Derry City chairman accuses FAI of 'victimising' the club after 'scandalous' disciplinary

Derry City Chairman Philip O'Doherty, pictured with City boss, Declan Devine, was disappointed with the actions of the FAI who charged the Brandywell club for failure to fulfil a league fixture despite advice from the Public Health Agency not to play.

Mr O'Doherty, who revealed the club appointed a Dublin-based barrister to take their case to the FAI's Independent Disciplinary Committee last week, said the Brandywell club felt 'victimised' by the association.

The three-person Committee later ruled Derry should go unpunished and the match was re-fixed for Saturday last, just 24 hours after the club's Covid-19 self-isolation period had ended.

It meant Declan Devine's team faced two games inside three days despite having little or no time to prepare on the pitch with the club's Premier Division status at stake.

The powers that be at Abbotstown ruled Derry should not be punished for failing to play the match against Shamrock Rovers.

And the club chairman questioned whether the FAI understood their own participation agreement as the club's legal representative 'took apart' their charge at last Wednesday's hearing before the committee 'caved in'.

Commenting during a no-holes barred interview on BBC Radio Foyle prior to Derry's 1-1 draw against Cork City, Mr O'Doherty claimed the FAI were guilty of breaching their own rulebook.

"To be brought up to a disciplinary tribunal for implementing a very common sense decision that the club doctor and the PHA (Public Health Agency) recommended to us . . . " began Mr O'Doherty.

"(To be) disciplined means we've done something wrong," he added. "There was no acknowledgement of the very high Covid numbers in Derry at that time.

"Our players live in the community and just compare that with the treatment Shamrock Rovers got when they rearranged three games.

"We were extremely disappointed. We obviously felt victimised. I couldn't believe I had to contact a barrister in Dublin. He totally took them apart.

"They obviously don't understand their own rules. It's a fairly new team in there but to make a decision like that that ultimately could affect the relegation of a football team, i.e Derry City, I think was scandalous.

"They caved in early on and Joe Jeffers, our barrister, I don't think it was the most difficult case he had to overturn.

"I don't think they expected us to bring a barrister on board but all we had to do was read the FAI participation agreement and rulebook and it was very clear they were in breach of that.

"Mark Scanlon (FAI CEO) is very new to the job but it was a very poor decision he made."

Mr O'Doherty didn't want to dwell any further on the matter now it was resolved and praised the FAI for how it has handled the disruptive 2020 Airtricity League campaign during the pandemic.

"We move on," he said. "It's over and done with. I've been very supportive of the new FAI regime and Gary Owens did a fabulous job.

"Now he's moving on himself, he was only interim (CEO) but he did a very good job for bringing the league to where we've got to today, apart from that minor mis-step that was made with the disciplinary hearing for Derry City."