The SFA Has Brow-Beaten Sky And Walker. The Game Has Been Damaged By That.

Andy Walker and Sky have issued an apology to the SFA over the comments about referees which dominated yesterday’s news. The governing body has succeeded in browbeating a broadcast journalist and his employer because he presented crucial information which illuminated a major debate which the clubs are having over VAR.

As far as I’m concerned that’s the worst possible outcome to this.

The SFA hierarchy and our over-protected and thoroughly coddled referees continue to intimidate any organisation or individual who dares to question the way things work here.

The SFA doubtless believe that this is a victory.

But the game has been damaged by it and the governing body itself has been damaged by it.

Their scandalous response to this, and their closing of ranks, without presenting any context or giving the smallest bit of information to others who might have concerns shows them up in the worst possible light.

And clubs will remember that when the decisions as to whether to continue funding VAR are being made. All the SFA has accomplished here is make it more likely that some of the clubs will think this is no longer something they want to fund from their own pockets, and once the first domino falls all of them are going to go one after the other.

They have forced a grovelling apology from Walker, but that will not stop questions being asked. His comments cannot be airbrushed out of the narrative, they are there now and they are part of the record and the SFA isn’t even denying that they were said but shrieking that Walker himself had no right to disclose them. He had every right and he should have gone further.

In making him apologise they evidently think they can make this go away. But they can’t.

There is no putting this to bed now, especially as those comments look certain to go unexplained. Conspiracy theories will thrive. Distrust will only grow.

The SFA has done itself no favours here at all, they’ve made matters worse by their demand for secrecy.

How can an organisation run by people this stupid, this arrogant, continue to exert influence over the game here? Their handling of this treats the broadcaster, the journalist, the clubs and the fans like fools.

Their response suggests that the only people in the game who do have rights are the officials. But we’re only in this mess because they are hopeless, weak or corrupt in the first place.

It is not in our interests to carry on as normal.

If clubs vote to get rid of VAR we will look like a hopeless, hapless banana republic and that outcome has been made more, not less, likely by their handling of this affair.

Clubs who share Walker’s concerns are being fobbed off. Fans aren’t even considered worthy of explanations or even basic respect and thus the conditions for the next crisis are already in place.

We have officials who believe that they, and they alone, should not have to explain themselves to anyone. They are the only people in the whole game whose performances cannot be critiqued by clubs or managers. And yet they’re why we’re in the midst of a crisis in our game. This really cannot go on like this. Eventually this is going to come to a head.

And the SFA appears almost keen on it. So be it.