John Delaney

MrMusician18 wrote: »

How many have actually gotten off their arses and done anything apart from whinging? How many fans are actually members of the clubs they support? How many take jobs volunteering and doing the hard work? Or are they there whinging and moaning at others saying "you must do better, but I'm not actually going to help".
.........

So maybe the former CEO or board is not the problem, but the attitudes of the people that matter (and the majority up to now), the members of the FAI that have resisted change

Quite right.

Totally bored by the whole "Delaney out!!" mentality. If he's the problem, then maybe there would be some justification for it but it just seems like a typical mob-led brainless soccer faux controversy. You know, to be taken as seriously as any of the moronic terrace chants you get at a typical soccer match.

Bring it down to brass tacks:
What is his job?
What is the FAI's job?
What are the performance indicators?
How well is/are he/they doing?
Is there anybody better to replace him/them?

Comparing soccer in Ireland to the other popular codes of football played here, it does indeed come across as a joke. Look at the way the GAA is embedded deep within the culture and society across the country, from the busiest cities to the most windswept hamlet. Granted, it is an amateur association but the time and effort invested by coaches/club members/parents/administrators throughout the country has its reward in the number of kids actually togging out to play the games every weekend and the crowds you get at Croke Park at the big occasions. It doesn't just happen.

Take a look at the other professional code: rugby. Ireland has been an exemplar of how to turn from an amateurish also-ran to one of the top professional countries in the world. Since the Six Nations started it is the only country to have a parity or winning record against all others in the tournament. OK, England have a better overall win/loss record but we lead them on head to head (11-9) and we are at parity with France (9-9-2) with comfortable winning records against the other three. Does that make us what the Americans call the "winningest team" in the Championship?

Irish provinces have won 7 European Cups (England and France have eight each), all, or nearly all, of our top players play at home and there are other Irish players playing for pro clubs throughout England and France. In terms of developing talent in excess of our needs, Irish rugby is probably equivalent to France in soccer terms.

So why is this? Is it all the fault of the FAI? Can/should they do something about it and are we all agreed on what it should be?

Do we need a stronger league, or are we happy to flog off promising kids to the "academies" of clubs oscillating between the lower half of the Premiership and the top half of the Championship?

Does this not matter as we can always depend on persuading enough English kids with Irish grannies to "declare" for us, and then get really pissed off when they suddenly realise they might be good enough to challenge for a place on the England team and tell us "thanks but no thanks"?

And can we persuade self-important Irish fans to turn their energies away from the Premiership and towards helping to build and develop a pool of talent here instead of bestowing all their energy, enthusiasm and, yes, money on devotion to the likes of United, Arsenal, Chelsea or Liverpool? (Anybody know an Irish soccer fan who supports a team other than these? Apart from a few oul fellas in their 50s who still hanker after Leeds from their glory days)

But Irish soccer fans tend to have a sniffy attitude to local soccer. The likes of Bohemians or Dundalk do not accurately reflect the self-important high-achieving image these people have of themselves. They would much rather use the royal "We" to describe their relationship with one of the glitzy, globalised, awash-with-dirty-money corporate entities I mentioned.

How is that going to develop talent, build a strong soccer culture or give the game any true connection to players and fans here? I exempt of course from this criticism the minority of fans who DO put their heart and soul into supporting local soccer but if your primary concern is the fate of Mo Salah or Firmino or Eden Hazard, at least for as long as he's contracted to your bauble of choice, then you really can't complain if Irish soccer continues its slide down the U-bend.

But yeah, it's all Delaney's fault.

"Delaney Ouh!! Ouh, NOW!!" :rolleyes:

(You can see why they won't let me on the soccer forum )

ToBeFrank123 wrote: »

I believe John's father left the FAI only when he died and was carried out in a coffin

Joe Delaney is still alive, AFAIK.

Richard Hillman wrote: »

Auditors report FAI for breaking company law https://jrnl.ie/4594241

Oh, it's real trouble now.

The auditors are just throwing them under a bus so that no one looks at their own practices and involvement in all of this.

Stinks the same as the rating agencies who took the silver and gave AAA+ ratings to worthless bonds.

https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/ross-reveals-entire-fai-board-to-step-down-while-auditors-say-proper-accounting-records-not-kept-38021045.html

But note:
"Honorary Secretary Michael Cody and Honorary Treasurer Eddie Murray resigned from their roles yesterday and John Delaney is no longer a board member since he changed from CEO to Executive Vice President."

So the entire board is going, but JD is still going to be there? *Boggle*

realdanbreen wrote: »

I haven't been paying much attention to the whole Delaney saga as it's dragged on like brexit and was boring the arse off me but most of the criticism seems to centre on his salary. So what? When I see and hear knobs like Dunphy and Tony O'Donoghue being critical of him I assume he must be doing something right. They are about to force the one individual in this country who has clout and influence in world soccer out of the game, how clever is that?

As clever as wanting to get rid of other big clouters such as Putin or Trump. People as "patriotic" as yourself wouldn't approve.

feargale wrote: »

realdanbreen wrote: »

I haven't been paying much attention to the whole Delaney saga as it's dragged on like brexit and was boring the arse off me but most of the criticism seems to centre on his salary. So what? When I see and hear knobs like Dunphy and Tony O'Donoghue being critical of him I assume he must be doing something right. They are about to force the one individual in this country who has clout and influence in world soccer out of the game, how clever is that?

As clever as wanting to get rid of other big clouters such as Putin or Trump. People as "patriotic" as yourself wouldn't approve.

ðŸ˜So you want to go after Trump & Putin as well, you must be my brother Sylvest!

seamus wrote: »

Ray Bloody Purchase wrote: »

Ernst and Young were auditors for Allied i think. They now go under 'EY' as an effort to rebrand i think.

Nah, that was actually just timing. The "EY" thing was a global rebrand. The goings-on of their tiny Irish holdings wouldn't make a global corporate rebrand.
They felt that "Ernst & Young" was far too stuffy; sounded far too much like a 1980s business parody; Statler & Waldorf; compared to their contemporaries.

PricewaterhouseCoopers had changed to "PwC", Deloitte & Touche became "Deloitte", KPMG had been there for years. So "Ernst & Young" was way behind the pack.

Not so. The fallout from the ballsup by 'the tiny Irish holding' which saw billions wiped out sent shock waves through the corporate world. Changing to EY was only part of the repercussions to hit that firm.

D.Q wrote: »

All this over a few tennis balls.

and who got rich off the tennis balls?? huh? follow the money sheeple

/paranoid rant :pac::pac:

He did wonders for the women's game.

But seriously though, can we not get someone cheeper?

It must be fashionable to denounce Delaney now as even Eamonn Dunphy is at it. And not a peep out of him the last few years, Hes a very odd one, spends his life ranting at how bad Ireland is, despite him having a very comfortable lifestyle and no doubt planning to live and die in this very country.

Then he turned on Roy Keane after years of worshipping him...