FAI CEO Jonathan Hill and director of football Marc Canham spent the guts of two hours with the media at the association's HQ in Blanchardstown on Thursday morning, addressing Vera Pauw's fractious departure, Stephen Kenny's future and a lot more in between.
It was Hill's first interaction with the media since June when he unveiled the FAI's long-term strategic vision, while the well-regarded Canham had his maiden stint in front of the cameras and dictaphones having taken up his post in June 2022.
We break down the key takeaways from the lengthy press conference.
1. Will Stephen Kenny be in charge for Ireland's next three Euro 2024 qualifiers? And if they make it into next March's play-offs, will he remain in situ for those matches?
Jonathan Hill: "Indeed I am [saying he will be in charge], and for the final friendly game with New Zealand in November as well.
"We will go through the games in October and November and we will review where we are in November and see what position we are in at that point. I can't hypothesise now in relation to [the play-offs]. We will see where we are in November.
"We will have a very similar review [to the review of the women's team] of the whole of the campaign with Stephen, with the staff and with the players.
"Everyone accepts, including Stephen, that results are a major part of that review process but it's important that Marc and myself have the opportunity to ask some of the questions and talk about some of the wider areas, not just results, as part of that review."
2. Was Vera Pauw ever offered a new contract, as she has suggested?
Jonathan Hill: "I told Vera - and she knew this - we were discussing and hoping to send an initial offer in relation a contract renewal. On 12 June we became aware of the issues in relation to The Athletic article*, and as I said in my introduction, there were a number of things in that period which was a really intense period. I did sit down with Vera and talk those through. We talked around the issues in relation to the Athletic and where we'd got to on that. I told her, as I said before, that we felt in the best interests of her and the team, and everyone preparing for the World Cup, that we’d park those conversations until after the World Cup.
"We were committed to a full review of the tournament and the campaign in the run-up to the tournament as well which we'd present to the board. As I explained to Vera, that would form part of the wider discussion after the end of the tournament in relation to the contract."
* The article in The Athletic chronicled Pauw's time at Houston Dash, with four ex-players and three former members of staff all interviewed anonymously]. One player described her methods as "abusive and inappropriate"; another said she "created a culture of fear".
3. In his opening address, Hill responded to Vera Pauw's claims that FAI executives interfered in football matters during the Women's World Cup in Australia.
Jonathan Hill: "In relation to the presence of FAI executives within the team environment of the World Cup, again it's important to point out that there was absolutely no interference in the technical affairs of the team as has been suggested, from either myself, Marc [Canham] or any FAI executives, whether that be team selection or anything of the sort.
"In terms of team affairs more generally, I as CEO, as well as the wider senior leadership team have worked hard to develop strong professional relationships with the players as we believe it’s crucial that players feel connected to the association. This was one of the key contributory factors as to how and why an equal pay agreement was reached and how better standards have been introduced alongside various other discussions.
"The players themselves view this kind of open and transparent interaction and communication as a real positive and have stated this on a number of occasions. In the past, the FAI has been accused of not listening to players and I for one do not believe that would reflect a modern working environment. Engagement with players and staff was always conducted in an appropriate manner and never in any way deliberately or inadvertently to undermine team affairs."
4. Would an independent review of the World Cup been fairer and more transparent?
Marc Canham: "It was an internal review and it is normal practice for us to conduct reviews after each window. This was an opportunity for us to take a deep dive into that for want of a better expression. It was our first qualification for a major tournament since 2016, our first ever in the women's game and an opportunity to look at the whole campaign, the whole tournament from the first game when we played Sweden and take those lessons learned. It was an internal review, my role is responsible for all international teams, men's and women’s, all of the underage teams from 15s to seniors. It was absolutely appropriate because of my responsibility, for me to conduct that review."
Jonathan Hill: "To add to that it’s important for you to know that both I and the whole of the board were comfortable with Marc in his role as director of football, and given the fact he knew all the people involved in the wider process to do the internal review, so we were very comfortable that it was appropriate."
5. Is the FAI fully satisfied that some of the issues raised by players in The Athletic were not also prevalent in the Ireland camp during Vera Pauw's time in charge?
Jonathan Hill: "I don't know whether we have time to go into detail in relation to The Athletic investigation, but it was relating to a period five years previous in a different jurisdiction. We voiced this at the time that we received the document, and we received it without being told it was going to be published, one of the things [FAI chairperson] Roy [Barrett] noted was that there was a lot of unsubstantiated and anonymised allegations. They were in relation to something that was five years ago, there was nothing in those allegations that related to anything that any of our players or staff came to us to talk about."
6. Why is it proving so hard to secure a shirt sponsor for the men's national team?
Jonathan Hill: "We have talked about this before and at various stages I’ve given a view on some of the challenges that we’ve had. In the early part of the search… in the context of Brexit and the pandemic, the empty stadiums in terms of when we were originally looking was not helpful in relation to that search. We now do have full stadia, and that’s one thing I would say, on foot of as well and on the back of the fact that I think overall the association is genuinely making really positive strides and I’d like to thank all of the staff within the association for what they’ve done over the last two years.
"We do have those full stadia, I think those people who went to the games both against France and Holland felt that it was a really unique atmosphere. And to answer your question, yes I do believe that there is a brand and a company out there who would want to align themselves and be part of that type of environment and atmosphere. The simple fact is that we have to find that brand, they have to be willing to invest in what we believe is a fair price for that sponsorship. They also have to be prepared to invest quite heavily over and above that amount that they invest into us as a sponsorship fee. So it’s a significant investment and the reality is, that as of yet, we haven’t found that brand or that company that wants to make that significant investment into the men’s national team."
