December 11 – Irish police are reported to be investigating a series of threats made against staff at the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), leading to increased security at the federation’s Dublin headquarters.
According to the Irish Times, an email was sent to employees by FAI interim executive lead Paul Cooke saying said the organisation was “working in close partnership” with the police “in relation to a number of postal incidents”.
The paper understands a number of threats were made in letters received last week after the FAI published revised accounts showing it had liabilities of some €55 million at the end of last year. Questions have since been raised about the federation’s viability in the face of such a level of debt, the paper adds.
Cooke told staff that the association had put “certain safety measures in place purely as a precautionary mechanism”.
The reports cap a turbulent year for the FAI with one-time European football bigwig John Delaney stepping down in September as Executive Vice President just days before he was due to appear in front of a parliamentary committee to be quizzed about an unauthorised €100,000 personal loan to his employers.
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