, with McGuinness again expressing incredulity that the players' body were being asked to contribute half the cost and FAI director of competitions Fran Gavin insisting that the PFAI have adequate resources to meet that cost.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport, McGuinness said that Delaney knew where his office was and should meet him over the working of the fund.
"We still as of now have received no notification of any details around the statement they made yesterday. There’s been no details given to us by the FAI.
"We’re waiting on documentation, maybe from the FAI, to explain what this fund is about, how it worlds and what role we would play in it.
"If the PFAI came out and said we’re setting up a fund with €300,000 and we want the FAI to put in €150,000, I wonder how they would react [to us] having had no discussions with them.
"John Delaney has to come out and meet us." - PFAI general secretary Stephen McGuinness spoke to RTÉ Sport's @DAVEKELY4 at Abbottstown earlier today #RTEsport pic.twitter.com/IeGjIW7zBA
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) July 26, 2018
"At this point you would expect John Delaney would contact me, as the CEO of the organisation and me as general secretary of the PFAI, to discuss this with me face to face. We’re more than willing to discuss the fund and discuss how it’s going to work, but it has to come from the man who runs the organisation.
"If you want to have a relationship, John Delaney knows where my office is. They obviously feel that licensing still isn’t at the level it needs to be at, that we have to have a fund to parachute clubs and to protect players, then come and discuss it with the PFA. But don’t be coming out with statements saying we’re going to half fund it without any discussions.
"I think John Delaney has to come out and meet us. It's been two years since we've had a discussion. It's long overdue.
"You're looking at an organisation like the FAI which has a €45m turnover and an organisation like ours where we're in the thousands or the hundreds of thousands in turnover.
"To ask us to put 50% in and to ask players to put money into a fund to pay their own wages... we were astounded. It's just ridiculous.
"People have to remember that the funds of the PFAI are the players’ funds; it’s their funds, it’s their money.
"We have a management committee who make decisions on how we fund the organisation, whether its education, mental health, whatever it may be.
"For the FAI to decide that the PFAI should put in this type of money [without discussions], I can’t get my head around it."
However, Gavin has told RTÉ that the PFAI have the resources to contribute 50% of the cost of the fund.
"This is not the players. This is the PFAI. The PFAI were fully aware and have the resources to meet the commitments that we would like them to fulfil around this fund - and more.
"And this may never tapped into at all. And if it is tapped into by a club then the fund will have to be topped up again by that particular club.
"It's a case of ensuring that the players - their members - aren't waiting on their wages."
FAI director of competitions Fran Gavin spoke to RTÉ Sport's @DAVEKELLY4 at Abbottsotown today as the stand-off with the PFAI continues #RTEsoccer pic.twitter.com/KFoJhZp28k
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) July 26, 2018
In response to PFAI complaints over the absence of communication prior to the announcement of the fund, Gavin said that the FAI had discussed the matter with various stakeholders and said it was an internal matter.
"We've had discussion with various stakeholders about the issues in Bray and Limerick and we'll continue to have discussions going forward.
"Our only priority here is that issues are solved and that players aren't in that situation again where in that insecure place where their wages aren't being paid. We're trying to get to that situation. Who we meet, where we meet, when we meet them and what we discuss really is internal to us."
Gavin admitted that relations between the FAI and the PFAI, two bodies that operate out of the same building, had been damaged by the dispute.
"Relationships have been damaged between the two parties. But we're looking to resolve things. There's a lot of positives around the league. There's European football tonight. There's a lot happening around underage leagues, U19s, U17s, U15s, and we'll have an U13s next year.
"This is a negative situation in what has been a generally positive environment around the league. But we need to resolve it and that's what we have been focused on since day one."
