Northern Ireland Football League (NIFL) chief executive Gerard Lawlor has denied that any "side deals" were made to secure the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) needed to prevent a delay to the new season. The meeting was forced after Banbridge Town successfully appealed to the Irish FA, arguing NIFL had not properly sought member approval before restructuring the league pyramid, which saw the Premier Intermediate League replaced by a new Conference League.

The EGM required consent from 90% of NIFL's 47 member clubs to pass three proposals, and despite early doubts the threshold would be reached, all motions were approved in time for the season to start as planned. Lawlor acknowledged NIFL had left a "loophole" in its procedures by focusing too much on the human and emotional side of the restructuring rather than its own rules, and said an independent review would now examine what went wrong. He added that a separate hitch, a delayed delivery of the season's new match balls due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, had also threatened preparations.