It is amazing how your professional life seeps into your thoughts when you least expect it. I see so many places where the software that I work on daily could save people time and money. The digitisation of processes and quality assurance would benefit most organisations. The ability to review in real time would make an immeasurable difference to any company. 
One example came to mind and it is one of the most contentious topics in Irish Sport over the last 20 years.
Roy Keane leaving the Irish Soccer team on the eve of the 2002 World Cup.
It divided a nation and still does.
Keane was captain of the Irish team at the time. Keane was very disappointed at the facilities and preparation Ireland had achieved in preparation for the World Cup Finals.  He was quoted in the Irish Times saying:

 “I was disappointed it happened, the way in panned out. I know there are two sides to every story. There was a lot of talk when we got over there about the facilities. That was well documented. I was disappointed at no bibs, balls, cones and it really irritated me because if it happened to Brazil or Germany there would have been uproar.
“But for some reason, because it was Ireland, it was like a laugh and a joke. I had enough years of laughing and joking. I felt at the time we had to give ourselves the best opportunity”

What resulted was a spectacular fall out with Ireland manager Mick McCarthy. The altercations culminated in Keane been sent home. Ireland played without Keane. The  team  managed to make it to the last 16 of the tournament. They secured their plane tickets home when they  lost out to Spain on penalties.  
The fallout from this rumbled on for many years. The whole saga resulted in the publication of The Genesis Report. The report recommended how the FAI should be run from both a governance, structural and management perspective.  The Genesis Report, though not fully implemented by the FAI, still resulted in quite a few changes with regards to its management structure and governance.
If only Veri was around then, maybe Saipan wouldn’t send shivers down the spines of every football fan in Ireland. 

Shane Barron- CTO