There will be no real surprise that the battle between former chief executive Howard Wells and the Irish Football Association has ended with an out of court settlement.

The case whereby Mr Wells was taking an action against the IFA when he was summarily dismissed by the president and vice-president of the association just over a year ago was days away from entering court.

And both he and the Association had been preparing to go head-to-head before a settlement reaching six figures was reached yesterday, seeing Wells walk off with a bulging wallet and — most likely — a smile on his face.

It’s been a very long and winding road for Wells since he took the post as the IFA’s very first chief executive.

He fought many battles, but most of them were internal.

And it is 13 months since he was told to clear his desk at the IFA’s Windsor Avenue headquarters and given a matter of minutes to do so.

At the time he had already taken a grievance case against his employers, which then became a challenge for unfair dismissal.

In his complaints against the IFA, Wells named two individuals, one of whom was president Raymond Kennedy, who took over from Jim Boyce in 2007.

Wells, who had been appointed to his role in November 2004, had a less than warm relationship with the president and members of the Executive Board in the final year of his contract.

Mr Wells, naturally, is more than happy with a substantial six-figure sum plus all legal costs which to all intents and purposes vindicates his allegations.

His only quote after yesterday’s agreement was that he was ‘satisifed’ with the outcome”.

That money will make a sizeable dent in Irish FA finances at a time when they least need it — last year’s profit was a modest £60,000, which is a lot less than Wells has been handed — and will raise questions from members as to the standing of the president and those who supported him.

Indeed, the majority of the board backed the decision to get rid of Mr Wells even though there were questions raised at the time about the procedures adopted, apparently against legal advice.

So that begs the question whether president Kennedy and others, should now be considering their positions?

Did they expose the organisation unnecessarily to this outcome and should they now pay the penalty?

Have their positions become untenable? Certainly if Wells had won the case after it had gone through court that would have been the case.

Article 29 of the IFA constitution deals with the disqualification of office bearers and committee members and part of that covers where an individual “by his willful actions puts the association at legal or financial risk”.

There can be little doubt that it was a risky battle to take on and which the Irish FA have now lost.

The key word here is “willful” which means done on purpose, deliberately or done in a obstinate manner bent on having one’s own way.

That is now a matter for the members of the IFA.

Effectively agreeing to pay Wells a substantial figure out of court means the IFA have handed their former figurehead victory without standing up to his challenge, and there are likely to be more losers.