NIALL Quinn says the FAI will worry about the managerial handover between Mick McCarthy and Stephen Kenny after the rescheduled Euro 2020 play-off semi-final against Slovakia in June following Uefa’s decision to push the finals back by a year because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The FAI’s interim deputy CEO also described resuming domestic football in mid-April as “aspirational” and that he hoped the association could find some shelter for the League of Ireland players, many of whom are without wages because of the nationwide lock-down.
Speaking to FAI TV last night, Quinn was happy that Euro 2020 was pushed back by a year in order to give everyone “breathing space”.
Mick McCarthy was due to pass the managerial baton to U21 boss Stephen Kenny after Ireland’s interest in Euro 2020 expired, but with the finals postponed for a year there is naturally some confusion over when the handover will happen.
“I don’t think there’s any point in trying to do something about that,” said Quinn.
“We’re still in the position where we don’t know whether we’re going to the Euros or not. We’ll know on June 10 [after the play-offs] and I would have thought June 10 is a good time to start worrying about that particular instance. We’ll do that at the right time and we’ll speak to the stakeholders first. We won’t be talking publicly about that until the right time.”
As expected, Uefa reluctantly pushed back the 12-city Euro finals by a year following the global pandemic.
“I just think it gives everybody breathing space at a really difficult time and one where the health of our players, our fans and anybody in the footballing family of Europe is at stake, and I would commend Uefa for doing that,” said Quinn.
The Republic were scheduled to play Slovakia in a Euro play-off semi-final at the end of this month but that has now been fixed for early June.
“Will it happen? Will the medical world allow that? We don’t know,” said Quinn.
“Will HSE and government allow fans to travel, players to travel? We don’t know. We don’t want to put anybody in any danger, that’s the first thing.
“If there’s a lift [from coronavirus] and if there’s a possibility of those games going ahead it augurs well that we have a defined date and by the 10th of June we’ll know our fate.”
As businesses fall and employment soars, football has suffered the same ravages of Covid-19 with more and more clubs being unable to pay their players.
“We’re assessing the impact daily on what this is doing to the clubs. Some have already announced that they won’t be able to pay players. I suppose that’s in line with the national emergency that’s occurred.
“Thousands and thousands of people have been laid off. In my own village tonight, the hotel closed and 200 people were laid off. It’s a really, really tough time and we all get that. But we’re trying to come up with some solutions with the clubs and indeed the PFAI and the players themselves that will give us some satisfaction at this extraordinary time that the players can be helped in some shape or form.
“We have to dig deep now and see how best we can shelter our players and our clubs who are losing huge revenues.”
Uefa has set a date of mid-April for the resumption of domestic leagues across Europe, but Quinn conceded that it's a “big ask”.
The former Republic of Ireland striker also expressed his delight after it was announced earlier this week the FAI is set to receive a €50m rescue package from the Irish government, which would likely lead to the abolition of the historically unpopular affiliation fees foisted onto League of Ireland clubs.
