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  • Champagne Football

  • John Delaney and the Betrayal of Irish Football: The Inside Story
  • By: Mark Tighe, Paul Rowan
  • Narrated by: Johnny Candon
  • Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (394 ratings)

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Champagne Football

By: Mark Tighe, Paul Rowan
Narrated by: Johnny Candon
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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

The number one best seller!

Over the course of 15 years, John Delaney ran the Football Association of Ireland as his own personal fiefdom. He had his critics, but his power was never seriously challenged until last year, when Mark Tighe and Paul Rowan published a sequence of stories in the Sunday Times containing damaging revelations about his personal compensation and the parlous financial situation of the FAI. Delaney's reputation as a great financial manager was left in tatters. He resigned under pressure and the FAI was left hoping for a massive bail-out from the Irish taxpayer.

In Champagne Football, Tighe and Rowan dig deep into the story of Delaney's career and of the FAI's slide into ruin. They show how he surrounded himself with people whose personal loyalty he could count on and a board that failed to notice that the association's finances were shot. They detail Delaney's skilful cultivation of opinion-formers outside the FAI. And they document the culture of excess that Delaney presided over and benefited from, to the detriment of the organisation he led.

Champagne Football is a gripping, sometimes darkly hilarious and often enraging piece of reporting by the award-winning journalists who finally pulled back the curtain on the FAI's mismanagement.

©2020 Paul Rowan, Mark Tighe (P)2020 Penguin Audio
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Critic reviews

"I read it in one sitting, it's a superb book." (Eamon Dunphy, The Stand)

"An astonishing exposé." (Martin Ziegler, The Times)

"Excellent." (Irish Sun)

What listeners say about Champagne Football

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

what an absolute tramp

greed greed greed ... deception and football whats not to like ... brilliantly put together book by Mark Tighe... gallows humour ... 10 out of 10 for me .

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The best Horror story I've ever read

FAI, what an absolute horror. Football in Ireland is irrevocably in decline, while this is not necessary solely due to the protagonist of the story, he did douse the small slowly simmering fire with gasoline until it was a raging inferno. What a guy.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A Betrayal of Irish Football

An outstanding book about Power, Greet and unbelievable corporate governance in Football Association of Ireland

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

surprisingly enjoyable

a lot of information astonished me.
there's questionable characters in all walks of life, in many places

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping - a must for sport's fan everywhere

This would make a great Netflix's series. Can't believe it's real ! JD had/has brass balls

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A Very well researched and presented book.

..the salaries,clauses and secret payments sweet lord, would make your head spin. this book is done really well and easy to follow for a non football fan like myself.. the FAI let delaney away with murder. Serious corruption. Criminal.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant from Start to Finish

A beautiful insight into the goings on at the Abbotstown Clown College under John Delaney

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The Best Football Book read for a long time

Great research and detail and well narrated. Pity it was our football association but hopeful the events outlined will reinforce the ongoing changes and reforms for the better of Irish football.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Investigative journalism at its finest

Being Irish you’re used to hearing all about corruption but this is simply unbelievable , each chapter more baffling than the last and brilliantly composed and narrated

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic

Well written, shocking and gripping, a sad tale that all involved in Irish soccer must hear.

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