That’s laughable. There was a fortune on it. Cash withdrawals and stays in five star hotels whenever he felt like it. Its flat out fraud. I hope he does actual time in a prison. Him and Leo in a cell together.
Fraud?
You’d hardly expect a high flying CEO like Dela to be staying in a 2 Star Holiday Inn would you?
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There’s no belief here.
This is all on record. As @Bandage once sagely pointing out on here, cashflows can be lumpy with both pinch points and periods of windfall. 2019 and 2020 actually promised to be cash windfall years.
UEFA for example advanced monies due in 2020 and 2021 so the FAI could meet cash flow in 2019 after Sports Ireland funding was cut. This tv contract and the drawings are on record. The FAI were due tens of millions from this and they drew down a significant amount early. Something like €5m in 2018 and €10m in 2019, with 2019 to fund the lack of Sports Ireland monies, the impact of Sports Direct pulling out, declining interest in the national team, various legal cost and various settlements. That money was earmarked to repay the stadium. So €10m there. I believe that poster @Little_Lord_Fauntleroy has documented the tv income bonanza for the FAI as a result of the buoyant European tv market.
Similarly, the Three deal was up in August 2019. Given the positive economic position of Ireland at the time and the fact that Ireland were due Euro 2020, they’d have been assuming an uptick on their €2m per annum deal. And much like normal sponsorship deals an amount would have been paid up front. The same happened with the Aviva the year before. It tabs roughly with here, €10m over 4 years. Say €2m up front and the remaining €8m over 4 years. So €2m to plow into the stadium https://www.google.ie/amp/s/amp.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/fai-stunned-as-sponsor-three-pulls-out-on-verge-of-signing-10m-deal-38755866.html
The 10 year tickets were up again, that’s a fact. The FAI aimed to generate €12m from 4k sold, this really is a modest amount and a mile from the pie in the sky stuff of 2008. Now what one might say is that all of that cash might not come in at the same time with some direct debits but a clever financial person would do would be to finance that cash windfall up front. I believe that is what a storied chairman of the dearly departed Rangers FC did once upon a time. John Delaney could always say the financing of said amount was “new” and different to the stadium debt, which he’d repay. So say €11m to plough into the stadium debt after transaction and interest fees are accrued?
We’re up to €23m here and that’s before Euro 2020 qualification, which is what I assume Delaney meant by the “option” to repay by 2020.
Again, I am not saying that it was well managed or he did the morally correct thing but simply pointing out the path that he had marked out with his bonus to exit the FAI with “clean hands”.
I’ll say it again, it would be interesting to run a scenario for 2019 if the JD allegations had not come out.
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Will this settles it. Dela is an innocent man who got utterly blaggarded by the screaming Marys of this world
Have crinimal proceedings been brought against Delaney?
It doesn’t really matter though.
It’s again small fry for a large organisation like that. It wouldn’t have sank him. So he spent a few thousand extra euro a quarter on credit cards being hardcore used by the Association day to day, that isn’t going to get picked up. My reading of it was that internally it was said to people that he repaid some and was owed for others things. If it was that story solely that came out, they’d have pointed to some repayments, him not taking the UEFA salary etc.
What sank him was several things accumulating.
But the point was the question posed about how he thought he’d get away with it, he had an exit plan and frankly he wasn’t that far off it.
It’s very easy to spend someone else’s money.
I don’t think it can be underestimated the cost of the Denmark play off game turned out to be.
2018 was a desperate year for matchday revenue with a series of meaningless Nations League games.
Dela was merely a victim of timing.
An important element of such an exit plan is having a well chosen successor lined up. I don’t see that
It didn’t help much considering he still nearly bankrupted the association.
Sepp’s humiliation of him wasn’t worth it either
Denis O Brien thought Dela could run anything, he could run UEFA.
Doesn’t matter where he stays, if he’s on a personal holiday, he should be paying.
Yes.
what fraud?
Fraudulent use of the company credit card. I’d say what they’ll really try to nail him on is his fraudulent payments to the ex girlfriend.
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And even FIFA too…
Is he suing her ?
I’m glad that’s all cleared up now. His detractors should be big enough to hold their hands up and move on
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You are a gas man. In most soccer clubs around the country lads are changing under a ditch or in the boot of their car. The world class ones might have a container where the flags and pitch marker is stored.
Flood lit pitches and all weather surfaces are a distant pipe dream not to talk about showers after a game.
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