SOCCER: After several months of internal wrangling, Fran Rooney's grip on the reins of power within the FAI tightened considerably over the weekend as the Eircom League's chairman, Brendan Dillon, resigned his position after concluding his relationship with the association's chief executive and its treasurer, John Delaney, was "beyond repair".

The league's general manager, Tommy Allen, also announced his departure.

Dillon announced his decision at Saturday's meeting of league clubs, which had been called to consider a proposal from Shelbourne that the league give up its autonomy and integrate more fully with the FAI.

Dillon said he could no longer work with the two men and "as long as Fran Rooney and John Delaney remain at the association I can't see myself becoming involved again".

The former UCD official cited what he called "a complete lack of consultation" with regard to a presentation made by Rooney to Saturday's meetingas having finally persuaded him to go.

But he also listed a string of other issues, including his inability to obtain details of payments made to consultants, the handling of negotiations in relation to the new sponsorship deal with Eircom and his repeated clashes with the chief executive over procedure and the rules of the organisation as having contributed to the decision.

Rooney yesterday rejected the suggestion that he had effectively provoked Dillon's departure with the chief executive insisting, "I have attempted to build good relationships with everybody within the association and consultation has been the cornerstone of my approach since taking the job.

"It's always sad when somebody decides to resign and Brendan has contributed hugely to the game, but in the end it is his decision and I'm not really in a position to comment on that."

It was widely known, however, that the pair had clashed on a number of issues and matters came to a head over the weekend when Rooney put the case to club representatives for a merger that Dillon vehemently opposes.

With the clubs split along broadly divisional lines, the chief executive presented a "discussion document", in which he held out the prospect of dramatically improvedinvestment and sponsorship for the league if the FAI were allowed to take control of its administration.

The suggestion that the many issues contained in the proposal be opened up for discussion seems to have been generally welcomed, although it is still believed that the clubs who oppose the merger, many of them from the first division, have the numbers to deny it the two-thirds majority it needs.

Dillon, however, was annoyed that, as chairman of the league and an officer of the association, he knew nothing of what was to be put to the meeting beforehand. "If the chief executive and treasurer of the association couldn't even bring themselves to discuss their policy for the league with me then clearly the relationship is beyond repair."

It was claimed yesterday that Dillon's position had been further undermined by a meeting held between Saturday's morning and afternoon sessions at which a number oftop-flightclubs decided to form a breakaway league in the event they were denied the opportunity to discuss Rooney's proposals.

Dillon denies this and one of the clubs allegedly involved yesterday denied it too, but there have been persistent rumours of late that a number of clubs - including Shelbourne, Bohemians and Derry City - have been considering a split.

Rooney outlined the contents of his presentation at a press conference but insisted, "the last thing we would want to do is to force anything on the clubs, that would be a disaster for everyone."

First, however, attention may shift to the association's president, Milo Corcoran, after several club officials expressed concern over reports that, under pressure from his employers, he is effectively taking leave of absence from his job after a deal was worked out whereby the FAI will pay his wages. Under the organisation's articles of association, none of the officers, with the exception of the chief executive, can be paid for the performance of duties.