With his departure as CEO, John Delaney hasn’t left some of the more contentious issues of his stewardship behind him

As John Delaney took his seat in the small stand of the Victoria Stadium in Gibraltar on Saturday night, to watch Ireland play their opening 2020 European Championship qualifier, he already knew that this was going to be the last international game he would attend as Chief Executive Officer of the FAI.

For the Irish fans in the stadium, among whom – as a prominent banner and loud chanting made plain - there would have been those who have long grown disenchanted with his stewardship, there was initially no such awareness.