Time may be in short supply for Delaney ahead of Oireachtas appearance

"Time," says one Irish football figure of John Delaney "is his friend on this." However, as the hours and minutes tick down to the FAI's appearance in front of the Oireachtas sport committee, time may be something that is in short supply for John Delaney.

The view of several Irish football veterans who spoke to The Irish Times on the condition of anonymity is that Mr Delaney’s strategy so far has been to buy himself time. “Delaney has a neck like a jockey’s,” says another veteran of the club game. “He will keep his head down and hope it goes away.”

However, events on Tuesday night have brought things to a new fever pitch in the FAI. The suspension of €1.35 million in funding by Sport Ireland to an organisation with a turnover of almost €50 million is not, on the face of it, a massive blow. But, combined with the FAI’s cash-flow issues, it heaps pressure on the FAI to get its house in order.

Nominally, the FAI has already offered up what should have been the biggest sacrificial lamb it had – Delaney’s resignation as chief executive. But again, sources in the game are scathing about the move. “Bizarre,” one labels his new role as executive vice-president, which would keep Delaney in the room at board meetings, and representing the FAI at Uefa. “It would be very difficult for anyone to go in there with John in the wings,” says another person who has been linked with the chief executive’s role. “You’d be crazy.”

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Strategy

What happens from here will be the ultimate test of the strategy Delaney has used over years to consolidate and keep power, insiders say. He has “little or no support with the league [of Ireland] clubs,” one source said. “He has kept the grassroots happy by showering them with state or Uefa grants which he personally delivers at grand openings or dinners – classic politician stuff”.

The council of the FAI, from which the board is drawn, is made from a majority of these clubs, the source continued. This strategy leads to him often being on the road to smaller clubs “four or five nights a week . . . (he) gives them tickets, signed jerseys for raffles . . . looks after the blazers,” says another source. A source said that he has a big power base in Kerry, Cork, Tipperary and Limerick, with some league of Ireland clubs more supportive of him in those areas.

However, three sources all remarked on what they see as a significant change in recent days. They point to the statement this week from the FAI that its own recent comments “did not accurately reflect the board’s level of awareness of the existence of the €100,000 issue in 2017”. This followed an earlier statement from the association that “the board of the FAI has been kept fully informed in relation to this matter at all times”.

The dissonance between these positions, and strongly rumoured dissatisfaction of at least two board members with Delaney, will provide more fuel for what is already set to be a combustible appearance on Wednesday afternoon.