DEL BOY: A HISTORY OF GAFFES AND CALAMITY

NOVEMBER 2009

It was a tough time for the FAI following Ireland’s controversial World Cup play-off defeat by France, thanks to Thierry Henry’s blatant handball in Paris. There followed the embarrassing revelation from FIFA President Sepp Blatter that John Delaney has asked him if Ireland could be accommodated at the global tournament as the 33rd team.

JANUARY 2010

FIFA pay €5 million to the FAI in order to stop any Irish legal action over the Henry handball incident.’ ‘We came to an agreement... it was a payment to the association to not proceed with a legal case,’ Delaney would reveal years later.

JUNE 2012

Following Ireland’s exit from the group stages of Euro 2012, Delaney is filmed carousing with Irish fans on the streets of Sopot in the early hours. The FAI chief was widely criticised for his antics. Delaney would later dismiss the whole incident as a ‘a bit of folklore, a bit of fun’

NOVEMBER 2014

Delaney is forced to deliver a public apology after footage emerges of him singing a republican song in a Dublin bar following Ireland’s victory over the USA.

MARCH 2019

Pressure intensifies on Delaney after a newspaper report reveals the 51-year-old paid a ‘once-off bridging loan’ of €100,000 to the Association in 2017. The FAI then announce that Delaney would step down as CEO into the newly-created role of executive vice president.

APRIL 2019

Delaney appears before an Oireachtas Committee but he refuses to answer any questions on the controversial payment due to ‘legal advice’.