Originally Posted by pineapple stu
) - relegation, withholding of prize money non participation in Europe (if apprpriate). It is not the case that derry have been found guilty of breaching the 65% rule (as the accounts for this season are not in yet for clubs) instead it is for breach of "licensing requirements" that most mythical of things.
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Thinking about it, I suspect Delaney is "playing a blinder" on this one.
For if you go back to first principles, three things are clear.
1. The FAI want DCFC in the LOI;
2. Unless something drastic happens, DCFC (Wellvan) will go bust/get closed down, due to their debts;
3. If 2. happens, it would be v.difficult for the FAI to achieve 1. (i.e. with a "new" DCFC).
Therefore, the FAI has to find a means and a timetable to avoid 2. happening.
Therefore, they need someone to save DCFC. In its present state (Board and debts), no-one is going to step in.
Therefore they have engineered the resignation of the Board.
Next, they need to address the debts. I think we must assume that a large part (most?) of this must be accounted for either by Directors' Loans/Equity and unpaid players' wages.
Re. the former (Directors), that is presumably sorted, since he has them by the balls over dubious accounting/tax/business reporting etc, such that they are not going to seek their investment back.
Re the latter (unpaid wages), the players know that if nothing happens and DCFC/Wellvan go bust, they will not get paid. I suspect Delaney's "price" for offering them an "amnesty" from having their player registrations suspended next season etc, is an undertaking not to pursue their claim for back-pay should DCFC be saved.
This then leaves the remaining creditors of DCFC/Wellvan for Delaney to deal with. Now I have no real idea who these might be, or for how much. But guessing, I'd say these are:
A. Swifts/Linfield/Cliftonville;
B. Other LOI clubs?
C. HMRC
D. Other non-footballing creditors/suppliers etc;
As regards A., he might hope to buy them off with DCFC's 2009 Prize money;
As regards B. (if they exist), Delaney will no doubt have something over them to keep them quiet;
As regards C, coming to some sort of settlement with HRMC may be the price to be paid by whoever replaces McDaid & Co. on the new Board;
As regards D, I'm really guessing here, but if the others can be satisfied, then maybe this group can be persuaded to wait until DCFC are back on their feet next season and living within their means, so that they might be in a position to start repaying some of the debt?
All of which would explain the timing of events. It is possible, I suppose, that the first the FAI heard about these dual contracts etc was a week ago. More likely (imo), that it was before then, but the FAI kept it quiet until now so as to get the 2009 LOI season completed as "cleanly" as possible.
However, once that hurdle was safely negotiated, it is imperative that they act as quickly as possible, for two reasons:
1. Whilst McDaid and his fellow Board Members remained in place etc, it was always open to Swifts/HMRC/A.N.Other to close down the club; and
2. If the old Board did somehow manage to struggle on until the Spring or beyond, any subsequent collapse woul;d screw up the 2010 season.
Which is why (imo), at a time when you might have expected Delaney and the FAI to be pre-occupied with the France games/WC Qualification, and the new Lansdowne etc, they are spending all their time on DCFC at the moment.
Of course, all this is speculation on my part - wildly so, it must be said. And from his most recent comment about going to Derry to establish exactly how much the clubs debts amount to, Delaney may not be confident that he can pull something off (hence his caginess about which Division, if any, DCFC might be playing in).
But even if I've got the details and sequence etc badly wrong, I'm sure something broadly similar is going on as we speak, since one thing is crystal clear: Delaney is "one cute hoor".
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