Doubts cast on the FAI's ability to come up with their share of the cost of redeveloping Lansdowne Road stadium have been dismissed by Chief Executive, John Delaney.

D-Day is early March when An Bord Pleanála's decision on the appeal to the joint FAI-IRFU planning application is due to be announced. And Delaney is confident that his association is ready to play its part.

"Our commitment to the stadium is €60m and we will meet that comfortably," Delaney said last week. "We will have between €30 and €40 million available from our own reserves at the end of this year."

The FAI may be struggling to make an impression with its senior international team, but it has certainly got its financial act together in the past ten years.

Turnover in 1996 was €7m; last year this had risen to €25m, and this year it should hit the €45m mark. Sponsorship is another growth area. Two years ago this was worth €13.1m, this year it amounts to €29.2m.

Among the direct beneficiaries is the Eircom League, with prize money now totalling €1.042m from what was, admittedly, a paltry €98,000 two years ago.

The move to Croke Park is a huge factor in the FAI's present well-being, and the new Lansdowne Road should continue that trend.

In the old ground, with crowds limited to 36,000, receipts totalled just over €1m, of which the association only retained between €300,000 and €400,000. The TV revenue usually outstripped the gate receipts.

With a 50,000 capacity Lansdowne Road, with its corporate boxes and premium seats, the FAI will be working to a different model if An Bord Pleanála gives the go-ahead. Hand in hand with the growth in its finances is the increase in the number of people employed by the association.

Ten years ago, 45 staff ran its business, this year that has risen to 140, 80 of whom are in the technical area.

A lot of this increase in employment has been fuelled by Government support. The FAI will receive €3.25m in direct funding this year, while the Government has committed another €17m in capital grants.

The association has also been able to source funds from UEFA and FIFA. UEFA provided €1.4m towards the cost of the FAI's Technical Plan (the total cost of which is €10m), and a further 1m Swiss francs (over €600,000) for the provision of mini pitches in disadvantaged areas. This latter sum was used to build a prototype in The Coombe and since then, with the Government providing €1.6m, 64 more were built, with the various local authorities only having to contribute €15,000 towards each pitch.

FIFA recently allocated €400,000 towards the FAI's move to its own 'House of Football' in Abbotstown, a move which clearly excites Delaney.

"It will take 26 weeks' work to renovate the old state laboratories and we will move from Merrion Square in July or August at the latest," he said. "We will be able to accommodate 200 staff, not just the FAI, but the LFA, the PFAI, the SFAI and the WFAI.

"Over the next four years, seven pitches will be built, with one to the exact dimensions of the new Lansdowne Road, and a hotel for our teams' accommodation."

In the past, it was the international team which consistently out-performed the FAI's bean-counters. Now the roles have been reversed, putting the onus on the players to get their act together quickly.