FAI CEO John Delaney has confirmed that the association’s decade long arrangement with businessman Denis O’Brien to help fund the Republic of Ireland management team has come to an end.
Speaking to Off The Ball's Nathan Murphy, he also added that the news had no impact on Martin O’Neill’s recent contract negotiations.
"First of all, Denis has been fantastic to the FAI over the last 10 years," said Delaney.
"He's given funding of almost €10 million to us so we could fund an international manager and at the time he came to us, it was a difficult time financially. It was a time we were building the Aviva Stadium. We were also looking to push the boundaries to have a proper budget to bring a top manager in to manage the international team which turned out to be Trapattoni and Marco Tardelli at the time.
"So we always knew it was going to come to an end. It's a decade, he's been fantastic, he's a big supporter of the FAI, he's going to be into the future as well in other ways. But I think at this particular juncture, we're strong enough now to stand on our own two feet and all I can do on behalf of the FAI and people in football is thank him for what was an extraordinary contribution at a pivotal time for the FAI."
