St Patrick’s Athletic are due to find out today whether the 15 point penalty, imposed over the improper registration of top-scorer Charles Mbabazi Livingstone, will stand.
The Inchicore club are appealing the deduction of the points and, if successful, will overtake Shelbourne at the top of the eircom League Premier Division and be crowned champions.
Officials from St Pat’s are meeting an independent three-man arbitration committee at FAI headquarters on Merrion Square at 3 p.m. this afternoon where it is hoped that the long-running saga will finally be brought to a satisfactory conclusion.
The appeal was due to have taken place last Friday but had to be postponed after one of the committee members withdrew.
Meanwhile, applications for the vacant managers post at Shelbourne will close today. Previous incumbant, Dermot Keely, tendered his resignation last week, claiming it was "time to go" after four years in the job while branding the league administration a "joke".
A Shelbourne official confirmed this morning that an announcement on the identity of the new boss will be made next week.
The Tolka Park club have received roughly 25 applications for the job.
Among the names rumoured to be interested are UCD’s player-manager Paul Doolin, a former Shels hero, Pete Mahon, Colin Murphy and Roddy Collins.
There is also a whispering campaign afoot suggesting an ex-international manager has applied, leading to speculation that former Wales manager Bobby Gould could be on his way to Drumcondra.
