Delaney being smoked out

**SkStu** · 09/09/2010, 8:45 PM

a few things id like to address in that post Stuttgart88...

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Place - in sport this is bound up in the product. You can't watch a match without visiting the place.

a million or so barstoolers would beg to differ.

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Price - presumably it's fair in the LOI - I don't know

its not.

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

The product is what it is for the moment. Hard to improve without investment (from where? and what will attract it?) and maybe better technical development among the next geneartion of LOI players. Unusually among businesses, a sports league - the product - requires competitors to be evenly matched.

if you like live soccer you'll like to watch almost any live soccer. Just because we are on the doorstep of the Premier League it doesnt mean people should not be attending games here, if they truly like live soccer. If i live a decent drive away from a swanky expensive restaurant, sure, ill enjoy a meal there every once in a while and look in the windows most weekends but i still like going for a meal so ill pop down to my less expensive, less swanky local restaurant a lot more often.

Or something.

**Alf Honn** · 09/09/2010, 9:08 PM

RTE said tonight Delaney declined their request to be interviewed about this story.

Very curious that a man who loves the sound of his own voice so much won't take questions and give very straightforward answers on how many tickets are sold (not allocated), how much income has vantage generated and most importantly what the annual repayments are on the morgage.

**geezer** · 09/09/2010, 11:17 PM

and his buddies coming out of the bunker yet

front page news again, me thinks their is more to this story than just premium seat sales

**dcfcsteve** · 09/09/2010, 11:52 PM

Originally Posted by legendz

The likes of Donegal Celtic nowadays and Lurgan City should have been invited to the LoI.

Care to explain :

1) Why they should have been invited ?
2) Why they should have accepted ?
3) Why you think any other LOI clubs or the FAI would have been interested in this notion ?

P.S. It's Lurgan Celtic. Lurgan is far from being a city.

**Spudulika** · 10/09/2010, 5:36 AM

Originally Posted by Calcio Jack

First off neither of us is an apologist for either JD or FR... but I have to disagree with you re Delaney as he is a self made millionaire...as for FR again have to disagree with you as (1) he blew it with Baltimore albeit he walked with some money for himself but that's another days debate and (2) what happened to him within the FAI was brought on by himself albeit he was unlucky to encounter forces that were as good as if not better than him when it came to "self entitlement" ..... so basically they are both the type that deserve each other but not the type I like to see running the game here.

I do have more of a liking for FR, though I think it's because he is an actual sportsman and interested in the LOI, whereas Delaney is pure politics and a crook. The Baltimore issue is something that is for another day, though I agree with you on it most of the way. His ousting from the FAI seemed to be a carefully co-ordinated move and a real effort to stop progress, there will be so much that will never come out in it. I agree that JD isn't fit to run the game here, FR didn't have long enough though it's fair that he didn't have the impact he should have had.

The development of this story is quite unbelievable, though I cannot for the life of me see JD get the boot, as he certainly won't walk. He has too much dirt on the council members and clubs will back him for some blood money, so he's there for the long haul. For a person who has constantly underperformed and is now found to have been caught lying it's amazing that (bring the FAI to a dark place) he isn't gone. Though this is what makes the FAI the poor relation of Irish sports, it's like a 26 county Athletics Ireland - everyone scrambling for a plane seat to big events and shot at recognition and profit, and nobody caring about what happens to the sport, supporters and most importantly competitors.

**Spudulika** · 10/09/2010, 5:40 AM

http://www.independent.ie/national-n...e-2332687.html

http://www.independent.ie/national-n...s-2332710.html

Jaysus, this is getting nasty. Fair play to the man from Ardee to get stuck in like this, I just hope the truth outs in the end.

Very interesting are the figures for the IRFU and GAA for 10 year Premium tickets, 15k and 12k respectively. In terms of value for money the GAA is running away with it, though the IRFU can at least get a couple of big Magners and Heineken Matches in.

**Calcio Jack** · 10/09/2010, 7:18 AM

Originally Posted by dcfcsteve

Can you clarify where/how he made his millions himself, rather than just say that he did ?

Thanks.

He owns/owned a number of companies ranging from accountancy to bakeries.

**Macy** · 10/09/2010, 8:02 AM

Originally Posted by Lim till i die

How many of these tickets were sold by King Johns errand boy, wearing out the tyres on his (free) car travelling the length and breath of the country flogging to junior clubs at big discounts, sucking money out of the grassroots of the game to feed the big hole at the top.

All the levels of the game have had their arms twisted to buy vantage club seats, including the LoI.

As for the wider issue, Delaney lived by this sword to get the job, if he dies by it, so be it. I'm staggered that so many still attempt to defend him tbh - Delaney doesn't equal Irish Football, it's ok to want the CEO out...

**geezer** · 10/09/2010, 8:32 AM

"He owns/owned a number of companies ranging from accountancy to bakeries."

can bet he didnt leave them 38million in debt and get 420k a year salary plus expenses. He has a lot of honchos planted in the various committees, board of the fai. He runs the board of the fai. Its normally the other way around. One organisation springs to mind where the ceo ran the board as opposed to working for the board and that was at the bank thats gonna take the country down

**Spudulika** · 10/09/2010, 9:01 AM

Geezer, Delaney has an terrible record running companies, this is just the latest in a sorry list of failures!

**dcfcsteve** · 10/09/2010, 11:36 AM

Originally Posted by Spudulika

http://www.independent.ie/national-n...e-2332687.html

http://www.independent.ie/national-n...s-2332710.html

Jaysus, this is getting nasty. Fair play to the man from Ardee to get stuck in like this, I just hope the truth outs in the end.

Very interesting are the figures for the IRFU and GAA for 10 year Premium tickets, 15k and 12k respectively. In terms of value for money the GAA is running away with it, though the IRFU can at least get a couple of big Magners and Heineken Matches in.

There's nothing nasty about proper scrutiny of a public body.

**Stuttgart88** · 10/09/2010, 12:38 PM

Originally Posted by SkStu

a million or so barstoolers would beg to differ.

if you like live soccer you'll like to watch almost any live soccer.

The challenge for the marketer therefore is to address what might be done to get some of those million or so "barstoolers" to attend live matches. For some of these the "place" of consumption is going to be an issue, as well as the other P's in the marketing mix.

I disagree with the second point. As it happens I'm like you in that I like any form of live football. But there's ben a lot of research in the US and UK about different segments of football support. There are dozens of types of fans, each with different motivations for attending and with differing degrees of attachment to their team. Your comment is only true for a certain segment. One Us author I read (will try and dig up his name) wrote about temporary fans for example. The equivalent in Ireland would probably be what many refer to as the "event junkie". The challenge for the marketer is what can be done to make this temporary fan a more regular fan.

A sports marketer in the US called Bernie Mullin used the metaphor of an escalator. You want to get the fan at the bottom of the escalator, the guy who'll attend once or twice, up a few steps , attending more frequently. You want to get the guy at the middle higher up towards the top. The metaphor breaks down at the top - you don't want fans at the top falling off

There isn't a one size fits all approach. The marketing industry in other products recognises this, the sports industry was slow to do so.

I'm just saying this in response to the first poster to mention marketing, and to follow on that it's quite subtle - not just a matter of saying "come and watch us".

**SkStu** · 10/09/2010, 3:02 PM

its a good metaphor, Stutts, but not as good as the restaurant one...

**Stuttgart88** · 10/09/2010, 4:17 PM

What, you'd go for a look in the windows most weekends, even though it's a decent drive away? That's a bit sad actually

**Mr A** · 12/09/2010, 10:46 AM

Somewhat more nuanced piece in the Sunday Indo: http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...l-2334585.html

**dcfcsteve** · 12/09/2010, 12:59 PM

Delaney exciting the loyalty of Irish football supporters ?

Goons in Armenia queuing up to have their photo taken with him in a bar...?

Jaysus wept. The Indo must be looking at Irish football through a parallel universe.

It matters not if a few Oireland supporters think Delaney is worth having their photo taken with. The grassroots at senior club level in Ireland don't seem to like or trust the man. He may have the loyalty - perhaps begrudgingly, due to the lack of an alternative - of those who run Irish clubs at the moment, but the generation that will follow them will probably be a lot more critical of him if he's still around as they start to take up the individual reins.

**Lim till i die** · 12/09/2010, 1:07 PM

Originally Posted by Indo

Delaney also has the backing of the fabled "grassroots". In Armenia, Irish supporters lined up to have their picture taken with Delaney when they met him in a late-night bar. He has spent time with supporters' groups across the country and in England. In return they have developed a loyalty to the chief executive.

Delaney inspires loyalty and demands it

What a load of Fanning!!

**pineapple stu** · 12/09/2010, 5:30 PM

Only story I've ever heard about Irish fans, Delaney and a bar on an away trip was the lads drinking with the head of the Faroese FA who was giving out about the ignorant, awkward fool in charge in Ireland...

**Mr A** · 12/09/2010, 6:03 PM

Remember the statement from the Junior/Provincial game after the row with Limerick? From that it seems that JD does have the backing of the junior game.

**dcfcsteve** · 12/09/2010, 6:57 PM

Originally Posted by Mr A

Remember the statement from the Junior/Provincial game after the row with Limerick? From that it seems that JD does have the backing of the junior game.

No great surprise there - particularly as some money from the Aviva will eventually flow to the junior game, whereas money from Limerick-Barcelona wouldn't have.

Delaney has the support of all levels within the game. It's how he got re-elected as CEO recently. Whether that endorsement was whole-hearted or not is a different matter..