The international break often allows time to take stock of club matters.
In truth, it all seems utterly frivolous as evidence of genocide is being sent to my phone as I walk up the bóithrín here in Dún na nGall.
I learned this morning that a colleague in Hebron hasn’t been contactable for the past few days.
This is worryingly out of character for him.
While the world looks on in horror at the massacres in Gaza, the Zionist ethnic cleansing squads are busy in the occupied West Bank.
Consequently, I struggle to focus entirely on the pathetic failures of the Fourth Estate on Planet Fitba.
It really shouldn’t take a journalist in another country to hold the powerful in Scottish football to account.
Indeed, if this fella wasn’t paying attention, then perhaps Hugh Dallas might still be head of refereeing development at Hampden.
Like the late Jim Farry before him, it took an outsider to put manners on them.
It will be precisely the same this Thursday at Hampden.
Dermot Desmond, undoubtedly an outsider, won’t be there physically, but that doesn’t matter.
Others will be on-site to implement his orders.
Ok, so here’s my take based on conversations with well-placed sources:
I believe the SFA has miscalculated by charging Brendan Rodgers for his post-match comments after the game against Hearts.
My understanding is that the people in power at Celtic are not looking at this as simply a potential two-match ban problem to be dealt with.
Instead, they see that the SFA has opened the door to the forensic dissection of match officials’ “incompetence” by legal heavyweights.
Moreover, I’m told that the Parkhead club now has a substantial body of research that examines these “mistakes” over three seasons.
It is worth pointing out that if it is genuine incompetence, there will be no pattern; it will be entirely random.
Unfortunately for the brethren at Hampden, charging Rodgers for these comments at Tynecastle has inadvertently opened the door to the SFA itself being, in a sense, put on trial.
Regardless of the dignified deliberations of the judicial marsupials on Thursday, the Parkhead club is determined, for the moment at least, to deal with the officiating issue.
For the avoidance of doubt, this shitshow will not be solved while the chaps at Hampden are allowed to mark their own homework.
Of course, there is nothing new in a power structure resisting outside scrutiny.
English football Exhibit A:
Here’s the scéal:
The Football Governance Bill will establish a new Independent Football Regulator (IFR) for English men’s elite football. The IFR will be set up as a new public body to ensure its operational independence and accountability.
The IFR will have 3 primary objectives. They are:
Club financial soundness – to protect and promote financial sustainability of individual clubs, ensuring that clubs take sensible financial decisions and consider the long-term when taking risks.
Systemic financial resilience – to protect and promote the financial resilience of English football as a whole, ensuring that systemic risks and structural issues like the distribution of revenue through the pyramid are managed appropriately.
Heritage – to safeguard the traditional features of English football that matter most to the fans and local communities of clubs.
You can read about the proposed legislation here.
As sports is a devolved matter in Fair Caledonia, the regional assembly in Edinburgh now has the task of stepping up and producing similar legislation that is fit for purpose.
That’s the background to what will unfold at Hampden on Thursday as Rodgers and Celtic come to close quarters with the mediocre ones.
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Take it to CAS
Would be hugely – but pleasantly – surprised if we get a result
at BR’s hearing.
Ultimately though, satisfaction might only come via a Judicial Review of
SFA processes?
(And the ibrox club reverted to a Judicial Review to have their
SFA imposed, transfer ban overturned in 2012.
AND no punishment for using a civil court was applied either… )
Rangers stated Collum was incompetent and their request was that he should not referee any of their future games. They have not been charged. Why not? Are the SFA saying clubs can state anything they like about referees but managers cannot . Brendan is an employee of the club and the club are vicariously liable for his actions. Yet Newco escape any charge or sanction
If, and I actually think it’s a big IF, Celtic win at the Bigotdome on the seventh, you can guarantee that there will be a hysterical letter of complaint to the SFA, demanding answers over some imagined “crucial, match defining, error” by the referee, and demanding that he be banned from officiating in future Sevco matches.
It’s become the norm with them.
Shame it’s only three years. They won’t be bringing up Beaton seeing Morales stamp on three Celts in one match and think nothing was wrong.
Although, I’m sure, we’d all love the scope of this to be widened ala the above but it might simply come down to, did Rodgers criticise the competence of the officials?
If the answer is “yes” then he’s guilty and will be punished so.
Its plainly wrong that no matter how poor the officials are, they are above reproach but them’s the rules.
I hope we have a record of other managers criticisng officials and going unpunished, not least Clements’ hysterial harranguing of Collum for not given a penalty when their player was offside.
Not only was he not charged, for leading a campaign that lead to direct threats to Collum, he was praised by Allen.
I believe the panel will be legal people and not SFA incompetents, who will be under instructions to keep the scope narrow, so will we be able to counter this?
I’ve been thinking this since the whole episode started. Will they shut down any Celtic defence by calling their evidence irrelevent?
Judicial marsupials……I agree with the piece totally ! But that description of those in charge is the best yet, it made me smile.