Champagne Football: bursting John Delaney’s bubble

Champagne Football

Author: Paul Rowan and Mark Tighe

ISBN-13: 978-1844884933

Publisher: Penguin Ireland

Guideline Price: €21

After the weekly instalments of scandal that shook the FAI to its foundations, Champagne Football’s arrival was keenly anticipated and it does not disappoint. It is very well written, and the authors deserve huge credit for not only their diligent reporting on the John Delaney-inspired story as it happened, but also for how their book lays out nearly 30 years of dysfunctional governance at the troubled association.

For those not familiar with the biggest scandal in Ireland’s football history, the book provides a useful timeline for the rise and fall of FAI chief executive Delaney, setting out the story’s key protagonists and a chronology of Delaney’s tenure.

The authors also appear to have had unique access to the two reports on the organisation’s finances, commissioned as Delaney’s reign was ending and compiled by the accountancy firms Kosi and Mazars. This level of forensic detail makes the damning conclusions on Delaney’s regime all the more impactful. Further reports and criminal investigations are ongoing.

That Champagne Football has even reached the shops – after years in which Delaney fended off media intrusion by repeated recourse to legal action or the threat of it – raises a couple of initial points. The first is the importance of the role of the investigative journalist in holding power to account. The second is the critical importance of the whistleblower in a failing organisation. Both provide an important service to society and they should be protected.

The enablers and facilitators who aided and abetted the rise of a man not worthy of the status, power or rewards he was granted are clearly exposed

In this instance, an unnamed person did Irish football a very great service by sending to Mark Tighe a copy of a cheque for €100,000 written by John Delaney to his employers. That decision set off a chain of events that neither Delaney nor his acolytes could arrest.

The book brilliantly sets out the legal process pursued by Delaney in response to the threat: his quest for an injunction to stop the story being published, a move based on his assumption that the information had been leaked from previous family proceedings.

The Sunday Times is to be commended for standing up to a playbook from Delaney that had been deployed with huge success over many, many, years.

The media has always fascinated me, as has the cult of celebrity. It is laid bare here. The enablers and facilitators who aided and abetted the rise of a man not worthy of the status, power or rewards he was granted are clearly exposed. The indictment goes far beyond this scandal. Those responsible have now retreated to the shadows, taking advice on how best to avoid scrutiny and challenge.

There are also those relative outsiders who, despite knowing what was happening, remained happy to perpetuate the Delaney myth in the hope of receiving scraps from the table. They are now singing a different tune. Some even endorse the book! It has been cringeworthy to listen to some of their excuses now regarding the cosiness of their relationship.

As to substance: all the talk of better governance, compliance, oversight, transparency and conflicts of interest . . . none of it is new. The 2002 Genesis Report set out the basics of what was required: independent directors, term limits, systems and procedures. The key recommendations were never implemented. There were no proper systems, infrastructure or financial controls.

It is difficult to understand how directors whose specific role to hold their organisation’s chief executive to account could fail so miserably in their duties. But at least a complete clearout of the board was seen as a priority at an early stage. There were terrible failings at executive level as well, but not everyone there has gone. How can a new chief executive, the exalted saviour, be expected to work with these people?

The book acknowledges the work of those journalists who sought to challenge Delaney at different times but fell victim to the dark arts. Still, there are some stories that surely could and should have been examined in greater detail over the years. The hubris around the Vantage season tickets sales comes to mind, along with the pressure exerted on clubs and affiliates to purchase them, which they did, and a number of financial agreements and transactions.

The hastily arranged meetings in Gibraltar where they tried to head off the cheque story by creating a new role for the indispensable Delaney is the stuff of Father Ted

Delaney has such power and reach that Paul Rowan was questioned by the gardaí for doing his job. Has this been investigated?

Then, at the other extreme, you have the side contracts allegedly agreed without the knowledge of even the association’s own board members. Not that it seemed to make a great deal of difference whether they were in or out of the loop. Their hastily arranged meetings in Gibraltar, where they tried to head off the cheque story by creating a new role for the indispensable Delaney, is the stuff of Father Ted.

Such was the urgency that his new deal was written on hotel-headed notepaper and had to be signed there and then. Pinky swears and empty promises, nothing to see here, it will all be sorted out.

It was apparent by then, however, that Delaney had become terribly complacent, intoxicated by his own fame, something colourfully illustrated by his ostentatious, much-reported 50th birthday celebrations. He was in charge of a bankrupt association but his avarice could not be quenched or satisfied.

Delaney is gone now but the FAI has recently requested a further €19.3 million for assistance due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This is in addition to the €52.5 million loan with Bank of Ireland, €28.5 million of which has been underwritten by the Government and the remaining €24 million underwritten by Uefa against future distributions, a number of which had already been drawn down.

When the Football Stakeholder Forum took place at the Mansion House on May 31st, 2019, Delaney had not quite departed but there did seem to be a glimmer of hope that real change may have been effected. Unfortunately, that opportunity has been lost. There was a reversion to what was comfortable, those that were trusted and could be moved into position to protect the status quo.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. Read the book, watch with interest.

Gareth Farrelly, a former Irish international footballer, is a sport and litigation lawyer, CAS arbitrator and member of the Premier League Judicial Panel