Full coverage: FAI

Will Clarke is one of the FAI’s shining lights. He is campaigning to transform how Irish football develops young players. He speaks about why the FAI isn’t looking for a handout but seed capital.

On paper it was a simple idea — let children play in better weather. In practice it collided with the complexities of Irish football’s structures, cultures and contradictions.

Ireland lost 5-0 at Wembley because of a series of bad decisions taken nearly 20 years ago and compounded ever since. The only way to change is to understand the fundamental flaws in the game and work to change them. It is the only way to restore power to the powerless that dominate Irish football.

Once labelled the “difficult child” of Irish football, the League of Ireland is now attracting record crowds and huge interest. Drawing on numerous interviews with decision-makers, owners, and managers, this is the story of how domestic football was rehabilitated.

Less than a decade ago, Dundalk FC became only the second Irish team to qualify for group-level combat in European football. Last week, after failing to secure investment, its owner confirmed it was experiencing financial difficulty. What went wrong?

Sport Ireland CEO Una May talks about increasing participation, developing the national sports campus, and the thorny issue of governance.

An examination of the accounts of the major League of Ireland football clubs reveals growing wage bills and mounting losses. Those in the game are worried that the numbers are unsustainable.

In a rare and revealing interview, the State’s corporate enforcer Ian Drennan talks about corporate culture in Ireland, the priorities for the Corporate Enforcement Authority, and the lengthy probes into INM and the FAI.

John O’Shea conducted himself as well as he could in a situation not of his making but also did nothing to suggest he should be given the job as Ireland manager. His intention appeared to be conservative by avoiding a disaster that would rule him out.

Jonathan Hill’s time as FAI CEO will be remembered for a payments controversy and the failure to secure a national manager. But the dysfunction that has long shaped - and derailed - the organisation is deep-rooted and culturally embedded.