Delaney had faced the same committee stone-faced just six days earlier, citing legal advice to avoid answering questions following Sport Ireland’s suspension of funding to the association.

By 6pm on Monday, Delaney left an FAI meeting and the organisation said he had “offered to voluntarily step aside from his role” pending an internal review. That the statement announcing the news arrived less than two hours before a round of Premier Division fixtures was, in itself, revealing.

The organisation that Delaney himself had — in more brazen times — described as a ‘difficult child’ was once again overshadowed by drama at boardroom level.

The four fixtures were rescheduled from last month due to the involvement of eight first-team players in Republic of Ireland under-21 and senior squad.

The irony won’t be lost on many that a day in which the association should have been celebrating that significant on-field success was instead spent firefighting off it.

Few in League of Ireland circles will have sympathy with Delaney’s or the board’s predicament — more than a few will have reacted with glee.

Just two clubs have gone on the record since this saga began to unfold, with Waterford and Limerick posting glowing statements to Delaney.

Club officials approached for this article declined to comment on the record, but dissatisfaction with the association has been building within the league.

Talks between the FAI and the Premier Clubs Alliance on a new league structure with an independent company running the league stalled in the past 12 months as the FAI disengaged.

One club official said negotiations on the new model — which the FAI stated it would like to see in operation by next season — had ‘ground to a halt’ before the current crisis unfolded.

Lack of promotion of the league has been a long-time bugbear of clubs and the appointment of a full-time marketing executive did little to improve visibility.

The clubs haven’t received a cent in television income for the broadcast of games in more than a decade and are in the dark about whether the association receives money from broadcasters.

Most significantly, a gap has opened up between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ as a result of spiralling European revenues for the top sides.

The €110,000 in prize money for the Premier Division winner is dwarfed by the €800,000 guaranteed for participation in the Champions League qualifiers.

The reality for many league clubs is that after fines for yellow and red cards plus registration fees are deducted, many come out owing money to the association.

“The clubs that don’t finish in the top four get the sum total of nothing,” said one club administrator.

“When their fines and registration fee are deducted, chances are they’re on a minus number. Who came up with that as a model? Who thinks that’s sustainable?

“What about the clubs who end up putting in 52 weeks [work] of the year and end up with a minus number in terms of revenue for their troubles?”

The association’s difficulties offer an opportunity to place the League of Ireland at the centre of the Irish grassroots pyramid, says former St Patrick’s Athletic player Declan ‘Fabio’ O’Brien.

“I put up a quote there during the week, ‘times they are a-changing,’ and it looks like they are, for the good,” said O’Brien.

It’s long overdue and I don’t think I’ve ever seen the football family get together like it has for the greater good. It feels like a lot of people are together on this.

“You only have to look at the reaction. So many people can’t be wrong about this. Everybody seems to be in the one train of thought that what has been going on hasn’t been good enough.

“There are enough passionate people about that want the league to be better and for matchday experience to be better across the board.

“We need people with a little bit of foresight, a little bit of passion and a little bit of genuine care for the league. That hasn’t been the case for a long time.

“They’ve had bigger fish to fry and they’ve been boisterous in that they didn’t see the league as a priority simply because it wasn’t making money for them.

“I think that will change. We’ve got such a good product here and I think now we might see more effort going towards showing people the quality we have.”