Hi °C | Lo °C Raymond Kennedy will not quit as President of the Irish FA.
His position has been called into question after former chief executive Howard Wells last week won a six-figure out-of-court settlement of his claim for unfair dismissal — 14 months after being sacked by Kennedy.
When asked if he was consider his position, Kennedy last night told the Belfast Telegraph: “Absolutely not. Why would I?
“Things like this, that have seen money paid out, have affected the IFA before and we’ve moved on.
“I am involved in a lot of work on various issues. Work that I can’t walk away from.
“Even at the minute I am involved in discussions with the international manager over a new contract, that is something which has to be sorted out and hopefully will be quite quickly.
“I am heavily engaged in working to get the stadium issue moved forward as quickly as possible and brought to a successful conclusion.
“I did a lot to get things with the stadium to get it off the ground again after the issue had become derailed when the Maze project was shelved.
“I have unfinished business, that I am determined to see through, that will be for the betterment of football in Northern Ireland.”
And Kennedy claims that money which he has played a key role in bringing into the IFA coffers recently and further cash to come in the near future will dwarf the payment made to Wells.
And that includes two glamour friendlies at Windsor Park in the next 12 months.
“I negotiated £200,000 for the friendly against Italy in June. Where else would we have brought in that kind of money with the squad we took to that match?” said Kennedy.
“In the last month I have gained a grant of $500,000 from UEFA for the repair of the North Stand roof at Windsor Park.
“And the big thing that is going on at the minute is that I am involved in discussions to bring two major matches to Windsor Park that will net us the money that we need to put into funding the new stadium, because we can’t rely on Government to give us 100 per cent funding.
“I can’t walk away from that.”
