Full coverage: John Delaney

The furore about top-up payments to CEO Jonathan Hill dominated the FAI’s appearance at an Oireachtas committee this week. Sadly, however, the real problems within Irish football run much deeper and will be much harder to remedy than repaying €20,000.

The failures of the old FAI are known to everyone but Irish football needs constant exposure to new ideas as it tries to stand on its own two feet.

His time as Ireland manager ended in disappointment. In this episode of Experience, he talks to Dion Fanning about John Delaney, being viewed as an outsider and the mistakes he made.

The roots of Saipan were not to be found in the decades-long incompetence of the FAI or in the idea that it was a clash between the old Ireland and the new. The roots of Saipan, if there were any at all, could more conceivably be traced to a police cell in Manchester in 1999.

The FAI are embarked on a process of change but they continue to attract unwelcome headlines. Maybe that doesn't matter if they can get the fundamentals right.

The FAI's ace card is that it represents Irish football and no lender would dare seize the home of the national football team and it would be a brave politician that allowed it to happen.