Wells' current IFA contract finishes at the end of December

Over �4million of government funding for Northern Ireland football is in peril after the proposal didn't receive sufficent support at the body's EGM.

"I don't walk away from things at all," Wells told BBC Sport.

Wells' contract finishes at the end of December and he has yet to agree a new deal with the IFA.

Interview: Howard Wells

Interview: Raymond Kennedy

The IFA chief executive acknowledged that the decision was effectively a "vote of no-confidence in the executive committee" and he made no attempt to hide his disappointment.

Wells did manage to push through a motion which ended the ban on Sunday football in Northern Ireland but that vote was overshadowed by the EGM's decision to maintain the 18-man executive committee - as opposed to the recommended 10.

"I tried to explain it to the members that this was an evolutionary process of reforming the IFA and moving down a route of going away from representative committee to competency-based boards," lamented the IFA chief executive.

"I tried to also explain that the role of directors in organisations is changing dramatically. We have to ensure that the IFA understands that and risk is managed properly."

Wells didn't hide his concern over the threat to future government funding and he will have noted that the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure has already expressed its "disappointment" at Wednesday's decision.

"Government have a view and government will want to ensure that football is properly administered. I don't think everyone fully appreciates that."

Wells revealed that two unnamed members of 18-man executive had abstained in the vote, as opposed to backing the executive's earlier decision.

"If anything, it's an argument which says that the executive committee is actually floundering. That's the way I would read it if I were looking at this from the outside."