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

copy and paste

FAi sent Pats lads a cease and desist regarding the commentary. They have been doing it 11 years now for free.

Anyone else get one?

FYI their own media agreement states Radio commenatary not allowed doesnt mention online.

dreamers75 wrote: »

copy and paste

FAi sent Pats lads a cease and desist regarding the commentary. They have been doing it 11 years now for free.

Anyone else get one?

FYI their own media agreement states Radio commenatary not allowed doesnt mention online.

Can you explain what you have said above. What commentary is this about.

For some 'business as usual' during these unprecedented time - there have been a few needs to refer to things as 'unprecedented' over the last 12 months...lets hope the payoff was held in tranches upon meeting commitments made or at least a pension can be witheld to a similar value.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/irel ... -ms6f9mg8j

John Delaney ducked Mazars probe into FAI finances


The former FAI chief executive John Delaney refused to be interviewed by an official inquiry into the finances at the association, which has now delivered its preliminary findings.

The report, by the accountancy firm Mazars, was commissioned by the FAI in March 2019, as an “independent and in-depth external review”. When Delaney was sent on gardening leave the following month, it was on the basis that he would be “paid as normal, pending the independent investigation’s outcome, provided co-operation was ongoing”. Delaney, who was on a salary of €360,000 a year, left the association in September after negotiating a payoff.

Among the findings of the Mazars report is that financial issues in the FAI were precipitated by demands from Dundalk FC for hundreds of thousands of euros in Uefa prize money which had been withheld. Dundalk is believed to have been on the verge of issuing a public statement about the money. This prompted Delaney to write a €100,000 cheque to the football body, allowing payments to Dundalk to be made without the FAI exceeding its €1.5m overdraft.

“The investigation found that the association drawdown of the €100,000 cheque advanced by the former chief executive was primarily triggered by the need to meet a payment request from Dundalk FC,” the report says. The existence of the €100,000 cheque, written by Delaney in April 2017, was revealed in The Sunday Times last March.

The Mazars report says: “The investigation found no evidence that the transaction was disclosed by the former chief to the financial committee or the financial audit committee in 2017 or at any time prior to the publication of the media reports appearing in March 2019. As the former chief did not attend for interview, the investigators were unable to question him regarding this transaction.”

At one point Dundalk was owed about €2.2m in prize money after participating in the group stages of the Europa League. The money was channelled from Uefa through the FAI.

Michael Cody, 80, the former FAI honorary secretary, did not speak to Mazars, which ran its investigation in tandem with those by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) and the Sport Ireland-commissioned Kosi report. Cody’s solicitor, Cahir O’Higgins, said last Friday that there had been a risk of endangering a prejudice to the ODCE investigation.

“Mr Cody received an invitation to attend a meeting with Mazars the day after the meeting was scheduled to take place, in a letter that was dated a couple of weeks before the stamp date on the envelope. Subsequent to that, my office had been liaising with Mazars to arrange an alternative appointment,” he said.

“The work of Kosi and the ODCE then took primacy and Mazars were no longer overly relevant.”

Delaney did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.

josip wrote: »

Who the fcuk was auditing the FAI 10 years ago?

Probably Delaneys house keeper

They wont be able to touch him for this...he bent the rules so that he was getting everything signed off by the 2 ould lads. I suspect he had it all planned and covered by his legal eagles.

I assume if a payment has been made for a service that wasn't provided, that's illegal?

Salary Negotiator wrote: »

For any organisation receiving large sums of public funds it should be a condition of receiving those funds to change auditors every 3-5 years.

The 'Big 4' will just merry-go-round the swill trough.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/retail-and-services/deloitte-passes-pwc-to-become-second-largest-big-four-firm-1.3205170

Zebra3 wrote: »

I assume if a payment has been made for a service that wasn't provided, that's illegal?

There probably was a service provided for the money.
It just wasn't football-related.

Salary Negotiator wrote: »

For any organisation receiving large sums of public funds it should be a condition of receiving those funds to change auditors every 3-5 years.

Government bodies have to seek 3 different tenders for any project. Sounds like it is time for any NGB that gets public money should fall under similar criteria. It may not have made a difference in the choice of event planner but at least there would be a paper trail and if other bids came in cheaper and not selected there'd be questions that would need answering.

I am still confused on how an audit, for the purpose for ensuring proper finance practices, can have been so far off the mark? Also that there doesnt seem to be much recourse for a wink and a nod looking audit. If someone is cooking the books, witholding info etc, surely a decent auditor would see red flags popping up like a random 100k lodgement...or ringfenced UEFA pricemoney account being dipped in to to keep things going. Its a pity that Dundalk FC didnt end up getting the chance to go public on not having their prizemoney available to them - UEFA would at least have had to get involved. Who knew that that threat of going public would bring the whole organisation crashing down

Irishmale0399 wrote: »

1. The auditors can only audit what they asked to audit or what they are given to audit. That is the basis of the deal they enter.



2. JD had everything signed off by the same 2 lads...so he was technically doing nothing wrong according to the FAI rules.


3. Dundalk couldnt touch JD up until Peak6 arrived. He had the club in his pocket due to the lease issues with the former owner and made it known to the former owners. I assume Peak6 used this to their advantage to get answers on other matters....TV deals, marketing....
UEFA were informed of the delayed payment if I am correctly informed, however JD was at the top table and his friends accepted his excuses.

1. Accounts can only be audited and what is handed over, but I doubt the auditors did not have an inkling on something suss. Auditors need to be held accountable also in such situations - tighten up legislation etc.

2. Yes JD had manipulated the committee and loaded it with incompetance or yes men. The finances would still have been out of kilter with a decent audit.

3. Peak6 came in to play after, it was the Fastfix lads that were looking for the UEFA money, possibly as part of due diligence prior to the sale. Certainly the new owners had little fear of JD and THE FAI.

That's really what I was saying tbh, that the FASTFIX lads were dotting the Is and crossing the Ts prior to the sale but it was still the Fastfix owners that came knocking although the reason was for the sale to Peak6 of course, splitting hairs a bit I know. I'm delighted to hear that JD was unimpressed with the prospect of a takeover. In retrospect he was actually right to be worried as the takeover was the catalyst that started to bring down his house of cards. That he was grumbling about it in such a public manner to fans is even more satisfying. I hope the former delegate you refer to was the man who introduced new rules after a previous scandal involving another Delaney family member that Junior threw out as I'm sure that same man would have enjoyed such a chat also!

yabadabado wrote: »

We will be suffering the consequences of JD and his cronies for the next 10 years,probably longer.

Possibly longer as you say. Future TV money was drawn down to help the association and now turns out this money being handed out was drawn down by JD and co already. The economy is gonna take a hit so whatever funds are being provided to sports could be cut again after they were only raised last year for soccer.

Something which benefit JD and his crew massively though. Get Denis O'Brien to fund the managers and tell the government you don't need as much of their money as Rugby and GAA does. They ain't gonna argue with you about recieving less money and aren't as inclined to interfere with your business if you're receiving less money. Gives you and your cronies more breathing space to milk the gravy train.