John Fallon: FAI chief executive Hill facing uphill task for survival
THE Aviva Stadium’s Green Room hospitality suite on Tuesday night projected a tint of red alert as the walls closed in on Jonathan Hill’s tenure as chief executive.
Five years to the day from his predecessor John Delaney’s final appearance at an Ireland match against Georgia, interrupted by a hail of tennis balls, the incumbent was facing an uphill task for survival.
It seems increasingly unlikely he’ll be around for the next one on June 4 against Hungary.
Members of the FAI board are convening on Wednesday for their routine monthly meeting, but those of the 14 hailing from the football side of the table will be anxiously awaiting the outcome of chairman Tony Keohane’s dealings with Hill.
Keohane assumed that position in December on a manifesto wedded to ensuring a sweep of cleanliness throughout the organisation.
While the decision of outgoing chair Roy Barrett to approve €12,000 of in-lieu holiday payment to Hill — a breach of the company’s HR policies — was being ventilated, a dose of forthrightness came from the ex-Tesco’s chief executive’s mouth.
“I’ll be blunt - that won't happen under my watch,” Keohane began one of his first public offerings in the post on December 9. It was an impressive opening salvo.
Irish fans have endured too many false dawns and proclamations for this figurehead to be declared the saviour.
But in Easter week, he may well emerge as the man to reawaken an organisation failing abysmally to rid itself of a reputation solidified by the Delaney era.
From the last week in October when revelations of Hill’s erroneous payments first came into the public sphere, the regime Hill presides over remains tainted.
It’s not so much receiving the payment but rather the circumstances around it and the
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