Derry City and the FAI are in a battle royal that has turned ugly with the Candystripes being expelled from the League of Ireland.
Budgets have been cut across most of the ten clubs operating in the Premier division in the League of Ireland as the credit crunch hit hard but the decision to expel Derry has caused shockwaves across the country.
They had just finished fourth and were expecting to pocket E60,000 prize money, but FAI Chief Executive John Delaney dealt them a hammer blow on Saturday.
Derry had well publicised financial problems but Delaney insists their misdemeanours are far worse and has accused them of operating on a ‘dual contract’ system.
Galway United will be breathing a huge sigh of relief as it will probably mean a reprieve from the relegation play-offs, but with Derry threatening legal action nothing is set in stone just yet as this saga seems set to drag on.
All of which has seen a war of words break out with the first shots being fires by a disgruntled Derry City chairman Pat McDaid. “What is the agenda?” McDaid asked.
“People need to come out and answer some questions about this. They can’t hide behind their desks or can’t hide behind statements. Everybody involved in this process should hang their head in shame; I hope they can sleep in their bed.
“The whole situation was disgusting. We came down here at 12.30pm, (League Director) Fran Gavin and (Compliance Officer) Padraig Smith attempted to take me out of the room to do some sort of a deal outside of our legal consult. People can draw their own conclusions.
“When the meeting started, we were told we were here for a discussion, no disciplinary process had even been launched. I was told by three different people on Thursday that this association had decided to relegate this club. They’ve actually put us out of football. They haven’t even relegated us; they’ve put us out of football.
“We will question the legality of this meeting. We have been brought down here and hung, drawn and quartered. There was no investigation into anything. We haven’t been accused of anything, there have been no accusations.
“People say it is based on admissions by our football club. I was at that meeting (on Wednesday) with the vice chairman and there was absolutely no admissions made by our club, about anything.
“It is disgraceful, absolutely disgraceful. We have fellas in our football club who don’t know what’s going to happen. Employees, directors, volunteers, and one of the best supports in Ireland, and nobody knows what’s going to happen.
“We will not be accepting this, we are not accepting the judgement of the FAI today, and they’ve also told us that we don’t even have a right to appeal, anywhere. Shame on them, shame on every single one of them in that room today.
“I will ask the clubs in Tuesday night’s play-off to examine their conscience before they play those games. They’ve put us out of business. A disgrace.”
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