The FAI votes for different things
The FAI are one of 209 Associations. It’s the ExCo members who you really have to watch.
I’m not saying there was any such agreement or anything. It’s just when you see the corruption of FIFA, and see them giving €5 million to the FAI not to take an absolutely unwinnable case and set a terrible precedence, it’s a bit off.
Makes you wonder about what other deals might be place and how certain games might cost or make FIFA a lot of money. According to the story we’ve been told (and it’s probably just more spin) but if we had qualified for the 2014 World Cup then FIFA would have been due repayment of €5m. So imagine if we had managed to reach a playoff, where it now meant it would be worth 5m to FIFA if we won the game, it would look incredibly suspect if we happened to be on the right side of a some dubious refereeing decisions which won us the game.
I think it’s pretty established that FIFA’s internal controls are a bit of a joke.
The only sinister suggestion I’ve seen is it was hush money for dodgy refereeing but that’s far fetched in the extreme.
[QUOTE=“Rocko, post: 1153635, member: 1”]The reaction to John Delaney confirming the receipt of the money from FIFA is strange. It began with outrage on Twitter, fuelled by misunderstandings, gathered pace from there and has culminated in a series of articles this morning that are completely misreading the situation.
There were those outraged because John Delaney had done something and they couldn’t quite work out what it was. But they were angry because others seemed to be. Self-appointed voice of the fans, YBIG, fell into this category, completely unable to articulate what it was exactly that had them ired, but John Delaney was trending and they were seething at something as a result.
There were those who called the payment a bribe. There seemed to be some original misguided assumption that Delaney had received the money personally. When that wasn’t the case, the label bribe hasn’t gone away. Cathal Devan in the Sun is leading that charge. It’s always a good idea to run a million miles from any public declaration from Cathal Dervan.
And then you have otherwise seemingly sane people who believe the FAI sold us out by accepting money. Henry Winter has a preposterous article in the Independent (and Telegraph) calling the FAI’s actions a “betrayal.” Apparently, we will never “forget our disgust at Thierry Henry’s cheating and the Frenchman’s attempt to console heartbroken players like Richard Dunne.”
I thought we were told moved on as a nation since then. And then we have the aforementioned YBIG naively exclaiming excitement at this wonderful piece from Winter. Are we really that bitter about the handball since? Apparently so. It’s an embarrassing reaction. It was embarrassing then and it’s embarrassing now. Frankly, getting €5m for the hardship does nothing to dilute that but it is €5m more than anyone could really expect the FAI to wrangle out of FIFA for a referee making a poor decision.
Winter, egged on by the morons on Twitter, goes further in his article. “That hush money must feel like blood money… [Henry’s] unpunished offence handling the ball twice towards William Gallas to score and take France to the 2010 World Cup finals, was rightly deemed a crime against players like Dunne, against their own (magnificent and vocal) support and against the sport itself.” This is a serious journalist apparently, and we’re talking about crimes and using the Irish support for a nonsensical emotional appeal.
And then Winter joins the bandwagon of those who seem to believe, rather ridiculously, that Ireland still had a route to the World Cup Finals after losing out over two legs.
“The talk that night was of a replay. Take the money? That’s laughable, contemptible, inconceivable. How could anyone with any soul or simple respect for their fellow-man put a price on the heartache suffered by Dunne, those fabulous fans and a sport craving probity? How could the FAI consider with a straight face investing that Fifa “loan” into any stadium used by players who dream of reaching a World Cup?”
A replay was never on the cards. It’s an absurd notion. A legal case would have failed dismally. Obviously.
But this story got defined on social media initially when there was an outpouring of misunderstood reactions and has gathered pace from there. There are few actually taking stock of the fact that the FAI getting €5m from FIFA towards the Aviva Stadium actually represents a good negotiation. A legal case would have been disruptive and bad publicity for FIFA but would have had zero chance of success.
Ireland were offered a FIFA Fair Play Award and €5m for the disappointment at losing out to that poor refereeing decision, seemingly the only one in the history of football. The FAI declined the award and accepted the money. Any Chief Executive who had done the opposite shouldn’t really be in charge of an organisation.[/QUOTE]
Spot on, great post.
[QUOTE=“Tim Riggins, post: 1153661, member: 1382”]
The only sinister suggestion I’ve seen is it was hush money for dodgy refereeing but that’s far fetched in the extreme.[/QUOTE]
Is that not exactly what it was?
[QUOTE=“Rocko, post: 1153635, member: 1”]The reaction to John Delaney confirming the receipt of the money from FIFA is strange. It began with outrage on Twitter, fuelled by misunderstandings, gathered pace from there and has culminated in a series of articles this morning that are completely misreading the situation.
There were those outraged because John Delaney had done something and they couldn’t quite work out what it was. But they were angry because others seemed to be. Self-appointed voice of the fans, YBIG, fell into this category, completely unable to articulate what it was exactly that had them ired, but John Delaney was trending and they were seething at something as a result.
There were those who called the payment a bribe. There seemed to be some original misguided assumption that Delaney had received the money personally. .[/QUOTE]
did they say how the 5m payment was put through the books?..was it dressed up as a loan or something ? …
That’s what I’d like to know. The Fai are secretive about their finances. How do we know it was put through the books and how was it put through the books? If it was a loan as has been suggested why have we heard nothing of it til now.
A man who is notoriously dodgy and regularly fixes votes gives us 5 million for no reason but you reckon they probably wouldn’t buy our vote?
Follow the money.
When you go hiding payments, it brings up a whole other set of questions.
How do we know it was only €5m?
How do we know the people who agreed to the deal weren’t given a little something for themselves?
How was the money accounted for?
Was there anything further expected in return for the money?
5 million for 1 vote out of 209? Yes, that is ludicrous
Hush money if it was corrupt refereeing
Not, for incompetent reffing or a ref simply missing it
As evidenced earlier Platini does what John says, he is the de facto leader of UEFA.
5 million Is chump change for fifa. Delaney’s allegiance came cheap.
[QUOTE=“TreatyStones, post: 1153672, member: 1786”]When you go hiding payments, it brings up a whole other set of questions.
How do we know it was only €5m?
How do we know the people who agreed to the deal weren’t given a little something for themselves?
How was the money accounted for?
Was there anything further expected in return for the money?[/QUOTE]
The FAI have to release accounts don’t they? @Rocko get sleuthing
It was a loan that was then amortised over 2 years apparently.
There was a big furore a while back about around their accounts and how they were hiding big stadium debt and not declaring what it was costing to service the debt.