FAI AGM

Zebra3

I'm sure everyone has read what happened yesterday.

While no surprise, it must mark as a new low point in Irish football.

The FAI seems to have mafiaesque values. The silence around all the problems in Irish football is beyond belief.

Our very own sun god.

"The best signing ever".

Where do they get these toads from?

It's getting to the stage where I feel that the government should pull all funding for Irish football until the FAI has completely reformed and democratised itself.

If it chooses not to, there is no way the taxpayer should be contributing to the current charade.

Guy:Incognito

Zebra3 wrote: »

I'm sure everyone has read what happened yesterday.

Nope. What happened?

Not a clue what happened.

The_Kew_Tour

AGM
Delaney got standing ovation at the end.
Some Leitrim fella said Delaney was the best thing to happen to the FAI.

Google is great.

JohnDee

Shameless. Wonder did he throws his tie into the crowd of delegates at the end?

Gavin "shels"

4 posts on this, 5 in the James McClean thread since 9am this morning about him turning his back.....

fullstop

Gavin shels wrote: »

4 posts on this, 5 in the James McClean thread since 9am this morning about him turning his back.....

Well the OP didn't exactly provide much detail!

Zebra3

fullstop wrote: »

Well the OP didn't exactly provide much detail!

I didn't think it was necessary considering it's been all over the sports sections of the Indo and the Times in the last 24 hours.

Mars Bar

For those who don't know.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/comment-secrecy-security-and-silence-to-the-fore-at-fai-agm-31386452.html

Ferris_Bueller

It sounds as if the FAI hired security due to rumours of a protest outside the hotel, never a good sign when the FAI is running away from it's own fans.

I'm not as anti-Delaney as a lot of posters seem to be but my biggest worry is how untouchable he seems to be, unless he voluntarily steps down I can't see him losing his job and as a result I can't see many big changes being made to Irish football. The fact that there wasn't a single question put to him yesterday shows how afraid people are to challenge him.

fullstop

Zebra3 wrote: »

I didn't think it was necessary considering it's been all over the sports sections of the Indo and the Times in the last 24 hours.

Well some of us hadn't seen the story.

MightyMandarin

Delaney is a cancer on Irish football and as long as he's involved with the game in Ireland, Irish football will suffer from schoolboy level to the LOI to the national team. If people thought Blatter was hard to remove, this man is even tougher to get rid of.

anncoates

fullstop wrote: »

Well the OP didn't exactly provide much detail!

It's an Irish football forum and this was the AGM of the football association of Ireland and was widely reported in the media.

A quick Google would have sufficed but that wouldn't harvest the thanks.

Guy:Incognito

anncoates wrote: »

It's an Irish football forum and this was the AGM of the football association of Ireland and was widely reported in the media.

A quick Google would have sufficed but that wouldn't harvest the thanks.

Putting a link in the op or a brief synopsis would have sorted the whole thing from the get go.

I wouldnt have even known the AGM happened tbh.

I only got as far as "hush money" in the article too. €5m for nothing is a great deal anyway. We shouldnt have gotten anything .

dundalkfc10

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Putting a link in the op or a brief synopsis would have sorted the whole thing from the get go.

I wouldnt have even known the AGM happened tbh.

I only got as far as "hush money" in the article too. €5m for nothing is a great deal anyway. We shouldnt have gotten anything .

So you didn't even read what happened!

Guy:Incognito

dundalkfc10 wrote: »

So you didn't even read what happened!

I read half of the article and got bored. I've little interest in the goings on at the FAI AGM tbh. If the people at it dont really give a ****, I dont see how my outrage is going to make a difference.

I never claimed to have read what happened, in fact I was quite clear in my first post that I hadnt a clue what happened.

homerjay2005

dundalkfc10 wrote: »

So you didn't even read what happened!

In fairness that article is as bitter and one sided as it comes. The FAI are in the process of making more money in 2015 than any year on record, but of course that bit got left out amongest the fact that the grassroots game is about to undergo the biggest transition since the association was set up.

But sure, let's just talk about delaneys salary, his tie and how s*hit the prize money is for the 6,000th time on here while our kids and talented sports stars are being torn apart by football, hurling, rugby and all the other sports that this country has.

While GAA, soccer and Rugby co-exist, soccer will continue to suffer and its not going to change anytime soon.

The_Kew_Tour

The FAI are 50million in debt they want to be making something.

I'm sorry but his salary is a huge amount for a man unable to deliver anything at present.

Billy86

homerjay2005 wrote: »

While GAA, soccer and Rugby co-exist, soccer will continue to suffer and its not going to change anytime soon.

Do you mean they will all suffer by co-existing (due to dilution) or am I missing something else here?

homerjay2005

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

The FAI are 50million in debt they want to be making something.

I'm sorry but his salary is a huge amount for a man unable to deliver anything at present.

Stadium debt. Fairly common practice in sport and all aspects of business to be in "debt" due to cost of premises.

The FA are millions in debt also due to Wembley, but we rarely hear a word about that.

The_Kew_Tour

homerjay2005 wrote: »

Stadium debt. Fairly common practice in sport and all aspects of business to be in "debt" due to cost of premises.

The FA are millions in debt also due to Wembley, but we rarely hear a word about that.

The FA have come in for lot of criticism too over past decade, they still are.

Nobody is expecting wonders from Delaney or the FAI. If they could come out of the dark ages, try to produce a solid structure both at Youth level and at LOI level, along with a decent sight of the future we all be happy.

While the GAA and Rugby is always going be of some hinderence, it be naive to think this is a Irish Only problem. It's not and its a lame excuse for the sorry state Football is in this country.

Ferris_Bueller

There is a lot that Delaney is doing wrong but in fairness to him there are changes being made to developing young players. They've made the switch to small sided games in a lot of under age leagues in the country, Ruud Doktor is bringing out a new player development plan, they've built training facilities for under age international teams at Abbotstown, they've introduced an under 19 and under 17 national league which is attempting to bridge the gap to senior football and take less of the dominance away from Dublin clubs. Fair enough it's not perfect but there have been changes made over the past few years, it will take a long time for us to see the results though. Soccer is also the number 1 participation sport in the country so again they deserve some credit for that surely.

I do have a lot of issues with how he runs the show though. Mainly the League of Ireland which is basically neglected completely, the fact that it's so expensive to enter and the league champions only get €100k prize money is ridiculous. The fact that he makes almost four times this a year is sickening, I can't see why he's on so much money but at the same time he's hardly going to take a 300k pay cut voluntarily.

The_Kew_Tour

Ferris_Bueller wrote: »

There is a lot that Delaney is doing wrong but in fairness to him there are changes being made to developing young players. They've made the switch to small sided games in a lot of under age leagues in the country, Ruud Doktor is bringing out a new player development plan, they've built training facilities for under age international teams at Abbotstown, they've introduced an under 19 and under 17 national league which is attempting to bridge the gap to senior football and take less of the dominance away from Dublin clubs. Fair enough it's not perfect but there have been changes made over the past few years, it will take a long time for us to see the results though. Soccer is also the number 1 participation sport in the country so again they deserve some credit for that surely.

I do have a lot of issues with how he runs the show though. Mainly the League of Ireland which is basically neglected completely, the fact that it's so expensive to enter and the league champions only get €100k prize money is ridiculous. The fact that he makes almost four times this a year is sickening, I can't see why he's on so much money but at the same time he's hardly going to take a 300k pay cut voluntarily.

I'm glad to hear that changes are coming. I don't expect miracles overnight. It's going to take years for things to turn around but the longer we leave it the further back we go, so I'm glad to read things are changing. Heard this from people too.

But I also agree with his salary and few other things.

He does not deseve that, not yet anyway and he has a hell of lot to do to deserve it. The neglect of the LOI is simply not good enough. Grassroots is highly important but a solid league is just as crucial.

anncoates

The fact is that chronic mismanagement, bullying and financial starvation of the domestic game would be grounds for widespread disaffection with any other football association.

In Ireland, as shown here, it's usually just grounds for pulling the piss out of the disaffected or blind support based on the view that only the national team matters

homerjay2005

anncoates wrote: »

The fact is that chronic mismanagement, bullying and financial starvation of the domestic game would be grounds for widespread disaffection with any other football association.

In Ireland, as shown here, it's usually just grounds for pulling the piss out of the disaffected or blind support based on the view that only the national team matters

but whats the answer then?

lets see that the prize money is quadrupled. lets just say the entry fee is dropped, lets just day that Delaney takes a pay cut. will that change the attendances, the poorly run clubs, the facilities and everything else thats wrong with the league?

all of the above are plausible, but at the end of the day, will that solve anything? Cork, Dundalk, Sligo and a couple of more clubs have shown what could be achieved, but the rest of the clubs just are not able to do it.

money doesnt solve everything though and its all that most LOI fans seem to obsess over for the past 5 years.

Berserker

If I go to a league game here, does my ticket money go to the FAI or the club? I always understood that it went to the club.

Also, quite a few of the people I know who had season tickets for the RoI are not renewing this time round because of the nonsense that is going on. Is that a general trend? Non-renewal and a proper protest outside the ground on match days is probably the best way to get the message across. The protest at the England game that I saw were amateurish; no offence meant.

The_Kew_Tour

homerjay2005 wrote: »

but whats the answer then?

lets see that the prize money is quadrupled. lets just say the entry fee is dropped, lets just day that Delaney takes a pay cut. will that change the attendances, the poorly run clubs, the facilities and everything else thats wrong with the league?

all of the above are plausible, but at the end of the day, will that solve anything? Cork, Dundalk, Sligo and a couple of more clubs have shown what could be achieved, but the rest of the clubs just are not able to do it.

money doesnt solve everything though and its all that most LOI fans seem to obsess over for the past 5 years.

That's a fair argument right there and some truth in it too.

But clubs need money. They need money to survive that's why it's important. I agree, money is not everything, but it will always be a issue.

You go into any club thread on English clubs and money is talked about too, even United. Football is a business now(for good and bad).

But you could also take your point and see when clubs blew money before the bust and things went bad too. I just hope clubs have learned. The few you mentioned have.

homerjay2005

Berserker wrote: »

If I go to a league game here, does my ticket money go to the FAI or the club? I always understood that it went to the club.

Also, quite a few of the people I know who had season tickets for the RoI are not renewing this time round because of the nonsense that is going on. Is that a general trend? Non-renewal and a proper protest outside the ground on match days is probably the best way to get the message across. The protest at the England game that I saw were amateurish; no offence meant.

but what exactly is "going on"?

the protests a few months back were due in large to the fact that alot of YBIG lads didnt get tickets to the Scotland game.

there are other things, but this was the one that broke the camel back for alot of people - this to be honest, is the least of the worries for Irish football and shows just where priorities are.

gosplan

I'm not giving my own opinion on this. To be honest I don't know enough but it seems that the FAI have decided that the LOI must be self-financing.

LuckyLloyd

I think there should obviously be higher prize money, but I can see the other side of a high entry fee for a long financially demanding national competition. There needs to be 'skin in the game' and entry criteria that drives a line between Intermediate and Junior clubs. To get through a season a club needs to be able to put its hands on cash and generate cash. In a landscape where clubs have gone bust halfway through a season in recent times, I can understand the thinking behind such a barrier to entry.

I'd also suggest that to have a truly successful national league you'd need to rip it up and start again from scratch. The current configuration simply doesn't fit with how Irish people attach themselves to sport. I drove by hundreds of people walking into town from Hyde Park in Roscommon yesterday after failing to get a ticket and gain entry to the sold out Connacht football final. Rightly or wrongly, Irish people do place not clubs when it comes to sport.

All that being said, Delany is teflon like in nature and way overpaid. But he is elected by people who all have stake and benefit in the general status quo. He is a product of the current system and understands how to keep it happy. Turkeys don't vote for Christmas shocker.

Zebra3

homerjay2005 wrote: »

Stadium debt. Fairly common practice in sport and all aspects of business to be in "debt" due to cost of premises.

The FA are millions in debt also due to Wembley, but we rarely hear a word about that.

You seem to have missed the constant lies from Delaney.

He originally claimed the reopened Lansdowne Road would have the FAI moving in debt-free as the corporate tickets would sell out. A failure of epic proportions that he personally presided over.

Then he claimed that the FAI would be debt free by 2020 and refused to answer questions to journalists on the matter claiming they were biased. That turned out to be complete horsesht too.

Even on Saturday he lied about the figure that the FAI got from a write down on their debt. Nobody at the AGM questioned this. This write down was passed off by Delaney as some sort of incredible achievement, but the reality of finance is that you only get a write down like that if the bank thinks you can't pay back your debt. So basically it was a reward for failure.

And while the €5M the FAI got off FIFA was technically good business, it was done in a snide way.

anncoates

homerjay2005 wrote: »

there are other things, but this was the one that broke the camel back for alot of people - this to be honest, is the least of the worries for Irish football and shows just where priorities are.

I think that's unfair. It might be more accurate to say that the ticket issue might have broke the camel's back for national team supporters who previously had no issue with the FAI, apart from those that support LOI.

Fair point about clubs needing to take responsibility and I think that's starting to happen, but you can't escape the fact that this requires constant stewardship and vision at a higher level.

The LOI prize money issue to me is a fair one (and the participation fees are grossly unfair) but the prize money isn't the main issue for me as UEFA have mitigated this somewhat with the large amount of money available in the European competitions, which has been jacked up this year again.

The issue, as alluded to already, is that football in this country simply isn't working in its current structure, not least the competing power structures, no defined professional route for domestic players and coaching resources.

I know personally know of 2 club delegates that back up what is said here: people are afraid to ask questions and show dissent because of the consequences of putting their heads above the parapet.

Again, there's a clear discrepancy here between the perceptions of the FAI for those interested in the macro level (national team, stadium) and the micro (those interested in or involved at the domestic level).

It'd also a bit insulting to say that people who are often members of football clubs with limited income streams are 'obsessed with money'. Why would they not be?

farna_boy

homerjay2005 wrote: »

but whats the answer then?

lets see that the prize money is quadrupled. lets just say the entry fee is dropped, lets just day that Delaney takes a pay cut. will that change the attendances, the poorly run clubs, the facilities and everything else thats wrong with the league?

all of the above are plausible, but at the end of the day, will that solve anything? Cork, Dundalk, Sligo and a couple of more clubs have shown what could be achieved, but the rest of the clubs just are not able to do it.

money doesnt solve everything though and its all that most LOI fans seem to obsess over for the past 5 years.

If the clubs get more money, it would allow them to pay their existing sqauds more or even allow them to sign higher profile players. This alone could attract more fans to the grounds, depending on who was signed e.g. I'm sure the signing of Damien Duff will attract a few more to Rovers games that haven't been there in a while or even a few who haven't been to LoI game before.

The more the clubs can pay people and the more they can attract better quality players would also mean that the general standard of the league would improve as well. It wouldn't take a giant leap for all the clubs that were recently involved in the European games to go at least one or two steps further which would in turn bring in more money to the league and help the league get better seeded in the long run.

Only some of this would happen in the short term. More of it may take a few years before we see the full fruits of it. The problem is, none of the above will happen while Delaney is in charge as he is not going to take a pay cut, increase the winnings for the league, scrap the entry fees or suddenly start giving a damn about the league.

Leroy42

Many on here seem to suggest that it isn't working but the lack of any discussion in the AGM would lead one to interpret that on the whole the organisation is seen as doing things right and that the members are happy overall with the direction. Whilst there are of course continuing disagreements these are handled, as JD pointed out, in the weekly meetings held across the country.

If those 2 delegates mentioned above are to be believed, then why do they continue to work (even if voluntary) on behalf of such an organisation? They owe it soccer in this country to speak up even if that means losing out on some of there own benefits/access. Sounds like they are taking the cowards way out, and instead blaming JD.

We hear a lot of stories about JD running the FAI with an iron fist, no disagreement is accepted etc, yet apart from innuendo nothing is ever put forward to prove this.

Roaster

homerjay2005 wrote: »

Stadium debt. Fairly common practice in sport and all aspects of business to be in "debt" due to cost of premises.

The FA are millions in debt also due to Wembley, but we rarely hear a word about that.

Yeah but normally when you have stadium debt you actually own the stadium (or part of it if you're sharing like the FAI are with the IRFU). In this case the FAI have a 60 year lease (I think) with the IRFU and when the lease is up the IRFU will have exclusive ownership. Keep up the good work JD, you're doing a sterling job :rolleyes:

fullstop

anncoates wrote: »

It's an Irish football forum and this was the AGM of the football association of Ireland and was widely reported in the media.

A quick Google would have sufficed but that wouldn't harvest the thanks.

Harvesting thanks? It wasn't me who asked in the first place, was it? If somebody posts about a topic they generally give a bit of a synopsis of what they're talking about. We're not all in Ireland and don't necessarily have access to the papers.

Corholio

homerjay2005 wrote: »

Stadium debt. Fairly common practice in sport and all aspects of business to be in "debt" due to cost of premises.

The FA are millions in debt also due to Wembley, but we rarely hear a word about that.

What? English fans always mention the huge money that Wembley cost.

The F.A.I. had a 'plan' to recoup back the money with the seat selling and it failed miserably, they seem to have had no plan since except build up more debt.

dundalkfc10

homerjay2005 wrote: »

Stadium debt. Fairly common practice in sport and all aspects of business to be in "debt" due to cost of premises.

The FA are millions in debt also due to Wembley, but we rarely hear a word about that.

The FA own Wembley, We are there as tennants basically!

dfx-

At the top of the game in this country, you have to finish fourth to get any prizemoney over the participation fee.

LSL clubs think they can compete with LOI on the pitch, but in truth they can't. Cabinteely can't even compete in the First Division. The underage clubs exist to sell on to English clubs and don't care otherwise. The national team picks the best of whoever makes it over and doesn't care otherwise. They play in a ground that they can't afford and is not theirs. The structure is so fractured it's unbelievable

And Delaney is doing a good job?

Surely the biggest problem is the people keeping Delaney in office?

GLaDOS

dfx- wrote: »

The national team picks the best of whoever makes it over and doesn't care otherwise.

A system that is producing rapidly diminishing results.

The only really good player we've produced in the last 10 years is Coleman, who came through the LOI shockingly.

The_Kew_Tour

I have been blocked by the FAI Twitter Page.

Looks like ya can't question Delaney or O Neill even on Social Media.

Ah well...

Leroy42

Why should they answer you on twitter?

They held their AGM, where all the representatives were invited and free to ask questions. None of them did. I think it fairly safe to assume that they are happy to accept that no questions exist.

Why should they now open the floor to any joker to ask any old question. (I'm not saying you're a joker but in general) As in all these things there is a process in order that the whole thing doesn't become unmanageable.

If you have questions you should have raised them with your local club sec or whatever rep is appropriate. Your next question should then be why this rep didn't raise your concerns at the AGM

The_Kew_Tour

Leroy42 wrote: »

Why should they answer you on twitter?

They held their AGM, where all the representatives were invited and free to ask questions. None of them did. I think it fairly safe to assume that they are happy to accept that no questions exist.

Why should they now open the floor to any joker to ask any old question. (I'm not saying you're a joker but in general) As in all these things there is a process in order that the whole thing doesn't become unmanageable.

If you have questions you should have raised them with your local club sec or whatever rep is appropriate. Your next question should then be why this rep didn't raise your concerns at the AGM

That's fair enough, but my questions were far from a few posts just for a laugh.

Zebra3

Leroy42 wrote: »

Why should they answer you on twitter?

They held their AGM, where all the representatives were invited and free to ask questions. None of them did. I think it fairly safe to assume that they are happy to accept that no questions exist.

Why should they now open the floor to any joker to ask any old question. (I'm not saying you're a joker but in general) As in all these things there is a process in order that the whole thing doesn't become unmanageable.

If you have questions you should have raised them with your local club sec or whatever rep is appropriate. Your next question should then be why this rep didn't raise your concerns at the AGM

You should read up on how anyone asking tough questions know they won't get any funding from the FAI as a result.

This has been in the media for some time.

It's basically a form of bullying and intimidation.

It should have no place in any sport, especially one that gets taxpayers' money.

anncoates

Nice one.

Take genuine people trying to balance keeping football alive in this country on a shoestring with being afraid to risk further marginalization and turn it into a unfair tribunal on personal courage.

Smooth operating to be fair. Put your head over the parapet and get your club frozen out; say nothing and get called a stooge by FAI fanboys.

Ole Ole Ole.

dfx-

rarnes1 wrote: »

Surely the biggest problem is the people keeping Delaney in office?

How many of the people keeping Delaney in office keep their job while he stays there...how many were appointed by him...how many could he fire if they dissented.

Why would people whose livelihood depends on keeping on his good side ever say anything against him.

anncoates

dfx- wrote: »

Why would people whose livelihood depends on keeping on his good side ever say anything against him.

To impress internet forums.

Keeping your club in line for help and funding can't compare with that.

Leroy42

This Delaney fella has got to be the greatest dictator of all time. According to some on here, anybody who raises a question gets funding cut, those you step out of line get fired!!!

Really, yet with all this going on people still go to LOI matches, there are complaints that there are enough tickets for Ireland games.

The LOI clubs are run on a shoe string anyway, so what if they fall out with him. If things are that bad, isn't it time that people inside the game grow a pair and put the long term future of the game at heart rather than whether they get new training cones.

The LOI have power, whether they choose to use it is another matter. The fans have the ultimate power, they seem happy enough with the ways things are and ocntinue to go to games, buy the jerseys and thus support the FAI.

The_Kew_Tour

Yes by me not going to LOI games and youth games thats going to get Delaney the sack. Christ if it was only that easy.

Leroy42

If everyone did it though. Imagine the LOI clubs refusing to play the league or cup?

Imagine if nobody bother to go to the Ireland games. He would be gone in no time.

But instead, everyone complains and then meekly go with whatever they ask. Take the supporters. Complain they can't get tickets to the Scotland game, but you can bet they all still paid to go to the Aviva game.

LOI clubs complain about too high entrance fees, not enough prize money etc, but they still turn out every year.

The FAI know all this and so are basically free to do whatever they like as they have a captive audience.