In the past few day supporters of the Republic of Ireland soccer team have enjoyed a historic result.
However, it did not happen on the field of play.
Not to be outdone by Scotland’s capitulation to Kazakhstan my lads struggled to score against Gibraltar.
The one nil victory was as embarrassing as it was turgid.
However, the travelling support had reason to be cheerful.
Dear reader, I had asked you recently to Google “John Delaney”.
Well, since then there’s been an important development.
Mr Delaney is no longer CEO of the FAI, but a post has been created for him that allows him to remain within the UEFA hierarchy.
Here, Richie Sadlier puts it straight in this interview on RTE.
For the avoidance of doubt, until there is a root and branch reform of the FAI our governance problems will not be behind us.
However, having Delaney halfway out the door is a start.
Here is Eamonn Sweeney in the Irish Independent today:
“John Delaney must immediately leave the FAI altogether. But that won’t be enough. The FAI board should resign en masse to prevent Irish football from falling further into public disrepute. They’re not part of the solution, they’re part of the problem.
The cynicism of the statement in which the Board revealed Delaney was being moved from his CEO job to the newly-created post of Executive Vice-President is breathtaking.”
Moreover, Mr Delaney would not be in that reduced situation if had not been for the folk at the Sunday Times winning in the courts against the FAI CEO.
The Delaney reign of error at the FAI produced some bizarre episodes.
I snapped this from my position in the press box at the AVIVA some years ago.
Now, I wasn’t in place unfashionably early, the match had already started!
It was May 25th 2011.
Wales V Scotland.
Imaginative ticket pricing had resulted in a crowd of 6,036.
It was a date to remember what the Immortal One said about football being nothing without fans.
Well, two days later the match involving Wales V Northern Ireland had a crowd of 529!
It was said to me at the time by an FAI source that there might have been more paid staff inside the AVIVA than paying customers.
Thankfully it seems that the Delaney era might be coming to an end.
It has now become a political issue and questions have been raised in the Oireachtas.
I cannot help but compare the impact of journalistic scrutiny on our association with the gentle treatment of the SFA in Fair Caledonia.
The summer of 2012 should have been a Saipan moment for Scottish football.
It was clear to this journalist in Ireland, that the liquidation of Rangers FC was the result of a lack of oversight that was at least a decade in the making.
Since then the people who presided over that shambles have continued in place or have been allowed to leave at a time of their own choosing.
After the initial shock of the death of Rangers the pretence that Sevco was the original Ibrox club kicked in.
Pretending that Sevco is Rangers is an Orwellian lie that shames all of those who participate in it.
Of course, if the SFA had been fit for purpose then the original Ibrox club would not have been allowed to self-destruct.
If Financial Fair Play had been extant in the domestic game then that would have called a halt during the Murray years.
Moreover, proper governance would have prevented any attempt to parachute the basket of assets into the top flight.
A professionally run association would have made it clear that the new club in the 4th tier of the game was not the original Rangers.
However, this is the governing body that once employed the late Jim Farry and had Hugh Dallas as the head of referee development.
The latter had his terminated at the SFA because of journalistic scrutiny.
However, that scoop didn’t emanate from Scotland.
When the Fourth estate is posted missing bad stuff tends to happen in big organisations.
The failure of Scotland to get to major competitions has produced an ongoing financial pressure on the SFA.
I’m told that on Friday afternoon there were several redundancies at Hampden.
As ever, ordinary folk pay for the failures of those with the big offices.
John Delaney will have to explain himself in front of an Oireachtas Joint Committee.
He has many questions to answer and all because of excellent journalism serving the public interest.
In a parallel universe, back in an alternative 2012, the folks at Holyrood asked Stewart Regan and Neil Doncaster to explain the situation that led to the death of Rangers.
Their 11th hour deal with Charles of Normandy was also scrutinised.
The situation of the FAI and the SFA are very different.
However, a common theme is a lack of governance at the top.
One produced a situation where a CEO could do as he pleased until good journalism found him out.
The other created a governing body that arguably saw its main role to be the guardian of an established brand and to hell with a level playing field for all of the clubs.
As my piece on Mikey Stewart, last week showed, when the truth is spoken to power on Planet Fitba I will acknowledge and applaud it.
However, like a quality pass from a player in an Irish or Scottish jersey, it is a rare enough event these days.
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Just asking for a friend. Does anyone know what date Ian Maxwell is due to pick up the reins as CEO at the good old SFA?
Any truth that Delaney is up for the SFA President job in June?
Well, he would give Petrie a close run for relevant, dodgy experience at a governing body…
Here we go, another Rangers game with a current/former Rangers season ticket holder handed the whistle.
Surprising that Beaton and Muir are not part of the back up team.
As Big Jock used to say lets take the officials out of the equation by scoring a few goals.
“They’re not part of the solution, they’re part of the problem.” The man Sweeney just nailed two organizations with one sentence. The SFA in a nutshell.
OMG, couldn’t make it up, McLeish stands by his bosses at the SFA!
Pure comedy.
Perhaps McLeish should take a leaf from Maxwell and just keep his mouth shut.
McRae and Petrie are good for Scottish football says Eck. They must be delighted to know that McLeish has their back.
If that isn’t crawling, I don’t know what is. HH
El Buffoon misses a couple of chances in his first start for Colombia, subbed at half time in the defeat to Korea.
That won’t be adding any more millions to his valuation which will be a blow for the Ibrox hierarchy as the sale of the young Columbian is the key to solving all the problems at Edmiston Drive.
Whether McLeish goes now or later , after he has screwed up the qualifying campaign even more , will not matter to HIM ! He has a contract , so whether he sees it out or not , the result is the same – he gets the money to help pay off the taxman .
So ironic , in a way . He diddled the taxman when he accepted EBTs , royally screwing Scottish football by cheating his way to titles , and now he is screwing us again by having Scottish football pay his overdue tax via his Scotland salary . Simples !
Could someone inform me of what attributes Ian Maxwell brought to the CEO job with the SFA.
A stellar career at Thistle, really?
God knows he didn’t have much to beat following on from Regan and the previous incumbents and he’s failed miserably in that respect.
Was he hired on a ‘don’t rock the boat’ basis and ‘don’t speak to the media unless Darryl, of I am the SFA claim, is at your side’?
His silence is shocking. A CEO in any other business would either have walked the plank by now or come out with a robust defence of his organisation outlining a clear view of the way forward.
By the time this unfolding disaster draws to an end the SFA will have succeeded in making the FAI look like geniuses.
Now that the Tartan Army is venting it’s spleen on not just McLeish but the SFA hierarchy let’s see what their made of.
Part of the problem is that the long servers are there for the gold watch and cannot, or will not, be pushed out the door.
Jim Farry, Gordon Smith, the 5 way agreement, LNS farce, the fraudulent UEFA licence awarded to Oldco, the attempt to parachute them back into the top league, the awarding of the old club’s trophies to the new club, Brysons astonishing ‘ imperfect’ ruling on the dozens of EBT recipients whose full contract details were not included in the contracts lodged at Hampden because Oldco thought they didn’t need to. The list is endless.
Do the SFA/SPFL have a coherent drug testing programme, if so perhaps Mr Maxwell could give us the results of the last 3 years tests?
The Hampden or Murrayfield question was settled with the former getting the gig but now the SFA is having problems finalising the purchase of the stadium as there are issues to be dealt with apropos Glasgow District Council.
Should this not have been addressed before the decision was made?
Look carefully when the next live cup draw is made to see if the numbers six and nine are actually printed on the balls 6 and 9, to prevent yet another catastrophe.
These are all negatives you might say, fair enough, perhaps Maxwell or Broadfoot could provide their audience with the positives.
It’s a litany of incompetence that beggars belief. When chronicled in the way you’ve just done, it reads like the actions of completely corrupt Third World organization. Maxwell has turned out to be the most ineffective, timid and spineless joker the pack has had. I do not recall a single utterance of substance passing through his lips since he was appointed.
Oops sorry! “We’re going to make the entire organization completely transparent.” Well, we’re all still waiting for an outbreak of transparency. Not holding our collective breaths obviously or we’d all be dead by now!
In addition to Michael Stewart, there is this. https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2019/mar/25/scotland-old-firm-hype-sfa-grim-governance?fbclid=IwAR3rpKsZuSK2K4LcT70DBSMHZyDVIRyal7vEIHTHNg9aINuHd58z73By8Dw
Hardly SMSM but every contribution in this vein helps. Of course it will do nothing to alter the modus operandi of the pigs who gorge at the trough of poison sustained by tribalism and bigotry, but every little helps.
I’ve just watched McLeish barely able to put a sentence together in an interview.
God knows what the players are thinking as he stutters through his pre match talk.
He should be put out of his misery now as things will only get worse but of course there is no way the SFA will write him a cheque and see him out the door.
A very low turnout at the next qualifying game, combined with another disastrous performance, will force their hand.
It was a terrible appointment at the time and if McCrae and Petrie were pulling the strings in the background why should we be surprised as to how it’s turned out.
Where’s the new CEO? Has he no input into the discussion?
The silence from Hampden is deafining.
Managed to self-destruct comment. Can’t be arsed typing it again!!!
Aww go on,ye know ye want tae ;<)
Drawing the comparison here is a very obvious thought as they are similar to a degree.However,like the situation with Birmingham City FC being deducted points for FFP rule,I cannot see it making any difference to the way the game is governed in Scotland.
In Scotland,it really just comes down to;the school you attended and wether or not you’re a member of certain unsavoury groups/clubs/orders/lodges.
Those factors ‘always’ come into it in Unfair Old Alba.
The shameful behaviour of the sfa employing a man who is still under investigation for his part in the EBT scam,(a man that couldn’t get to,funnily enough,Birmingham City FC(£££££s) quick enough and in the process leaving the Scottish National team without a manager)is a prime example that they really do not give a fu@¥ what the general public think of them.They will do exactly as they please until they are completely removed from office and replaced by a democratically elected body,who will govern without fear or favour.And until the above happens,just expect more of the same.
And,unfortunately,like death and taxes,(atm)that’s unavoidable…
HH🍀
Phil – surely this movement of Delaney is on some sort of parallel with a certain Mr Ogilvie, in that, the bigger the “misdemeanour”, the higher up the food chain they are promoted.
My mother (God rest her) used to work in the Civil Service, within the Property Services Agency. Let’s just say that most of her bosses would not look out of place promoting the sale of hamburgers for a particular fast-food establishment. The amount of times she, and her Clerical Assistant colleagues, stuck their finger in the dyke (so to speak) to stop the leak becoming a flood must’ve saved the public purse £millions. Unfortunately, it would appear that no such “failsafe” exists within the footballing corridors of power. Nobody in the football governing bodies has a conscience.