John Delaney UK consultancy firm to be struck off for failing to file returns

Former FAI chief executive John Delaney has been based in the UK since exiting the association amid a cloud of controversy regarding governance standards at the FAI. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

A management consulting company set up by former FAI chief executive John Delaney in the UK is set to be struck off within a week for failing to file any returns.

Outperform Now, a firm dedicated to providing consulting support for sports figures, first incorporated in the UK in April 2020.

Mr Delaney, who served as the FAI’s chief executive between 2005 and 2019, has been based in the UK since exiting the association amid a cloud of controversy regarding governance standards at the association.

The 53-year-old’s new firm has been served with a compulsory gazette notice, an order for UK corporates which sees a company struck off the UK companies register, most typically for failing to file accounts or an annual confirmation statement.

Its effect is that a company so served will cease to legally exist. The notice has been scheduled for next Wednesday, July 6.

According to the UK companies office, Mr Delaney’s fellow director of the venture is fellow Irish man Kieran Looney, with the two each giving the same address as their place of residence.

The Irish Examiner has attempted to contact Mr Delaney for comment on this matter.

Court battle

The former FAI chief and Waterford man is currently involved in a protracted court battle in Ireland with the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) concerning the latter’s investigation of governance issues at football’s governing body over a period of 17 years. That investigation itself resulted from the circumstances surrounding Mr Delaney’s exit from the association.

In the Dáil on Wednesday, Tánaiste and Enterprise Minister Leo Varadkar said no expense will be spared to the ODCE as it conducts its investigation.

The FAI has endured a tumultuous three years after it first emerged that Mr Delaney had furnished the association with a temporary “bridging” loan for €100,000 in 2017.

Mr Delaney eventually cut ties with the association with a payoff worth €462,000 in September 2019, while the FAI’s restated accounts for 2017 and 2018 subsequently revealed the body had previously undeclared liabilities of €55m.