Delaney coy as FAI ‘deals in progress’

On Friday night, at the Arklow Bay Hotel, the FAI were handing out media awards, but just the following morning in the same venue, they were warding off attempts by journalists to question chief executive John Delaney.

The irony of it all was not lost on media representatives who were notified by the FAI press office early on Saturday that, in a significant departure from normal practice, there would be no press conference or briefing following the AGM with which Wicklow’s week-long Festival of Football was set to conclude that afternoon.

Indeed when, after that meeting had concluded, some journalists attempted to approach John Delaney directly, they were blocked from doing so by association staff.