Having spoken to the different people, the football people, the local council, the supporters of Derry City, there was a real good will on Thursday. They want to play League of Ireland, we want them to play League of Ireland. I think the way it's heading, that the parties I met were very much of the view that the debt in the existing company was so big that they would like the directors to very quickly let people know the process of liquidation or whatever it was going to be. And the parties we met on Thursday will, I gather, apply to the association to play in the First Division next year. Now we have a vacancy and if the proper application came in I would say there is a more than decent chance.

The events earlier in the week were disappointing because on the Wednesday [4 November] we had made a decision but the reaction to Saturday made it a more difficult week than it should have been. All that said, once the players accepted that there were two contracts in place, albeit recognising that they weren't aware of it, the board stepped down. If you look at it, we know there were two sets of contracts up there. We have a large number of them now. We've had 12 players in the other night, various others talking to us by phone or directly. Once the evidence was portrayed publicly which I didn't want to do but felt I had to – I didn't want this to go on for a number of weeks, especially with the division play-off matches – it was made clear to the public. Particularly to the people of Derry. The association had no agenda, why would we do it unless there was a reason? And bringing it all out on Monday I think brought a very quick finish. It's a pity we had to go to the extravagant measures of what we did to prove it."

There still are huge punishments here. They've been put out of football. The new company that's put together would want to be one that has credible people and is run credibly on a financial basis. If they do get into the First Division, it takes a year and if they do get to Europe there's a three-year ban. So there are a range of pretty tough sanctions there, no doubt about it. And they have to put an application in that is of a professional enough standard that the board will be happy with. I think they've taken a pretty tough line.

I would have impressed upon the people that make whatever structure they go with that certain debts, particularly within the football family as the term should be at least addressed, which is Dungannon Swifts, Linfield Setanta Cup money, the players. Some of the players will want to be released from the club but others who are local may want to stay and could be accommodated – it's up to them now. But the future looks brighter for Derry City.