The close-period between the 2006 and 2007 seasons saw one of the biggest departures of senior talent from the League of Ireland and across the Irish Sea in recent times.
In addition former players such as Kevin Doyle, one of the top-scorers in the 2006–07 FA Premier League and once of Cork City, attracted attention from numerous managers in Scotland and England.
League of Ireland managers also found themselves attracting interest with Stephen Kenny moving from Derry City to Dunfermline Athletic.
Despite this, Derry City made a poor start to the season losing to strong title-contenders St Patrick's Athletic and Drogheda United in their early-season encounters.
With a third of the season remaining Drogheda United had risen to the top of the Premier Division table and have since sealed the first league title in their history.
Both players had agreed two-year deals with Cork City but their clearance failed to come through from FIFA due to the fact that they had each been registered to two other clubs since 1 July 2006.
Among the other Premier Division players hit with the ruling were: Bray Wanderers midfielder Alan Cawley; Derry City striker Peter Hynes; and Ray Scully of Waterford United.
As a result, in failing to ensure that the clubs under its jurisdiction would be able to field their full squads at the outset of the season, the FAI came in for criticism.
The players who were cleared to play were Gary Rogers of Galway United, Alan Cawley of Bray Wanderers and Shaun Holmes of Finn Harps, while decisions on the remainder were not expected for another week.
[8] On 2 April, it was announced that Colin Healy and Gareth Farrelly both failed to gain clearance to play for Cork City.
The other players cleared were: John Brophy and Mark Leech of Shelbourne; Willie Doyle of Monaghan United; and Ray Scully.
[11] FIFA rejected Cork City's appeal on 23 April but the club stated that they may take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport as a last resort.
[13] After having fined Cork City manager, Damien Richardson, during the 2006 season for critical comments he had made against a referee after a game, as well as handing him a four-match touchline ban,[14] and comments from the then Bohemians manager, Gareth Farrelly, expressing that he felt gagged,[15] the FAI continued to restrict critical opinions of their structures from individuals connected with clubs in the league.
On 15 February 2007, Derry City were requested by the FAI to remove a blog entry posted on their official website - CityWeb - by fan, 'MariborKev'.
The entry, entitled "Another fine mess", which criticised the administration of the FAI in dealing with the financial irregularities at Shelbourne, even went on to predict that the organisation would get in contact with the club over the post to demand its removal.
[19] Top players from the league, including Derry City's Paddy McCourt and Joseph N'Do of St Patrick's Athletic, were present at the official announcement and photocall of the deal, which took place in Temple Bar, Dublin, on 11 June 2007.