Soccer hero Niall Quinn said he took on his brief stint as deputy FAI boss because he felt it was his “duty” to the organisation.
The ex-Ireland international was enlisted as the FAI’s deputy interim CEO in January 2020 following the fallout from the association’s financial scandals under John Delaney.
Speaking ahead of a two-part series on Wednesday on Virgin Media Two about his life, Quinn said he felt he had to step up to the plate as he had been so critical.
He told RTE Radio 1’s Brendan O’Connor show: “I felt it was my duty. I knew and had been told that the Government and the bank, who were serious stakeholders at the time, were looking to see more confidence in there and they would be quite pleased if I came in.
“I had done a lot of talking about it through the media saying how bad things were so sometimes you have to put your money where your mouth is.”
The ex-Arsenal and Man City star stepped down from the temporary job in September last year. Quinn admitted he knew it would be difficult taking the job knowing how toxic the association has been perceived. However, he is hopeful about the FAI’s future. He said: “The change that was needed wasn’t going to be easily achieved and that played itself out.
“What I found was the vast majority of people do superb work in that association at a grass roots level.”
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