Delaney’s Uefa support runs dry for €160,000 role
Soccer president says FAI crisis is ‘regrettable’ in many ways
UEFA has failed to back former FAI chief executive John Delaney this weekend in the wake of his departure from the embattled football association.
European football’s governing body told the Sunday Independent it will await the results of ongoing investigations into corporate governance and financial affairs at the FAI before discussing his status as a Uefa executive committee member.
Delaney is widely expected to lose his role as a figurehead in European football after resigning from the FAI last week amid controversy about spending and governance.
A Uefa spokesman said Delaney is still a member of its executive committee, a role that pays €160,000 per year.
“However, Mr Delaney is not invited to Uefa Executive Committee meetings, nor to other Uefa committee meetings while there are ongoing investigations in Ireland,” he added.
“Before making any further comment on this topic, we will wait for the results of those investigations.”
It comes as documents obtained by the Sunday Independent show Uefa told sport minister Shane Ross sweeping reforms of the FAI must make the association more responsible and transparent. They show Uefa also endorsed FAI President Donal Conway continuing in the role on an interim basis, despite him previously indicating he would step down.
In a letter to Ross last July Uefa President Aleksander Ceferin described the FAI’s current situation as “regrettable in more ways than one”.
He said he was aware of circumstances the association found itself in. “I do not need to repeat them,” he wrote. “What is important at this stage is finding a satisfactory and lasting solution as soon as possible.”
Ceferin told the minister he understood why state funding to the FAI had been suspended but he expected the association to turn a corner. He also endorsed a report by a Sport Ireland/FAI Governance Review Group outlining wide-ranging reform recommendations.
“They must now lead to the establishment of a responsible, transparent and sustainable governance system,” Ceferin wrote.
“Your decision to instruct Sport Ireland to suspend payments to the FAI for as long as the FAI’s governance has not been redressed is an unequivocal sign of your preoccupation to protect Irish taxpayers’ interests and their contribution to the funding of football throughout the country.”
Writing in today’s Sunday Independent, Ross insists state funding will remain suspended until he is satisfied there has been a cultural change at the FAI. He voices concern over FAI president Donal Conway and general manager Noel Mooney as figureheads at the top of the organisation and warns: “Beware of the FAI bearing gifts.”
Two days after Ceferin’s letter to Ross, the minister met officials from Uefa, Fifa and the FAI in his Department’s headquarters. Uefa and Fifa told those present they felt Donal Conway “has the right to continue on in an interim basis”.
Notes from the meeting obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show Uefa and Fifa told Ross they “aren’t supporting people but are supporting the organisation”. The notes show Uefa insisted Noel Mooney, who is currently on secondment from the European body to help the association through its crisis “wasn’t imposed on the FAI by them”.
Fifa confirmed it will conduct a full review of the FAI’s statutes and electoral process in conjunction with the FAI.
Officials from Ross’s departments asked the Uefa and Fifa officials to “reflect on reports that have emerged in the media of alleged misappropriation of the FAI’s finances”.
The note adds: “The Minister informed the delegation that he feels that these alleged misuses aren’t acceptable. It was recognised that most are currently only allegations.
“The Department is concerned that current board members being nominated for the board [Donal Conway] were present when these misuses occurred and could be considered culpable.”
The FAI told the meeting the appointment of a new CEO to replace Delaney “will be an external process” and an “oversight and implementation group” will be established to implement recommended changes.