Champagne Football; written by Mark Tighe and Paul Rowan. Published by Penguin Random House UK 2020.
At a coffee morning I looked through the book stall but couldn’t find anything. I was asked what I was looking for and answered a book on football. A little while later when munching a sausage sandwich the lady running the stall brought me ‘Champagne Football’. I was not sure about the book but smiled and said thank you.Little did I know that I would become engrossed in the inner workings of the Football Association of Ireland and its charismatic John Delaney.
Mark Tighe and Paul Rowan present a brilliant investigation into John Delaney’s 15 year unchallenged control of the Association. Whether those around him had a strong loyalty to him, a naievity, a lack of compliance knowledge, or felt unable to confront is a mystery. It shows from the book that there were many instances when the FAI paid for high salaries and personal excess.
There are those who would say John Delaney did a good job as his largesse benefitted some clubs in Ireland. But what was clear was that the FAI at the end of his tenure had gone backwards in FIFA rankings and had a financial mess to clear up and a group of ex players and officials alienated from the cause.
The writing style presents a good read and slowly unfolds as things unravel and reach an end.
A book I wasn’t sure about reading turned out to be riveting.
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