The Football Association of Ireland chief executive Jonathan Hill will not be moving to Dublin.
Hill, who was offered a five-figure relocation package when appointed in October 2020, pointed to a changing family situation caused by the pandemic, and strongly believes he can oversee the running of Irish football while commuting from London.
This stance was unequivocally supported by FAI chairman Roy Barrett.
“From my perspective it’s a bit of a non-issue, really,” said Barrett. “When I look at it, and I have the benefit of working closest with Jonathan, given my role, I would much prefer to have a really good chief executive who is very effective and productive and has a really good work ethic. All of that and the outcomes from all of that are an awful lot more important than simply presenteeism and where they are located.
“And the world has changed.
“We have a ceo who has been with us for 14 months, who is doing a very good job and delivering on all of the agendas we have set for him to date. He has my full support and the board’s full support.”
The FAI have yet to secure a shirt sponsor for the senior men’s team since Three cut ties in 2020.
Hill, who will continue to commute from England on the FAI’s expense rather than draw down on the initially agreed relocation fund, is adamant the job can be done just as effectively without living in Ireland.
“Off the back of the pandemic, the way in which people work has changed over the last 18 months,” said Hill. “I’ve had hundreds of Zoom calls and Teams calls. For me, the most important thing is not where I do my work, it is how I do my work. And the outcomes from that work.
“ I think I have been working pretty hard to understand what I need to understand from Irish football to be able to produce [the FAI strategy 2022-25] document, which I believe is important, speaking to as many people as I can, meeting them as often as I can, and getting to as many League of Ireland matches as I can do.
“At the moment it’s unlikely I will move my family here,” he continued. “I have young daughters and a son at a specific point of their education that has been affected by the pandemic, so I think it would be unfair on them to move at this specific point. I will be here and I will be very close to this office so I can be here on a very regular basis.”
On the appointment of the FAI’s director of football, Hill indicated that a successor to Dutch man Ruud Dokter, who stepped aside last year, will need to immediately grasp the intricacies of the Irish game.
“It may not be that we need a specific Irish solution to what are Irish challenges. Does that person need to be Irish? Not necessarily. But that will be part of the recruitment process and we will find the best person for the job, but they have to understand the context of Irish football.”
