Leeds United were yesterday on a direct collision course with FIFA in the ongoing controversy over the release of players for the World Under-20 championship in Nigeria in April.
Within hours of a statement by Leeds chairman Peter Ridsdale that the club would not be releasing Stephen McPhail, Damien Lynch and Paul Donnelly to join Brian Kerr's squad, the FAI again asked for the intervention of FIFA.
When it came, the message from Zurich was unequivocal: Leeds were in breach of FIFA regulations and risked disciplinary action if they persisted in their refusal to make players available for the competition.
They also pointed out that national team managers have the right to assemble players a full 14 days before the April 3rd kick-off in the championship, which is scheduled to run for three weeks.
In the course of the communique, FIFA stated: "The clubs with which the summoned players are registered are bound by article 38 of our regulations to release the players for national team duty. Should they fail to comply they risk being sanctioned.
"The players concerned have furthermore no right to play for the clubs with whom they are registered during the period in which they have been released or should have been released."
The implications of the latter clause could have significant knock-on effects in terms of the English club competitions if Leeds were to continue to flout authority and field players debarred from travelling to Nigeria.
Although Ridsdale is fronting the club's refusal to come to heel on grounds of the "health and security" aspects of the African assignment, Leeds manager David O'Leary has made it clear that he is fully supportive of club policy on the issue.
McPhail, who has made nine first-team appearances this season, is regarded as a useful member of the squad. It puts O'Leary in an unenviable situation. He is caught between his employers on the one hand and the FAI, who may one day consider him for the job of managing the national team. Blackburn, Wolves and Everton are among those monitoring developments, but at this point there is no softening of the FAI's insistence that they will name their strongest squad to travel with Kerr.
"This is an important international tournament and we intend to be represented by the best available players," said an FAI spokesman.
Meanwhile, Mick McCarthy's hopes of strengthening his senior international squad with the acquisition of Blackburn's Australian-born goalkeeper John Filan were shattered yesterday by a ruling from FIFA. The player, who has displaced Tim Flowers in Blackburn's first team, intimated after the game against Sheffield Wednesday at the weekend that he wished to pursue an international career with Ireland because of his Irish ancestry.
Unfortunately for McCarthy, Filan has already represented Australia in a qualifying game for the Olympic Games and FIFA confirmed that this was sufficient to tie him to his native country for the rest of his international career.
The Australian had been recommended to McCarthy by Blackburn manager Brian Kidd. Since coming into the team he has tasted defeat only twice in 14 games and in Kidd's estimation he has been a significant factor in the club's recovery from their early-season problems.
A spokesman for the consortium hoping to relocate Wimbledon FC in Dublin said yesterday that the proposal, which is expected to be heard shortly in the European Court, is still viable.
Commenting on reports that Wimbledon chairman Sam Hammam is currently negotiating with Crystal Palace for the purchase of Selhurst Park, the spokesman said that plans to bring the club to Dublin were still being actively pursued.
