It’s a cold February night in 2019. A South Dublin pub is the venue and John Delaney is being questioned by a group of Ireland fans.

The last time the then-Football Association of Ireland’s chief executive officer entertained fans, he himself was belting out a ballad.

That late-night gathering in The Bath, on November 18, 2014, created headlines all around the football world and came just hours after Delaney sat through fervent protests against him and the FAI from fans in the Aviva Stadium during Ireland’s 4-1 friendly win over the USA.

Anti-Delaney chants echoed from the South Stand and a heavier-than-usual security operation was on hand to ensure no banners criticising the status quo were visible.

It was all a result of the Scotland ticket debacle a couple of weeks earlier, when hardcore fans who had flawless away travel records were denied tickets for the crucial Euro 2016 qualifier in Parkhead.

To compound the frustration of those loyal supporters who missed out, the Irish end was awash with men and women who would not normally travel to Ireland away games.

Stories emerged of tickets being handed out to those rarely seen at matches. Many first-time travellers secured a seat in the Irish end in Glasgow.

The incident enraged a large cohort of loyal Ireland fans and was the first major rift between Delaney and the bulk of the Irish support, the same fans who had chaired Delaney on high during late nights in Poland at Euro 2012. Many did not renew their season tickets.

And five years later here was Delaney, back face-to-face with some of his most ardent critics. He is promising them an increase in ticket allocation for Ireland away games – the details of how tickets were allocated had been a tighly-guarded secret.

The FAI’s policy was to give just 35 per cent of the away ticket allocation to regular fans, with 15 per cent going to travel partners Abbey Travel and the remaining 50 per cent into the black hole of the ‘Football Family’.

Now Delaney is back on centre stage promising 65 per cent for fans. Many present wondered ‘why now’.

***********************************************

"It’s been a very stable period. You forget that there were four chief executives in the five years before I came. There were always rows in the association politically. We’ve had stability for the last 14 years."

– John Delaney, February 21, 2019.

Less than a month after this quote from John Delaney in front of about 40 Ireland fans in the Horse Show House in Dublin 4 a year ago, that illusion of ‘stability’ began to crumble as the reality of the finances and corporate governance in the FAI began to unfold.

What started as a €100,000 payment from Delaney to the FAI – which was not recorded in the annual accounts – snowballed into something that would plunge the very existence of the FAI into doubt.

Responsible corporate governance was proven to be non-existent and financial mismanagement meant that the FAI now owe close to €80million – a figure so unsustainable that the Association needed a Government bailout in early 2020 to keep the show on the road.

According to Delaney at the time, the FAI were leading the way in sporting governance.

When asked by one fan if the FAI had finally decided to reduce the service terms for existing board members – 16 years after it was suggested in the Genesis Report – because of an upcoming Oireachtas hearing, Delaney said: "Nothing to do with the Oireachtas, we’ll be in the Oireachtas on April 10 and that’s fine. We’ve been in the Oireachtas before and we will be again. We had a 23-person board before and we got it down to 10. We’ve just taken a woman on board, Niamh O’Donoghue, to make it 11.

"The Government are bringing in legislation that you have to have term limits by 2021. It’s nothing to do with the Oireachtas committee. So we decided last year that we’d bring it in earlier, two years before it becomes legislation."

His words, delivered with the sharpness of an astute politician, were not enough to satisfy one attendee. A frank exchange followed.

Fan: "It’s over a decade-and-a-half since the Genesis Report. Why now and why did it take this long?

Delaney: "It was never an issue before because we’d taken the board from 23 down to 10. We weren’t told to bring a woman onto the board, we just felt it’s the right thing to do and I think in another 12 months we’ll bring another woman onto the board.

"We’ve been making the changes. So when the Government said they were bringing this legislation in for 2021, we said that’s okay, we’ll bring it in two years earlier. Other sporting bodies will have to adjust their own governance to adjust to that too. You also have the option of saying we’re not going to do it and here’s the reasons why we’re not going to do it. So there’s an opt-out clause.

"We didn’t bring in 100 per cent of what the Government will want. We brought in 95 per cent and the other five per cent we’re not bringing in, we have the right to say we’re not and here’s the reasons why."

Fan: "As we know from the last meeting, you say you are a chartered accountant. Corporate code of governance and the Genesis Report would recommend that there would be non-executive directors on the board. Why have you not brought that in?"

Delaney: "The Genesis Report was a recommendation of a lot of actions, not just..."

Fan: "No, just specifically that action."

Delaney: "You have to listen, You can’t... this isn’t a Q&A, you can’t take over... let the other boys in. It’s not just your right to ask all these questions.

"Genesis came in a couple of years after the report and we’re 100 per cent satisfied with the actions the Association had taken.

"The Association took the view not to have any independent directors on the board. It may well do into the future. There’s no Government legislation to say any sports body has to have independent directors. The membership, which is a broad membership of hundreds of thousands of people and has an AGM, EGMs, accounts and committees, have taken the view that we’ll reduce the board from 23 to 10, now 11 and maybe going to 12 and have brought in how the term limits apply.

"That’s a membership thing, that’s what the members want and it’s worked as far as the members are concerned.

"There’s nobody saying you have to have an independent director. If that became Government legislation, that becomes a different thing but it’s not."

Fan: "You don’t think it would be beneficial?"

Delaney: "I just think the way the board has worked, it’s been a very stable period. You forget that there were four chief executives in the five years before I came. There were always rows in the association politically. We’ve had stability for the last 14 years."

Fan: "Any public company would have non-executive directors but you don’t think you have to answer to non-executive directors?"

Delaney: "That’s trying to put words into my mouth. At the moment the membership are really happy to have the board constituted the way it is. It’s made its adjustments at its EGM. If further adjustments need to be made, I’m sure they’ll be happy to do that.

"But it was a big change to bring it from 23 to 10 and that has to be managed. When we all go away tonight there’s still an organisation to be ran and a broad membership from Kerry, Monaghan, LSL etc. There are hundreds of committee meetings every year in the FAI offices which debate football every day. It’s not just on a forum, it’s done in the offices and that’s where changes will come."

Fan: "In your opinion, you don’t think that governance in the FAI would be benefited by having non-executive directors overseeing proper governance?"

Delaney: "At the moment it’s not government legislation."

Fan: "I asked for your opinion?"

Delaney: "I think there are very good people on the board and they all contribute."

Fan: "The corporate world across the world that deal with public bodies that all say you have to have non-executive directors, they are all wrong?"

Delaney: "You’re putting words into people’s mouths... I think we will move on in a second. I will answer this for you again..."

Fan: "You are not answering the question."

Delaney: "I am actually, I am sticking to the facts.

"The facts are, there’s government legislation coming in 2021 about term limits, there’s nothing about independent directors. They’re saying nine years, we’re making it eight. There’s no government legislation to have a woman on the board, we have one already and I think we’ll bring in a second in the next 12 months.

"If legislation comes in to bring non-exec directors in then we’ll have to go to the membership and ask the membership are they okay with that or do they want to opt out and that’s the way it works."

On June 21 2019, bringing in four independent directors was among 78 recommendations in a 133-page corporate governance review into the FAI.

"The board’s view was that the decline in FIFA world rankings, UEFA standings and non-qualification for the 2006 World Cup were key issues. The downward trend in our rankings and seedings has been very disappointing." – John Delaney after Brian Kerr was dismissed, October 2005

"The board and the family of football are supportive of Steve’s appointment." – John Delaney after Ireland’s 5-2 defeat to Cyprus under Kerr’s successor, Steve Staunton, October 2006

"It’s unfortunate that I’ve been personally linked to the appointment when there was a sub-committee of three that made it which was ratified by the board of the FAI, which is a committee of 10." – John Delaney on Staunton’s recruitment, October 2007

"We met the board membership and they’re fully supportive of the action we took. In fairness, even at that meeting, it was suggested that we change the rule completely and hand out accounts on the day of the AGM. But the broad feeling within the game is that we acted responsibly with what we had to do. We didn’t want two weeks of our accounts being trawled through the media." – John Delaney defending the decision not to release accounts (which showed a €16m loss) in advance of AGM, July 2009

"I was offered a job on three times my salary that I am currently on (€340,000) and that’s a fact. Members of the board, I brought it to their attention but I didn’t want the job, I am very happy in this job." – John Delaney, March 2013

"The board of the FAI has been kept fully informed in relation to this matter at all times.” – FAI statement, March 18, 2019

“The Board of the FAI has adopted a review of its senior management structure that will see CEO John Delaney moved to a new position of Executive Vice President with immediate effect. The Board voted unanimously at its meeting on 22 March to appoint CEO John Delaney to the newly-created role of Executive Vice President." – FAI statement, March 23, 2019

The support of his board was always something that John Delaney was happy to trumpet in public. Whether it be on matters of salary, corporate governance or as a shield for managerial appointments gone wrong, the board being behind it was the go-to response.

So those present on the night may have been surprised by the response to a supporter who bemoaned the lack of young blood coming through onto the board that February night.

"I think there’s too much focus on the board because the board meets eight/nine/ten times a year," Delaney replied, as he pointed to the senior administration in the association as being the real levers.

"There’s 200 staff in the FAI. And the administration implements policies. That’s where the energy comes, day in, day out from the different staff. They’ve to go out and report out to the 200," he said.

"That’s where the nitty-gritty is done. The board meet eight/nine times a year. Anybody who thinks the board are running around trying to implement it, no, they’re monitoring it and that’s their role."

Yet with board member and then-FAI President Donal Conway telling an Oireachtas hearing that "some recent comments made by the FAI did not accurately reflect the board’s level of awareness of the existence of the €100,000 issue in 2017" six weeks later, the question would become how much monitoring was actually allowed?

"We’ve taken the debt from €76m to €28m and if we want to pay the debt off we’ll do it by 2020." – John Delaney, February 21, 2019.

The Aviva Stadium was always the jewel in John Delaney’s crown. Never mind that the lease on the ground itself would revert to the IRFU in 2070, Irish football finally had a home of its own. Or at least a half-share in one.

And despite a disastrous 2008 business decision in relation to the sale of 10-year Vantage Club tickets, which left a millstone of debt around the Association’s neck and would have spelt curtains for most CEOs, the refrain that "the FAI will be debt-free by 2020" was a familiar one to Delaney watchers.

Counterpoints were put forward by critics such as Brian Kerr, who the previous November had said: "We’ve not had any investment in the game for years now. They seem to be hellbent on paying off the debt by 2020 or 2021. What’s the rush? Why not invest the €30million or 40million into the game?"

Kerr’s view was shared by many fans but was always shrugged off. The Delaney script on this night was the standard rhetoric on the income-generating potential of the ground in full-flow.

"In 2020 we’ll do a paper of how much the stadium cost but also how much it has generated," was his response to a query about the ultimate cost including interest on the loans.

"It’s a bit like saying what’s your mortgage costing you but not looking at what the value of the house is to you overall. That’s a bit of a small narrative.

"On the back of an envelope the stadium cost €410m, we provided €205m with a government grant. We certainly haven’t put anything like that into it. At one stage the debt was €76m, it’s down to €28m today. We’ll be working to clear that by 2020.

"It’s generated a lot of money. And in the next 10, 20, 30, 40 years it’ll generate even more money."

On December 6 2019, acting-FAI Executive Lead and long-term Delaney critic Paul Cooke announced that at year-end 2018, the FAI had current net liabilities of more than €55m and auditors Deloitte were unable to sign off that the governing body could continue as a going concern. That figure did not allow for the money loaned to the association by UEFA over the previous nine months.

He also announced that the association would remortgage its debt on the Aviva Stadium until 2034, a full 14 years after Delaney’s oft-repeated debt-free promise.

Rather than generating money, the debt caused by the mismanagement of the original Vantage Club scheme would come close to bankrupting the FAI until the government stepped in with a rescue plan on January 31.

"We don’t have the wisdom of Solomon to say we’ll go to a strictly points (ticketing) system because that affects what the guys (in supporters clubs) are doing." – John Delaney, February 21, 2019.

Tickets were an explosive topic under John Delaney’s reign at the FAI. In functional football associations around Europe, fans are generally allocated over 90 per cent of away match tickets with the remainder filtering down to sponsors and players and staff. The basic idea is that loyal supporters are at the top of the queue.

Under Delaney’s watch, the figure was 35 per cent for loyal fans (independent and supporters clubs), 50 per cent for 'The Football Family' and 15 per cent for the FAI-chosen travel agent, Abbey Travel.

Delaney’s argument was that volunteers around the country should be entitled to an away allocation. The counter-argument is that the vast majority of away matches are under-subscribed and there are plenty to go around for anyone willing to travel, and that ticket distribution should be weighted in favour of regular travellers when there is a high ticket demand.

This is what irked so many fans, who were regular travellers to places like Georgia, Armenia, Faroe Islands and Kazakhstan when they could not access tickets for the 2014 qualifier in Scotland. Furthermore, there are hundreds of thousands of football volunteers in Ireland, so just how do you devise a fair and transparent system that rewards those who are deserving of an allocation?

Suggested points-based templates submitted by a supporters group had been labelled unworkable.

The idea that some fans were favoured over others had festered and created a rift in the fanbase that this meeting was attempting to mend. In the Horseshow House, the atmosphere was tense at times but courteous.

And yet here was the FAI CEO using the same ‘wisdom of Solomon’ line he’d trotted out in the aftermath of the ticketing debacle that plagued that Parkhead clash.

"We’ve gone to 65 per cent. We’ve huge respect for the 2,500 season ticket holders that come through the supporters' clubs. They’re building their numbers year in, year out," proclaimed Delaney, in his last public appearance with Irish fans.

But, still, a fully transparent scheme seemed as far away as ever.

"We don’t have the wisdom of Solomon to say we’ll go to a strictly points system because that affects what the guys are doing."

For the upcoming Euro 2020 play-off against Slovakia, Ireland fans praised the distribution of the 2,200 much sought-after tickets after all away fans, independent or affiliated with a club, with two of the previous eight games on their record were rewarded.

"For the first time ever, it looks like we have a fair ticketing system," says one fan.

Sources say that the new regime in the FAI were "amazed at how tickets were handled" during Delaney’s regime while Niall Quinn has hinted that an elusive points-based system is on the way.

"We have a whole new ticketing policy that went before the board and was accepted," said Quinn recently. "There is a much fairer system now. True fans will get tickets far easier than before."

Solomon has arrived in Abbotstown.