The English had failed utterly in their singular attempts to land the finals, during the FIFA selection of hosts for 2018 and 2022, a process mired to this day in controversy and accusations of corruption and vote-buying.

Despite rolling out Prince William, David Beckham and David Cameron in Zurich in 2010, The FA secured just two votes and were eliminated in the first round, with Russia winning out ahead of England.

During his call with Delaney, Clarke outlined that he knew that if England was to succeed this time around – even as a shared bidder - it would need Delaney’s support for a UK World Cup bid for 2030, the call coming just weeks after the Waterford man was elected to Uefa’s Executive Committee.

Clarke already had David Gill on board - the former Manchester United chief executive - and the FA’s representative on European football’s most powerful structure.

Gill and Delaney had swept to victory on April 5, 2017 with almost 100 votes of support between them from the organisation’s congress – carrying considerable support from a large body of European football federations.

What happened next during the call is unclear, with sources close to Delaney suggesting that it was he who insisted on Ireland being part of the World Cup bid if he was to support the UK, while others say Clarke was clear from the outset that he wanted Ireland to be included.

Whatever way the conversation went, it ended in a general agreement that the UK and Ireland would bid for World Cup 2030.

Greg Clarke had his man, and more importantly for Delaney, he and the FAI were now part of a compelling attempt to bring the world’s largest sporting event to Ireland.

In the words of a key Uefa source privy to the conversation: “Before Clarke rang Delaney, Ireland weren’t even part of the bid, but then suddenly they were central to everything.” 

The World Cup idea was now up and running and while various leaks to the media across the UK and Ireland occurred over the coming years it wasn’t until March of 2021 when the bid was officially confirmed by then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

In an interview with The Sun newspaper, Johnson said: “We are very, very keen to bring football home in 2030. I do think it’s the right place. It’s the home of football, it’s the right time. It will be an absolutely wonderful thing for the country.” 

Johnson’s comments, however, did not go down well in many football federations around the world where the constant crowing about ‘Football Coming Home’ has long since been a bugbear for FIFA members, particularly South American associations.

The UK PM had been a perfect ally for UEFA, particularly through his intervention the following month in the sudden attempted breakaway by 15 of Europe’s top clubs to form a Super League – a move which Johnson diminished by calling it “a cartel”.

Even still, Uefa were having serious doubts about selecting England and its fellow home nations as its World Cup candidate for 2030, and indeed talk began to move towards a Spain and Portugal bid, something which would go down far better with Latin and southern American federations.

As spring turned into summer all focus was averted from the World Cup to Euro 2020 - postponed and rescheduled from the previous year due to the Covid pandemic.

Dublin was due to host a number of games along with 11 other European cities, but health guidelines here saw the country losing out, and so the tournament proceeded with London and Wembley Stadium the staging post for the final key games.

But on July 11, 2021 everything changed.

Wembley was invaded by hundreds, if not thousands, of ticketless England fans who attacked Italian supporters, took seats from genuine fans, and set upon some family members of Uefa executives who they came into contact with.

Within hours of the game ending - with England losing on penalties to Italy - an intense high-level Uefa executive meeting took place in London, where an elimination strategy to kill off the British and Irish World Cup bid was agreed, and where Portugal and Spain would be Uefa’s preferred representative.

It was agreed to give Ireland and the UK Euro 2028, if England would retract its World Cup bid and focus instead on the Euros – Uefa would get the bid over the line with members, but only if the English FA would lead such a compromise with its fellow bidders.

Over the following weeks, England would cede to Uefa’s request, and more importantly for the European governing body, would agree to co-host with its now-former World Cup bid partners – Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Ireland’s inclusion at this point was critical for the country – it no longer enjoyed power and influence within Uefa - Delaney was gone under a cloud of controversy and investigation following the 2019 collapse of the FAI.

The Irish Examiner broke the story on October 15, 2021 that the World Cup bid was dead, but that the Euros would be coming instead, even though UK Sport insisted within days of publication that the World Cup was still alive.

“I do not think the bid is up in smoke,” insisted then chief operating officer of UK Sport, Simon Morton, at a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee at Westminster.

The FAI continued to claim that it was still bidding for the World Cup, a line that would run long into the following year- but what Morton or FAI CEO Jonathan Hill didn’t know was that the plan by UEFA to select Spain and Portugal was already sealed.

While Uefa continued to lobby its member countries behind the scenes to support a UK and Ireland bid for Euro 2028 instead, it also wanted to discourage separate bids coming in, as best as it could control.

That plan was thrown into disarray in March of last year, when Russia and Turkey launched coinciding bids of their own to host the tournament – the Russian attempt thrown out following its invasion of Ukraine, and the Turkish application placated by a joint award with Italy to host 2032.

And so this week in Nyon the long journey for the UK and Ireland to land a major football tournament on these shores succeeded, but not in the way it was originally planned by The FA.

Instead, Uefa got their way with the 2030 FIFA World Cup going to Spain and Portugal - with Morocco and three South American countries - with England as the lead host for Euro 2028.

Boris was right, football is coming home… sort of.

K Club and Tralee - officially Ireland's best golf courses 

THE most prestigious awards on the golf calendar took place this week at the Slieve Donard Hotel on the edge of the Royal County Down golf links.

The Ireland Golf Tour Operator Association (IGTOA) Conference and Gala Golf Awards celebrated an exceptional year for the industry, which is believed to be worth upwards of €300m to the economy.

The big winners on the night were the K Club, which picked up the best Parkland Golf Course of the Year and Tralee Golf Club, which scooped the Links Golf Course of the Year, while the newly redeveloped Druids Glen picked up the Golf Resort of the Year.

Killarney Park Hotel won the Contribution to Golf Award, when the Jerry Donworth award was presented to Padraig Treacy, the proprietor of the luxurious 5-star facility and a home-from-home for golfing tourists to the region.

The golf event of the year was awarded to Dromoland Castle for its hosting of the KPMG Women’s Irish Open.

IGTOA winners

Links Golf Course of the Year – Tralee Golf Club 

Parkland Golf Course of the Year – The K Club 

Golf Resort of the Year – Druids Glen Resort 

The Jerry Donworth Outstanding Contribution to Golf – Padraig Treacy 

Killarney Park Hotel Golf Manager of the Year – Fiona Toghe, Carne 

Golf Links Showcase of the Year – KPMG Women’s Irish Open at Dromoland Castle  

Golf Resort of the Year -  Druids Glen  

Large Golf Hotel of the Year - Merrion Hotel

Boutique Golf Property of the Year - Curran Gate.

Best Customer Experience awards -  Tulfarris Hotel & Golf Resort, Killeavy Castle Estate and The Merchant Hotel.