President Donal Conway admits the FAI board is culpable for the crisis tearing Irish football apart.
But he claims it still has the credibility to flog the all-important roadmap for change ahead of a make-or-break vote at next month’s AGM.
It emerged last night that FIFA intends sending some of its key officials to that day of reckoning in Trim on July 27.
And Conway has expressed ‘serious concerns’ for the future of the association if the Governance Review Group report is not adopted.
That will require at least 140 of the 206 Council delegates at the AGM to green light the 133-page report and its 78 recommendations.
It is now the ‘absolute priority’ of the current seven-person FAI board to convince delegates to support those proposals, Conway said yesterday.
And yet the same board is badly damaged, with Conway a key figure on it at a time when the FAI has hurtled into an unprecedented crisis under its watch.
So it begs the question, how do the same people go about selling reform to Council members ahead of the landmark vote?
Conway - who refused to rule out seeking reelection to the next, reformed 12-person board - said: “The point is very valid - credibility. What credibility do they have?
“But I feel I do have the credibility to sit in front of them and recommend this report.”
Conway continued: “The stakeholders have been let down and that responsibility lies with the board.
“(But) I’d be very seriously concerned for the FAI if this report is rejected. The unlocking of the suspension of Sport Ireland funding, for example.
“The reaction of the sponsors - brand association with an FAI that fails to adopt a governance report could present a challenge.
“They will be among many of the arguments that we'll be putting to our members to influence their decision. FIFA and UEFA ... will want to see this adopted.
“Plan A is this Governance Review Group report, there is no Plan B. This is what we have to achieve.
“There is going to be an absolutely huge engagement with the members of the football family.”
But Conway is confident the Council members will adopt reform proposals and added:
“I think it will pass. It’s about recognising that this is the best for the FAI.
“I’d have talked to sponsors during the worst of the difficulties we’ve had in recent months and they're all looking very carefully at this.
“Their continued involvement with brand FAI is dependent on this kind of report being adopted.”
While the FAI board said it would resign en masseat the AGM, yesterday’s report - chaired by Aidan Horan - recommended that one or two current members stay on.
That would be on an interim basis for a one-year period only, the theory being that their experience would assist the newcomers.
The seven members of the current board will meet in the next fortnight to decide who among them will be put forward.
Conway said: “We’ve a number of investigations (into the FAI) in-play.
“If you take all those people out and put in 12 new people who’ve not been engaged at all with our current issues, I’m not sure that best serves the Board going forward.”
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