The John Delaney Thread

[Charlie Darwin]

You can watch the whole thing back on tets' link.

[Stuttgart88]

JD going for UEFA exec committee

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/international/john-delaney-to-run-for-place-on-uefa-executive-committee-1.2969608?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fsport%2Fs occer%2Finternational%2Fjohn-delaney-to-run-for-place-on-uefa-executive-committee-1.2969608

[Philly]

JD going for UEFA exec committee

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/international/john-delaney-to-run-for-place-on-uefa-executive-committee-1.2969608?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fsport%2Fs occer%2Finternational%2Fjohn-delaney-to-run-for-place-on-uefa-executive-committee-1.2969608

Does that mean he leaves the FAI position if elected? The answer to this question may or may not lead to me starting as "John Delaney for UEFA Committee" campaign.

[geysir]

Does that mean he leaves the FAI position if elected? The answer to this question may or may not lead to me starting as "John Delaney for UEFA Committee" campaign.
Don't shoot the messenger but
'As a general rule, the UEFA Executive Committee meets once every two months,'

[backstothewall]

Successfully elected. 2nd highest vote of candidates running

The mind boggles

[BonnieShels]

Successfully elected. 2nd highest vote of candidates running

The mind boggles

Not at all.

He's a genius at this schnakey stuff.

[tetsujin1979]

Successfully elected. 2nd highest vote of candidates running

The mind boggles
not really, I've been saying it for a while that his long term aim is to be president of UEFA, this is another rung on the ladder

[Stuttgart88]

I'm with bttw. I'm not even remotely surprised but yet my mind boggles. I know it sounds contradictory.

[jbyrne]

its being reported that he will earn another €100,000 on top of his current mad FAI salary. surely he should take a pay cut from his FAI salary if he wont have as much time to spend on FAI matters from now on??

[nigel-harps1954]

To the outside eye though, he must be doing a great job. He's delivered the Aviva Stadium, overseen Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk become the first two Irish sides to break into European group stage football, seen Ireland qualify for successive European Championship tournaments, writing off massive debt in good time...

They don't see the mess that Irish club football is in, the disgraceful amounts of prize money 'awarded' to League of Ireland clubs, the lack of transparency in the FAI accounts, the hiring of his own missus to a cushy job, the enormous and ultimately ridiculous salary he has awarded himself, the shambles that is the Womens football team story that's come to light this week, the p!ss up's and lack of professionalism shown on Irish away trips, the refusal to take questions at FAI AGM's, the refusal to take interviews from Irish journalists, and probably a hundred other things I've forgotten about while writing this.

[Stuttgart88]

Daniel McDonnel's take on things

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/fai-must-learn-that-a-happy-house-is-about-more-than-a-nice-front-room-35594771.html

[disgruntled]

Delaney will go from strength to strength because those who keep him in power are well provided for.
As long as the blazers like Fitzgerard & his cronies are backing him we'll be stuck with him.

Fair dues to the International Womens squad for taking the stand they have.
If they didn't stand up they would still be waiting into the future.
Its like the mens team when the FAI blazers were travelling 1st class while the players were sitting in the cheap seats.

[SkStu]

To the outside eye though, he must be doing a great job. He's delivered the Aviva Stadium, overseen Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk become the first two Irish sides to break into European group stage football, seen Ireland qualify for successive European Championship tournaments, writing off massive debt in good time...

They don't see the mess that Irish club football is in, the disgraceful amounts of prize money 'awarded' to League of Ireland clubs, the lack of transparency in the FAI accounts, the hiring of his own missus to a cushy job, the enormous and ultimately ridiculous salary he has awarded himself, the shambles that is the Womens football team story that's come to light this week, the p!ss up's and lack of professionalism shown on Irish away trips, the refusal to take questions at FAI AGM's, the refusal to take interviews from Irish journalists, and probably a hundred other things I've forgotten about while writing this.

That's a really good post as it captures the disconnect between making headlines and making meaningful changes. JD is expert at the former and absolutely useless at the latter.

[Eminence Grise]

You could buy a lot of ladies' track suits with €100k. Pay the abysmally low bonuses that some of our national players deem sufficient compensation for their time and dedication. Maybe even pony up for some wifi access. I'm confident Delaney will do the right thing.:rolleyes:

[Lionel Ritchie]

An excellent post indeed Nigel. They're likely also unaware of details such as he's delivered a stadium the FAI will never own or derive non-football income from. That many at Rovers and Dundalk (and elsehwere) will say their successes are in spite of him. That the financial packages assembled to lure the big name managers have set a precedent that could haunt us for decades and leave us beholden to some right dodgy blokes -and that the debts have merely been 'restructured'.

He is made for UEFA. I only wish they'd take him altogether.

[backstothewall]

Perhaps it'll all go wrong for him and we'll look back at today as the day he flew too close to the sun.

Or maybe he'll use all his guile and duplicity to screw millions out of UEFA for Irish football

[disgruntled]

You could buy a lot of ladies' track suits with €100k. Pay the abysmally low bonuses that some of our national players deem sufficient compensation for their time and dedication. Maybe even pony up for some wifi access. I'm confident Delaney will do the right thing.:rolleyes:

Yea the right thing for Delaney :mad:

[backstothewall]

Knowing John Delaney he'll give the women's team everything they have asked for, then despite having ignored them for a decade or more he'll hold a press conference with the squad to explain how although he wasn't aware of the issues (despite countless letters, emails & phone calls), as soon as he heard about the press conference he acted immediately to solve all the problems. Then he'll spin the whole thing to show how he's a man of action and a champion for the women's game. On the back of the spin he'll end up being responsible for womens football on the UEFA Exec Committee, and use the position to bring the 2027 women's World Cup to Ireland. A mobile phone video will emerge from a do in the Aras after the opening ceremony showing him ****ed out of his head and pinching President Mary-Lou McDonald on the arse, but it'll be all smiles between them by the time the final comes round at Lansdowne Road

[geysir]

The 100,000 euro hug of relief, our John and Zbig Boniek share the moment, with manly intimacy.


https://www.sportsfile.com/winshare/w540/Library/SF772/1296836.jpg

[OwlsFan]

To the outside eye though, he must be doing a great job. He's delivered the Aviva Stadium, overseen Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk become the first two Irish sides to break into European group stage football, seen Ireland qualify for successive European Championship tournaments, writing off massive debt in good time...

They don't see the mess that Irish club football is in, the disgraceful amounts of prize money 'awarded' to League of Ireland clubs, the lack of transparency in the FAI accounts, the hiring of his own missus to a cushy job, the enormous and ultimately ridiculous salary he has awarded himself, the shambles that is the Womens football team story that's come to light this week, the p!ss up's and lack of professionalism shown on Irish away trips, the refusal to take questions at FAI AGM's, the refusal to take interviews from Irish journalists, and probably a hundred other things I've forgotten about while writing this.

To be fair, I don't think he awards the salary to himself. Is that not job of the Council on which there are 60 members or is that the Board's function?

Has the FAI not also arranged for Dublin to be awarded three group games and a last-16 fixture at Euro 2020 which is a bit of a coup.

I have lived through the days when the FAI was the laughing stock of the country (you'll say it still is) and the international team played its games in a dilapidated Dalymount Park. The LoI was well in decline before Delaney took over, due mostly to the Big Match and Match of the Day, but it certainly seems to be in a better state than our brethren across the border. Live LoI games on TV were never shown (are they ever shown up North?) - in fact it took a long time before RTE would even show the Cup Final live. I may be wrong but the first one I remember was in the early 1970s between Cork Hibs and Shels and I remember cringing because it was a 0-0 draw.

That's not to say that a lot of your points are not well made but the truth in most things is usually somewhere in the middle ground.

I'll go off and get my asbestos jacket now.

[DannyInvincible]

The LoI was well in decline before Delaney took over, due mostly to the Big Match and Match of the Day, but it certainly seems to be in a better state than our brethren across the border. Live LoI games on TV were never shown (are they ever shown up North?) - in fact it took a long time before RTE would even show the Cup Final live.

Sky Sports broadcast Irish League games live.

[DannyInvincible]

'Daniel McDonnell: John Delaney response offers an insight into FAI approach to a national team crisis': http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/daniel-mcdonnell-john-delaney-response-offers-an-insight-into-fai-approach-to-a-national-team-crisis-35608858.html


Delaney failed to explain why the conditions that existed until this week's talks [between the FAI and PFAI/women's team] had become the status quo. Instead, he defended the FAI's record by outlining how they had invested in the women's game. Which is laudable, although there is a point where it's hardly impolite to suggest that it is actually the association's job to do so.

...

But the FAI's response to criticism of this flashpoint would suggest that a post office with their mindset would look for congratulations upon the successful delivery of Christmas cards in the second week of January.

[geysir]

'Daniel McDonnell: John Delaney response offers an insight into FAI approach to a national team crisis': http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/daniel-mcdonnell-john-delaney-response-offers-an-insight-into-fai-approach-to-a-national-team-crisis-35608858.html
Dan's article is a damning indictment of Delaney's handling of the women's concern.
The women assumed the high moral ground in the eyes of the public as soon as the issues became known. It's disturbing to some degree that Delaney didn't read the situation better, in the light of his petty persistence in digging his hole deeper.

[OwlsFan]

Record year for the FAI https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2017/0628/886324-delaney-lauds-record-year-for-fai-and-eyes-future-plans/

[Lionel Ritchie]

Record year for the FAI https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2017/0628/886324-delaney-lauds-record-year-for-fai-and-eyes-future-plans/

He said 'Bigly' :-)

He also clocked in and commented on an article about himself*. Not cool John (I assume he sticks a head in here the odd time too).

*"I think John Delaney is doing a fantastic job and should get a pay rise, if he was in the private section there'd be a queue down the street for his services!!!"

[geysir]

John Fallon in the Indo adds some detail in the only print deviation from the FAI spin that I have come across and it's a mild deviation at that.
Bonus costs eat into FAI's €11m Euros haul (http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/bonus-costs-eat-into-fais-11m-euros-haul-35876743.html)
"The increase in salary costs by €2.7m to €12.4m was attributed to "exceptional costs associated with qualifying for Euro 2016".

"exceptional costs"??
The management were already paid top dollar, more than enough to get the team through the qualification process to this extended format tournament. We could finish 3rd in both the qual group and in the group at the Finals and still move on to the next stage. That's not the stuff of bonus, that's a minimum level achieved in order to feel pleased about not going backwards.
The players were already well enumerated.
The details of where exactly this money went will not revealed in the annual report.
The Iceland FA accounted costs for everything Euro Finals related was €3.7m and they did not short change the preparations

The FAI administer the LOI with a gleeful punitive condescension (or should that be Putinesque).
There can be little doubt that the abject €5k grant disbursed post Euros to the 20 clubs was an insult.
And now the FAI state that they have had a Euro finals surplus of €4.5m for 9 months, with no plan in place.

[DannyInvincible]

'FAI in line to receive €7.75m if Ireland reach World Cup': https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/international/fai-in-line-to-receive-7-75m-if-ireland-reach-world-cup-1.3271364


The FAI stands to gain around €7.75 million in guaranteed prize money if Martin O’Neill and his players can beat Denmark over the two legs of their World Cup play-off after Fifa increased the total amount up for grabs by 12 per cent at a meeting on Friday morning in Kolkata, India.

The total prize fund for the competition in Russia next summer will be $400 million (€344 million), up from $358 million three years ago. If, as expected, the distribution of the money is broadly in line with the tournament in Brazil then the 16 teams eliminated in the first round will receive around $9 million (€7.75 million) each with qualification to the first knockout round worth an additional €850,000.

[sbgawa]

Hopefully some of it will trickle down to the LOI.

[pineapple stu]

Interesting that the Euros was worth a good bit more? €11m v €8.6m for getting knocked out at the same stage (last 16) in the World Cup.

Is there another source of income - TV deals or something?

[OwlsFan]

Failure to qualify will cost the FAI a potential €9 million apparently. Bad news all round. http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/soccer/fai-counts-cost-of-failing-to-reach-russia-462926.html

[DannyInvincible]

Delaney has maintained a very low profile since Tuesday as O'Neill and the players have taken the hit.

[BonnieShels]

That's unfair Danny.

[osarusan]

Delaney has maintained a very low profile since Tuesday as O'Neill and the players have taken the hit.

Unless he's firing the manager or publicly backing him, I don't really see why Delaney should be in the public eye.

[CraftyToePoke]

Unless he's firing the manager or publicly backing him, I don't really see why Delaney should be in the public eye.

If he was consistently peripheral, grand, but had we robbed it 1-0 would he be so scarce ? Or has he in the past been reluctant to bask in any scrap of reflective glory ? Nope.

[DannyInvincible]

That's unfair Danny.

As CTP highlights, we all know well Delaney would be basking in the success by association had we qualified. He'd be publicly thanking Martin and there'd be videos produced by FAI TV of him appearing in the changing room to celebrate with the players. There'd be sing-songs, drinks bought for fans and he might even have taken to the pitch to cheer-lead the crowd.

I guess my post was primarily an articulation of frustration at the man's eternal (and self-enforced) lack of accountability. If there was a sense that Delaney would ever have to answer serious questions in respect of his management of Irish football - be that in a few days, a few weeks, a few months or whenever - I wouldn't be overly bothered by his present ghosting.

Dan McDonnell makes some excellent points here (https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/eternal-debate-over-manager-is-an-irish-flaw-36324843.html), but no-one's ever going to get an opportunity to put them to Delaney. That's why Delaney should be in the public/media spotlight and shouldn't be let hide away from the consequences of his decisions and governance.

[DannyInvincible]

This is a decent summary of the numerous issues facing Irish football at present.

'A Blunt but Much Needed Assessment of Irish Football in Its Current State': http://www.punditarena.com/football/pnagle/a-blunt-but-much-needed-assessment-of-irish-football-in-its-current-state/

[bennocelt]

I think its a scandal that Kerr is not involved, in some capacity.

[Bungle]

A big concern with MON is the style of play. We criticise the bandwagon brigade but as a football lover,at times I have pulled my hair out at the equally horrendous and stupid style of play we have. His generally good results have papered over the cracks. I do think that this type of football allied to the last few years of Trap's reign is doing long term damage to our esteem as footballers. I heard ****e from pundits that it's not in our dna to play the continental way but we produced outstanding footballers down the years and under mick we played lovely football on a regular basis.

The counter argument would be that we have a very average group of players (i still believe we can play better) and MON is a streetwise manager who could get us to euro 2020 where we would host group games and a last 16.It is the closest we will come to being a full host. That is a potential windfall for the game here which could be pumped into real long term development. Another argument would be who could realistically get better results? Do we have the young players coming through right now? My understanding is that we have some of our best talents in a long time but they are mostly 15-16. There is no guarantee they will reach their expectation. I watch a lot of underage football and i was convinced Conor Clifford would be a top premiership player.

Do we then write off wc2022 with a view to building an exciting squad for the future? I personally would be happy with this if in 5 years we had an exciting youthful team like what developed under Mick,even if they might not be as talented.

[DannyInvincible]

The FAI are in a significant amount of debt and their business model of choice presumably means they don't feel they're in a financial position to be writing off or sacrificing entire campaigns to focus on long-term co-ordination and player development rather than prioritising the potential cash cow of immediate qualification, so it seems they feel compelled by their financial situation to take what they consider the safe or most immediately lucrative option always, which appears to entail throwing all their eggs in one short-term basket and banking on qualification from campaign to campaign.

It appears desperate and short-sighted to me. Rather than the desperately hopeful and disjointed campaign-to-campaign approach, if they actually developed a long-term and more sustainable strategy to serve us into the future, it'd be more likely to reap greater rewards overall once the results started to take effect; it's just that it would take a bit more thought, planning, work and time, but we should think of it as delayed gratification.

On Brian Kerr, it's a travesty that his knowledge and intellect aren't being harnessed.

[backstothewall]

On paper Brian Kerr seems the perfect person for the role Ruud Dokter is in

[BonnieShels]

As CTP highlights, we all know well Delaney would be basking in the success by association had we qualified. He'd be publicly thanking Martin and there'd be videos produced by FAI TV of him appearing in the changing room to celebrate with the players. There'd be sing-songs, drinks bought for fans and he might even have taken to the pitch to cheer-lead the crowd.

I guess my post was primarily an articulation of frustration at the man's eternal (and self-enforced) lack of accountability. If there was a sense that Delaney would ever have to answer serious questions in respect of his management of Irish football - be that in a few days, a few weeks, a few months or whenever - I wouldn't be overly bothered by his present ghosting.

Dan McDonnell makes some excellent points here (https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/eternal-debate-over-manager-is-an-irish-flaw-36324843.html), but no-one's ever going to get an opportunity to put them to Delaney. That's why Delaney should be in the public/media spotlight and shouldn't be let hide away from the consequences of his decisions and governance.

And you thought I was serious. That's terrible. Just terrible.

[tetsujin1979]

Kerr's last job was managing the Faroes in 2011. Since then he's worked as an analyst and co-commentator. Since then the only job I can remember him being linked with the Nigeria senior manager job, along with Bryan robson. To the best of my knowledge, no club in England, Scotland or Ireland has offered him a position. Whatever about a position in the FAI, is he happy just to sit on the sidelines?

[BonnieShels]

I think he's still sore enough to want to prove a point. If Roy can come back then Brian can.

[DannyInvincible]

'Denmark hammering is not just on O'Neill or the players - it stops at John Delaney's desk too': https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/denmark-hammering-is-not-just-on-oneill-or-the-players-it-stops-at-john-delaneys-desk-too-36332782.html

[DeLorean]

And year upon year it continues to oversee the decline of Irish soccer's status and reputation.

-We've qualified for two Euros in a row and were very close to a World Cup, having previously qualified for one major tournament in eighteen years.

-We performed very well at Euro 2016, a mere seventeen months ago.

-We have beaten Germany, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Italy, Austria & Wales over the last two years.

-Our underage sides are performing better than they have done in years.

-Dundalk produced our best every club performance in Europe in 2016, with Shamrock Rovers having raised the bar a couple of years earlier.

-Stephanie Roche finished runner-up in FIFA Puskas Award.


What fictional status & reputation does he think we had previously? Okay we probably had some higher profile players but that's the case with most international teams now. England have gone from having Scholes, Gerrard, Lampard & Beckham to Jordan Henderson & Jake Livermore! Italy don't have players like Del Piero or Pirlo anymore.


The industry in England now has a globalised workforce. The FAI has failed chronically to keep up with the competition.

Yes, John Delaney is to blame for the Sky generated globalisation of the English Premier League. 'Keeping up' should have been a formality.


Once again on Tuesday night Irish players were exposed for their basic inability to control the ball and pass the ball - the fundamental building blocks of the trade. Anyone with a passing interest has been banging this drum for at least 20 years. A shoddy indigenous culture is repeatedly producing shoddy footballers.

Shoddy Premier League footballers for the most part, as it happens!

Terrible article. There's enough to throw at Delaney without conjuring stuff up when we're in a bad moment. Big deal if he hasn't been in the public eye in the aftermath of the disappointment? Fair enough I can see the argument, but just because he gets involved in the celebrations doesn't mean he's obliged to criticise or defend what happened last Tuesday, what use would it be? He'd be damned if he did, damned if he didn't anyway.

[bennocelt]

Wouldn't bother Danny, there are a lot of JD fanboys on this site, mostly the ole ole crowd. Funny that:D

Fact is Ireland are not in the World cup, and if a top 16 in Europe is the height of your ambition then good luck to you.
I will enjoy watching Iceland this year in the WCup. Nice of them to plough all their funds from the Euros back into their set up, while our boys just gave most of it to the players and the hangerons, and thats a lot of people these days.

[osarusan]

I'll jump at pretty much any chance to criticise Delaney, but don't think him not being in the public eye after the Denmark match is one.

If it's a comparison with him being in the public eye (drunk with fans, lost his shoes etc) after a good result, then I'd say that's the behaviour that should be at issue.

[DeLorean]

Wouldn't bother Danny, there are a lot of JD fanboys on this site, mostly the ole ole crowd. Funny that:D

Some ball of sh!te.


Fact is Ireland are not in the World cup, and if a top 16 in Europe is the height of your ambition then good luck to you.

Calm down Ruby Walsh, respectable/good showings at major tournaments is the height of my ambition to be honest. You're right there.

[OwlsFan]

Wouldn't bother Danny, there are a lot of JD fanboys on this site, mostly the ole ole crowd. Funny that:D

Fact is Ireland are not in the World cup, and if a top 16 in Europe is the height of your ambition then good luck to you.
I will enjoy watching Iceland this year in the WCup. Nice of them to plough all their funds from the Euros back into their set up, while our boys just gave most of it to the players and the hangerons, and thats a lot of people these days.

Fact is Italy aren't either and neither are Holland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. I suppose Delaney is at fault for those as well. I am not sure the KSI have a huge debt to pay off on their 18,000 capacity stadium so they were able to put more of the money back in to the game. To describe anyone who can actually see that it's not all Delaney's (Satan in an FAI suit) fault as an ole oler is ridiculous and not worth responding to.

[gastric]

Ole, ole, ole,me no like John! ��