Walsall owners respond in row over sister club 'resignation request'
Walsall’s owners Trivela have rejected claims they asked the chairperson of sister club Drogheda United to resign over “political and moral views”.
Joanna Byrne, a Sinn Fein member of the Irish parliament, has claimed she was told her position was “was no longer tenable with an expectation that I would resign” after criticising Israel.
It followed the Irish Football Association’s confirming it will fulfil scheduled Nations League fixtures against Israel, despite last year submitting a motion for Uefa to ban the country from its European and club competitions.
Byrne, speaking last week in her role as Sinn Fein’s spokesperson on sport, described Israel as “an apartheid state who have engaged in ethnic cleansing and genocide”.
On Wednesday, she claimed she was informed earlier this week by the Drogheda board her position was untenable.
"It is profoundly hurtful that expressing a moral view — one shared by the majority of Irish football fans — has led to this approach despite me never referencing the club at any stage whilst doing so,” she said.
Drogheda were taken over by Trivela in 2023, just over a year after they US firm invested in the Saddlers. Trivela founder Ben Boycott is co-chairman of both clubs.
In a statement issued later on Wednesday, the group said no changes to the Drogheda board had been made “at this time”.
It said concerns had been expressed over Byrne’s criticism of UEFA and the Irish FA but said they were unrelated to “anyone’s specific political or moral views”.
The statement read: "What was expressed was a concern over the open criticism of UEFA and the FAI, regulatory bodies to whom the club is subject, as well as each club official's responsibility to respect the neutrality provisions of the FIFA Code of Ethics and the UEFA Statutes.
"To be clear, the substance of Ms Byrne's views has never been attacked by the club or Trivela Group.”
