Read all the weekend's guff in the Champions supplement in Mondays' Irish Examiner.
Take a Bow Mr Delaney
All hail the return of Little at Large. And he’s well pleased with Irish football’s most organised dandy, John Delaney.
The process may have been tortuous but the result is inspiring. While Trapattoni’s name is obviously on the tongue of every football lover in the Emerald Isle, the name of FAI Chief Executive John Delaney also deserves to be uttered with respect.
Rightly pilloried over the Staunton debacle, Delaney has shown that he learns quickly. He certainly pulled out all the stops not to make the same mistake again. The Staunton era was a shambles. Promising a world-class management team, and then producing the likeable, but totally inexperienced Staunton was risible. But then we were used to it. The FAI does not have a strong history in the area of managerial appointments. Even when it did hit the jackpot with Jack Charlton, it was more accident than design.
The appointments of Mick McCarthy and Brian Kerr were par for the course. The cheap option some said – showing a lack of ambition. But it now seems that Staunton was the last straw. A 5-2 defeat by Cyprus and a last minute winner against San Marino were surely the lowest moments in Irish football history. It simply could not go on.
But sacking Stan was always going to be difficult for Delaney – after all, he was instrumental in his appointment. He also promised publicly that Stan would see out his contract – there was a four-year plan, we were told. But so poor was the qualifying campaign for Euro 2008, that the removal of Staunton two years in to his tenure was the only sensible option. Staunton’s failure was Delaney’s failure too – and many called for Delaney’s head to roll as well.
But the chief exec stood his ground. And while his efforts to distance himself from the Staunton appointment were unedifying, everyone must now be glad that he did not give in to the clamour. A harsh lesson learned, and learned well.
In Irish football and for the FAI, the international XI is critical. Without a strong domestic league, the Irish legionnaires who ply their trade in England and Scotland are the association’s one real money-spinner. For all the fine work that Delaney has done to create a proper structure for the development of the game at grassroots level and his efforts to put the eircom League house in order, at the end of the day, the association is judged by media and public alike on the success of the Boys in Green. It may seem unfair, but it is true. The appointment of the great Trapattoni is finally proof that the FAI now understands that it must give its only major cash cow a proper foundation for success.
Delaney deserves huge credit for all of this, and his manoeuvrings since the Staunton sacking are worthy of note. Delaney and the FAI board were hammered for giving Stan the job in the first place – their selection serving to underline their lack of understanding of what is required in football at its highest levels.
In response, Delaney cleverly announced the formation of a three-man selection panel of experienced football men (Givens, Howe and Houghton) to go out and get a new man. He backed this up by saying that the FAI would not seek to influence their work. In one fell swoop, he had removed responsibility for the appointment (and any bad press for future failings of a chosen candidate) from the association. The choice would be that of football men – the blazers would only rubber stamp.
For a while, the plan seemed to be folly. As the days passed into months with seemingly no resolution in sight, so pressure in some sections of the media for a decision intensified. The lack of concrete news clearly upset journalists with columns to fill. Speculation became the order of the day. The lack of an appointment suggested inertia and an association dragging its feet.
As it has transpired, it was nothing of the sort. The reality shows that Delaney and the FAI allowed the three-man panel to do its work. And one has to respect all involved for their fortitude in not caving in to the pressure to make a quick appointment. Had they done so, then we might be talking about Terry Venables or worse today.
And John Delaney is entitled to his Cheshire Cat grin. He may well think to himself today “I promised them a world class management team, I just never said when.” Well, ladies and gents, that when is now. Take a bow, John. Take a bow.
By Paul Little
February 14th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
I wouldn’t get carried away with praising Delaney. Even a fool makes a good decision now and again. He got this one right.
But if he was sacked along with Staunton like he should of been and a monkey put in his place we still would of had a world class manager and probably in a quicker time because of the money donated by Denis O’Brien.
February 14th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Paul, don’t be ridiculous.
He sub-contracted out the job of finding a manager because he wasn’t up to it himself and didn’t want to take the flak a terrible appointment would bring.
If praise is to be given to anyone, it’s to the three-man committee for getting the job done.
“The reality shows that Delaney and the FAI allowed the three-man panel to do its work.” What else were they going to do? Sack them after a month, two months? His hands were tied after appointing them, the only thing he had to do was give his approval to the man they (eventually) identified and sounded out.
I can’t understand this; there was scope to do all manner of interesting articles in the wake of this appointment but this fawning over Delaney is embarrassing. Is he related to you? Are you looking for tickets?
And you’ve mis-spelled Trapattoni throughout the entirety of the piece.
February 14th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Good sub-edting there Eric.. fixed that
What I want to know is, and nobody seems to ask, what were Rayor and the boys getting paid for their role in the proceedings?
February 14th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Delaney deserves great credit for admitting he’s a thundering idiot by default. He deserves no credit at all for the Trapattoni appointment though.
February 14th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Re: Chef:
They were being paid for interviewing every out of work manager on the planet.
They got the job done in the end, but it was the FAI paying them for pricking around for two months.
February 14th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Sorry eric - you celarly wanted me to give some kind of negative view on what has been a job well done. the FAI and Delaney have had their fair share of knocks over the years - much of it deserved - but not all of it. No harm to redress the balance a bit. Would Trapattoni have arrived on his own? Would you have trusted the FAI to look for successor to Stan on their own? Should the Chief Exec not delegate some functions? He delegated well here - the panel did good. What is the problem?
And if you feel there are more interesting angles to the whole thing - well, I’m sure the chef would be glad to publish your insights.
February 14th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
We got very very lucky here, a collective sigh of relief is in order. That’s all.
Delaney doesn’t know his arse from his elbow and fluked this from the get-go. A blindfolded dart that hit the bullseye.
The man is a liability to the national team. Let’s hope Trapattoni is successful and stays a while. John can tend to his grassroots.
Just to prove the decision-making is still suspect, Javier Bardem finally makes that haircut look cool and Delaney gets rid of it.
The Capt.
February 14th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Come on Paul, we all know I don’t have to time to spend sharing my musings on a football website . . .
Your thesis that a job has been done with a good end result is correct but the praise for that is misdirected.
Examine the facts:
Delaney was instrumental in appointing Staunton and plunging the national team into its darkest era for more than two decades.
Delaney gave his job to somebody else to do. I wish I could take money out of my company’s budget to pay three people to do my job for me.
Trapattoni was only appointed due to Denis O’Brien’s generosity. There may be nothing wrong with this per se but what a farce, what a way to undermine the association and their role in the process.
“Would you have trusted the FAI to look for successor to Stan on their own?” I wouldn’t trust them to appoint the bloke who hands out the Herald AM in the mornings. You’ve answered your own question there. Delaney is the head of the FAI, if we can’t trust them to do their job properly, they should get somebody in to run it who can. The country deserves an association that is run well from the top down.
The fact that we’ve ended up with Trapattoni should not be used as something to cover the FAI in glory. No harm in a bit of balance, of course not, but not for the sake of it.
I don’t remember anyone writing an article to say how Fr. Brendan Smyth was always a good Catholic and never went to bed without saying his prayers.
February 14th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Delaney messed up badly with Stan - no question. I believe I said that. But delegation to the selection panel was proof that he learned that lesson.
The panel were selected by the FAI - they were working for the FAI on this - hence they FAI deserves credit.
Does all criticism of Delaney just stem from the Stan appointment? Perhaps we got a little lucky that Trap was on the lookout for some international football, but if the panel and FAI had panicked, we’d have Billy Bloody Davis.
February 14th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
That’s a very simplistic way of looking at it.
“Delaney messed up badly with Stan - no question. I believe I said that. But delegation to the selection panel was proof that he learned that lesson.”
What was the lesson? That he shouldn’t be involved in picking the manager? If that’s the case, what good is he as a Chief Executive?
I find it extraordinary that a person in such a high-powered and well-paid position could identify that they’re incapable of carrying out one of their key responsibilities, give that responsibilty to somebody else while not only continuing in that position, but somehow garnering praise for doing it. What is he being paid for?
If the top brass at the FAI can’t find a manager without the help of the “Three Wise Man”, then it’s time to get some new top brass. Not give the current administration a good clap on the back for realising just how useless they are at doing their jobs.
February 14th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
delegation is new management speak for copout
February 15th, 2008 at 9:55 am
you show a stunning insight into the world of business Mr Cat.
I just don’t get the negativity here at all. Is it people just looking for an angle? If so, what is that angle?
Or are you holding a grudge because Kilkenny City is out of business?
February 15th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Sorry Eric, but again I can’t agree. The Chief Exec of the FAI is in charge of running the whole asscoiation - not just the international team. Does he set the training schedules for the various youth development projects? No - that would not tally with his experience. Does he run the eircom League personally? No. He is the primary administrator of the association.
Picking the international manager is a key job of course. But the FAI blazers have a very bad record in that department - with Stan being the lowest ebb for sure. So he employed three people with proper football experience to go and get the best man possible. I think recognizing that this was not a strong point of the FAI in the past, it was a welcome departure.
February 15th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Paul, I understand that he has other responsibilities and that Delaney himself is thought to have done quite well with his work at grass roots, it’s not the point though.
The boards, chairmen and presidents of football associations and clubs all over the world can go out and appoint a manager themselves, without having to farm the job out to former players or U-21 managers.
The fact that our own administration do not see themselves as being capable of fulfilling this very fundamental task speaks volumes.
Showing that he has “learned from his mistakes” is not good enough. We’ve missed out on a major championship already, there shouldn’t be a learning curve for a chief executive. You’re either good enough and big enough for the job, or you aren’t.
It wasn’t a stroke of genius to appoint a three-man committee, it was passing the buck so that the next time they’re calling for the manager’s head they won’t be calling for his simultaneously, like they were after the Cyprus match in Croke Park.
Rather than do the right thing then, which would have been to resign, he publicly hung Staunton out to dry before the board had decided to sack him. What a cowardly way for a chief executive to conduct himself, what a shameful exercise in self-preservation.
“Picking the international manager is a key job of course. But the FAI blazers have a very bad record in that department”.
It all comes down to this. The FAI have a very bad record when it comes to most things and it’s high time we had the sort of people in there who can run it properly, from top to bottom. We shouldn’t be praising them when, by dint of their own hideous mistakes, we end up with Trapattoni as manager.
Instead of this ludicrous Three Wise Men notion, can we not just have a good Chief Executive and board who can do their own jobs properly?
February 15th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
There is no angle. I don’t give a toss about Kilkenny City. Like nearly three quarters min. of the county, I have never supported the grand EMFA design. I think Eric has put his point clearly and succinctly and I agree fully with him. Speaking of angled writing may I submit yours to Private Eye for an “OBN?”
February 15th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
If Delaney sends me some tickets, you are more than welcome to them.
February 15th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Thank you sir yes sir Delaney is God even though he’s from Tipp that’s not his fault sure he’s a great lad and didn’t he appoint Trap etc etc
February 16th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
I have always been a bit unesay about how the selection process has been conducted. This was mainly because of the notion that the FAI would simply rubber stamp the reccommendation of the selection committee. On the face of it this seemed to give the comittee, who have no obvious expertise in headhunting or financial negotiation, carte blanche to dictate the financial terms of what presumabley is the highest paid employee of the association. This seems like a total abdication on the part of Delaney of his responsibilities as CEO and a lack of leadership mainly in response over criticism of him over the Staunton fiasco.
In future negotiations Delaney must play a more hands-on role in the selection process. Preferabley, he should chair a small comittee with say 2 or 3 “football” people.
To my mind, everything about this whole process has been a knee jerk reaction to criticism over the Staunton appointment. Even the choice of Trapattoni reflects this, you could not get a manager who is more unlike Stan. This does not mean that a bad decision has been made. However, neither does this mean that people in FAI can think that because they got a high profile appointment that the selection process was a roaring success. The lessons still have to be learned.