FAI finances

[BonnieShels]

New accounts published today.

JD paid over 400k which is a reduction of 7.5% on 2010.
His wage reduction is lower than that of the average reduction within the organisation of 13.5%.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...319429390.html

So there ya go...

[Macy]

Not to defend Delaney (that salary is undefendable anyway imo), but the wage bill reduced by 13.5% rather than wages going down by 13.5%. Probably the lowest paid getting laid off, to maintain salaries at the top (like many other organisations do).

[Dodge]

6 staff gone. Each probably paid about the same as JD reduction

[BonnieShels]

I honestly cant see how he can justify the cash. I really can't.
If he was the head of the DFB you know, the largest sporting association on the planet it would be just about justifiable. And even then.

[Acornvilla]

I heard something along the lines that if we finished 3rd in our euros group, that meant an extra 2 mill in prize money for the FAI, which was going to be used to re employ some of their development officers.. There as bad as some of the worse offending LOI teams in the past, relying on unexpected footballing results to sustain their business model.. By the way this info came from a laid off coach of theirs. Can't believe JD couldn't cut his own wage to even 200k, for the love of god what does he even do with that much money.

[tetsujin1979]

are there any public financial records for the GAA or IRFU, so we could do a compare and contrast?

[Serb]

€400k for the head of our football association is ridiculous. The head of the English FA is paid around £300k (€375k) and is managing a much larger operation. It's not the salary alone that annoys me about him, it's his attitude, out getting **** faced with the lads on tour. You don't see videos of David Bernstein or Wolfgang Niersbach on YouTube, ****ed, saying, "Lads, lads, you're ****ing brilliant." or whatever he was spouting. I dunno, I just really dislike the guy. He's the face of cronyism for me.

[bennocelt]

Can't believe JD couldn't cut his own wage to even 200k, for the love of god what does he even do with that much money.

Buys Irish fans pints in bars on the continent

[Dodge]

They can't even argue that that's the 'going rate' for top level executive as he came up through the bowels of the FAI.

Not saying i'd agree with that thinking but its certainly 'an excuse' which they could use (ie "well to lure the head of Aer Lingus we needed to pay him what he could expect on the market...)

[jbyrne]

Buys Irish fans pints in bars on the continent

and its working for him. talked to a number of fans in Poland who thought he was great citing his bonding with the fans as the main reason. Not a mention of developing the game in Ireland, just the hiring of the free train in Slovakia, free pints and ticket raffles! crazy

[Stuttgart88]

I'm trying to let my personal suspicions / opinions out of it for now, but what I was trying to achieve in the FAI Governance thread was to establish:

(a) even if we make the assumption that JD is a saint with a foolproof vision for Irish football, is the FAI's governance structure allowing vested interests to block this vision?
(b) is JD just in a cosy cartel with the grass roots who have a caveman approach to development? Sucking up to them keeps him in his 400k p.a. job;
(c) Or are we somewhere in between those two extremes?

[barney]

To me, 400k is obscene. Like others say, it would be interesting to see what other people (in other sports and other countries) are paid in comparison. That's the only way you can add a bit of context I suppose.

I don't really know how good Delaney is at his job - most of us probably don't really and I'm reluctant to just say "He's crap and he's taking the p!ss". That said, all this rubbish with him drinking in Poland, spending money on the fans and that stuff - I just get the sense that John Delaney has been trying all his life to be "one of the lads" and he's now having some joy.

[jbyrne]

(b) is JD just in a cosy cartel with the grass roots who have a caveman approach to development? Sucking up to them keeps him in his 400k p.a. job;

in my experience this option.

while i have a lot of time for the lads who run the league I am involved with I dont think they are too concerned (probably rightly so) with getting the best deals and representation for their own league than the overall Irish football picture. Id say JD has all such league committees right where he wants them and they are scared of rocking the boat. I have nothing substantial to offer in support of this view but its an opinion I have built up in my 15 years league involvement.

[Macy]

I'm trying to let my personal suspicions / opinions out of it for now, but what I was trying to achieve in the FAI Governance thread was to establish:

(a) even if we make the assumption that JD is a saint with a foolproof vision for Irish football, is the FAI's governance structure allowing vested interests to block this vision?
(b) is JD just in a cosy cartel with the grass roots who have a caveman approach to development? Sucking up to them keeps him in his 400k p.a. job;
(c) Or are we somewhere in between those two extremes?

(b) I'm not aware of any attempt to make changes to (a), which I'd expect if a CEO wasn't happy with the structure. We've had window dressing of the board, that's about it.

[Exiledrover]

Delaney's biggest mistake was the debacle with the ticket sales for the Aviva. He seems to have gotten an extremely easy ride over this.

This debacle has landed the FAI with huge debts and interest payments that there was no need for if ticket sales were handled correctly.

[Charlie Darwin]

€400k for the head of our football association is ridiculous. The head of the English FA is paid around £300k (€375k) and is managing a much larger operation. It's not the salary alone that annoys me about him, it's his attitude, out getting **** faced with the lads on tour. You don't see videos of David Bernstein or Wolfgang Niersbach on YouTube, ****ed, saying, "Lads, lads, you're ****ing brilliant." or whatever he was spouting. I dunno, I just really dislike the guy. He's the face of cronyism for me.

I agree 400k is a ridiculous salary for the job that he does, but the size of the organisation is largely irrelevant. At the end of the day, both are running large football organisations full time and neither job justifies the salary involved.

They can't even argue that that's the 'going rate' for top level executive as he came up through the bowels of the FAI.

Not saying i'd agree with that thinking but its certainly 'an excuse' which they could use (ie "well to lure the head of Aer Lingus we needed to pay him what he could expect on the market...)

It was the same rationale RTE used to justify paying 100k+ to Pat Kenny and Gerry Ryan while they were laying off staff left and right. As if we were to believe Pat had to be paid as much as the President to fend off all that interest from BBC and CNN.

[geysir]

are there any public financial records for the GAA or IRFU, so we could do a compare and contrast?

The GAA president is voted in for a 3 year tenure, he receives a salary, the same salary he was receiving in the job he had prior to the presidency. The present president, Cooney, happened to be a FAS official his 3 year leave of absence from that post will cost the GAA a total of €470k over the whole 3 years.
When the Congress vote for a president they are made aware as to what the salary will accrue to.

Delaney's salary is an issue but it is only one issue. With the FAI, income from international football is the cash cow and that has been hit by a number of obvious factors. The most important figure is what's left after all bills are paid, to be poured/trickled back into the game. The FAI figure is abysmally low.
The GAA income for 2010 was €58m and dropped to €47m in 2011, a drop which reflected no rental income from FAI IRFU and less lucrative sponsorship.
Some 80% of that revenue is poured back into the game.From that 2010 income, €37m in funding and €9m Games development was put back into the game.

[paul_oshea]

LIam O'Neill is the current president christy cooney is gone.

But its more the PR guy mulivihill or whatever is proper title that id be measuring. He is on about 120k. Still nowhere near Delaney.

[geysir]

That's a fair enough point. I'd say if you're talking about an equivalent post, the GAA president is the equivalent of the FAI CEO, at least since Quinn was GAA president in the early 90's, the president's role is full time, active, high profile and guides the whole show. The FAI puppet president is, who?
Mulvihill was the director general, retired since a few years. The DG is regarded as an employee and people would not take too kindly to GAA staff expressing views publicly. No way would he be a frontman for the GAA, talking about rule 42 etc, like you get with JD.

The pertinent point is the amount of income that goes back into the game. The FAI have obvious financial issues but yet I think there is a need for a budget to reflect that a minimum % of income goes back into the game, a mandatory obligation and that becomes part of the budget rather than distribute the crumbs that are left over.
8 more years is a long time to wait before there can be a decent stream of income from the FAI to the game.

[Stuttgart88]

Paddy McCaul is Hon President I think.

Nationality: Irish
Date of birth: 16 September 1955
Association president since: 2010

• Paddy McCaul served for ten years as a committee member and then chairman with Athlone Town FC, who won league titles in 1980/81 and 1982/83, and was voted in as chairman of the League of Ireland in 2005, overseeing its merger with the Football Association of Ireland (FAI).

• A hotelier by profession, McCaul has three sons and one daughter, and members of his family have represented Ireland outside of football as a double act of his niece Donna and nephew Joe McCaul competed in the Eurovision Song Contest.

• Taking over the post as FAI president in 2010, McCaul said: "The FAI see the next four or five years as crucial for the ongoing development and progression of the organisation. With our new stadium in Dublin and a nationwide network of football development officers, we look forward to working with all of our partners to increase participation levels across Ireland."

Source: www.unclesofunknowneurovisionparticpants.eu

Alternative source: http://www.uefa.com/memberassociatio...d=1592076.html