FIFA indicated that the $5 million USD they gave the FAI was in fact 'a loan for the construction of a new stadium'.
Delaney left out this detail saying that FIFA simply gave the FAI the money to ward off any potential legal action following the Henry handball business. No mention of the word 'loan' or the 'construction of a new stadium'.
We await the FAI statement on this:
During the interview itself, Delaney spoke on many different topics. His angry exchange with Blatter in 2009 and whether he'd ever been offered a bribe.
And naturally, he crowbarred his girlfriend, and his undoubted love for her, into the discussion.
Here's Delaney on that testy Blatter exchange. In the wake of the Henry affair and Blatter drawing allegedly unfair attention to Delaney's off the cuff, unimportant request that Ireland become the 33rd team at the World Cup, Delaney impudently slapped down Blatter as an 'embarrassment to FIFA'.
In 2009 I called him an embarrassment to FIFA and to himself. He called me over about that, across the table like I am talking to you, with one or two expletives.
That was in a room. He said, 'No-one speaks to me like that', and I said, 'well I do' and that was that.
The FAI chief hasn't been offered any bribes, himself.
Delaney jokingly instanced his salary as the reason the craven hucksters who roam the halls in FIFA saw no reason to bribe him. Delaney's close personal friend, Michel Platini argued that Prince Ali was the best choice for FIFA President on the grounds that he was unlikely to be corrupted because he was too rich already.
Prince Ali = John Delaney.
Ray D'arcy to Delaney. 'Have you ever been offered a bribe?' Delaney: (laughs) Not on my salary
— Daniel McDonnell (@McDonnellDan) June 4, 2015
And Delaney recounted a curious episode between Blatter, Delaney and his girlfriend, Emma English in Vienna this year.
Blatter, a gamey sort of a chap with an undying love of women's suspenders, offered his unsolicited 'approval' of Delaney's girlfriend.
He met Emma, my partner, in Vienna recently. He stared at her for seven or eight seconds and he said, 'I approve of your new girlfriend'.
I asked him to move on, move on please.
She is a great girl, I love her very much, it was an extraordinary moment. If she was here she would tell you herself. He stared at her and I said 'move on' and he did.
Listen to the remarkable interview here:
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