Noel Mooney has appeared to distance himself from becoming the next full-time top dog of the FAI.
On Sunday, the former League of Ireland goalkeeper was ‘loaned’ to the association from UEFA to oversee governance reform at the crisis-hit association.
This evening, speaking to the FAI’s in-house TV station, he gave his first interview since landing the temporary role on a six-month basis.
And quizzed on succeeding scandal-hit John Delaney full-time, Mooney said: “I'm really happy at UEFA as the head of Business Development across European football.
“The ambition is to roll up the sleeves here, work extremely hard as a servant to Irish football and then return to the UEFA at the end of November.
“I had never discussed the role as CEO of the FAI.
“In UEFA, I don't think it would be unusual for people to think if you go home, you would take a leading role with the organisation.
“But I've certainly never discussed it with the FAI.”
On obstacle that Mooney faces is trying to shed the image that he was a ‘Delaney man’ having praised the former CEO at the FAI AGM in 2017.
That day, Mooney - addressing the FAI as a member of UEFA staff - said: "We had a young CEO who managed to make the association fit for purpose.”
Asked about this on ‘FAI TV’, Mooney said: “Part of my role at UEFA is to visit the annual congress of football federations.
“We make a speech on behalf of UEFA, our president, and generally we would be complimentary of the association when we do speak to them.”
Mooney joins the FAI as their General Manager for Football Services and Partnerships - but will effectively be in charge of the association.
He said: “The initial task at hand is to start rebuilding trust with people in Irish football.
“We've had a difficult couple of months here in Ireland but we’re ready to listen to the different stakeholders.
“The board (which Mooney is not a member of ) is committed to reform and I'm joining the FAI full-time to lead the administration for six months.
“I won't be doing any work with UEFA except engaging with their staff and to access funding that's required from UEFA to help the Irish game to go.”
It emerged last week that UEFA is prepared to offer the cash-strapped FAI a digout of up to €10 million to keep it afloat
Mooney said: “We’ll have no hesitation in accessing all that support be it personnel or finance, or whatever area UEFA and FIFA can help us in.
“Having seen first hand their resources, it's immense and it's a great opportunity for the FAI to capitalise on that.
“In Greece, they had huge governance issues so when the parties couldn't agree how to bring the game forward, there was a lot of support from UEFA and FIFA.”
Mooney added: “Once we put through the reform that is required, Irish football will go from strength to strength.
“There is a new chapter coming for Irish football and I'd like everyone to be positive about what's coming. It's an opportunity to build something new.”
