John Delaney has been in charge of the Football Association of Ireland (F.A.I) since 2004. He had a very tight grip on the association in which he was also a board member, uncommon these days in corporate governance structures. He not only controlled the whole organization but he was the organization. He was De facto leader. The board was made up of football men that were appointed more on their length of service rather than their expertise. Everything seemed fine at FAI headquarters. The new stadium was on target to be paid off by the time the European Championships was going to take place in the UK and Ireland. This was Delaney's holy grail. He was also on the UEFA commitee and having the national stadium paid off would look really good for his CV if a higher role came up here. The FAI were turning over 51 million per year. Cash rich. They were also getting grants from the government of around 2 million per year for youth development.
Delaney is a charactor, well liked in rural towns and cities outside of Dublin. If a grant was given to a local football club then Delaney would be down to open it. It was as if the grant was coming from his own pocket. This meant that all the football clubs really liked him. My father is one of those people. He chat to Delaney and had the craic so he is alright in his book. Delaney was charming and he would often buy a round in the local pub where they would end up after a grand opening or mayoral reception. When Ireland played in the Euro's in Poland , Delaney was seen being lifted on the shoulders of fans through the streets of Poznan.
A couple of years ago Delaney attended the draw for the Euro's. Now this is the first time I kind of noticed that things were a bit strange at the event. Normally at these draws there would be the football manager with a few blazers or ex players but there was Delaney sitting with his girlfriend. I kind of thought to myself
Wow I wonder if I brought my missus to the next work meeting would it go down well?
But he did not seem bothered in the slightest. This was normal to him. Something is up here.
Around 2 months ago a journalist from the Sunday Times called Mark Tighe broke a story about a bridging loan given by Delaney to the FAI for €100,000. There were many questions about this bridging loan which Mr Delaney tried to get a court injunction to stop the story from being published. What was he hiding?
Why did an organisation with a turnover of €51 million need 100k?
Was there no overdraft facilities to call on before this 100k was given to the FAI?
Where was the 100k accounted for?
The story gathered pace and soon it was all over the newspapers. What was going on at the FAI? Who were the board members asleep at the wheel here? Delaney had to step down but a new position of executive vice president was made for him. The public were not happy. He was still in power in the FAI and a position was created out of thin air for him. It was found out soon after that in order to be eligible for a job with UEFA one must have the role of executive vice president or above. Strange that. He was hoping that the dust might settle and he would still be in line for a plump role with them.
Due to the fact that the government give the FAI funding they called the FAI to a hearing to explain what was going on. This was the perfect way to explain the situation so everything could go back to normal. Rather than getting up and explaining himself, Delaney had a lawyer with him and refused to speak about any dealings in a position that he did not hold anymore. He said he would speak freely about anything regarding his new role. This made the government members of parliament very angry. The hearing went out live on TV and people made their own minds up about Delaney. He sat there behind his lawyers and didn't answer one question about the loan. It was disgraceful. But because the voice of the FAI hid behind the lawyer, this left the rest of the board in the firing line. Up stepped the honoury treasurer Eddie Murray. He was asked how many bank accounts the FAI had? 1 was his answer. Then why was their 25 bank accounts on the companies filings. This was a joke.
The treasurer did not know how many bank accounts they had.
More stories came out about his spending. There was 50,000 spent in six months on the organizations credit card. Hotel stays for 5,000 a pop in London and executive dry cleaning for $500. The funny one I found was ATM withdrawlals of €6000 and regular trips to the local chippy for 20 quid a pop. This is a guy that is the highest paid CEO in a football association in Europe. He took a drop to €360,000 after Ireland went through hard times but monthly rent was paid on top of this for his flat.
So where are we now. So the government are after withdrawing their funding to the FAI until more answers are given. Delaney is now on a type of gardening leave. The board have until July AGM to elect a new board but this is stalling as the old board are not keen to give up their positions. The update on the stadium is that it will take until at least 2030 to fully repay it. Staff at the FAI are concerned for their futures. The financial situation is unknown but signs are not good. UEFA will bail them out if needs be. Irish football is in peril and the people suffering are the grass roots.If there was ever a time to start fresh with a whole new project the time is now. A new young board needs to go in and start rejuvenating Irish football again.