But football will have a price to pay.

In return, Government paymasters will demand clear-cut backing from Irish FA chiefs for the Maze stadium project.

The ultimatum was delivered in unofficial contacts between the IFA and Stormont mandarins who direct Government policy and sign the cheques.

A clear message was spelt out: "If you want us to bail you out with the repair bill for Windsor, then you must come out once and for all in favour of a move to the Maze when it is built."

It's a political gun to the head of football here.

But both Linfield and the IFA have been painted into a corner over the £2million cost of keeping Windsor going as an international venue.

Neither can afford the legally required refit, only the Government can help them and all parties know it.

The bill, quite literally, has been presented to football on the Maze stadium issue and it is take-it-or-leave-it.

Linfield will be particularly dismayed by the implications they will view as confirmation of a no-longer hidden agenda to force Northern Ireland international football out of its historic Windsor home and into the Government-favoured new multi-sports Theatre of Dreams at the former Maze prison site.

The Blues in particular, as the stadium owners, and the football public in general, believe both the IFA and Government have a duty to ensure Windsor is fit to play host to the national team.

But for the Blues to secure the funding they believe is their entitlement, will require a declaration from the IFA to remove Northern Ireland home games, and a valuable source of revenue, away from Windsor to the Maze.

Another sizeable bill will then be presented - by Linfield to the IFA as compensation for breaking their 80-year agreement to stage internationals at Windsor.

Again, Government sources have hinted they will look favourably at sugaring the pill - but only if the IFA have signed up to the Maze.

Anti-Maze campaigners will again be fuming at what they see as bully-boy tactics by London political masters, determined to parade the new stadium as an offshoot to the 2012 Olympic Games in the capital.

But football has always been arguing from a position of weakness on the Maze.

The revival of our international fortunes under Lawrie Sanchez has left the IFA desperately needing a bigger arena than Windsor's 14,000 capacity, unlike rugby and gaelic games who have fallbacks in Ravenhill and Casement respectively.

And unlike the Government-funded Maze, any Belfast alternative would require up front investment from the IFA's own coffers, which, as the Windsor repair bill has shown, they don't have.

The latest twist in the Windsor v Maze contest comes after IFA President Jim Boyce's midweek warning that Northern Ireland internationals could be forced away to English or Scottish venues if the work on Windsor is not carried out as recommended by an independent safety survey, revealed by Sunday Life last month.

IFA Chief Executive Howard Wells has now been tasked to square the circle in talks with Government advisors and it will require all his administrative and persuasive skills to deliver the money needed to revamp Windsor on one hand and agreement for the Maze on the other.

And with talks on the renewal of his three-year IFA contract up for discussion amid those negotations next month, the word from Windsor Avenue is that a new deal will almost certainly be on the table.

For the IFA, though, it is deal or no deal where the Maze is concerned.

The irony as he battles to prevent Windsor's capacity being lowered from 14,000 to a threatened 9,000, is that this week will find Jim Boyce acting as official UEFA observer at the Inter Milan-Valencia Champions League tie where the San Siro capacity has been reduced in troubled times for Italian football from 80,000 to 40,000!