Stewart Regan has gone. He has resigned as Chief Executive of the SFA, at today’s meeting of their board. He ought never to have been allowed to do so. He should have been sacked, publicly, his humiliation should have headlined every media outlet tomorrow. If the clubs agreed to let him go with dignity they have once again failed us.
Dignity is more than he should ever have been permitted.
Regan was a cancer on our national game. He was a corrupt charlatan. He might not have started out that way, but his grubby deals and scandalous back-room behaviour has ensured that he departs as the most despised inhabitant of the Hampden job in its history. He makes Jim Farry look like a model of probity and upstanding behaviour.
Nobody in the history of our national sport so allowed corruption and scandal to go unchecked. Nobody did more to damage its integrity or its reputation. That he will leave with any shred of his reputation intact does us more damage.
Some will say that it’s just good that he is gone; it does not serve Scottish football well that he has been allowed to dress this up as a moral act, of someone who knew the gig was up. And it doesn’t bear scrutiny either, because just last week he was vowing to go on.
However this is dressed up, he has jumped before he was pushed.
But it is a typical Scottish football farce that he was ever permitted to disguise his departure in this way.
When a moment like this comes in Scottish football, I would usually write a much larger piece as a farewell and as an obituary. Not this time. Regan has commanded enough of our attention, and the only time he should ever again be mentioned is when he appears in front of the inquiry Celtic now has to renew its demand for. If that means retroactively pulling his pension and any ounce of the reputation he has left then so be it.
Justice will not be done until that day comes.
Stewart Regan was a disgrace to Scottish football. He deserves no flowery accolades. He brought nothing. He sucked on the marrow of the bones of the sport. He drew sustenance from it like a leech on a fat arse. He departs disgraced, but shockingly not in disgrace.
He will neither be mourned nor missed.
The integrity of our sport was sacrificed so that he could cling to office as long as he has done.
I will mourn and miss that more.
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