After two Football Association of Ireland board of management meetings at Dublin's Citywest Hotel yesterday, held before and after a gathering of its national council, Fran Rooney remains in his post as chief executive of Irish football's governing body. For now.
FAI president Milo Corcoran, who last weekend suggested the board could no longer work with Rooney, issued a one-line statement at the end of the day's proceedings, which began at 10.30 a.m. and concluded at tea-time.
"Today's national council meeting has agreed the establishment of a sub-committee to investigate the allegations made by senior management against Fran Rooney in the past few weeks," he said. "I'm not allowed to comment any further, thank you."
And that was that.
The three-man committee will be chaired by David Blood, the FAI vice-president, who will be assisted by honorary secretary Michael Cody and Monaghan United's Eddie Murray, chairman of the international committee and a well-respected figure within the game.
The three men will look into the complaints about Rooney's performance as chief executive, as outlined in a recent nine-page letter sent to Corcoran, signed by Peter Buckley (the FAI's financial accountant), Pat Costello (press officer) and Tadhg O'Halloran (human resources manager).
Rooney will be given the opportunity to address the complaints, which relate to his style of management and his alleged failure to fulfil his duties as chief executive to a satisfactory degree.
Corcoran indicated there would be no time-frame imposed on the sub-committee but the rough estimation is its work will be done in two to three weeks.
Rooney gave no public response to yesterday's developments but is unlikely to be enamoured by two members of the sub-committee, not least because Corcoran had already implied the association's officers, who number Cody and Blood, were finding it difficult to work with the chief executive.
In light of Corcoran's comments then, Cody and Blood could hardly be viewed as natural allies of Rooney - indeed, Cody, while his impartiality cannot be questioned, would be in line to take over as "head" of the association, on a temporary basis at least, should Rooney be removed from his position.
In that sense Rooney might be well placed, should he choose, to question the composition of the sub-committee at a later date, should their findings go against him.
A sizeable minority, at least, of the 60-strong council is believed to be supportive of Rooney, who has claimed all along that he has the backing of football's "grass roots".
Any discussion of substance on his future at yesterday afternoon's closed council meeting was, however, all but quelled when Corcoran ruled the matter could not be brought up for legal reasons, because the board had set up a sub-committee to investigate complaints against him. Over half of the council abstained when asked to endorse the board's decision to set up the sub-committee.
Following legal advice, Corcoran's full-time position as president, a post from which he will step down next July, was ratified, with the board agreeing to pay his employers, Heineken, up to July. Until now there was already evidence that he was, contrary to the association's own rules, effectively working full time in his post.
Meanwhile it is understood Packie Bonner, the former Republic of Ireland goalkeeper and the FAI's current technical director, is unhappy with Rooney's recent comments about the progress of the association's technical development plan and the impression he has given about his level of input to the plan.
Since his appointment as chief executive 17 months ago Rooney, it is understood, has only had two meetings with Bonner, the second of which only took place earlier this month. Bonner, it is believed, is unimpressed by the impression given that Rooney has had a deeper involvement with the plan.
