Champagne Football: John Delaney and the Betrayal of Irish Football: The Inside Story

by Mark Tighe

Over the course of fifteen years, John Delaney ran the Football Association of Ireland as his own personal fiefdom. He had his critics, but his power was never seriously challenged until last year, when Mark Tighe and Paul Rowan published a sequence of stories in the  Sunday Times  containing damaging revelations about his personal compensation and the parlous financial situation of the FAI. Delaney's reputation as a great financial manager was left in tatters. He resigned under pressure, and the FAI was left hoping for a massive bail-out from the Irish taxpayer.

In  Champagne Football , Tighe and Rowan dig deep into the story of Delaney's career and of the FAI's slide into ruin. They show how he surrounded himself with people whose personal loyalty he could count on, and a board that failed to notice that the association's finances were shot. They detail Delaney's skilful cultivation of opinion-formers outside the FAI. And they document the culture of excess that Delaney presided over and benefited from, to the detriment of the organization he led.

336 pages, Paperback

Published August 1, 2021

Reviews

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Thomas Piketty's Capital there is a section in which he argues that executive pay is getting higher because high-level directors are awarding themselves as much as they can. This book is a case study of such a scenario, made possible by the public interest in a football association that includes public money in its income, rather than a purely private enterprise. It is about John Delaney's time at the FAI, both him in particular and the FAI as a whole.

It is a bit of a slow burner, as Tighe and Rowan begin by detailing how Delaney became CEO by gaining allies and support from grassroots clubs. The whole book is presented as factually as possible, presumably to avoid defamation, but it does make the first section quite dull, especially as most of the names meant little to me, not being that into Irish football. It is of course, how Delaney uses his power that is the main draw.

And while still presenting the facts without overdramatic language, the details are explosive. Pay and contracts not written at the time they were agreed, keeping the most generous payments from the board, ridiculous levels of FAI credit card expenditure on personal items, and spending tomorrow's money to pay today's outgoings. All putting the future of the Irish National Team and grassroots football at risk, through bad management and little accountability.

As a reader you are left to make your own conclusions, as any judging of behaviour tends to be quoted from more official sources - credit card spend is against FAI guidelines, rather than a gross misuse of Association funds for example, but at the same time, I don't know how any reader would feel sympathetic towards Delaney. The only mitigation is that the structure was so poor that he could not be held to account properly, although it is suggested he got rid of those who tried to ask the pertinent questions. Certainly, a lot of people appear complacent if not negligent.

I think a better background knowledge of the structure of Irish football would have enhanced my understanding, but it definitely isn't required to appreciate most of what went on. You can tell that Tighe was at the court for the injunction verdict because there is a bit more colour to it, akin to the style of the Tim Shipman political accounts, compared with the more restrained accounts of board meetings. If money bores you to tears then I would probably steer clear too. But overall, it was an illuminating and fascinating account of a man getting away with what he could until eventually he was found out.

[Ralph Cunningham · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Delaney ran Irish football like he owned it. He floated around like a Mafia don dispensing favours and expecting loyalty or at the very least, omerta, in return. That's the conventional reading but until you get into this book, you don't realise what it was like in the 15 years Delaney was CEO of the Football Association of Ireland between 2004 and 2019. Sports administration is a murky business that seems to lend itself to incompetence at best and widespread criminality at worst. Delaney departed the FAI under a cloud and left the organisation in a hopeless position, from which it will take years to recover. Mark Tighe and Paul Rowan have done a sterling job in uncovering it all.

[Kevin Barry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tighe and Rowan's feat of investigative journalism is unparalled in not only its willingness to tackle systemic corruption but in uncovering myriad laughable transgressions committed by Delaney and his cronies. It is notable how much commitment is required to transcribe these injustices to a national audience - bank holidays appearances before a judicial court and subsequent rushing to offices to ensure the correct story is printed. Overall, a cautionary tale to warn bequestors of power that it lies in competent and deserving hands.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Started off feeling a bit disjointed; it had to set the history, and it seemed like a bunch of anecdotes of the subject being just a bit profligate, egocentric and very wasteful.

But after about halfway, as the authors' themselves started to appear around their story, it all began to pay off.

Fascinating stuff.

[Ruairi Keating · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ireland does not award knighthoods or OBEs, but whatever equivalent we come up with should be given to Mark Tighe. He has served his country better than most of the footballers we've had down the years.

[C Kenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of surprising stuff related to an otherwise nasty CEO from the usual financial background

[Adam Browne]

Scary look at ineptitude and greed at the highest level in irish business. Unfortunately I don’t think much has changed since the publishing of this book. In the FAI or otherwise.

[Simon Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was heavy going and quite ‘niche’ in terms of content so what else did I expect? I’m not sure how else the journalists could ‘sex it up’ but it’s certainly a tale of corruption that needed to be told. Delaney pulled the wool over the eyes of many, and covered up both his excesses and his corruption for years by surrounding himself with his cronies and duping others. The book is well-written, and moves through the events as fast as is feasible and covers the Aviva Arena debacle thoroughly. I enjoyed learning about these shenanigans although it took me a while and contributed to a 2023 slump.

If you’re interested in football finance, corruption in football, or the state of League of Ireland and the Republic’s national side, then it’s likely mandatory reading for you and you won’t find a better or more thorough account anywhere else.