League of Ireland fans have been poking fun at the FAI over the new €5,000 grant that they will be giving clubs, but Derry City will not be accepting the money.
Their chief executive Sean Barrett has branded the gesture as 'disrespectful', and has revealed that Derry will tell the FAI exactly where to go with their money. The money is meant to help with each SSE Airtricity league club to complete their five-year plans, and Barrett told Derry News exactly what he thought of the FAI's actions:
I think it’s absolutely disgraceful the way they have treated the clubs. The FAI received €11 million and to throw something like that at us is disgraceful when we as a club on its own have had at least six players coming through Derry City Football Club to go on and play international football.
For us to be treated like that is not only disgraceful, it’s disrespectful and we will be not be accepting that figure. We will be telling them to keep the money. We won’t accept it.
Barrett and Derry think that the offer shows a lack of respect towards the League of Ireland clubs, especially when you consider how much it costs to be a part of the FAI.
Affiliation fees alone are €15,000. There’s the affiliation fees and then there are things like fines; for example we were fined €750 for one flare incident.
To ask anyone to do a five-year plan and then to give them to what equates to £4000 is disgraceful. It doesn’t scratch the surface.
We’re not even prepared to accept it.
It shows the lack of respect for the league. We have had six players play for the national team but they don’t seem to care about the league. It’s absolutely disgraceful.
[Derry Now]
See Also: League Of Ireland Fans Made Clear Their Feelings About FAI And John Delaney After Landmark Dundalk Victory
Picture credit: Paul Mohan / SPORTSFILE
