John Delaney at the FAI Thread - (Mod Notes in OP)

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo

mugsymugsy wrote: »

Ah the cork fella getting in his parish pump politics question in.

Well at least J. O Brien was one of the main people behind setting up FORAS who own and run Cork City FC. So he really is someone involved in the grassroots of the sport.

Mr.Nice Guy

Ugh, just seen that Healy-Rae 'contribution'. Absolutely nauseating.

Gained respect for Ruth Coppinger today.

Fr Tod Umptious

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Ugh, just seen that Healy-Rae 'contribution'. Absolutely nauseating.

Gained respect for Ruth Coppinger today.

But MHRs contribution is a window into the grassroots support for Delaney.

The FAI under him are seen as getting things done with regards to infrastructure, facilities etc.

And that's all that a lot of people involved in the sport care about, improving their own local club.

And that's only natural.

seligehgit

awec wrote: »

I can't believe Delaney played the daughter card. What a martyr.

Shameless.

What did he say??

osarusan

How are members on the committee decided? Some of those were only interested in making themselves look good rather than asking useful questions. Or any questions.

jmayo

jmayo wrote: »

Well I never led you fianna failer lads away with backing some right chancers like donoghue and bertie.
I just don't want people to try disavow and walk away from their past, much like the bold Delaney.
I remember when you used to post in the likes of Politics till you did a Keyser Soze and vanished.

Mind I do actually agree with you that our politicians will not be the ones to catch Delaney out.

BTW: could you tell your fellow county man it is bad manners to wear a hat indoors.

It's amusing that you fixed on something about 10 years ago, you've repeated it about 50 times since so you believe it's true, and evidently you see it as some sort of campaign or mission in your life.

I think the lesson is...dont brood over online personas. It's a little weird. And don't stalk, even if you think it's a moral campaign.

secman

Irishmale0399 wrote: »

Have a feeeling the poor new CFO will be out of a job by the end of next month. All around him are fulling fast ones to protect their own arses and the poor lad seems to know nothing about anything. Looks to me as if he is also an alibi so that finance questions are not answered.

Long live Jon Teflon Don and his merry men.

Have fired off 4-5 emails asking sponsors if they can continue to support such practises and if their company images wouldnt be tarnished by the actions of the FAI board.

Care to share the email addresses, wouldn't mind firing off a few ceist myself , cheers.

Corholio

I don't get the negative opinion of the committee, just because Delaney didn't want to answer any questions. What could they do otherwise? They can't physically restrain him to say things, if they legally had to get him to answer you bet Delaney would never have appeared. He was called a disgrace by politicians on national TV today, that's more than has happened in 15 years that he's been there.

Obviously some politicians are better than others, the less said about the likes of Healy Rae the better, but a few of them passed quite strong comments while questioning today, more than I thought they would. Whether it eventually ends up having a big effect on the FAI and Delaney is another thing altogether, but for what was expected to happen it was more than I thought.

salmocab

osarusan wrote: »

How are members on the committee decided? Some of those were only interested in making themselves look good rather than asking useful questions. Or any questions.

Healy Rae wasn’t even on the committee he just went down to get his spoke in.

salmocab

salmocab wrote: »

Healy Rae wasn’t even on the committee he just went down to get his spoke in.

Seriously? I didn’t know that. Why was he allowed to ramble on?

Quandary

Hopefully the sponsors start threatening to pull their money too. I doubt they want to be associated with an organisation that is either corrupt, incompetent or both.

Hopefully a massive clear out will happen after todays farce. I'm not holding my breath though. At the very least Delaney should be bounced out.

MisterAnarchy

Coillte_Bhoy wrote: »

What an embarrassment, he makes Healy Rae sound like Obama

He reminds me of Jon Kennys character in Father Ted

salmocab

Strawberry Milkshake wrote: »

Seriously? I didn’t know that. Why was he allowed to ramble on?

He’s an unstoppable force of nonsense. He doesn’t ever shut up.

Underground

As much as I dislike Ruth Coppinger and her party, she really did a good job today and represented the taxpayer's position quite well. That's what an elected representative of the people should do when placed in a position of such responsibility as she was today.

MHR, christ almighty. If were a Kerryman (or woman) I'd be feeling a little embarrassed today.
He has undoubtedly placed himself on the wrong side of history today, of that I have no doubt. Absolutely shameless carry on, he is Celtic Tiger era politics personified.

Arghus

The Irish Times editorial on today -

With no warning, a chief executive is informed that the organisation he runs – a national sporting body with a turnover of €50 million – is about to run out of cash. He responds by writing a personal cheque for €100,000. The sum is repaid two months later but is never recorded as a note with the accounts. Two years later, when a newspaper learns of the transaction, the chief executive goes to court to seek an injunction to prevent the information being disclosed. When that fails, the organisation moves into damage limitation mode.


It issues a statement to say the board – a board, incidentally, with no independent members and five seats occupied by the same people for more than 13 years – was fully aware of the transaction at the time, but then retracts that a week later. In fact only three members were aware.

With controversy raging, it is suddenly announced that the long-serving chief executive is being moved – not out of the organisation but into the newly-created senior position of executive vice-president, in which he will retain the most interesting and high-profile parts of his role, including major projects and international relations. When a parliamentary committee calls a hearing, the executive vice-president announces he will only take questions about his new role.

The FAI never seems comfortable with public scrutiny. Who could blame it, if this is what public scrutiny reveals. If the saga of the €100,000 loan from John Delaney has provided one telling glimpse of the dysfunction of the organisation, the performance of its most senior figures at the Oireachtas sport committee on Wednesday gave us another. The session will be remembered for Delaney’s day-long silence – one he justified on the specious grounds that members have previously said critical things about him and with puzzling (and, on its face, equally specious) reference to the Supreme Court’s recent decision on a case that raised entirely separate issues to this one.

An Oireachtas committee is a poor forum for investigation. Ruth Coppinger was among few exceptions to the general rule that TDs and Senators are not very good at asking the succinct, focused questions that produce useful answers. Several members were unprepared. But that does not excuse the FAI’s evasiveness. “On legal advice I am precluded,” said Delaney of his silence. One cannot be precluded by advice, legal or otherwise. He chose not to speak, and that choice was an insult to the committee and the taxpayers it represents.

The farce that played out in Leinster House should be the final, ignominious act of the current leadership of the FAI. They have fallen short of the most basic standards of corporate governance and accountability. They are holding back the organisation and putting a brake on the progress of Irish soccer. New leadership cannot come soon enough.

Oat23

Underground wrote: »

MHR, christ almighty. If were a Kerryman (or woman) I'd be feeling a little embarrassed today.
He has undoubtedly placed himself on the wrong side of history today, of that I have no doubt. Absolutely shameless carry on, he is Celtic Tiger era politics personified.

He has nothing to lose. Position yourself with Delaney and if you ever need anything in future you can remind them that you had their back.


Worst case scenario, he gains nothing when Delaney and the others are ousted and everyone thinks Healy-Rae is a moron. 99.9% of the nation thought that when they woke up this morning anyways.

Necro

Oat23 wrote:

Worst case scenario, he gains nothing when Delaney and the others are ousted and everyone thinks Healy-Rae is a moron. 99.9% of the nation thought that when they woke up this morning anyways.

If only that were true

He and his gombeen brother will likely be easily re elected at the next GE

Aidric

Adamcp898 wrote: »

Kevin O'Keefe getting a bit of constituency business done at the same time. A'bai the lad multitasking away there :rolleyes:

That guy was something else. He was barely coherent, looked like someone who'd wandered in after a few pints and fancied asking a few questions.

salmocab

Necro wrote: »

If only that were true

He and his gombeen brother will likely be easily re elected at the next GE

Yes they will but that says all about the government we choose, people don’t look beyond the end of the parish for politicians and expect the other politicians elected by others to run the country whilst the guy they elected looks after the locality. They elect TDs to do the council job and expect the country to somehow function correct. That pair are the most obvious and shameless of the lot but the sad thing is it’s pretty much the same the country over

Arghus

I think in the case of MHR it really is the wise man that plays the fool.

I wouldn't underestimate his intelligence: he's as cute as they come; he managed to get his idiot brother elected to the Dail, he's a very capable political operator.

I'm not endorsing the guy - I do think he is a disgrace and symptomatic of the dysfunction of the Irish political system and more - but I wouldn't for one second doubt his brains.

Necro

salmocab wrote:

Yes they will but that says all about the government we choose, people don’t look beyond the end of the parish for politicians and expect the other politicians elected by others to run the country whilst the guy they elected looks after the locality. They elect TDs to do the council job and expect the country to somehow function correct. That pair are the most obvious and shameless of the lot but the sad thing is it’s pretty much the same the country over

Not the thread for this but I agree completely. Mates are always baffled by my voting choices as I wont go for the useless, always elected local who I might need to 'do me a favour' at some point.
I prefer my votes to go for someone who's in some way competent, not the local businessman who hasnt the first clue about politics.

irishgeo

does the director of corporate enforcement have more teeth to get to the bottom of this?

Irishmale0399

Hearing from Dundalk this evening that former FAI president, honorary secretary, Dundalk Chairman and UEFA board member Des Casey had his allocation of a vip ticket for Ireland games stopped in 2015 after he publically spoke out about JD demanding compensation (€5 million) for what he called a ref mistake.

Football Family......only if you do as Tefjon says!!!

Chancer3001

Irishmale0399 wrote: »

Hearing from Dundalk this evening that former FAI president, honorary secretary, Dundalk Chairman and UEFA board member Des Casey had his allocation of a vip ticket for Ireland games stopped in 2015 after he publically spoke out about JD demanding compensation (€5 million) for what he called a ref mistake.

Football Family......only if you do as Tefjon says!!!

So des casey wanted to let it slide?

And JD went looking for compensation amd got five million...

I know who id prefer to have in my organisation

Irishmale0399

Chancer3001 wrote: »

So des casey wanted to let it slide?

And JD went looking for compensation amd got five million...

I know who id prefer to have in my organisation

Is life all about money???


As we learned over the last few years with UEFA.....if you get something you give something back or owe someone something. Seems to be standard within the FAI and their friends.

irishgeo

Chancer3001 wrote: »

So des casey wanted to let it slide?

And JD went looking for compensation amd got five million...

I know who id prefer to have in my organisation

he put the 5 million his own and his cronies on the board pockets.

Irishmale0399

https://twitter.com/CRISClubs/status/1116073204928393218

"CRISC are concerned at the lack of purposeful engagement by the FAI at today’s Oireachtas Committee Meeting. It is imperative that confidence is restored in governance of the FAI and any funding that has been cut is reinstated. Today fell short in achieving both of those goals."

His friends and family are slowly running......

Necro

Wait till tomorrow when they get slaughtered in the media by most of the main outlets.

The net is slowly closing.

s3rtvdbwfj81ch

Necro wrote: »

Wait till tomorrow when they get slaughtered in the media by most of the main outlets.

The net is slowly closing.

lolwut

they don't give a shiney shíte about that :D

Nesta99

Expectedly a whitewash and a dose of stonewalling today. The remit of the committee was limited and at best could only infer that 'things were unusual'. Imelda Munster had a good handle on things but was hamstrung by the initial unannounced Delaney statement and the legal advice subsequently given to the committee. Coppinger gained a little bit in my opinion of her (would have been interesting to have had Mick Wallace there too!). Rob Troy also seemed to have been able to get at matters but again tied up by the legalities. Senator Ó Céidigh probed as much as he could on issues of governance. All they really managed to push on was how and why a boards senior member was unaware of the issues and how they werent required to sign off on a range of things from financing issues and press releases. So rolling of eyes and comments of 'strange' was about as far as they seemed to be able to push anything.

Mark Daly was truly awful, he wasnt wrong about wanting increased involvement of women in sport in general but wasting his time repeating this over and over, licking up to the the interim CEO and then claiming he didnt get his allocated time and get in to a spat with the committee Chair?? O'Dowd himself did ask leading questions knowing there would be no answers forthcoming, and his 'suggestion' on the willingness of the FAI to undergo an independant forensic audit of accounts, possibly restoring public faith imo indicated his thinking while being unable to say much more. He also brought up the bugbear of many journalist on the inability to ask questions at a FAI AGM policy/rule and hence the lack of transparency and the impression of hiding things from public scrutiny.

I hardly had a clue what O'Keefe was saying half the time but did make a valid point on the 100k cheque being an ars*d way to go about about things and that a money transfer, delaying a transaction etc could have avoided all of this - if he had continued on this point and inferred that this choice of financial transaction couldnt be taken at face value then it would have been something of a contribution. I will just forget Healy Rea's contribution. I shouldnt be, but Im surprised at how poor some of these people are at public speaking in general and not waffling on about nothing to do with the issues at hand.

On what legal grounds was Delaney able to abstain from any of the main issues? Is there an ongoing investigation that could be prejuidiced? He looked like a bored schoolboy at times, looking at the clock, sighing, passing notes about, playing conductor to the president on what he should say at times (when he said he wasnt saying anything - good job he was aware of turning on and off the mike to ensure his mutterings were not picked up). There was a lot of 'thats an internal matter' or 'corporate sensitive info', we are sorting that out etc. I dont see how audited accounts filed can be annoted retrospectively when financial transactions have been deliberately ommitted. Add this all to the lenghts Delaney went to to surpress any of this getting in to the public domain and it is suspect. No matter what it was a PR own goal today for the FAI!!! JD even got to name drop FIFA and UEFA chiefs and give them a clap on the back!??!

The history of the FAI hardly stellar and we have been here before. Dismissing reccomendations of the Genesis report today as being to do with the senior mens team rather than an full organisational review was all smoke and mirrors as Delaney himself back in 2002ish spoke of a root and branch review of the organisation. And lets not forget the investigation done by Veronica Guerin in past times when 100s of thousands of FAI money disappeared, the association dealing with ticket touts - whether pertinent to today or not Joe Delaney was central to issues at that time and as a result 'reform' was to occur to improve oversight, governance and transparency. The entire board resigned bar Joe D until a vote of no confidence occured. Recent revlations and todays proceedings have to be dealt with in isolation for a number of reasons especially for legal reasons but in the public psyche all these controversies linger together.

Was George the Greek ever found..........