The FAI confirmed early today that they have terminated their contract with Irish soccer manager Steve Staunton after just 21 months in the position, writes Emmet Malone.
At a press conference in a Dublin hotel at 1 a.m. FAI president David Blood said the parting of the ways came by "mutual consent". Mr Blood said Staunton had "brought through many young
players and leaves behind a squad with strong development potential". He continued: "I am disappointed that things have not worked out the way I, Steve, or my colleagues on the board expected."
FAI Chief Executive John Delaney said he would play no part in the selection of Staunton's
replacement. The end of the 38-year-old former Liverpool and Aston Villa defender's management of the Irish squad came after renewed pressure in the last week following Ireland's 1-1 draw against Cyprus which ended our hopes of qualifying for Euro 2008.
The confirmation early today of Staunton's departure came after Staunton met with the FAI's 10-man board for 30 minutes at a Dublin hotel yesterday evening to make his case for being allowed to carry on. Staunton addressed the meeting at the Radisson Hotel in the grounds of Dublin airport after which the executive met and finally decided to terminate his contact.
Yesterday the FAI played cat-and mouse with the media who were desperately scratching around for clues as to where they were meeting. The biggest pointer had been provided by the two journalists who pursued a board member from the city centre to Santry by car after stumbling upon him buying a bar of chocolate not far from Merrion Square.
He then disappeared inside, however, leaving the rapidly growing media pack behind with
only the fact that two of the hotel's meeting rooms had been booked in the name of Mark O'Leary (the association's financial director) to help them stave off the growing suspicion that they might have been had.
The first FAI security man appeared an hour ahead of the meeting's scheduled start, a point at
which the presence of dozens of journalist may just have prompted a change of venue. An anxious wait for the arrival of Staunton followed but there was a succession of false alarms over the next couple of hours with, most memorably, one woman arriving at the hotel by taxi
understandably surprised to find her car mobbed by television cameramen and radio reporters as it came to a halt close to the front door.
There were vague assurances from members of FAI staff that there was indeed something "going on" upstairs but when it emerged that the car that had been followed was now gone and RTÉ television then reported that manager and board had met up the road by the airport, even the optimists among the group were beginning to accept that things were not looking great.
As deadline time approached, the sense of bemusement at the day's turn of events subsided and the hotel lobby went quiet as reporters set about filing their stories. There was just time to reflect, however, that if the association's officials had employed half as much ingenuity finding Brian Kerr's successor as they had firing him, then perhaps they would not have had to lie so low in the first place.