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Regan Has Left His Replacement To Deal With Scandals, Big Decisions And A Mess Made At Ibrox.

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One of the most expected, but infuriating, moments in the recent history of the UK came on the morning after the EU referendum.

Remain had lost.

The greatest political gamble in the history of this island had failed, and failed spectacularly.

The man who had made that gamble, David Cameron, walked out of Downing Street and faced the cameras.

Everyone knew what was coming.

That somehow made it more, and not less, maddening. He resigned. Having plunged the entire country and its political system into the worst crisis since the Second World War, he chucked it, walked, and left other people to clean up the mess he had made. He let others deal with the shit-storm he had unleashed.

As we all know, Regan quit last week.

It is good that none of the newspapers attempted a re-write of history, to make him something he wasn’t. He was a joke. He was a dreadful administrator, a figure who allowed corrupt practices to thrive, a scandalised CEO who actually talked our sport into the gutter, excused blatant cheating and promoted a disgraceful philosophy that this country had clubs which were “too big to fail” without whom the game would die.

But Regan did more than that. He walked out and left one Hell of a mess behind him, everything from unfilled positions to an on-going investigation.

I don’t believe he walked of his own volition, but that he was allowed to swan off as if he’d done the right thing is shocking because, in his own way, he has left behind no less an enveloping crisis than that which Cameron did.

I think Regan will be glad to see the back of the job. It was too big for him, too big by a long way, and the challenges he was facing were far beyond his abilities. Here are just some of the reasons why he’s gone, and why he didn’t so much walk away as ran.

No Manager, And The Media Is Promoting A Bunch Of Discredited Jokes.

From the minute Michael O’Neill refused the manager’s job, Regan’s jacket was on a very shaky nail. It is amazing to me the way the media turned on him for his failure whilst giving Sevco a free pass for its own failure in the same area. They have a temporary boss, and face an anxious summer. Scotland does not play competitive football for many months.

Nevertheless, it is a disgrace that months have gone by since Strachan quit and the national team is still without a boss. Regan was clueless about what to do next, and into this void stepped some of the hacks, with their own suggestions.

And those suggestions – the likes of Walter Smith and Alex McLeish – are plainly ludicrous, huge steps backwards. Regan would never have been allowed an imaginative choice; they would have flayed him alive for it. Those who the media is willing to consider – including McCoist and anyone who wins more than two games in a row, like Clarke – all have one thing in common; the SPL. They are the kind of suggestions that require no imagination.

With this calibre of candidate being actively promoted, it would be little surprise if Regan thought the search had run its course. The fan fury at such a lot order appointment would have been merciless. Better that someone else takes that flak.

No wonder he didn’t think the job worth fighting for.

A Shambles Over Hampden And A Decision He No Longer Has To Take.

With the association thinking about moth-balling Hampden, this is a good time for Regan to get out. The decision will cost millions either way. If they stay at the National Stadium they will have to find a way to off-set the costs. If they go, their credibility is shot.

I personally don’t care what happens with Hampden, just so long as Scotland games and cup semis and finals don’t end up shared between Celtic Park and Ibrox. That would be a travesty, and the idea that Celtic fans would gladly troop to Sevconia is ridiculous. I don’t know one who would be in favour of that. Take the games to Murrayfield; that will preserve neutrality and remove the centre of football power in this country from Glasgow.

That can only be a positive thing.

But take that decision and both Celtic and Sevco will not be happy. The clubs made a disgraceful “joint bid” to take the games; one of the only positive things Regan has ever done was when his board knocked that bid back. With him gone there may be pressure to revisit the option; I sincerely hope not. If it’s Murrayfield both those clubs – and their media lackeys – would have flayed Regan for giving up our national ground to the SRU.

Stay at Hampden and it makes all the talk sound like a ludicrous bluff.

Regan must have been dreading that announcement either way.

The SFA Has A Massive Decision To Make On Licensing Sevco For European Football.

Sevco is in violation of UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations.

This is not in dispute by a single person, except for a few hold-outs in the media and their fan forums. It is possible that they could offset some of the losses by a debt-for-equity swap, but as that hasn’t been done yet it does not help their position. Those losses make them ineligible.

Stewart Regan was never going to properly rule on that.

He bows to the Ibrox club at every challenge.

Nobody would have trusted him to challenge them on this issue, but sooner or later UEFA itself would have made it impossible not to. He may have attempted a corrupt fudge, but sooner or later his arm would have been bent by pressure from the only people able to apply it and know they could get a result.

Regan would have had to tell Sevco it was being sanctioned. I would imagine there are few things that would scare him more. He would also have been made to watch over them, to make sure they were complying. That would have meant real scrutiny … or the SFA might soon have found itself facing scrutiny of its own.

Regan would have walked before having to do any of this.

He has no backbone whatsoever.

He knew something like this was coming down the pipe. We all do.

The SFA Has To Make A Massive Decision On Revoking Dave King As Fit And Proper.

Regan is facing another major challenge involving the club at Ibrox; he would soon have had to make a major ruling on whether or not Dave King’s fit and proper person status should be revoked. Again, this is something that should have been done already; Regan and the SFA bottled out of one of the most important decisions they had to take.

King has brought scandal and disgrace to a club that already had enough of it.

That he was allowed to take the reigns there was always going to heap further shame on the association; it is no surprise at all to find him facing court appearances after having breached a Takeover Panel order. That decision, in violation of a regulatory body, should already have resulted in his appearing before the beaks.

Before this month is out his latest “appeal” will have failed.

At what point does the SFA have to take this on?

At the point where the Takeover Panel and the City of London impose sanctions on him, and they will, whatever a court decides. The court dates are not about a verdict; that verdict has already been given. They are about seeking an enforcement order.

City of London sanctions, including the Cold Shoulder, make it impossible for King to stay on the board at Ibrox. And if he goes, then the business plan – the so-called business plan – is null and void. There will be questions, and issues, for the SFA either way.

This does not have a happy ending.

This in itself could have ended Regan’s career in disgrace.

No wonder he was not in any mood to carry on fighting.

Resolution 12 Would Have Ended His Career Anyway. In Disgrace. In Scandal.

Regan will not be in office to see the final end to one of the worst scandals in which he was involved; the one regarding Resolution 12, where the SFA’s own culpability has been clearly established and where our club has a case for saying we were cheated out of a lot of money.

This issue is in the hands of the Compliance Officer … a lot of us wonder if anything will ever come of it, but that is largely the SFA’s worry.

The matter won’t rest.

They are up to their necks in that scandal.

If there is a cover-up Celtic has the legal right to move that to another forum. Don’t make the mistake of thinking we won’t; this is not an issue the club can ignore. This matter was raised by its own shareholders and there is a legal and fiduciary responsibility to them to pursue it as far as possible.

Regan is “conflicted” in that case.

From what I’ve heard, and as Celtic’s documentation proves, he has misled the club on the matter. Who knows what else the Requisitioners have discovered about his conduct in that affair? It is enough to have pricked Celtic’s interest and has given us reason to keep this matter alive.

Regan would not have survived a full examination of the facts in that case.

If he did not know Rangers were in clear violation at the time he did not long afterwards. He kept their secret. He bent the rules. He might have convinced himself that what he did was for the right reasons, but that doesn’t fly in a tribunal.

Regan Jumped Before He Was Pushed, But It Was The Cowards Way Out Nonetheless.

Regan did not quit because he wanted to go. The man is arrogant enough to have wanted to keep that job, but he had no answer to the swirl of scandal that was coming his way. He has left quite the shambles for his replacement to clear up.

The SFA cannot fudge these issues. Three of them involve Sevco, but all are going to have to be tackled. There cannot be another inside job here; whoever takes this on has to be someone who was hired in an open process, someone who comes in to do the job right. The legacy Regan has left will have to be answered for in an inquiry; nobody who was opposed to that inquiry should be involved in choosing his replacement.

That rules out those at Hibs, and at Aberdeen.

I do not envy the next person to sit in Regan’s office, but that person will be hired on the basis that he or she is professional enough to deal with these matters fairly and justly. The paramount factor will be the good of the game, and not just one club.

We’re looking for one brave and principled individual.

This time, the Scottish game had better get one.

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