Last night, just before the Celtic game, the SFA told BBC Scotland that they were happy for clubs, players and officials to discuss their concerns.
I was astonished reading that. I wondered if they’d withdrawn the citation against Steve Clarke, but of course they haven’t. What they are trying to do is make excuses for not bringing Gerrard up on a similar charge.
This is the SFA at its slippery worst. They treat people like mugs. The BBC reported that exchange without doing the slightest analysis on what it actually meant. It’s the governing body trying to slither off the hook. It’s more talk, to avoid having to take any action. Anyone who’s satisfied by that is not playing with a full deck.
The issue here is not the rulebook. The issue has never been the rulebook.
The issue here is that the rulebook is not fairly applied. It does not cover every club. Some clubs are penalised for everything they do, one club is rarely, if ever, penalised whatever it does. No-one is complaining about decisions arrived at fairly, and where there is consistency.
Decisions are not being arrived at fairly, and consistency applies only in that those at Sevco are consistently allowed to say and do whatever they like whereas others pay the consequences in full. That’s the problem, and no press release to smooth the waters is going to make a blind bit of difference to that.
As I said, people want action, not words and words are exactly what we’re being offered.
It’s a naked attempt to buy us off with flannel. There needs to be real transparency and reform. Are those on offer? No, what’s on offer is an invite to come round for tea and biscuits and be fobbed off with pitiful excuses. The SFA has no intention of reforming; instead it throws clubs a bone in the hope that some will bite, leaving others isolated.
It is classic “divide and rule” and it should not be allowed to work.
The SFA is under pressure here. It is up to the clubs to keep that pressure on.
They must not be bought cheaply with nothing but a form of words.
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