By Dermot Keely (@keelysbar)
John Delaney finally departs stage left, but not before negotiating a sizeable payoff from the FAI. I understand that legally this might have had to be done but it galls me.
It infuriates me that a man who was paid a HUGE salary, NEGOTIATED WITH HIMSELF, a Golden Handshake agreement, went on paid gardening leave and then leaves with a wedge. All paid for by us the Tax Payer, not the FAI!
This point seems to get buried in every conversation about John Delaney and the FAI. Can I say that the money being spent by the FAI is OUR money, not the FAI’s money.
John O’Regan just last week came out to bat for John Delaney once again. He was one of a number of people who came out to tell us how good John Delaney was when all this mess started. How good he was to Kerry, Limerick et al. But he fails to comprehend that the largess distributed by John Delany personally on many occasions was not his money, it was OUR money.
The fact that he has “young kids” and “old parents” is unfortunate and we must be careful to distinguish family from business.
These problems are John Delaney’s problems, he is responsible for his own actions, his actions determined that he resign. May I say to John O’Regan that I am one of the whinging and moaning League of Ireland guys. I just don’t wear a blazer, and there are many like me who are appalled at the actions of John Delaney. It will take more that a Chicken Dinner to change my mind.
Shane Ross’s politics would not be my politics. I don’t know what he knows about any sport, but particularly Soccer. I would hazard a guess that unlike Michael D. Higgins, he wouldn’t know whether the ball was pumped, or stuffed. His performance in Dublin Airport when Katie Taylor arrived home was cringe worthy, and I believe made him a laughing stock. It reminded me so much of Charles Haughey’s dash to the Champs Elysees in 1987 when Stephen Roche won the Tour de France, but these people are politicians and they do what politicians do. The thing is they have to put themselves up for election and the people decide their fate. This obviously is not the case in the FAI.
In an article recently Shane Ross described what it was like to take on the FAI, going on trips with the FAI, who then offer to pay your bill. You refuse, but it is paid anyway, you then pay the FAI back the money for the bill. Later on a “source” leaks the fact that you were a guest of the FAI and that they paid the bill. If you don’t have proof that you repaid the money to the FAI you are in trouble. This is sinister in the extreme.
What about the “new” FAI? Don’t make me laugh. The new FAI (NFAI) is very similar to the old FAI. They have the draw for the FAI Cup, named after their association, early in the morning on radio so no one knows who is playing whom. This is how they promote this PRESTIGEOUS and historic competition. Oh, and by the way the boss of the N.F.A.I. refuses to go on air in case someone asks him a question.
The NFAI then announces the resignation of John Delaney at 11pm on Saturday night, and refuse to give details of the package. Old FAI and NFAI – Similar.
Lastly, the NFAI doesn’t want to appear before the Oireachtas committee on the 16th October because it is the day after the Switzerland match in the Euro’s. Why can they not attend? I saw Mick McCarthy’s squad and none of them are in it! OH maybe there is a “Jolly Up” planned for the new BLAZERS!
Dermot