DELANEY QUIZZED ON DEBT PLEDGE
JOHN DELANEY has refused to confirm if the FAI’s debt-free pledge of 2020 remains in place after latest accounts published yesterday showed they owed €38.2million at the end of 2017. Amid fierce criticism over the massive borrowings taken on to meet their €74m contribution to the redevelopment costs for Lansdowne Road, the association’s chief executive had signposted that milestone for being clear of liabilities. The position softened in recent years as interest costs on the mortgage strangled the FAI’s ability to replenish slashed pots such as the League of Ireland prize fund and last year Delaney vowed to provide a status on the 2020 target following the ‘first quarter of 2018’. At the time, in May 2017, he said a number of financial matters, including whether Ireland had reached this summer’s World Cup and picked up the €10m qualification windfall, would influence that decision. Speaking yesterday in a media briefing, the Waterford man was non-committal on the topic, kicking on to August 18 when delegates gather in
Cork for the annual general meeting. The accounts showed the FAI turned over slightly less money in 2017, down to €49m, while they had financial liabilities of €48.4m and loans of €38.2m. Delaney wouldn’t comment on the €5m loan that was due to UEFA. ‘We had a debt of €70m and now for the first time we owe €29.5m to our banking partner [Bank of Ireland],’ he said. ‘Next year it will be less than €20m and we’ll be debt-free by 2020 if we choose. At the AGM, we’ll outline how we can do it and how we will do it.’ One reason set to be floated is the reduction of interest charges caused by switching lenders. Compared to an average of €5m shelled out in costs when the loan was held by American investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), Bank of Ireland charged them €2m during 2017. That still brings the overall cost of borrowings to over €30m, an outlay Irish football would have avoided had the FAI’s grandiose Vantage premium ticket launched 10 years ago not slumped as spectacularly as it did. Swathes of empty green seats that are frequently visible in the middle sections of the stadium for Republic of Ireland internationals illustrate how the association struggled to attract the corporate sector, even after prices were slashed by 80 per cent under the rebranded Club Ireland scheme. ‘This is like judging someone over 90 minutes of football, whether at the end of the game if it was any good,’ Delaney contended, when asked about the damage caused to the game by the crippling debts incurred. ‘You can talk about yellow card, mistimed tackles, corners, all of that in a football context but the bottom line is that we started with an asset worth €410m which we own 50 per cent of. ‘Some of the media get so caught in the narrative of how much the stadium will cost, trying to look through a very narrow prism. ‘It’s an incredible asset for the association and we’ve done well to manage it through a difficult period for the Irish economy,’ he continued. ‘It’s not bad business that you can clear your mortgage within 10 years.’ Time will tell as to whether that’s the case.