Why should anyone outside soccer circles have to spend any of their time hearing about John Delaney?
This isn’t a question just for today or yesterday or last Sunday or whenever. Neither is it an inquiry, nor an attempt to tease out the particulars of the latest kerfuffle. It’s a much more basic thing, maybe even a more philosophical matter than all that.
He’s just, when it comes down to it, a dude in a suit, a name on a letterhead. There’s nothing sexy about being the head of the FAI. It’s an admin role, the sort of gig a boring but ambitious club treasurer ought to be striving for as his life’s work. Nobody’s saying he should be invisible. That’s not the gig. Big-wig administrators attain a public presence just by getting the job. It’s unavoidable, whether they like it or not. Some, like GAA director general Tom Ryan, arguably go much too far in the other direction and eschew the spotlight to such an extent as to be accused of a lack of leadership.
Outside of what happens on the pitch, there’s no good reason the FAI should routinely come with drama attached. Frankly, it’s weird that it happens at all. John Delaney would presumably point out that he doesn’t go looking for drama and yet, during his time in charge, it had an uncanny knack of finding him.
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