Did we forfeit our place? No, we didn't have one to forfeit. A refereeing error played some part in that, but there is no recourse within the rules of the game.
I think the contentious piece is FIFA have stated this was a loan to be repaid if we qualified for the next world cup. In essence, it was in the FAI's interest not to qualify for 2014.
Also, Delaney did not say it was a loan, but did say the payment is accounted for in the FAI's accounts, but some 5 years on, there's still no reference to this payment in the published accounts. So it's not clear that skulduggery hasn't taken place. The speculation is that they may have waiting until 2014 to book the money in the accounts. Wouldn't it be an unusual accounting practice to sit on €5M without reference to it in the accounts? It raises questions on what happened the money was if only accounted for in last year's accounts. Was it 'resting' in someone's account?
More to run on this story yet I think.