Report Card: Grading Jonathan Hill's performance during his time as FAI CEO

The departing FAI Chief Executive Jonathan Hill

Paul Cooke delivered a knockout blow in Government Buildings almost two months ago, when the FAI president conceded under repeated questioning by Paul McAuliffe TD that his confidence in chief executive Jonathan Hill had been “challenged” by recent events.

But the controversy over his €12,000 payment in lieu of holiday days – plus another €8,000 benefit-in-kind that Hill also had to pay back to the Association – only tells part of the story.

Confirmation on Monday of Hill’s departure came as no surprise, with most observers believing it was inevitable after his performance in front of the Public Accounts Committee.

Reflecting on his three-and-a-half-year reign, now that his turbulent time at Abbotstown is about to come to an end, we can piece together a report card on key areas of his role.

SPONSORSHIP

For most of his time in charge of the FAI, the men’s national team had been without a primary partner.

Presumably by appointing a former Group Commercial Director with the English FA, Commercial Director of Wembley National Stadium and Commercial Director for Euro ‘96, the FAI had hoped for a quicker resolution than the very belated swelling of Sky’s sponsorship portfolio.

It wasn’t all bad news, though, as Sky did come in under his tenure, initially as a first ever stand-alone sponsor of the women’s national team under Hill’s watch. Cadbury got involved too, while there were various smaller partnership deals struck.

GRADE: D-

LIVING ARRANGEMENTS

The press release on October 16, 2020, confirming his appointment, stated that he would ‘work between London and Dublin at first due to ongoing (Covid) restrictions’. It added that he would ‘be based in Dublin as soon as it is safe to do so’.

He continued to commute from London and was quizzed again about this arrangement last December at the FAI AGM.

“First of all I’m in the office, I’m in Dublin four days a week. I explained the circumstances, my personal circumstances, my family circumstances in relation to why I couldn’t move to Dublin full-time and Roy (Barrett) and the board discussed that and they were comfortable with it,” he replied.

GRADE: D

MANAGERS (MEN)

Hill supported Stephen Kenny getting a new deal after, in late-2021, he conducted a “review of the 2022 World Cup qualification campaign” – even if it took a while to get it done. It wasn’t until the following March that Kenny’s contract was extended until the end of the Euro 2024 campaign.

Kenny’s reign came to an end on November 22 last and both Hill and director of football Marc Canham have come in for plenty of criticism over the length of time it has taken to recruit his successor.

While an appointment is widely expected later this week, we are now 145 days without a senior international manager. The one thing we know for certain is that it’s not going to be the FAI’s top choice, Lee Carsley. Their failure to land him is worthy of its own review.

GRADE: D (To be reviewed)

MANAGERS (WOMEN)

Hill found himself entangled in the Vera Pauw situation last year – when an interview with the then-manager appeared in The Athletic about the allegations raised in an NWSL report.

The subject came up again last week when she spoke on Richie Sadlier’s podcast and accused him of undermining her authority by holding meetings with players. Yet Hill, it can be argued, had every right to talk to players who were clearly frustrated with their manager for bringing this issue up again so close to the World Cup.

Speaking last August, shortly after Pauw’s departure Hill stated that Pauw’s engagement with The Athletic contributed to her downfall as Ireland manager.

“Vera chose to engage with The Athletic and then chose to talk to it in the press conference,” he said. “I advised her not to do it because I thought it would be a distraction and as it turned out there were certain people who felt that it was a distraction.”

GRADE: C+

BIDS

The 2024 Europa League final is coming to Dublin in May and Ireland will host Euro 2028 along with England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Getting the Europa League final was consolation for losing out on the four Euro 2020 games that we were due to host, on account of the FAI and Irish Government being unable to give UEFA guarantees on minimum attendances, due to Covid restrictions at the time.

Meanwhile, there were no rival bidders for Euro 2028.

But these achievements must be acknowledged.

GRADE: A

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS

Hill was in the hotseat as the FAI drew down Covid relief funding to keep League of Ireland clubs and grassroots sides from going belly-up, and Legacy Funding for Dalymount Park. But this was par for the course, as were the were other grant payments that came into Abbotstown.

The big one came in June of last year when the FAI launched an ambitious Facilities and Infrastructure Vision and Strategy. Of their proposed investment of €863m over a 15-year period, they sought a Government contribution of €517m.

To push this one, it requires the kind of diplomacy that would make Good Friday Agreement architect George Mitchell proud. However, since the June launch, it seems the FAI have been doing their best to make enemies in Leinster House.

The first significant bump in the road came on November 14 when sports minister Thomas Byrne warned that the Government would cut state funding and sports capital grants by 50 percent if the FAI failed to meet their end-of-year target of achieving 40 percent female representation on their board.

This came after an effort by the FAI to add two female directors did not get the 75 percent supermajority required to pass – a significant challenge to the authority of Hill and the so-called new FAI. A month later, and following Minister Byrne’s threats, the vote carried.

But then came a freeze on €6.8m in funding to the FAI later in November, over the controversial payments to Hill.

While that freeze was lifted in early December, relations continued to deteriorate after Hill’s infamous appearance in February in front of PAC, where he contradicted statements during a December hearing when he said he had nothing to do with the process that delivered the payment.

The Association was accused of “insulting the public” with a “cock and bull story”, in what was an extremely damaging blow to the bid for the levels of investment sought only eight months earlier.

Committee members were already angered by the late arrival of the FAI’s opening statement and an email chain that included one completely redacted email. It made the FAI a laughing stock and put the Association back on the front pages again for all the wrong reasons.

The FAI also had to defend the use of almost €1m of Covid funds to pay a ‘legacy capital’ debt at that hearing.

“To hand in an email with simply a logo on a page, it’s an insult to the public and it’s not good behaviour from an organisation that’s going to put its hand out for €517m,” said PAC chair Brian Stanley after the hearing.

Relations between the Government and FAI hadn’t been this poor since the John Delaney era.

Between Hill’s attempts to explain the €12,000 payment and Cooke’s ‘shaken confidence’ remark, it became clear from that day that the CEO was on borrowed time.

GRADE: F

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