WHATEVER happened to the proud men of the FAI? For nearly a decade they were on top of their game, a real force in international football. Then suddenly they were caught in a whirlwind of allegations about missing money, writs and resignations.
Instead of taking on the world they were taking on lawyers, media handlers and accountants. They began to turn against each other.
It was only three weeks ago that Sean Connolly's resignation as general secretary gave the first hint that the FAI was about to tumble into chaos. The Dundalk man had been a surprise appointment when he took over as general secretary in 1990.
A former civil servant, the quiet spoken 53 year old had become head of the new Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) in 1988. He had enjoyed the FAI's best ever years in international competition, but by February things had begun to turn sour.
The impending crisis was mirrored by the Irish team's performance on the pitch. A pinnacle of achievement in the World Cup finals of Italia 90 went sliding to a less glorious campaign in US 94, and a humbling departure from the European Championship last year.
In all the excitement of the footballing success no one seemed to worry too much about what was going on back at the office.
Recently an accountant who worked at the FAI has said that he was told to edit a list of people who owed money to the FAI, so that certain names would not appear. He agreed to the editing, and an amended list was furnished to the FAI committee charged with overseeing its finances.
The finances have since been closely examined by a team of accountants from Bastow Charlton, a fire which specialises in handling difficult situations. They knew the report they prepared in time for last night's meeting would make compelling reading.
Many rows, old and new, have been thrown into the pot. But in the end the real row has been about the value of international match tickets. Who gets batches of tickets to sell? Can they get more for them than the price printed on them? If they can, what do they do with the money?
In recent years, tickets for an Irish game had become a very tradeable commodity. And Irish soccer officials also got access to tickets for other matches, which they could trade for extra tickets to Irish games.
What financial controls were in place to manage the cash that was being generated? When Connolly left three weeks ago it was clear that he was not on good terms with Louis Kilcoyne and other officers, who he felt were trying to increase their powers at the expense of his own.
Kilcoyne (47) had become president in 1994. At the same time the ever cheerful Delaney, whose business career ranged from a family bakery business to the chairmanship of Waterford United, secured his post as treasurer. The two men seemed to form a powerful axis, at least until recent days.
Shortly after Connolly's departure, Michael Morris, an accountant working at the FAI for four years, suddenly quit. The FAI's vice president, Michael Flyland, denied the two men were pressurised into resigning.
The resignation of the national coach, Joe McGrath - the third full time staff member to quit formed the backdrop to a press conference on February 21st at which the officers set out to explain the problems. These included an allegation that one officer had personally made good a £200,000 shortfall in the FAI's funds, revenue from tickets allocated to the officer.
The association's vice president Des Casey said that, as far as he knew, there was no such shortfall. Kilcoyne said there were no substantial amounts owed to the association, "not now, not ever".
But two days later, on February 23rd, Delaney said he had personally met a £110,000 shortfall in the FAI's funds in November 1994. He issued a public statement explaining that in spring 1994, the FAI had ordered tickets (from the international footballing body FIFA) for other groups, that is, groups of matches in which the Republic did not feature. "These tickets were to be used to barter for extra tickets for the FAI and, in turn, for the Irish fans.
"The exchange and purchase of tickets between national associations and indeed with agents is common practice at major championships," he added. "In 1994 one of these agents, with whom I had dealt on behalf of the FAI, proved less than trustworthy. The FAI was facing a shortfall of £110,000."
"As the error of judgment in dealing with this agent had been mine I felt honour bound to personally meet this shortfall, to ensure that the FAI were not at a loss".
Dealing with agents or touts was not unheard of. When thousands of Irish fans began travelling overseas for World Cup matches, the pressure to secure tickets for them could be intense.
But Delaney seemed to have been unfortunate in choosing a man variously known as "George the Greek", "Theo the Greek" and "Tio" to deal with tickets.
What exercised observers was not that Delaney would deal with a tout, but why he would pay £110,000 from his own funds to make matters right, given that his error in dealing with an untrustworthy tout was made while doing business for the organisation.
By now the officers were facing a fiasco, and they took steps to repair matters with the appointment of Brendan Menton as acting secretary. Menton, an economist who previously worked for AIB, called in the accountancy firm Bastow Charlton to examine the books.
But even as the investigators got to work, the former FAI accountant, Michael Morris, added fuel to the fire with a statement about how the FAI's finances were reported inside the organisation.
He said certain names were removed from lists of people who owed money to the FAI. He added that he had come under pressure to resign, and he was now issuing legal proceedings against the FAI.
Shortly after Morris issued his statement there was a meeting of FAI officers, and representatives of the Irish football clubs. Delaney, Casey, Hyland and Quigley quit.
Meanwhile, amid all the fuss, the unfortunate Mick McCarthy had come back from a trip to Germany. "It is clear we've got to have some younger legs, he said. But that was a reference to the national team.
