Celtic Diary Monday May 11: Chaos No Longer A Theory

There is a correlation between the way the covid crisis is being run from London, and the way in which Scottish football is being, er, run, from Glasgow.

In Westminster, it’s all about money, and after Prime minister Johnson recorded a message and broadcast it to the nation yesterday, no one of sound ind could possibly think the man has the faintest idea of how to deal with current events.

And no wonder, as he is completely detached from the issue….

The policy differs between the nations of the Britsh Isles, and can only lead to further chaos…and deaths.

There is no leadership, and no clear idea of what people should do, ecept perhaps trust their own instincts, and continue to keep their distance from anyone else, and if you don;t feel safe going back to work, then don’t.

#Section44 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 gives you the right to refuse to return to work in unsafe conditions.

Each of us must make a decision dpending on our own circumstances, but frankly, the disease is now so widespread that there’s very little that can be done short of a full two week don’t go out of the house at all measure, so it may now be all down to luck.

In Scottish football, there is also a lack of leadership and a clear idea of how to proceed.

The pandemic has cut short the season and there is no chance it will be resumed. There are still people arguing over how it should be wrapped up when all along it was in the rules that a season is however it is defined by the SPFL. All clubs signed up to this and this should have been pointed out to them the minute that some of them starting moaning that this was how it was going to be and that was that.

no arguing, no voting and certainly no baseless accusations in a frenzied media campaign to unseat those who were deemed perfectly suitable to hold office before this crisis began.

Given the headlines and defamation it’s a major shock that the likes of MacLennan, Doncaster et al haven’t just turned around and told the clubs to stick their jobs up their collective arse is in fact a credit to them.

Michael Stewart, maybe trying to work his ticket and get away from the BBC, clarified some of the issues…

To all the Rangers fans asking what the club did wrong. Quite simply they called for the CEO & legal advisor to be suspended then waited a month before delivering the evidence. That is unacceptable. 

Their whistleblower evidence statement was ok April 11th 4 days before Dundee finally voted. So what is Rangers motivation on all of this? Why didn’t they release the evidence to and try to call a halt to the resolution if it was such damning evidence? 

Why didn’t their own CEO who sits on the SPFL board raise his clubs concerns all along during the SPFL board meetings? They had a greater opportunity than most to try and shape who things were going to be delivered.  

As I’ve said numerous times before the way they’ve handled this situation has in fact clearly undermined the concerns some other clubs share.  

As with the crisis in london, however, no one seems to be prepared to take up the challenge and start to run things properly, maybe because the fear of failure is greater than their faith in doing any better, which itself is a problem.

When things go wrong there is usually someone around who can put things right, but it’s tempting to think that things are now so completely fecked that there is little point in trying to fix them, and it’s far better to let the whole thing go to pot and start afresh afterwards with whatevers left.

We’ll know more after tomorrows EGM, where clubs will have another round of pointless talks, baseless accusations and ridiculous ideas.

All because one club is about to fold, and they are using their own  pre covid mismanagement to instill a fear of bankrupcy into the other clubs, who have all proved capable of handling previous financial problems, even though harsh measures have had to be taken.

Rangers simply folded, sold the assets extraordinarily cheaply, and restarted , with the full support of the authorities and media, as though nothing had happened, even managing to pretend they were relegated because the other clubs don’t like them.

They are about to find out just how much the other clubs don;t like them, and indeed, how little they are needed in the wider scheme of things.

Their lack of humility and remorse in 2012 has come back to haunt them, and they have been dismayed already to find there is little support for their viewpoint, hence the scorched earth policy of trying to bring the whole lot down with them, meaning the SPFL would fold, and the SFA take over, allowing for a third Ibrox entity to take the place of a second one which burnt through millions of pounds of investor and supporter money.

The main correlation between Westminster and Hampden is the lack of accountability. In both establishments, wrongdoing is not punished, and no one ever faces the consequences of their actions. They both allow flagrant breaches of both moral and actual law as long as there’s money to be made, and there’s no sign of it coming to a halt soon.

It’s that simple fact that needs to be addressed over the coming weeks, both in football and in the country.

Still, perhaps there is an attitude we could all copy, from this staunch fellow who clearly believes his club will survive the crisis…

On Saturday, we had this image of a football game during the 1918 flu epidemic…

Today…