Neil Doncaster will face holyrood MPs on Thursday to explain why some Scottish clubs are paying below minimum wage to staff.
Which is against the law.
He shouldn’t worry too much, as he’ll be accompanied by the twisty turny chief of the SFA, Stewart Regan, who is used to ignoring difficult questions about the shoddy way football is run in Scotland,
Together, our very own version, though much less amusing, of the chuckle brothers will face a grilling after childrens commissioner Tam Baillie effectively called the pair not fit for office, after he became aware that they hadn;t been regulating youth contracts.
But Stan and Ollie have their defence all ready…
They have made a joint submission….
“FIFA/UEFA statutes specifically prohibit any form of third party influence/intervention, including government intervention, in football.
“FIFA has not hesitated to suspend the membership of a national association whose independence it considers to have been compromised by government interference.”
Football, they claim, is above the law.
It isn’t, of course, and the two are about to find that out.
FIFA will not take the side of an association who encourages -or at least tolerates-the exploitation of basic workers rights.
They will simply ignore it, and say it is down to the association to sort it out.
Which FIFA or UEFA spokesman is going to back an association that exploits kids ?
As ever, Doncaster and Regan haven’t thought this one through.
But its shameful that they have even attempted to go down this line, which is purely a desperate attempt to keep the way they run one of the country’s biggest commercial operations away from prying eyes, difficult questions and common sense.
As with Al Capone many years ago in Chicago, it doesn’t matter how they are taken out, or on what charge, just as long as they are taken out.
some people will stoop to any level to stay in a job…
Joe Rourke, over at the Celtic Supporters Association, piled on the pressure with an open letter to Regan…
( taken from the CSA forum)
Mr Regan
I promised myself I wouldn’t write to you again, because my time and energy are more important to me than your opinions, even if you had the guts and the courtesy to reply. But I find that your silence for several months was quite strange in as far as there were several incidents in Scottish Football which I believe merited comment from a person in your position.
But you only ended your silence to make comments on the trial of Craig Whyte in the High Court. I found that strange as Mr Whyte no longer holds a position in any football team in Scotland, even one that is only five years old.
I might be wrong here but I believe Mr Whyte was acquitted of all charges and free to leave the court of his own free will. But you decided that he had some case to answer by claiming that he was no longer welcome in Scottish Football, I wonder if you could enlighten me on what grounds that is the case, bearing in mind that Dave King is welcome.
There has been as I said previously a couple of incidents in Scottish Football that deserved comment from the SFA Chief Executive. For whatever reason you have kept your council on these incidents, but I believe that genuine football supporters would agree with me in thinking that it is part of your remit to make comment when the situation is important enough.
Let me take through a couple of those incidents, not in any particular order. First of all when my team Celtic played at Ibrox stadium on April 29th, our Club Captain Scott Brown was confronted on the field of play by a supporter of Rangers, I use the term supporter loosely. At the time of the incident the response from the Police/Security was at best lax, and at worst pathetic. I would have thought such a serious incident would have merited comment, but all we got from you was silence.
At the same match there was another incident which if anything was even more serious. After Scott Sinclair scored for Celtic he was celebrating with his team mates when he was subjected to the most obscene Racist abuse, by more than one supporter of Rangers, and again I use the term supporter loosely. Again the silence from you and the rest of the SFA was deafening.
During that match, and in fact at every match we have played against Rangers we have been subjected to almost non-stop Sectarian singing, and while I would not contend that our support is perfect, they are certainly not Sectarian. I have met with Police Scotland on several occasions this season, they have for the most part been very complimentary in regards to the Celtic Support and their behaviour.
Another question which is being asked by football supporters of all clubs is in regards to the criteria which must be met to be awarded a European spot by the SFA for season 2017/18. Do all the clubs in Scotland which have been awarded a place meet the criteria?
I also note with interest this morning in the media, your colleague (should that be Brother?) SFA President Alan McRae state that it would be a “very boring and dreary” season in Scottish Football if our Invincible Treble Winners aren’t challenged. McRae doesn’t want just any team to challenge, he just wants it to be Rangers who are doing the challenging. I’m sure his predecessor will be proud of him.
This is coming from a guy who has contributed absolutely nothing to Scottish Football, except at Amateur or Highland League level, the guy like you has been an embarrassment to Scottish Football, and those in power at UEFA must wonder how you both got into your high level positions.
Finally Mr Regan, I would like to ask you if you have changed your position on the questions sent to you by the group of Celtic Supporter Shareholders known as “Resolution 12”. Although I never followed the Craig Whyte trial very closely, I read enough to suggest that contrary to what you claimed, the Tax Liability had Crystallised and therefore a European Licence should not have been issued to Rangers.
That means without a shadow of a doubt one or more people were telling lies, the question is Mr Regan were you one of them? I don’t expect you to answer that, but I thought I would ask the question anyway. There is also the case of the DOS/EBT with side letters schemes ran by Rangers, was the full truth put before Lord Nimmo Smith? Again were one or more people telling lies?
That only leaves me to reiterate the position of the Celtic Supporters Association. After the six blind officials match at Hampden our members passed unanimously a “Vote of No Confidence” in you, I think you can safely add your colleague Mr McRae to that now. I also think it is time that you actually asked the supporters of all the member clubs in Scotland if they have any confidence in you to take Scottish Football forward. I would safely predict that UKIP would be more popular than you.
For the benefit of Scottish Football please go now.
Joe O’Rourke,
General Secretary,
Celtic Supporters Association,
Independent Shareholder in Celtic Football Club.
A neat summary of everything we’ve seen over the last few months, and yet another voice adding to the demands that Regan explain himself.
Will he get a reply ?
Unlikely, but its important that as wide a cross section of Scottish football keeps asking, and it would be just dandy of other supporters groups from other clubs took up Joe’s lead…
Meanwhile, Resolution 12 supporters will be pleased to know that the lads have begun the endgame, with the big tax case no longer relevant to any accusations of cheating, it looks like the gloves are coming off.
Over on CQN there’s a more detailed account of “The Cheating Years ” which deserves your attention…
And again, its time that we got some answers.
There is no excuse now for Celtic to delay any action.
Or is there ?
Lets consider a few things that may have gone unnoticed… well, one thing…
Did UEFA decide not to look too closely after the events of 2011 because it showed that their rules were not fit for purpose, and open to abuse by member associations and clubs ?
The SFA found a loophole and exploited it to gain entry to lucrative financial rewards . That much is clear.
Whether or not they were lied to or colluded with is irrelevant in this consideration because UEFA didn’t check either.
Shouldn’t other Scottish clubs be asking UEFA how it was allowed to happen ?
It would have to be UEFA as its the SFA who are complicit in rule breaking, and even though UEFA might find its rules to be shown to be ineffectivem they need to do something.
Hang on, maybe they aready have asked , and were told to shut up….or, as they would have said…UEFA would not welcome an enquiry.
The more we look into this, the muddier it becomes.
How exactly was the wee tax bill explained to UEFA ?
Did the SFA tell UEFA that Rangers needed the UCL money, and would be able to pay the bill when they got it ?
So many questions, and no one to answer them.
But whichever way you look at it, it needs to be thoroughly investigated and relevant action taken against anyone who broke the rules.
Seems to me that Scottish football is in a mess.
And those who could do something about it are afraid that by opening the windows and letting in some fresh air, they could inadvertently weaken the structure and bring the whole house down around them
Back at the ranch, and Celtic haven’t sold anyone yet.
The papers have linked the club with a number of other players.
And I’ll just copy and paste this bit and stick it in the next few diaries until Brendan gets back off his break.
Although the deals themselves are done by Peter Lawwell and Lee Congerton, the manager will want to be the one who announces them, and his new bride is unlikely to approve of him holding press conferences while they are on their honeymoon.
Look what happened to the last guy who did that
Perhaps the funniest thing you’ll read today comes from the Birmingham Daily Mail..
West Brom and Leigh Griffiths: The pros and cons of the Scottish striker
We take a look at what Griffiths would bring – and the potential down sides
West Brom are on the hunt for a striker this summer.
Strikers who can score a hatful of goals, have a proven record in doing so and cost in the remit that Albion are willing to part with are hard to come by; the criteria rules out many and means the Baggies will have to be quite nifty when it comes to spending money this summer.
Troy Deeney has been linked, Andre Gray too.
The latest name that has appeared out of the woodwork is that of Celtic and Scotland striker Leigh Griffiths.
Albion, and newly-promoted Newcastle, are reportedly weighing up an approach to the Bhoys this summer.
Here, we do a spot of ‘weighing up’ ourselves.
(Lack of) track record
While he had a stint in England, it wasn’t exactly in the Premier League.
With Pulis preferring tried and tested individuals, those who have proven they can perform amongst the elite, does Griffiths make the cut?
Will he improve the squad?
It’s a bit of a to-the-point question, but would Griffiths be considered an upgrade on Salomon Rondon and Hal Robson-Kanu?
Now more than ever, it’s pivotal Albion spend their budget wisely. In attack isn’t the only area that could do with investment.
The tone of this piece is remarkable.
Its West Bromwich Albion, and the paper is talking about a man who has scored more goals at champions League level than anyone in the England team he scored two against last Saturday.
Yesterday we showed you this picture…
Caption: Lying in a park with an empty bottle and 2 black eyes wondering why you continually fail to procreate effectively – another day out for Sevco Loyal SC.
and today..