The unrest within the FAI continued last night after the eight football directors on the board released a statement calling on the association's interim CEO Gary Owens to "clarify remarks" he made at a press briefing on Wednesday.

Owens and interim deputy CEO Niall Quinn faced the media at Abbotstown ahead of a meeting on Friday with the FAI Council, who have had some concerns over the terms agreed in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that was drawn up as part of the rescue package last January. 

Owens and Quinn said on Wednesday that FAI Council members with more than 10 years experience may be able to stay on if they satisfy the requirements laid out in an electoral code (it had previously been believed they would have to step down), though the pair also stressed the FAI will not and can not compromise on increasing the number of independent directors from four to six.

The terms of the MoU must be passed at the FAI's EGM, which takes place on 31 August; otherwise, funding will not be restored.

That, however, is not what irked the board's eight football directors.

Read more:
Reform or bust - Owens issues warning to FAI Council
No changes to MoU say FAI but long-serving Council members could stay on

In the same press conference, Owens rejected a suggestion, made by Fianna Fáil TD Marc MacSharry in July, that independent chair Roy Barrett had signed off on the MoU without it being approved by the board. 

"The board members had the opportunity to review what the terms and conditions were, and they did sign off on it," he said.

"They didn't sign off on it afterwards, they signed off on it beforehand. [Marc McSharry] is wrong on that. Did they like the terms and conditions is a different question. But the MoU was basically put in front of us and the board signed it.

"More importantly the Bank of Ireland agreement was signed by the board with the MoU as a condition of it. It was approved by the board members in advance of it being signed. I would say reluctantly approved, but it was approved."

Late on Wednesday night, a statement from the eight directors - Paul Cooke, John Finnegan, Martin Heraghty, David Moran, Gerry McAnaney, Joe O'Brien, Richard Shakespeare and Ursula Scully - was released.

It read: "The Elected Directors of the FAI are alarmed at a statement made during a press conference on the 5th August 2020 by the Associations Interim CEO, Gary Owens.

"During the press conference, Mr Owens refuted a claim made by Fianna Fáil Deputy Marc MacSharry that a MoU with Government was signed on 30 January 2020 without it being discussed at a board meeting earlier that day.

"Mr Owens went onto claim that, 'The board members had the opportunity to review what the terms and conditions were, and they did sign off on it. They didn't sign off on it afterwards, they signed off on it beforehand. [Marc MacSharry] is wrong on that'.

"The Elected Directors wish to state on the record that they did not approve the MoU before it was signed, therefore Mr MacSharry’s statement is correct.

"The facts are that they only received a draft copy of the MoU at 9.02am on the 30th January and immediately raised concerns regarding some of the conditions with the Chairman and received no reply.

"The Elected Directors listed below are calling on the interim CEO to immediately clarify his remarks."