Up to 160 candidates have applied for the role of chief executive at the Football Association of Ireland (FAI). The vast interest — which doesn’t include recommendations from an executive recruitment agency — has been whittled down to a “long shortlist”, with interviews set to take place in the coming weeks. Top of the pile, for now, is interim CEO David Courell, who is moving towards his first 100 days in an acting role, and dealing with myriad challenges within the organisation.
Chief among them is worsening staff morale, depreciating brand value, and that extraordinary inability to appoint a men’s national team coach, with England at the Aviva Stadium just two months away. While Jonathan Hill has been consigned to history, insiders say little has changed at the FAI under Courell — who remains as dependent as his predecessor on a plethora of outside consultants to advise on basic operational needs. Key among the services being provided by these expensive advisers are marketing and communications, with the former, in particular, haemorrhaging more money than it is returning, according to a key source.
Another key issue is the ongoing depreciation of commercial values around various sponsorship assets, following scandal after scandal in Irish football. A second source told The Pitch that the issue of securing revenue through new sponsors is proving “an extremely difficult task”. To be fair to Courell, with just three months passed since he took over, he is f.
