The Board of Directors of Glentoran Football Club are pleased to confirm that following the recent investigation by an independent panel appointed by NIFL, we have received formal confirmation that Glentoran had not broken any NIFL rules and that the matter is now closed.
The correspondence from NIFL stated:
“Following lengthy consideration, the Independent Panel has determined that no action be taken against Glentoran FC.
The panel would like to place on record their appreciation to Glentoran for their full co-operation in this process”.
The club would like to reciprocate this thanks to the independent committee for the professional manner in which they conducted their investigation.
Glentoran Chairman Stephen Henderson said, following the correspondence: “Throughout this process, we were confident that the independent panel would find as they did, that no rules or regulations had been broken, because we knew that the business model this club is run on, is financially sound, legally compliant, sportingly legitimate and above board. As signatories to the NIFL participation agreement and the Salary Cost Protocol, we fully comply with and abide by these rules and were therefore, more than willing to provide answers to any questions posed. This is exactly as it should be and any club that has nothing to hide will, I am sure, similarly do so in the future. All clubs know the penalty for breaching these rules and where they are guilty, deserve the punishment given to them, as happened to a club in the recent past.
However, we are justifiably angry about the leaking of this information from someone in a position of authority from outside the club. This has led to unwarranted press speculation and intrusion, provided fuel for the usual suspects on social media and probably most damaging of all to the integrity of the game, it has been used slanderously as leverage in player negotiations by a rival manager. We can now draw a line under this issue and focus our efforts in preparing for our upcoming Irish Cup Semi-Final and the job of working with our management team to strengthen our playing staff ahead of our challenge to win the Gibson Cup across the 38 games next season.”