Sligo Rovers treasurer David Rowe has said a legacy of the League of Ireland being "the unwanted child" has led to clubs fighting for "scraps on the table", and admitted that the Bit O'Red are simply not able to return to playing games under the current financial proposal.
The FAI and League of Ireland clubs were due to meet Monday as part of ongoing attempts to reach an agreement that would see the league resume behind closed doors.
That meeting has been pushed back to Wednesday.
The FAI have previously asked the Europe-qualified quartet of Dundalk, Shamrock Rovers, Derry City and Bohemians to give €100,000 to aid the league's ambition of returning to playing behind closed doors.
Those clubs are not keen to do that, and the overall financial package is currently not large enough to satisfy all the clubs' requirements.
In March, Sligo Rovers temporarily laid off all their staff in an attempt to protect long-term employment.
All players, management, coaching and administration staff were entitled to the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment.
Rowe said if Sligo were able to avail of an extended wage subsidy scheme, it could potentially give them some hope of getting back to playing.
"The wage subsidy scheme is a huge thing," he told the RTÉ Soccer Podcast.
"That runs until the end of August at the moment. We could go back under certain conditions and with a significant amount of co-operation from players and the PFAI. We could go back then.
"The wage subsidy scheme is the only reason that four or five clubs could go back. Who know if that is renewed? It is absolutely vital. Even if we got another month out of that, and the season ran until the end of October which I think is by far the most sensible proposition, then I think we could all get back to what we want to do which is playing football.
"We all take deep breaths and then set ourselves up for 2021. Under a certain set of conditions and particularly with help from the wage subsidy scheme, we could go back. But we would have to come to an agreement with our employees on deferrals or whatever.
"This isn't greed on our part. We just don't have [the money]. It is just core need. It is about having four or five clubs surviving through this.
"We are where we are because of history, I have a lot of sympathy for the current people in the FAI. Gary Owens and Niall Quinn are doing great work trying to bring along a very dispirit group, all with their own interests. They are doing Trojan work trying to get us all there.
"There is a huge level of engagement and effort going on in a very difficult climate. It's a very different environment [from the previous FAI regime]. There is probably a lack of core outside funding.
"If FIFA or the government can be brought to help, or there is a situation where part attendances can be brought back, that all helps enormously. At the moment the big help is the wage subsidy scheme. Could we go back at the moment? Conceivably we could [if the scheme stays]."
Right now, Rowe admits that the offer put to the Bit O' Red is "quite far away" from being viable where they could pay wages for the rest of the year.
"In what was presented the other day [at the FAI's meeting with LOI clubs], we are quite far away, certainly for our club, from being able to return," he added.
"We do want to return. We are a football club. Despite our league position, we want to play.
"But we can't be financially reckless in what we do. We were not in any financial trouble before Covid-19 hit.
"We weren't financially distressed. But it is very much a pay as you go model. We don't have significant backers, it is community funded.
"We raise €500,000 in fundraising, that is €500,000 out of a €1.2m [income]. We can't do door to door draws etc. We have good attendances, they were somewhere around 1,850 to 2,000 last season where we finished seventh. It's difficult and people have different agendas. It is about the clubs coming together and trying to help all 10 clubs to come through this.
"There has to be some give. There is no outside money in this, that is what the problem is. We're all scrapping with each other for tuppence ha'penny.
"Realistically it needs some external funding to help it restart. When there is only scraps on the table, you fight for your scraps from your own perspective. It is very easy to have a collegiate and wider view of life when you are properly funded.
"This all goes back to the league being the unwanted child for 10 or 15 years. it's a really hard place to run a League of Ireland club, particularly a community-based club. Covid-19 would hit us harder because of our model.
"We're not financially distressed at the moment but we simply can't pay out for the rest of the season under the current proposals. We definitely couldn't."
Sligo have largely sustained themselves through tireless community fundraising.
That endless cycle of organisation and drive takes enormous energy from many volunteers, all for the love of the club.
Rowe lauded those efforts but pointed out that they would not be as badly required if Ireland's domestic league was properly funded.
"Sligo is not the wealthiest hinterland in the country. It would be one of the more modest financially. To come up with €500,000 in fundraising is incredible.
"It's completely wrong that [the league has been so underfunded] and places an incredible burden on volunteers. We're all a bit dismayed with it. There was an opportunity [in recent years] clearly to distribute some funds. Clearly there were different priorities.
"Money went elsewhere and all of that is another issue. It was a very low priority for the FAI. We work hard, we're a big social club for the locality, we run six football teams, and it is incredibly hard to keep it going.
"The prospect of coming up with the funding needed [to play the rest of the year], with what is on offer from the FAI, the balance of what is needed is incredibly challenging."
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