Within any system of jurisprudence the concept of “moral hazard” must be fully appreciated.
The survival of the Ibrox brand, if not the original club, post-2012 is an example of that danger.
It is self-evident that the people who run the national game in fair Caledonia reckoned that a Rangers, any Rangers, was necessary for the greater good in 2012.
For the people on the 6th floor at Hampden, the idea of a top-flight league without a club playing out of Ibrox was unthinkable.
Consequently, Mr Doncaster and Mr Regan tried their utmost to have Sevco Scotland Limited parachuted into the SPL in the summer of 2012.
Charles of Normandy convinced these world-class chaps that he would run the Ibrox franchise.
You know the rest…
Of course, this only fed the Herrenvolk delusions of the klan and any hint of Ibrox exceptionalism only made their fascist reflex more prominent.
Thus it carries onto the field of play.
The news that Allan McGregor will not face any sanction for lashing out with a kick at Celtic’s Kristoffer Ajer was greeted with amoral glee by the klan.
This is the world as The People wish it to be.
Whether or not the three ex-referees shares this worldview matters not a jot.
It is how their non-decision will be interpreted by the klan.
This baffling call comes quickly after the decision to rescind the red card given to Alfredo Morelos for kicking Aberdeen’s Scott McKenna.
Like the Ajer incident it was an off the ball incident, nor was it a Beckamesque childish flick of the boot.
The Colombian had a proper kick at an opponent and referee Kevin Clancy thought it worthy of a red card and sent off the Sevco striker.
Of course, the problem with all of this is that the folks at Hampden have a problematic history when it comes to clubs playing out of Ibrox.
The Jorge Cadete affair cost the late Jim Farry his job in 1999.
It stretches credulity to think that on the ONE occasion when a litigious Celtic chairman went to law on a governance issue he found the ONLY example of the SFA working against Celtic and, ipso facto, assisting Rangers.
I smiled when I read the paperwork on the Cadete case and saw that the next up to give evidence for the SFA was one Sandy Bryson.
The memo said that Mr B was “very nervous” about the prospect being questioned by Celtic’s lawyer.
Fortunately for the man who created the euphemism of “imperfectly registered” to explain away a decade of Ibrox cheating he wasn’t required.
Farry had so completely crumpled under questioning that the SFA didn’t come out for the second half against McCann’s QC.
Indeed the behaviour of the Bunnet makes the current stance of Celtic on Resolution 12 rather baffling.
The Parkhead club has had to be dragged by the requisitioners since 2013 to address the unfair sporting advantage of the tax scams at Ibrox.
Consequently, I do not hold out much hope for Kristoffer Ajer’s stud marked hip…
If delinquent behaviour, whether it be individual or corporate, is not seen to be suitably sanctioned then you should expect to get more of it.
Discover more from Phil Mac Giolla Bháin
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Well done SFA, 20,000 at Hampden tonight, another disastrous performance.
Did McLeish(EBT) mention or was asked about his wee problem with HMRC at his interview for the Scotland job?
If not why not?
Maxwell out, McLeish out, SFA out.
Maxwell out now before any more damage is done and he can take the Compliant Officer and the 3 man independent referee panel with him.
Maxwell has to go, now, and he can take his Compliance Officer and 3 man ‘independent’ panel with him.
Does anyone for a moment think that if these incidents had occurred in England, and their FA had acted in the same way as the SFA, that they would have been quite rightly slaughtered by the English media?
Scottish media reaction? Lukewarm to say the least because there can be no negative press affecting the Stevie G revolution.
Go Maxwell, go now, no different to the clowns who have gone before you.
Celtic dragging their heels on the Resolution 12 issues is now starting to make me think that Celtic have something to hide thus not wanting to rock the boat !!
I just don’t understand their stance on it.
HH
Until this football nonsense starts to affect the Celtic business model Celtic will do nothing.
Maybe feed the faithful a few scraps and hints about doing stuff, powder dry etc.etc.
But as usual they will be faithful to their profit margins first and foremost.
One of the downsides to supporting a team that is a profit making business.
Celtic seem Reluctant to challenge any SFA decision, I walked away from Celtic and Scottish Football in 2015 when i realised it was hitting head on a brick wall time, found many more attractive things to spend my cash on ….
Celtic PLC is the problem. They allow this to happen.
If Maxwell and Whyte had any integrity about them they would have resigned yesterday to distance themselves from the chicanery going on behind closed doors at Hampden.
As they have failed to do so we now know that they are part of the problem not the solution.
One could be forgiven for thinking that the SFA was being run as a secret society……….oh wait!
No doubt one of the panel thought McGregor was simply stretching his leg due to cramp? Aye? Right you are then.
The idea of Celtic letting this lie seems utterly bizarre. I can only presume they’ve decided the best way to tackle it is directly, rather than via the media.
But the decision is certainly bringing the SFA into disrepute, when everyone and their five-year-old child can see in the video footage that McGregor deliberately kicks out, with his studs, at Ajer, with the ball long gone but still in play. Mandatory red, not even any debate.
Furthermore both the ref and main standside linesman saw the incident. When did the rules change where a kick off the ball, no matter what force was employed, become a matter of interpretation.
It won’t be Stevie G posing a threat to Celtic’s treble, treble chase.
It will be the decisions of 3 former referees hiding behind a cloak of anonymity.
Never forget the two mandatory yellows for shirt tugging in the box. THAT is three mandatory penalties and Celtic got NONE.
Phil, do you see anything happening with res12 guys? It’s beyond a joke that the Club hasn’t yet.
I believe the most scandalous decision this season so far was to dock Hearts 2 points for fielding an ineligible player against Cove Rangers in the League Cup. They should have been docked three points and Inverness should have advanced to the knockout stage. When the SPFL made their decision, based upon ensuring a televised match would not be a dead rubber, the governing body should have stepped in but instead, and as usual, they did SFA!
Hearts should have been thrown out. 3-0 Cove was the only possible outcome.
There is certainly the perception now that if you are one of the lads then you can get away with anything. My question is, what will it take to fix this mess. And by mess I just don’t refer to this nonsensical panel decision, I mean the entire problem of an SFA that has now shown its’ hand to be biased in favour of one club. Just think about the most recent decisions that make you shake your head, much less the big one’s going back a few years;
1) failure to enforce any action against Ibrox players for discipline matters
2) relentless questioning of bias and demanding that referees get demoted with no penalty
3) actions of fans behaviour at almost at every match as well as Motherwell player hit by debris on tying goal
4) capitulation in acknowledging that to pursue any decision on Res12 you need to go to CAS due to 5-way agreement
5) capitulation to threats/intimidation forcing resignation of Compliance officer Tony McGlennan
6) failure to provide any public support when threats/demands made for resignation of Ian Maxwell
No wonder they feel like they can do anything they want these days. As you point out, it will take Celtic going to court to force any change. Unfortunately, the problem with that is that I came to the conclusion a while ago that they have no stomach for it. The game in Scotland is most definitely rigged.
My suggestion as to how to ” fix” Scottish football would be:
Those running the game are picked ( by a voting system ) by the teams and are only in office for four years ( time scale arbitrary )
Move the HQ away from Glasgow and along with a new national stadium build somewhere near Stirling.
Have a panel ( again picked by the leagues ) to over see any incident ( compliance officer ) and those members give an open account off how they came by the decision.
Refferee’s and linemen should declare their previous interest in any club and should not be picked when their favoured team are playing.
There should be a marking system for officials that means demotion when too many ” genuine ” mistakes are made.
Refs should be allowed to say how they came by their decisions on the park ( after the game )
I would welcome any tweeking or additions.
Ps any cup draws are made by listing teams by number and balls drawn by a lottery type machine.
Simpler for every club ( minus one) to resign from the sfa and form their own new organisation. The sfa would cease to exist overnight as they are only an entity through membership. No clubs = no sfa…
The clubs immediately form a new governing body which is free from the cronyism and bias that infects the current one.
Uefa and fifa would have no option but to acknowledge the new organisation and admit it to competitions while the sfa would cease to exist.
This is how tenuous their control is…
No members , no money, no jobs for the brothers.
If only the clubs would get together and do it!
Simple rule of law.
OUT the Primrose Pledge and imprison every masonic fraud for 40 years.
This moving the national stadium to Stirling is a nonsense. Why would you move further away from the majority of your customers?
Who determines what a genuine mistake is? Recent evidence would appear contrary to that particular issue.
I can’t argue with the other points raised
Ur last point about cup draws is a bit laughable. I have never been one for cup draws being fixed except maybe in the 70’s when they always managed to keep Celtic and Rangers apart in semi-finals.
The last draw Rangers were drawn out first by Chris Sutton, so are you saying Chris Sutton is a cheat.
Most draws over the last few years have all been done by Celebs and ex players, an awful lot of people to be fixing things.
They can and will do what they want. They actually believe they have set a legal precedence for Sevco players and fans to get away with even leg breaking.
It’s almost as if someone, somewhere has some tapes or thingy’s with ‘sensitive’ material which would make the governing body feel awkward
I couldn’t agree more Phil! Celtic for whatever reason seem extremely reluctant to challenge and expose the SFA and in doing so they are letting down their employees and fans and perhaps most importantly the very integrity of our great club. Say what you like about Wee Fergus he just wasn’t having it and you start to wonder has anything changed? I suspect a lot of the handshakes are of the same variety . I notice theres no outcry from the media for these nameless refs who came to this ludicrous and frankly shameful descision to be named and shamed ala Mr Mc Coist HH
Some of these recent decisions regarding Sevco are scandalous. I realise that it would be inappropriate to identify the three ex-referees who couldn’t reach agreement on the McGregor incident, but surely we are entitled to see a transcript of how they reached their non-decision.
Everyone involved MUST be named.
Why involve ex referees?
Surely, those in the job (God help us) are more au fait with current rules and regulations?
And it should never ever be down to a unanimous decision. A simple majority should suffice.
Not a fan of Jacko in the Daily Ranger but at least he’s called out Ian Maxwell at the SFA on a couple of issues including the inexplicable decisions of the 3 man, so called, independent panel that allowed Morelos and McGregor’s kick outs to go unpunished.
So much for the fanfare surrounding Maxwell’s appointment.
New broom sweeps clean? No it’s new CEO, same as old CEO.
What’s to stop the SFA making public the thinking behind the decisions made by their panel?
Is it because that their arguments wouldn’t hold water and are totally flawed?
Where is the openness and accountability promised by the current and previous SFA hierarchy?
The truth is that the SFA isn’t fit for purpose , be it messing up a simple cup draw or making decisions turning the rules of the game on it’s head.
As for Bryson? It was widely reported at the time of the Cadete case that Farry fired the gun but Bryson loaded the bullets.
Why he is still in place is anybody’s guess but he’s obviously in with the bricks for good reason.
This is someone who can spot a missing signature or date on a contract or form from a mile away but a club deliberately removing details of the EBT payments of dozens of players contracts lodged at Hampden, contrary to all SFA rules, is no biggie.
Anyone who thought that Maxwell would be leading the SFA into the light will have had that notion wiped from their eyes.
It’s same old, same old, with a complete disregard for it’s customer base.
Perhaps Mr Maxwell could assure us that all of the senior SFA hierarchy have no outstanding tax liabilities with HMRC?
You do have to wonder quite how far these Sevco players will be allowed to go with their on-pitch behaviour… https://theclumpany.wordpress.com/2018/09/04/beheading-for-sevco/
You’ve already seen how far: remember this game?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0xHWIw_dPk