Yesterday, the SFA’s Professional Game Board met to discuss the SPFL’s request that they hold an inquiry into the goings-on in Scottish football, following The Supreme Court’s ruling last month on the legality of Rangers EBT use. The League, which represents all 42 senior clubs in the game, wants the national association to investigate the most serious governance events in the sport’s history.
You would think the SFA would be obliged to investigate, right?
Instead, the SFA are getting the band back together. They will sit down with Darryl Broadfoot, now the Association’s external PR, to calculate whether they can carry enough media support to get away with doing nothing at all.
Apparently, the SFA would rather solicit backing for inaction than carry out the wishes of their professional league. This is Scottish football in 2017. It is actually happening, right now.
Governance standards are non-negotiable. No national association can ignore the will of its professional clubs, on an issue as serious as governance, without major repercussions. If the acute situation we have witnessed in recent years is not bad enough, this lack of action puts the SFA on the verge of complicity and cover-up.
Some of the recent most senior office-holders of the Association itself are implicated in the scandal, both as administrators and financial beneficiaries. The question before members of the Professional Game Board isn’t just, ‘Do we do the right thing?’, it’s ‘Do we expose some of our friends and colleges to scrutiny? And if so, how far does the contamination spread?’ Those watching from within the game know, once Pandora’s Box is open, the actions of many others could be open to scrutiny. Don’t think evidence presented to Lord Nimmo Smith was not thoroughly rehearsed and approved by ‘the band’ before being put to the SPL Commission.
The SFA will instruct a cover-up in the coming days to protect their cronies, and in doing so will become complicit in the subversion of the level playing field in Scottish football.
The stink goes as high as the recent past-president of the SFA, Campbell Ogilvie, who worked with those on the Professional Game Board, and had administrative responsibility for contracts and licensing at Rangers during their EBT period. He was also a financial beneficiary of an EBT. The SFA will refuse the request of the SPFL to investigate these matters and attempt a cover-up.
When you have prima facie evidence of a governance issue, presented by your own league, involving your own past-president, you are obliged to open up to independent analysis. Failure to “promote and protect ethical standards and good governance” put the Scottish Football Association in breach of their duty as a member association of Uefa.
Fans will not accept anything less; clubs will not accept anything less. The matter will go to Uefa. It will go to government. It will go to media in England and beyond. It will go to court; those turning their heads today will be called to account. It cannot and will not be accepted. It will not go away.
There will be no cover-up to protect the guilty.
Listen to the new CQN Podcast below…
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Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas shocker!! Scottish football needs an independent review that can weed out the undesirables and clean it up. The refusal to review is only gonna draw more attention to its failing.
Celtic board need to wait for a public announcement before jumping into a statement because we all know the authorites will try to moverify goal post to make celtic appear desperate and will then turn it into a celtic sevco thing.
However, once announcement has been had about decision then steps can be taken and if it needs to be perceived as a celtic vs sevco thing so be it, afterall if someone robbed my house it would be an issue between us. If that robber had broken into other neighbours houses and they were to shite scared to sort it then fuck them I still want shite sorted
HH
P.s if I knew the robber wes watching my television and gloating about how good the picture was I would knock him the fuck out and take my television back, that’s how justice works
HH
THE EXILED TIM
You are, of course, correct. But this blog post is a remarkable development relative to the deafening silence of the last 5 years…
JAMES FORREST
Good article James and thank you for keeping this story live at least for our section of the football community.
Keep on keeping’ on Brother:)
Bad Moon Rising, the first 45 I ever bought, Up The Barra’s wi’ the auld man:))
‘The League, which represents all 42 senior clubs in the game, wants the national association to investigate the most serious governance events in the sport’s history.’
###
It looks like everyone (including Celtic) wants someone else to do something, or at least wants the paying public to think they want someone else to do something.
STARRY PLOUGH
Bad Moon Rising, the first 45 I ever bought, Up The Barra’s wi’ the auld man:))
——————————–
Would one copy not have done?
;)
DAVIDOPOULOS
I won’t be holding my breath waiting for anything to happen, neither should you :-)
HH
45 ………..must be some sort of record
THE EXILED TIM
I know, but I genuinely am surprised at how strongly worded Paul’s post is.
DAVIDOPOULOS
I have to admit it’s a tad stronger than usual.
Problem is they have been bang to rights a fair few times and every time they manage to do sfa and nothing else happens.
Jeez, they issued the huns a licence to play in europe this season ffs, obviously Res 12 means feck all to them, no way should the huns have got a licence., yet the sfa obliged their establishment club.
HH
Neganon2
Res12, of which you know SFA, has not been ignored.
I’d leave out that statement in future.
Instead of complaining what you think isn’t there, try appreciating what is.
Embdae got a framed picture of PL on their wall?
Apart from the man himself..
BAD MOON RISING-
https://youtu.be/pJscUGZnT2I
The Professional game board soon to include that new sPFL chap who is former editor of the Telegraph. Good pals with Andy Coulson.
All it takes is for Celtic to state that they are taking this to Judicial Review. Rangers took the transfer embargo and fine for non payment of tax etc to a judicial review. They received no punishment.
The taking of football matters to the Civil courts can of course have serious implications for the country as a whole in a footballing sense.
Are we prepared to press our big red button?
I tip my hat to James Forrest there, a brilliant article indeed.
Auldheid,
In your mind, are Celtic complicit in any way in the 5 way agreement?
Did they have a hand in the negotiations that could have resulted in Rangers being placed in the second tier?
Would Celtic have settled for the second tier and title stripping at that time?
!!BADA BING!!
No but last weekend I was in Glasgow and staying at the Blythswood Hotel and saw Ian Bankier in the lobby having a meeting.
My other half suggested I get a picture with him…I didn’t…
But I could have….
And I might have framed it…
Maybe…
THE GREEN JEDI on 11TH AUGUST 2017 12:36 PM
one assumes Paul got the low down on the script from Pistol Pete….
Ah! Now there yi go, a thinker, could do with a few more like him/her,.
DAVIDOPOULOS
Excessive even at a young age:))
HH
Good Afternoon.
A couple of weeks ago, when Celtic called for a review into the events of the last few years and the SPFL board endorsed and accepted that call, I made the comment on here that after 5 years we are only now getting under starters orders and it was time to “get into them” as they say in football parlance.
Paul’s blog today should come as no surprise to anyone.
It is as clear as the nose on your face that the circumstances surrounding the last 15 years in Scottish Football require, no demand, a full and independent enquiry into what happened and in particular into the activities and actings of the Scottish Football Association.
Any fool can see that. Every fan can see that. Each and every owner, shareholder, director of all football clubs who want to compete in fair and open competitions can see that. Every journalist worth their salt should want to know just how what happened came about, how it was facilitated, how it went unnoticed by the football authorities, how and when the wrongdoing came to their notice and what they did when they found out.
Most of all, everyone should want to know what steps can and have been taken, and what steps are still to be taken, to ensure that this kind of thing never happens again.
And what is the wrongdoing I am talking about?
Is it the falsification of Records by one football club in an attempt to unlawfully avoid taxes? Yes, it is.
Is the attempt to build a successful and trophy winning football team using practices which were shunned by every other football club and every other set of directors in the land? Yes, it is.
Is it the admitted attempt to spend more money than you can lawfully have at your disposal and sign better players than you could otherwise afford using unlawful tax schemes? Yes, it is?
Is it the repeated and continued attempts to hide all of the above and deny what you have been doing and are continuing to do when asked about it by HMRC and possibly others? Yes, it is.
Is it the absolute inability to detect and act on any of the above by the Governing football body and its officers for some thing like 15 years? Yes, it is.
Is it the more than perceived attempts to cover all of this up, make no enquiry, and to hope that everyone else is “too busy to notice” that one club broke the rules and that the SFA chose — yes deliberately chose — to do nothing about it and so misled other football club members? Yes, it is.
Is it the failure of the SFA to take any heed of, or have any regard for, the football playing public who pour millions of pounds each and every year into what is meant to be a sport, and so just deceive those investors (because that is what they are – financial investors) by failing to consider, apply and act on the very rules they are meant to Govern and oversee? Yes, it is.
It is all of these things and many things more.
It has been said that The Only Thing Necessary for the Triumph of Evil is that Good Men Do Nothing – but in modern corporate governance doing nothing is not the soft option and Pontius Pilates cannot escape the wrath of the patient man who has chosen to wait ….. and wait …. and wait….. till the time is right.
The SPFL has made it plain that there is a need for a review. Their solicitor, Rod McKenzie, said less than two weeks ago that all matters of licence, all matters of how to deal with a proven and legally established unlawful tax scheme which has been brought into play in the Scottish Game for a 15 year period, and all matters of proper disclosure and procedure are for the SFA — and in so doing he threw half of Hampden’s top floor under the legal bus.
Regan and his team can circle all the wagons they like. They can employ all of the PR people, the lawyers, the journalists and the cronies but they cannot buy or bury the truth because too much is known by too many people with too much integrity to be quiet or silenced.
In the coming weeks, it may be legally established whether or not ordinary shareholders in a football club have the legal right to pursue court proceedings against the Governing body of Football in Scotland. The courts may well be asked to determine whether the ordinary people, who buy the tickets, the strips, the pies, the Bovril, and pay for buses to travel the length and breadth of this country in support of a team and a sport.
I believe the courts will establish that right exists and if it does then I have a piece of legal advice for those who would cover up and hide what they have been up to in the name of football for these past 5 years.
RUN!
Run and keep on running because you will be held accountable and responsible.
The more you try to cover this up the deeper the hole you dig.
There will be a review and an enquiry.
All good things come to those who wait!
Michael Elphick waking in an asylum – Mad Boon Rising. ;)
http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/gang-of-10-changes-will-destroy-celtic/
Neganon2
So replacing a governance who will not countenance title stripping with one who will is a bad idea?
How would you go about it?
The chap behind the Strip The Titles movement realised it needed more than a blog and Twitter account so he has put his weight being the SFSA who have solid backing and when the survey results emerge (14000 plus so far) will carry authority and Govt backing to obtain what is required which is culture change at the SFA.
Why don’t you get involved and help make the change that is needed rather than trumpet from a blank songsheet?
BRT&H
Leads of the 7TH, brilliant post.
https://youtu.be/Zye9cIDmwlk
Mullet and Co
I answered this to Bada Bing about 3 days ago.
When you say complicit do you mean did not object to a version of Rangers being allowed into the SFL that at that time were not in the same league as Celtic?
BROGAN ROGAN TREVINO AND HOGAN
Had to read that twice, what a breakdown:))
Bosh there’s yer dinner Stewart and the folks that put ye up to it:))
HH
BABASONICOS71
Eagerly awaiting the Sir Andrew of Weatherall remix Rad Moon Bison…
How long would it take, the PLC billionaires…..
to assemble a Platoon of Philadelphia Lawyers….
to sort this mess, once and for all….
if, they were greeted with, 60,000 empty seats ?
How long did it take, the PLC billionaires….
to stop they’re styoopit, puppet manager policy….
when they were greeted wi, 30,000 empty seats ?
What’s the point in fans who don’t utilise their power ?
What type of fans would, sit back and watch, 4 ghuys….
pursuing Res:12, while the snowmen PLC, hide under…..
the back seat of the bus ?
Jist empty the efffin park !!!
…..off-oot.
Auldheid-BRTH- Et al, keep fighting the good fight, thank you HH
BRTH
Even more heartening than p67’s words………….bring it on
neg
must say, you have a patonizing manner when you reply to posts.
NegAnon, KevJ, TGM, Ernie
I am reliably informed that for the entirety of last season and so far this season there have been NO protestors/boycotters outside the front door after kick off on matchdays at Celtic Park.
Where have you been?
Wouldn’t it be a lot more productive use of your time to stage a visible protest and potentially raise awareness rather than making the same points on here on an almost daily basis (or in the case of TGM, 250 times a day!) to a limited audience which are ultimately lost in cyberspace??
I suspect the actual truth is that PL has been excessively tolerant of the Sevconian brotherhood but has finally cracked. Year upon year of swallowing their crap and now the end is nigh. No more!!
In fact, not time for Celtic to stand and be counted but time for all the others to do so. Every single one of them is fully aware of the rampant corruption but will they stand against it? ….
Does Level 5 have a secret trumpet division do you think??
STARRY…
Liked that wan ;)
Btrh , auldheid
Me too
Am jist no articulate enough
But god bless you guys
Auldheid,
Complicit would be at worst proposing the idea of RFC going into Tier 2 in exchange for titles being stripped.
At best going along with it in some way or not doing absolutely everything in their power to stop the proposal.
Emdy know a pub in Hull my two sisters can watch the game in tonight?
Ffs,its Hull-I think they’d watch a hun game there(!)
Two smashing lasses in desperate need.