It was expected last night that a meeting of Shelbourne's management committee would conclude with a formal request to Finbarr Flood, the club's former chairman, to take over the running of the club until Ollie Byrne is sufficiently well to return to work.

Byrne's precise condition remained unconfirmed yesterday with the club merely issuing a statement to the effect that he was still undergoing tests and was comfortable. On its website, however, the club informed supporters that its chief executive was likely to undergo surgery "within the next 24 hours". Because of this, it was anticipated that he would be transferred from St James's Hospital, where he was initially admitted late on Tuesday afternoon, to Beaumont Hospital but this had still not happened as the meeting at Tolka Park got under way.

In his absence, other members of the management committee appeared to be struggling to find ways of filling a very large vacuum.

At a meeting of supporters late last week Byrne had told a number of people that Seán Connolly, a former general secretary of the FAI, was to be appointed chief executive of the club.

This had not happened by the time he was taken ill, however, and those outsiders attempting to deal with the club in his absence yesterday were struggling to make any sort of headway.

"Ollie's a lovely guy who has done a lot for football and nobody would want to see him laid up like this," said Stephen McGuinness of the PFAI, "but the current situation only seems to highlight the extent to which everything at Shelbourne depends on him. We've made massive efforts to get hold of anybody at the club over the last couple of days and the simple fact is that we haven't gotten anywhere."

The players' union has, inevitably, been attempting to get clarification on when its members can expect to get paid by the club. On Monday players were told funds that had been expected had failed to come through. McGuinness says that total owed to squad members past and present now amounts to more than €150,000. Only four players are currently registered with the league as playing for the club and while a further six also intended to start pre-season training this week all were reportedly told by Byrne on Monday that they were free to leave if they received offers from elsewhere.

One who looked certain to be on his way last night was Glen Crowe who was awaiting confirmation from Merrion Square that he is now a free agent. The striker is set to rejoin Bohemians as soon as is cleared to do so.

Flood, it is generally believed, would be willing to take over the running of the club on a short-term basis as long as Byrne doesn't specifically object to his return. The pair have worked together previously but the relationship soured somewhat in recent times when Ozzie Kilkenny said he would only continue to fund the club if Byrne made way for Flood.

Kilkenny and his business partners, who have an option to buy Tolka Park for redevelopment, have previously advanced substantial amounts of money to the club on the understanding that they would be subtracted from the amount finally paid for the ground.

The sudden upheaval may well mean an end to Stephen Geoghegan's hopes of managing the club.