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

Jad Small Birdseed wrote: »

So this Con Martin bloke has sold the concept of the Johnny Giles foundation to the FAI for 300k? The whole thing makes no sense at all. Golf classics are hardly a new concept, either is pooling together to get a discount.

Is John Delaney still on full pay from the FAI? Is there any suggestion that Giles is tied up in this, or is he just unlucky that it's his name been used?

JD is on gardening leave; means in a normal world that he is being paid and not working.


Gile defended him when this all broke....


Big question is, what or who was on Con Martins payroll. Anyone close to JD or other FAI board members...??

I'd expect that Giles was making a few quid from licensing his name to the FAI, but not involved in the business decisions. That said, there's probably not many journalists that have the appetite to go after him. If I'm being cynical it was good for his image to be involved in something that appears to be a charity that helps working class kids, and it keeps him relevant after RTE retired him.


The Foundation itself looks to be a bit of a scam operated by the FAI:
- gives off a vibe that it's a charity but actually isn't
- clubs that fundraised for it never saw any of the money
- apparently they've paid 300k for the "concept" of sponsored walks and golf classics
- in some years they paid more to this Con Martin guy than the Foundation actually raised!
- zero transparency on where the money goes
- somehow sold the concept to UEFA even though they didn't own it!

It's like anything the FAI is involved in: looks good on the surface but once you get into the substance of it you start to see major issues with finances, no governance, disorganised and people with no role getting paid generously.

They remind me of that crowd Rehab and Angela Kerins. They sold €3.4m in scratch cards and made a profit of €468, meanwhile the board is raking in bonuses on top of 6-figure salaries. Absolutely insane business practices that were being covered by government funding. A little bit of digging and it all falls apart.

Jad Small Birdseed wrote: »

Does anybody know anything more about Con Martin? Does he have other business interests? Any other involvement with the FAI?

Is Delaney still pulling the strings in the background?

The whole thing is a farce, and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight.

Dont know anything personally but the first question I asked myself was is he the son or newphew of the late Con Martin and former Irish international??

All we know is that he is a former LOI player who is close to the FAI and/or Jon Giles


I would be very suprised if he was but I wouldnt bet my house on Conway and co. still having contact to him in the background. Funny is that Conway was always at the board meetings where things went past the FAI board but claims to know nothing. Doesnt sit right with me.


It will never end, until the FAI is disbanded as we know it today.

Umaro wrote: »

I read an article about that earlier, I think he was on the Off The Ball podcast. He says he never received money or took money out of the Foundation. That's fair enough and I'd say he's telling the truth.

However I do think he was probably receiving something directly from the FAI for their use of his name and image. I mean, the bloke who came up with the idea of the John Giles Foundation was getting €5k a month from the FAI. It wouldn't be unreasonable to think some of this goes to Giles, or that he was also getting a fee.

Going by Giles....I would suspect 1 of 2 things was happening...
1. He was really getting nothing for his name and JD etc. used him
2. He was being paid by Con Martin...hence him saying he never got money from the FAI...he got it from Martin

Anyone on the FAI board who knew of this or who signed off on accounts without checking them needs to be gotten rid of straight away.

Guards need to be in there looking all over the place for fraud.

But, yeah, right.....

The fact that the Giles Foundation was not registered as a charity or even a company stinks for me. It was doing fundraising but there is no real accounting of where the money ended up which is worrying, more than likely it ended up in the back pockets of a few suits at the FAI.

The slow drip of information here is great as it keeps the pressure on the FAI once again kudos have to go to Mark Tighe and The Times for investigative journalism that they are doing.

What night is Giles on Newstalk?

dundalkfc10 wrote: »

Conway never showed up at the FAI Cup Draw this morning.

Yesterday must have got to him

Or he is following the great leaders media policy....stay away from quesitions from the big bad journalists. Funny how a couple of weeks ago he wanted transparency....now he is in hiding.


Will be interesting to see how the FAI react if fans take banners etc. to the next home game....Conway wouldnt stand in the way of peacful protest was his words or not???

CatFromHue wrote: »

He can't say anything yet until all the reports are done.

We mightn't like it but that's the way the law is, and considering how litigious Delaney is that's a good policy to have. One of the stories in the Times on the weekend was that Delaney had his legal team put pressure on a media outlet, I think it was The Journal, even though he himself admitted they didn't have much of a case but he thought it'd keep them quiet!!

If Conway comes out and says anything negative about Delaney before the reports are done and all the legal aspects are completed Delaney can take him and the FAI to court and he will win. Not following procedure in relation to employment law is a massive no no and people can get a lot of money out of it, even if the company was quite right to fire them.

I fully accept Conways situation re JD legally, my problem is however that he aided over many years the man he is now trying to hang. It all has an slight smell to it......."I didnt know what he was doing so I didnt aid or help him in any way. I am innocent, only have the interests of the FAI at heart"....ignorance and failing to do your job as a director of the FAI are a good enough reason to walk away. He is hanging in their and is sitting in all major committees, my question is very simple....what is he trying to do??
1. Ensure that no more dirty details come out...he is FAI-ling.
2. Trying to make good what he has done wrong over the years....improve his image???


Simple fact remains....he is part of the problem....as are/were all other board members. Remove them all, put an interm board in place and carry out full forensic audits of the FAI and its licencing of the LOI. At the end a 100% transparent independent report start afresh and put policies in place to prevent such a scandal happening again.

https://twitter.com/OCowzer/status/1165892404181909504

The new FAI looking very like the old FAI...change my backside.

Deleted User wrote: »

But any half decent employer doesn't hide until an investigation is over, he could easily come out and say very firmly that matters are the subject of an investigation and he will not take any questions that might prejudice that process. And he could clarify certain aspects, like how long more the process might take, without prejudicing it.

Add to that no professional group would keep a board member in any position of power when it has already been proved that he doesnt seem to have been doing his job correctly and internal investigations are in place to expose potential fraud amongst other things. As a board member he should have been at least signing off end of year accounts over 10 years and as a result should have been in a positon much earlier to ask questions regarding:
1. Credit card payments
2. Loans into the LOI and reasons for them
3. €100,000 monthly payments to Sports Direct
4. Amendments made to senior management contracts
5. €5.000 a month to Con Martin
6. 50th Birthday parties financed by FAI cash
The list goes on.....

awec wrote: »

It was joe.ie I think.

Delaney had a weak case but kept it alive so that they wouldn't write any negative articles about the FAI.

it was thejournal, he got an apology from joe.ie

Irishmale0399 wrote: »

https://twitter.com/OCowzer/status/1165892404181909504

The new FAI looking very like the old FAI...change my backside.

What with the FAI Cup draw? The FAI dont care enough about any of the domestic game to be bothered rigging a draw!!

Small stuff in the grand scheme of things but a chap that puts together Chrismas hampers had a significant amount ordered by the FAI at about €100 each. The FAI paid for the full order but a small number were delivered to the FAI to give out. The rest were delivered to non FAI associates and marked as from one person rather than the association, these small things all add up.