These are dark days for soccer in the Republic of Ireland.
If I had to sum it up in two words for those who are not of this parish then here they are:
John Delaney.
The disgraced former CEO of the FAI appeared impregnable and unassailable for a very long time.
The reason that he is no longer there must go largely to the dogged work of Sunday Times journalist Mark Tighe.
He has deserved the plaudits and awards that have come his way for his work on the FAI story.
Crucially he is a news journalist.
This is the first point that he makes in this interview with an Irish soccer fan.
Consequently, Tighe’s journalistic career would not end if the FAI told him he couldn’t cover Irish soccer matches!
Since I started writing about matters on Planet Fitba I was struck by the lack of genuine investigative work into the national game in Fair Caledonia.
Of course, that was especially true when matters Ibrox were involved.
Mark Tighe had the support of his editor and followed the money.
This led to court battles with the FAI CEO but armed with documentary evidence Tighe and truth won out.
Yesterday at a presser the FAI top table squirmed as they were asked how this shot show could happen on their watch.
The figures revealed in the accounts were stunning.
With current net liabilities of more than €55m auditors, Deloitte were unable to guarantee that the FAI can continue as a going concern.
In other news, bears defecate in tree-covered areas…
John Delaney severance package totalled €463,000.
The potential liability to Delaney had been €3m, but was adjusted down to €2.142m by end of 2018.
Yeah, that’s right.
The guy who ran the FAI into the ground and made it a toxic brand walks away with a truckload of cash.
As I watched the live feed from the presser I texted this message to a well-placed source in Scotland:
“FAI accounts out today.
Car crash.
The Delaney legacy.
Excellent questions from the journalists.
I can’t imagine this happening at an Ibrox presser.”
His reply was right back and right on the money:
“Certainly not, if he/she wants to report at Ibrox again.”
In the eleven years that I have been writing this blog, I have been regularly reminded that I was working on stories that should have been thoroughly covered by journalists in Scotland.
It wasn’t that Scottish sports journalists were unable, but they were certainly unwilling.
I never thought it was reasonable for a sports hack to get his head around the sleight of hand at the heart of an Employee Benefit Trust (EBT).
However, all they had to do was to contact a colleague on the business desk to ask them for a background piece on the scam.
The story of the cheating years at Rangers was there and almost everyone in the Ibrox press box knew it.
For the avoidance of doubt, I’m sure that there were a few news journalists in Scotland who would like to have gone digging.
A few of them even made a pitch to their editors.
However, the sports desks made dark warnings about circulation in editorial meetings and any chance of investigative work was dropped.
The factor in the Scottish equation is the klan.
Some journalists were simply afraid of the Ibrox crazies.
Any journalistic investigation into the Ibrox story over the past decade would start and finish not at Edmiston Drive, or even some offshore tax haven, but at Hampden.
It was the lack of oversight by the governing body that permitted the Murray years and then rolled out the light blue carpet for Charlie and the boys.
Those entrusted with governing the national game in fair Caledonia have also had a free pass from the Fitba Fourth estate over the years.
Your own humble correspondent has played a minor role in pointing this out.
For example, did it really take a freelancer in another country to tell Planet Fitba about Hugh Dallas?
I remember having a conversation about that story with a senior Scottish sports journalist the year after that scoop.
Ironically it was in the media centre at the AVIVA Stadium in Dublin.
I asked him if he would have gone with the Dallas email story.
In fairness, he was honest and open when he said that he would not have filed it.
Of course, the chances are that even if he had written up the story it would have been spiked for the reasons I have already adumbrated.
The FAI accounts released yesterday had a going concern warning from auditors Deloitte.
That name might ring a bell as they were the original firm brought in by Charles of Normandy when he set up his club in 2012.
As regular readers here will know they are no longer the auditors of RIFC.
Once more it was the klan factor.
The John Delaney saga reminds us that the powerful can be brought down by investigative journalism.
Indeed, it is the Fourth Estate fulfilling its role in a functioning democracy.
Sniff out a story and pursue it with dogged determination.
Indeed, there is a reason that the term “newshound” was coined for a reporter on a paper.
How Mr Delaney must wish that he had been dealing with those pet poodles in Scotland!
I am reliably informed that when a succulent pie is proffered some them even can do tricks…
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Phil it would great if you could have a word with Mark about him chasing another top story and bring a few people down in the Scottish game . How the panic button would be getting pressed at the thought of this guy coming for them .
Everything above simply highlights why NO Celtic supporter or decent football fan should EVER buy a mainstream Scottish newspaper..
Their symbiosis with the Ibrox brand is do entrenched that one cannot live without the other.
When one goes… the others will follow… The Rags and the Klub they sponsor.
Both are on their last legs. When they all go it will be a day to celebrate.
For now I bc am content knowing that I have NEVER contributed to their dwindling coffers.
Most of the daily trash papers are just about breaking even or losing money. Their sole purpose these days are political like a lot of the tv media. They are merely there to tell the uneducated how to vote. Any educated person that reads books, understands economics, has any grasp of business would never read a daily trash paper. And that’s not just the Red tops.
I have a friend that was mad with rage when the bedroom tax came out. Just the other day he told me he was voting Tory! I reminded him of the bedroom tax and he said that was one of the reasons he hated the SNP!!! Yes he is a daily red top reader. And that’s how stupid he is. I was gobsmacked and tried to explain to him it was a Westminster law that the SNP had abolished in Scotland but no he wouldn’t hear tell of it. It was the SNP’s fault in the first place that the law came in!
And that’s the folk the papers count on to keep Westminster in power here in Scotland. By the way the guy is a Celtic supporter and voted NO in the referendum.
The fantasy writers here in Scotland that like to use the title “journalist” are told what their agenda is, they just have to find the best angles to get the agenda across.
While people are more concerned about the next winner of X factor Love island or I’m a celebrity than they are about who is actually running the country then the work is done for the daily trash papers and the news media in general.
Over the last 7 years the football rivalry between Celtic and Sevco has been absolutely ZERO
They have not won a major cup in years. They have only once defeated Celtic in a cup (in extra time) and then went on to lose in the final. In the same 7 years Celtic have won EIGHT league titles. FOUR Scottish cups and FOUR League cups.
So in what universe can Sevco and Celtic’s be considered (greatest rivals)
Yes only in the Scottish football fantasy universe.
Hail Hail
The irony is the journalist jobs that have been lost since 2012 due to decreasing sales. Coincidence
There are many reasons why staffing numbers in media organisations have been cut-especially in the print sector.
Ken Auletta’s book “Googled” (2009) lays it out very well.
Journalists indeed,they may well do tricks for their masters,however,I feel the biggest trick they could perform,would be to do their jobs;that’d be real magic IF even 1 of them could muster the minerals.
They are mere puppets doing their best to follow directions(orders,BLOO WANS)fae their puppet masters @L-5 PR
Dogged? they are not,lazy mongrels/mutts? Well,if the cap fits?
Oh what pleasure there’d be IF Mark Tighe was up against the REAL criminals of Scottish Fitba.
Go get ‘em Mark…..L-5 and the sfa are your next big exclusive,begging for the slaughter🍀
We can but dream,eh?…
It’s quite simple to solve, really…
They re-brand as THE FAI.
They wear the exact-same blazers.
They retain the honours and history of the old FAI.
Well – it has worked previously!
It will be interesting to see how the FAI digs itself out of this hole.
Not just finding a financial solution, but managing a rebranding perhaps?
And if the jokers at Hampden have any awareness, they might also want to take a particular interest in the FAI’s predicament.
The irony: the governing body entrusted to protect and develop a national sport has dragged that sport into the gutter and inflicted serious financial harm.
And, IMO, it might not be as dramatic as the FAI, but the SFA is sloely sleepwalking into the abyss as well…