John Fallon: The request, payment, revelation and shovel – Jonathan Hill's four steps to the trap door

FOOTBALL folk can often be defined by six degrees of separation, but in the case of Jonathan Hill, he had four phases to avoid his ultimate ruination this week.

All the FAI board did on Monday morning was confirm his departure as chief executive.

Whether he was pushed or walked, only a Vera Pauw-style tell-all will reveal the minutiae but what's known for certain is his overseers weren't clamouring to extend his initial contract.

Some might crib that an executive in a competitive private sector has their salary restricted to a senior civil servant's ceiling, but the benefit it accrued was the replica seven-year contract John Delaney's successor was awarded upon his appointment in November 2020.

That his salary soared 23% to €258,000 by the end of his third year irked the rank of file but, for all the other reasons he was feeling pressure in the job, it was a teeny transaction of untaken holiday pay, five percent of that annual largesse, which acted as the catalyst for Monday's exit.

Rolling with the punches during his first visit to Leinster House in December for a grilling by politicians left Hill dazed.

It didn't need a knockout punch on his February return before the Public Accounts Committee as his contortions allowed a feather to floor him.

Here we look at those chapters that led to his demise:

The request/suggestion:

Email trails since furnished at the request of deputy Alan Dillon show Hill's first correspondence on the payment for holidays scandal came on November 15, 2022.

We don't know exactly what wordage was used, due to the message being entirely redacted, but under later questioning the CEO admitted to writing: "Can you negotiate the same for me please?!"

This was sent to Alex