Future of Irish Football

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Originally Posted by Scrufil

He is about 10 years older than Delaney who is regarded as the 'old brigade.'

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Quinn is 1 year older than Delaney, not 10?

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Originally Posted by Scrufil

All who have played the game to be under 40 when coming in.

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I don't think this is reasonable. Being on a board has responsibilities (as the current ones are finding out). There's no point putting such onerous restrictions on potential members - you need the best people for the job. If they're 70, then fine. If they're non-football, then fine.

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Originally Posted by Scrufil

I would want all the League of Ireland clubs have a voice each at board level

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You can'd do this for any number of reasons -

> 20 people on the board is too many for it to function properly, and that's before you bring in representatives from other areas (including independent directors)
> The board would be too biased towards one area of the game
> The LoI clubs can't manage themselves; what chance have they of managing the FAI?
> Most club boards are volunteers I would imagine; to go expecting that they add being on the FAI board to their duties - and do it properly - is expecting too much

Also, how big do you want the board to be? 20 from the LoI. More from junior/senior (I presume you mean intermediate) - maybe another 10 there? An architect and a builder - why? But that's another 2 anyway. Someone who has served in a bank or finance position - these are two really different roles. Which is it? Either way, it's another 1 on the board. Conor McGregor? What on earth would you want a violent cokehead on the board for? If you thought Delaney was bad enough for the FAI's reputation, McGregor would be way worse. And good middleman? What's that? There's no such qualification for example. It's also not the board's job to get involved in persuading local councils about stadium development; that's way too detailed for what a board should be doing - general oversight and strategic direction.

So that's up to 36 or so now that you're suggesting. That can't function as a board. The current one had 10 people (including Cody/treasurer guy, who've since resigned). That's plenty.

I knew I shouldn't be writing that when half-awake. This I was meant to edit to be a sub-structure for forming the board not the final board.
The architect, builder and banker are needed to give proper advice when clubs go building otherwise you get the grounds that take decades to complete like Shams, Harps and even Athlone with a half built ground. It has been pointed out that if they were there as part of the structure to advise the minister there would have been proper figures for the Children's Hospital.

I did say McGregor is a wildcard and I never heard him called a cokehead before.

At this stage, he'd probably more known for that than fighting

Scrufil - I know what a middleman is, but if you're going to formally put "Middleman" on the board, it needs to have a definition. Anyone could be it; more than one person could be it. It makes no sense to designate someone as the "Middleman"

Harps, Athlone, etc, had access to builders and architects. To fill a board role with an architect to advise on maybe one project a year when there's already architects in Donegal and Westmeath makes no sense.

But the bottom line is that almost none of what you wrote has any relevance to what should be on the board. I've given detailed reasons (and all you can give in return is abuse...) And add to that that the board should have a couple of full-time staff - the CEO for one, and a couple of other high-ranking employees - and your structure just makes no sense

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Originally Posted by Scrufil

I want the new board to start with a younger profile. All who have played the game to be under 40 when coming in.

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Definitely younger than than the current Jurassic throwbacks, but under 40 and ex-players? The board needs experience of running multi-million euro organisations (governance, legal & reg, finance, marketing, PR, comms and public affairs, high performance, stakeholder engagement etc) and there are few ex-players who fit that bill. I'd be doubtful that someone retired from playing about 5 years previously would have the experience needed. There's a role for one or two who understand football, but not the whole board.

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Originally Posted by Scrufil

I would want all the League of Ireland clubs have a voice each at board level but once again only after a root and branch review of each club is carried out. Who around here trusts Bray's or Athlone's boards? The junior clubs and senior non LoI clubs should have less sway.

Board members in total only be allowed two 4 year term stints each max. That is more than enough. There are other aspects of the game they could help in after that.

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Not much to disagree with there, other than giving 22 clubs a board member each: one director is enough. A root and branch review is optimistic, but the negotations for the new league-FAI relationship might go some way towards enhanced club governance.

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Originally Posted by Scrufil

There should be a arcitect and a builder on the board and someone who has served in a bank or finance position who knows the market.

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An architect and builder for grounds? A bit unnecessary, if I've understood you properly, but a banker? Seriously? Though, come to think of it, Nick Leeson ticks all the boxes.

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Originally Posted by Scrufil

There is a need for a good middleman or middlewoman on the board that can persuade councils and town planners that new stadia are not just for the locals but will cater for sports tourism and bring in conferences and small business operating within their confines.

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I can name a load of lobbying and public affairs firms who could do this on a project basis, freeing up a directorship for more necessary and immediate work.

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Originally Posted by Scrufil

I am not much good at naming names but hell you could throw in Conor McGregor as a wildcard on the board - anyone who can do the deals he has needs to be respected.

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Good call! There's nobody in Irish sport better able to offer advice to the FAI board on negotiating a plea bargain.;)

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Originally Posted by geysir

I agree Paul, the presence of reasonable evidence is enough to support an opinion and have a discussion about most any topic.

There are some people here, a clique who dogmatically refuse to do research, who claimed that it was not a requirement to make note of a director's loan in a company's annual report and viciously mocked those (much smarter people) who thought different.

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I was merely playing Devils Advocate. Certainly there isn't anyone smarter on here than I anyway.

Than me, Paul.

Because the first person pronoun 'I' becomes 'me' when it is the object of a preposition. Had you terminated the sentence with 'am' 'than' would have been a conjunction and the sentence, accordingly, grammatically correct.

Is there an emoji for pompous grammar nazi?

I thought it was a given that am would proceed the I, therefore I am. you wouldn't say me am. Is that not acceptable use of shortened English nowadays? God knows we see all sorts passing for English today.

But point taken, perfect example of muphry's law. :D

Good piece from the London Times

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/w...855a4213daf588

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Originally Posted by paul_oshea

I thought it was a given that am would proceed the I, therefore I am. you wouldn't say me am. Is that not acceptable use of shortened English nowadays? God knows we see all sorts passing for English today.

But point taken, perfect example of muphry's law. :D

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'Twas an open goal - and it'll probably be me tomorrow! That's Murphy's Law...

Different law your Eminence!

Are you suuuuuure you invoked Murphy's law, Paul?:D

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muphry%27s_law

Well every day's a school day. I hadn't heard of that till now.