ON A DAY when the FAI ordered an external inquiry into their ticket dealings, former Republic of Ireland international Ray Treacy joined those calling for the resignation of the five man officer board. Failing that, and the motions of confidence which are to be placed in the quintet at the FAI's senior council meeting of March 8th, Treacy believes that Irish supporters should boycott next month's international with Russia at Lansdowne Road.

"The longer it goes on, then the more the game is tainted by the current turmoil," says Treacy, in relation to the wave of bad publicity which the FAI has attracted. This follows four high profile resignations, a damaging court case with referees Michael Tomney and Tommy Traynor, deals with ticket touts, contradictory responses to alleged financial shortfalls met by treasurer Joe Delaney and to compensation for former general secretary Sean Connolly, and a general lack of transparency and accountability.

"If the officers aren't big enough to do the honourable thing, let the people who consistently moan about the FAI talk with their feet. As someone who always wanted Mick McCarthy to be the new manager, I would hate it if his inaugural game was hurt in any way. But for the sake of football in this country, if the Irish soccer fans feel so bad and mistrust the officer board, then they should take simple action: don't turn up if they (the officers) do not step down."

A long standing critic of the association, the recently departed Shamrock Rovers manager denies that he is motivated by "sour grapes". Treacy, a travel agent who has organised trips for Irish supporters faraway games, was given no tickets by the FAI for last year's European championship playoff at Anfield.

Treacy says he is "excited" about the "great opportunity" which the current scenario presents "to right the FAI".

"The clubs have a great opportunity to clear out what needs to be cleared out," he says. "If the officers feel they have performed well, then fine: let them all resign and then let their performances speak for themselves by putting their names forward again. Now's the time to start with a clean slate. That's the least that Mick McCarthy deserves."

However, the announcement that the FAI has ordered an external inquiry into their ticket dealings at the US 94 World Cup finals (which will be presented to the senior council on March 8th) may strengthen the officer board's resolve to hold their positions until the votes of confidence that night.

The FAI's acting secretary, Brendan Menton, confirmed yesterday that the investigation, by Bastow Charleton Chartered Accountants, will also incorporate Italia 90.

He declined to speculate on their findings. "I don't want to pre judge the issue, so I would like to reserve my comment on that. But what I will say is we've asked the investigators to report to the senior council of the association and, in particular, we've asked them to bring an interim report to the council on March 8th.

"This interim report will focus particularly on the US 94 ticket situation and particularly the alleged shortfall and the alleged loss to the ticket agent."

Any subsequent action will, Menton said, be the prerogative of the senior council. "The senior council of the association is the ultimate authority and it will be up to them to make the decision and to do what they decide is in the best interests of football in this country."

A spokesperson for Bastow Charlton, Brian Conroy said it was quite commonplace lord such investigations to "go back historically, and examine what should have happened in the past and what may have been omitted in the past".

"In this case our terms of reference are to start by examining one specific group of transact ions which related to the ticketing situation for the World Cup 94," he added.

Conroy also confirmed that their remit would go beyond US 94 and Italia 90 "to further examine the ticket management of the FAI generally".

"Obviously that's with the intention of making recommendations to improve the ticket management, if that is seen to be a desirable or a necessary thing." This second phase of their investigation will take, approximately, a month.