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JOHN Delaney ruled Irish football for 15 years.
As executive director of the FAI, he was not challenged and enjoyed all the trappings of power.
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But controversies began to pile up: His rendition of a Republican song in a pub after a game caused a furor, fans were launching protests, and his own relationship was gaining a lot of publicity.
This exclusive excerpt from Mark Tighe and Paul Rowan’s hard-hitting new book, Champagne Football, reveals that Delaney was the author of his own downfall.
His arrogance and love for the limelight would sow the seeds of his public disgrace …
FROG HAND PAYMENT BEGINNING END DELAY
In late May 2015, fourteen people, including senior FIFA officials, were indicted in the United States for allegedly taking millions of dollars in bribes.
The scandal was the death sentence for Sepp Blatter’s term as FIFA president.
For Delaney, it was time to dominate the man who had bothered him so much five years earlier when he mocked the FAI’s statement about the thirty-third team at the World Cup.
On the Ray D’Arcy Show on RTÉ radio, Delaney said she didn’t admire Blatter at all, but gave him credit for being resilient.
“It took a wave of momentum to finally get him to admit his resignation,” Delaney said.
“He was brilliant at dividing and conquering and getting the Asians and Africans to back him up. I’ve never seen anyone better at it.
“He met Emma, my partner, in Vienna recently. He looked at her for seven or eight seconds and said, “I approve of your new girlfriend.”
“I swear. I just asked him to go ahead. ‘Just go ahead, please.’
“She is a great girl and I love her very much. It was an extraordinary moment.
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D’Arcy asked if FIFA got a share of the FAI’s sponsorship deal with Three.
Delaney patiently explained that this was not how it worked. FIFA gave all associations an annual payment.
“And what were those 5 million euros?” D’Arcy asked. “It seemed to me that we were being a nuisance because of Thierry Henry’s handball and they told me: ‘Go and shut up and here you have 5 million euros.’
It was the question Delaney, the FAI and FIFA had avoided answering since the Irish Sun story a year earlier.
When asked about it on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland earlier that week, Delaney said that a “fix” had been made on the FAI complaint, but that it was “certainly not granting us sponsorship.”
Now in a good mood with the kind D’Arcy, Delaney was ready to elaborate. She said she had used foul language with Blatter because of how she mocked the FAI before they reached a deal.
“It was a very good deal for the FAI and a very legitimate deal for the FAI,” Delaney said.
“I am bound by confidentiality not to publish the figure. You have put a figure out there. Fair play for you. “
What was the agreement?
“It was a payment to the association not to proceed with a legal case,” Delaney said.
“They decided to put a confidentiality agreement where I cannot talk about the amount involved. You used a figure, well done. “
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Back in Abbotstown, there was consternation that Delaney had just confirmed FIFA’s payment history, even though the FAI had sworn to secrecy.
When Delaney returned to base, he couldn’t understand why two members of his executive team, Sarah O’Shea and Peter Sherrard, were so exercised.
Amid worldwide coverage of the FBI’s investigation into FIFA, the world’s media picked up the staggering FAI bounty as an example of the kind of deals Blatter had made.
Both FIFA and the FAI were repeatedly forced to deny that the payment amounted to a bribe.
Delaney agreed to show Tony O’Donoghue of RTÉ the documentation of the deal at his home in Kilmacanogue.
After filming the documents and recording an interview with Delaney, O’Donoghue did a live piece on camera from the parking lot of the nearby Pluck bar.
O’Donoghue noted that Delaney spoke out in calling for greater transparency from Blatter.
He said the need for the FAI to pay off its debt at Aviva Stadium had clearly outweighed the need for openness in Delaney’s own dealings with FIFA.
As soon as O’Donoghue left the nine o’clock newscast, he received a call from an irate Delaney, who accused the reporter of calling him a hypocrite.
“I said, ‘Show me where I used the h-word, John,’ because I said what I said, and I think what I said is true,” O’Donoghue recalls.
The debate spread to Berlin, where the final of the Champions League between Barcelona and Juventus was played.
German federation president Wolfgang Niersbach, who was also a member of the FIFA Executive Committee, said: “It’s a joke that [FIFA] He paid this money to prevent the Irish from taking them to court. “
He felt that he could do whatever he wanted. Instead of the VIP tickets, she was buying tickets at the crows nest.
Des Casey, FAI Honorary Vice President for Life
Des Casey, an honorary lifetime member of UEFA, in Berlin with his wife as a guest of the European governing body, was caught by journalists at his hotel.
“Everybody talks about it. People keep asking me if it’s true. It is unprecedented in football to seek compensation for a referee’s mistake, ”Casey said.
“I am sorry for the damage the current saga has done and I am deeply saddened by the events.”
Even Casey, also an honorary life vice president of the FAI, was not untouchable.
A short time later, his tickets to the Aviva director’s box were taken away, despite the fact that he was in his eighties and struggled to climb the stairs of the stadium where his new seats were located.
“I felt like I could do whatever I wanted,” says Casey. “Instead of the VIP tickets, I was buying tickets at the crows nest.”
Amid international concerns over FIFA’s payment, members of the Oireachtas Sports Committee initially said they would call Delaney to explain the deal. But after Delaney called some of the politicians, it was announced that there would be no such hearing.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Eddie Murray, the FAI’s honorary treasurer, confirmed that the board endorsed Delaney.
“You can call him a scammer if you want, but he is doing the association business and doing it correctly,” he said.
FAI ACCOUNTS IN A ‘DANGEROUS’ SITUATION
In the run-up to the FAI AGM in Sligo in July 2015, the media focused on the appearance of FIFA’s € 5 million in FAI accounts for the first time.
On RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Claire Byrne previewed the AGM saying there appeared to be a “big black hole” in the FAI accounts.
Tony O’Donoghue said the FAI accounts were in a “dangerous” situation.
Within hours, RTÉ received a request for an apology and retraction from the FAI.
Weeks later, attorney Paddy Goodwin, on behalf of the FAI, filed a Superior Court injunction seeking damages, including punitive and aggravated awards.
The order claimed that Byrne, O’Donoghue and RTÉ had acted “maliciously” by releasing a report that implied that FAI’s accounts, business and finances were “mismanaged”, that “money had been lost without explanation” , that “proper accounting books had not been maintained” and that the FAI was “insolvent.”
He complained that the reports described the FAI as “a company unfit for business” and that it “should not receive more credit.”
It was not a normal situation for a sports reporter to find himself in
Tony O’Donoghue
While RTÉ considered its response, O’Donoghue brought in former FAI board member Brendan Dillon to speak with RTÉ executives about his current concerns about FAI finances.
O’Donoghue hoped that Dillon’s vision would help convince RTÉ that this was not a case where they should raise the white flag and apologize.
It was not a normal situation for a sports reporter to find himself in.
“RTÉ was very good to me at this,” says O’Donoghue. “I had to go to many meetings with the attorney’s office. My immediate superior and the news and current affairs director participated.
“We almost had to persuade RTÉ to defend her. If you have to go to the witness stand, this could be a two-day or two-week trial. So the pressure is on you on a witness stand. Nobody wants that.
“Without sounding too much like Woodward and Bernstein about it, it was about fair comment and free speech. If RTÉ gives in to something like this, where do we stay?”
Looking back at the court order filed by the FAI, O’Donoghue finds it hauntingly spot on.
“Maybe between the words ‘black hole’ and ‘dangerous’, they confused them and said that we were saying terrible things about them,” says O’Donoghue.
“But the things that they claimed we said were that the accounts are poorly managed, the plaintiff is insolvent or near insolvency, that money is being withheld, a whole list of things.
“It was like a confession.”
- Champagne Football, written by Mark Tighe and Paul Rowan, is published by Penguin Sandycove and is available to buy in bookstores and online starting Thursday, September 17.
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