EARLIER THIS WEEK, news broke that a number of Irish fans had banded together and paid for a plane to unfurl a banner over the Aviva during today’s match. Their message was: “Enough is Enough — Delaney Out”.
The plane, which was due to circle the ground for an hour before the game, failed to get off the ground before the match. Fans have since complained that the flight didn’t happen due to pressure being put on the pilot.
Irish fans had also been warned before the game, similarly to last Sunday’s game with England, that any anti-Delaney banners would be confiscated on entry. This didn’t, however, stop a number of fans from carrying smaller s into the ground.
The FAI has had to defend itself in recent days, after it emerged FIFA wrote-off a €5 million loan following Ireland’s controversial defeat to France in a play-off to reach the World Cup in 2010. There was further embarrassment today when it emerged that the FAI had shredded 18,000 match programmes printed for the match with Scotland because they contained comments on the Fifa corruption by John Delaney.