In an email to staff, Hill apologised over the payment controversy and the “unwanted noise this has caused” apparently pinning blame on the Board for the “payment (which) was made in good faith by the Association”, but also accepting his “part in this error”.

Hill was paid the money for holidays in lieu, a practice banned in the FAI.

He was also forced to pay an outstanding benefit in kind (BIK) liability of €8,500, which was related to travel expenses, which the chief executive had received to allow him reside in London and travel to work in Dublin.

The uncovering of various financial discrepancies were made by auditors last week, resulting in Sport Ireland suspending all public funding to the association - the FAI received €60m from the Government from 2020-22.

Despite the lengthy apology, delivered to staff on Friday, Hill’s admissions of wrongdoing in receiving the money now requires a more detailed explanation from those on the Board with whom Hill agreed the transaction, and others who were aware of the arrangement.

While the statement had been long awaited, it casts confusion over the Board and its President Gerry McAnaney, who last week passed the matter off as a “technical financial interpretation”.

A senior source close to the FAI Board told Examiner Sport that McAnaney’s excusing the matter as “some sort of mix-up, was a diversionary tactic”.

The Irish Examiner asked the Cork man for comment on whether he had himself been misled by someone in the FAI about the situation, to which he directed us to deal with FAI communications director Louise Cassidy.

Ms Cassidy did not respond on the record to the query, but an FAI source said there had been no intention to deliberately mislead anyone.

Examiner Sport on Thursday revealed that the payment to Jonathan Hill was being blamed internally in the FAI - by people close to the chief executive - as a “toxic payment” by a former accountant, a rumour told to two senior sources.

Hill’s statement yesterday made no reference to such unfounded rumours, nor did he try to pass off the situation as Gerry McAnaney had done.

McAnaney will leave his role at the FAI at next month’s AGM.

Another FAI source said yesterday that Hill’s statement to staff “had gone down like a lead balloon”.

For his part, Jonathan Hill did communicate his “sincere regret” in his statement, adding twice that he wished to “apologise unreservedly”.

The email followed a communication 24 hours earlier sent by the FAI Board to staff, which also contained an apology, but none at that stage from its boss.

Another statement, this time released to media on Thursday, attempted to draw a line under the controversy when it said: “The Board regret what happened and are committed to ensuring the lessons learned are fully adopted.”

Hill’s comments were not short of farce too, appearing to blame the media and not his own circumstance for his unusual living arrangements, which resulted the BIK issue for the Englishman.

The 61-year-old, who often refers to himself as “a straight-talking Yorkshireman”, said in his statement that he had paid the outstanding liability on his travel expenses, adding: “Some in the media continue to comment on the fact that my home and family remain in the UK.

“I want to clarify and confirm that I have been paying all personal travel and accommodation expenses directly, since the start of 2023,” he said.

As staff were picking through the CEO’s words, Abbotstown gave some details about its financial statement.

Figures for 2022 show that while the surplus shrunk to €3.7m, turnover of €54.0m was marginally down from €54.3m in 2021.

The organisation’s assets have improved in value, growing to €6.2m versus €2.7m in 2021, “further demonstrating the growing health of the Association’s finances since the net liability position of €4m in 2020”.

“The Association’s cash balance at the end of 2022 was €10.9m, down from €27.1m in 2021, driven by the repayment of a significant portion of the Association’s legacy borrowings,” it said.

“Bank and other borrowings are now €50.9m compared to €63.5m in 2021 (while) match-related income improved again to €9.1m compared with €7.1m in 2021 as attendances surpassed pre-pandemic levels’”

Commercial revenues increased to €15.6m, up from €13.8m in 2021 due to the centralised media rights agreement with UEFA, but crucially there was no fees mentioned for the missing €1.6m (per year) vacant lead sponsorship asset, almost four years after ‘Three’ announced it was ending its 10 year partnership.

The release carried comments by Jonathan Hill, but no apology for his recent actions.

That was only made to staff to which he said earlier in the day: “I want to put on the record my sincere regret that you heard this first via the media, especially at a point where we should all be celebrating our association’s achievements and progress.”

“This is wholly unfair for you as FAI employees and for this I apologise unreservedly.”

On the holiday payment of €12,000 for days worked, or approximately two weeks which he believed he was owed, Hill said he has “repaid the full amount to the Association”.

The staff message also confirmed that Hill now pays for his travel and accommodation expenses to Ireland.