The shock news of Damien Duff’s Ireland departure has been somewhat explained in the Irish Examiner.
The former Celtic first team coach who left the club in the summer because he wanted to be close to his family in Ireland tendered his resignation to the FAI on Friday.
Ireland boss Stephen Kenny was said to be taken aback by Duff’s willingness to leave the role but he was adamant he wanted to leave.
The examiner claims the breakdown between the FAI and Duff came when they said they were launching an investigation into why a video of the 1916 Easter Rising was shown before a game against England in the Irish dressing room. There was an uproar in the UK press and the FAI launched an investigation. According to the report, Duff no longer wanted to work for the FAI because he didn’t see anything at all wrong with the video and the whole episode had been a huge source of annoyance.
The paper writes:
Duff declared his full support for the Ireland boss, insisting that if any disciplinary action was taken against him for drawing on Irish history he would feel unable to continue to be a part of the FAI.
That is a feeling he ultimately hasn’t been able to shake.
Duff is also said to be irritated the FAI waited until a Friday night to release the news when they new of his departure long before them.
Duff has no plans to come back to Glasgow at the moment, the same reason he left is still the same reason which would keep him away from a Celtic Park return.
It’s the Irish national team who lose out here, Duff was said to be the main man between the players and Stephen before his exit.
Knew , not new