THERE WAS A sense of symmetry about the FAI selecting CityWest Hotel for their latest bout of public cleansing on Sunday.
It was, after all, this venue that deposed former chief executive John Delaney cited as an example of how he’d transformed the culture of the organisation.
A view of yesterday's FAI AGM. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
The smoking ban had come into law just a few months before the young, vitalised Waterfordman became a law unto himself by taking on the ultimate role in November 2004.
Gone would be the era, he declared, of the FAI’s annual general meetings being synonymous with a row over a rule change in a smoke-filled room at the West Dublin venue.
No longer would football folk beyond The Pale feel marginalised.
From 2007, Delaney’s brainchild of the Festival of Football would be mobilised, starting in Kerry and trekking to Meath this year.
It was a novel and noble proposal, bringing ambassadors such as his constant companion Ray Houghton to clubs for ribbon-cutting ceremonies. The hosts were left in no doubt that Delaney had be front and centre of the pomp.
Delaney introduced new words to the AGM lexicon. The meeting on the final day of the festival marked the “completion of a great week for Irish football”.
Staff, low-paid even before paycuts started to be imposed in 2012, soon tired of hearing their supremo’s standard speech on the circuit.
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Quoting the advice of his mother Joan, Delaney couldn’t leave a stage without dishing out gifts, typically rafts of tickets for international matches.
The FAI’s ritual of releasing a statement showing where €100,000 of grants went in the county was discarded as the financial struggles caused by the CEO’s misguided Vantage vanity project spiked.
Also dispensed with from 2012 was the standard press conference. The tactic, to a degree, worked as the media presence shrunk.
Those that persisted in attending held a competition to count the number of times Delaney’s face appeared on an introductory video. He peaked in 2015 with appearances lurching into three figures.
Those members that possessed the bravery to interrupt the feelgood factor by posing legitimate questions got short shrift from the top table and even death stares some colleagues seated around them. The last query was all of a decade ago; three delegates being stonewalled for questioning a €5 million payment.
Other changes then should have sounded the alarm. For the first time in their history, the FAI breached their own rule of distributing the accounts 21 days in advance.
Limited time existed to parse the details when presented that morning in Monaghan, yet some spotted the reg flags. The main inquisitor from the floor was Paul Cooke.
FAI President Donal Conway and Executive Lead Paul Cooke at the AGM. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
On Sunday, he was on the other side of the table at CityWest, where matters of far more gravity than a rule change were on the agenda.
He is the FAI’s executive lead, another term of chief executive, conducting the job he used to scrutinise Delaney in.
His predecessor received €1,000 every day of the year in salary (and more in perks, as we’ve learned) while Cooke has worked for free since first being extracted from the naughty list seven months ago.
“Matters should have been taken seriously when I queried them 10 years ago,” said the chartered accountant. “Four years later, I said the same on RTÉ’s Prime Time and ended up being disciplined by the FAI.
“The problems were as clear as the nose on my face. Anybody who looked at the accounts for 2017 could see it from the figure of €22 million deferred income. That’s cash received in advance from sponsors.”
Sunday bookended the turnaround for Cooke, but it was evident to the 150 people in the Kingswood Room how much work is required to untangle the mess.
By 25 January, the FAI will have had more annual or emergency general meetings over 12 months than actual gatherings of their council.
The function of the council is to hold the FAI’s board to account by receiving regular updates and applying scrutiny. Under FAI rules, they must meet at least four times per year and carry the power, on a two-thirds majority, to expel board members.
They numbered 58 until the governance review group in July recommended increasing to 79.
In keeping with Delaney’s wish to maintain a processional AGM, a yearly EGM was pencilled in, usually of a mid-afternoon in Abbotstown. This year’s version, held in February when the leader was still at the peak of his powers, attracted just 51 voters.
Since his demise, two EGM’s and two AGM’s have been held. Another is due for next month to elect Donal Conway’s successor as President. The number will rise to seven when appointing the auditor to replace Deloitte.
Tedious as they are, and Sunday’s fare threatened to descend into farce on a couple of occasions, we’ll live with them if it results in those “mistakes of the past” the FAI admitted to being eventually cured.
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Another tedious FAI gathering highlights how much work is required to untangle the mess
THERE WAS A sense of symmetry about the FAI selecting CityWest Hotel for their latest bout of public cleansing on Sunday.
It was, after all, this venue that deposed former chief executive John Delaney cited as an example of how he’d transformed the culture of the organisation.
The smoking ban had come into law just a few months before the young, vitalised Waterfordman became a law unto himself by taking on the ultimate role in November 2004.
Gone would be the era, he declared, of the FAI’s annual general meetings being synonymous with a row over a rule change in a smoke-filled room at the West Dublin venue.
No longer would football folk beyond The Pale feel marginalised.
From 2007, Delaney’s brainchild of the Festival of Football would be mobilised, starting in Kerry and trekking to Meath this year.
It was a novel and noble proposal, bringing ambassadors such as his constant companion Ray Houghton to clubs for ribbon-cutting ceremonies. The hosts were left in no doubt that Delaney had be front and centre of the pomp.
Delaney introduced new words to the AGM lexicon. The meeting on the final day of the festival marked the “completion of a great week for Irish football”.
Staff, low-paid even before paycuts started to be imposed in 2012, soon tired of hearing their supremo’s standard speech on the circuit.
Quoting the advice of his mother Joan, Delaney couldn’t leave a stage without dishing out gifts, typically rafts of tickets for international matches.
The FAI’s ritual of releasing a statement showing where €100,000 of grants went in the county was discarded as the financial struggles caused by the CEO’s misguided Vantage vanity project spiked.
Also dispensed with from 2012 was the standard press conference. The tactic, to a degree, worked as the media presence shrunk.
Those that persisted in attending held a competition to count the number of times Delaney’s face appeared on an introductory video. He peaked in 2015 with appearances lurching into three figures.
Those members that possessed the bravery to interrupt the feelgood factor by posing legitimate questions got short shrift from the top table and even death stares some colleagues seated around them. The last query was all of a decade ago; three delegates being stonewalled for questioning a €5 million payment.
Other changes then should have sounded the alarm. For the first time in their history, the FAI breached their own rule of distributing the accounts 21 days in advance.
Limited time existed to parse the details when presented that morning in Monaghan, yet some spotted the reg flags. The main inquisitor from the floor was Paul Cooke.
On Sunday, he was on the other side of the table at CityWest, where matters of far more gravity than a rule change were on the agenda.
He is the FAI’s executive lead, another term of chief executive, conducting the job he used to scrutinise Delaney in.
His predecessor received €1,000 every day of the year in salary (and more in perks, as we’ve learned) while Cooke has worked for free since first being extracted from the naughty list seven months ago.
“Matters should have been taken seriously when I queried them 10 years ago,” said the chartered accountant. “Four years later, I said the same on RTÉ’s Prime Time and ended up being disciplined by the FAI.
“The problems were as clear as the nose on my face. Anybody who looked at the accounts for 2017 could see it from the figure of €22 million deferred income. That’s cash received in advance from sponsors.”
Sunday bookended the turnaround for Cooke, but it was evident to the 150 people in the Kingswood Room how much work is required to untangle the mess.
By 25 January, the FAI will have had more annual or emergency general meetings over 12 months than actual gatherings of their council.
The function of the council is to hold the FAI’s board to account by receiving regular updates and applying scrutiny. Under FAI rules, they must meet at least four times per year and carry the power, on a two-thirds majority, to expel board members.
They numbered 58 until the governance review group in July recommended increasing to 79.
In keeping with Delaney’s wish to maintain a processional AGM, a yearly EGM was pencilled in, usually of a mid-afternoon in Abbotstown. This year’s version, held in February when the leader was still at the peak of his powers, attracted just 51 voters.
Since his demise, two EGM’s and two AGM’s have been held. Another is due for next month to elect Donal Conway’s successor as President. The number will rise to seven when appointing the auditor to replace Deloitte.
Tedious as they are, and Sunday’s fare threatened to descend into farce on a couple of occasions, we’ll live with them if it results in those “mistakes of the past” the FAI admitted to being eventually cured.
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