IT WAS IN the summer of 2012 that John Delaney lost his shoes and consolidated the cult of the celebrity football administrator, but only a few weeks later one of his (many) successors stood on the world stage in total anonymity.
David Courell was the operations manager of the Olympic Stadium at London 2012, and among his many tasks was to effectively man-mark Usain Bolt after his races, chivvying him away from his post-victory celebrations to clear the track and get Bolt to his many media obligations.
So at least we will soon be able to answer the question as to whether it’s more difficult to keep pace with the fastest man in history, or run Irish football.
Working at London 2012 was Courell’s first job in sport, having earlier worked as a management consultant for Deloitte.
He then became director of operations for the British Paralympic Association, working at Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016, and moved into football with the English FA in 2017, where he led on planning for the 2018 World Cup and a feasibility study on the possibility of hosting the 2030 World Cup. That bid evolved into a joint-bid with Ireland and the rest of the UK to host Euro 2028, which Courell quickly saw from an Irish point of view.
Originally from Castlebar, Courell moved home to take up the FAI’s chief operating officer role at the start of 2021.
It’s understood he was identified as a potential future CEO from the moment of his recruitment, but that chalice has been passed to him earlier than he could have anticipated.
Courell has been doing the job since April, with Jonathan Hill leaving the FAI in the wake of a controversy over payments in lieu of holidays; small fry in the hierarchy of FAI scandals, but efforts before an Oireachtas Committee to explain it as a misunderstood joke proved damaging. President Paul Cooke told the committee his confidence in Hill has been shaken by the episode, and Hill was gone two months later.
Swim Ireland CEO and OFI president Sarah Keane confirmed to reporters at the Paris Olympics that she was approached for the job, and it’s understood Keane was down to the final two candidates having completed the second stage of the interview process a month ago. Media reports also linked Munster Rugby CEO Ian Flanagan with the post as recently as mid-September, but the job has gone to Courell.
Board member Robert Watt was an early contender but withdrew from the process.
The process was run by the FAI’s Nominations Committee, which featured Cooke, chairman Tony Keohane and board member Ursula Scully along with external figures from Sport Ireland and a recruitment expert. The FAI said today that the board unanimously approved the recommendation to appoint Courell.
Keane was overlooked in favour of Hill four years ago, too, where she was once again among the final two candidates, but the FAI decided to appoint Hill based primarily on his commercial experience. Some will see this as another missed opportunity from the FAI to appoint a formidable administrator with strong relations at government level. Plus, given Courell was already in the building as chief operating officer, his qualities would not have been lost to the FAI had Keane been appointed.
The FAI will shortly begin the process of recruiting a replacement for Courell as chief operating officer.
Hill’s payments fiasco accentuated once again the need for the FAI’s governance to be beyond reproach, and senior staff consulted on the most important qualities in the final candidate for CEO emphasised governance. Keane’s work at Swim Ireland and the OFI showed that to be her strongest quality, where she restored the reputation of both sports in the wake of scandals.
Keane confirmed to reporters in Paris that she had been approached for the role, and during Hill’s tenure, some current board members lamented the FAI’s first decision to overlook Keane. Given her CV, Keane can consider herself unfortunate to miss out a second time.
Courell, though, has impressed during his interim stint. As chief operating officer, Courell developed a good reputation as being across the specific details of his various briefs, but there were questions marks as to whether he would be able to adapt to the broader-picture element of the CEO role.
But as one source describes it, Courell was “like a different person” when he took the top job. When drawing comparisons to his immediate predecessor, insiders praised Courell’s ability to make firm decisions and prioritise what is most important.
His elevation to the interim role led to the prioritising of funding for professional League of Ireland academies, with a presentation on Ireland’s bleak realities by academy director Will Clarke and assistant director of football Shane Robinson capturing the attention, to the point that they were invited to Leinster House to present to a packed room of TDs and senators.
The FAI want €10 million a year to kickstart elite player development, but the government have yet to put any money on the table, as the football public grow weary of the FAI’s insistence that they are having “positive conversations” with politicians on the matter. Marc Canham said he expects clarity on the funding by the end of this year, which is unforgivably late from the FAI’s point of view, given Brexit brought these problems into view fully eight years ago.
While Courell has facilitated the better focus on academy funding, his announcement at last month’s AGM that the FAI were hoping to get that funding through the Brexit Reserve Fund brought embarrassment given Paschal Donohoe had to tell the media 11 days later that the FAI had missed the deadline to apply.
Some FAI staff had identified the Brexit fund as a possible funding stream as far back as 2021, but still they Association did not apply in time. It’s this painfully slow-moving culture which Courell will have to address.
Externally, the FAI gives an impression of being adrift; of needing too much time to make appointments and deliver funding. Courell’s own appointment process dragged on, while nobody wants to be reminded of the epic sweep of history it took to appoint Heimir Hallgrimsson as men’s head coach.
Canham took repeated public kickings over that managerial search, but there were plenty of others at the FAI involved in the process too, including Cooke, board member Packie Bonner, and people and culture director Aoife Rafferty. Hill was involved too, until he left and Courell stepped in.
Now that he’s in permanent charge, Courell must strike a balance between involving those around him in major decisions and not dallying too long on making those decisions.
His ascension to permanent CEO should help in this regard: this is now unequivocally Courell’s realm, and he has to lead the FAI on his own terms.
If you include interims, Courell is the sixth person to sit behind the CEO desk at Abbotstown since Delaney left five years ago.Each of those CEOs first sat down to a bleak inheritance, and now it falls to Courell to lead the FAI from mere survival to success.
He will ultimately be judged by the extent of funding the FAI can secure for infrastructure and player development, and delivering the implementation of the player pathways plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by the board but subject to quibbling among some affiliates.
Any FAI CEO has to balance this desperate need for massive investment and upgrading across all areas of the sport with a shoestring budget, groaning debt, ceaseless internal politicking, and intense media scrutiny. This is a problem for all FAI CEOs: even if they are not interested in media controversies and sideshows, the controversies and sideshows are usually interested in them.
If Courell can slip in as easily and anonymously into this public and clamouring scene as he did at the London Olympics, he will have done a good job.
