The SFA banned Michael Stewart for less than maniac McCoist said today.

Last night, Michael Stewart was on BBC Sportsound, and he listed a number of incidents which he feels have gone against Hearts over the last few weeks.

Now, he is a Hearts fan. He played for Hearts. I understand why he is frustrated and angry. Nevertheless, some people might argue that comments like these are what got him banned from Hampden, because he has been so highly critical of the SFA and Scottish officials.

I am not one of those people.

When Michael Stewart has been critical, he has generally done it in a reasonable fashion. He has been harsh. He has been blunt. He has been persistent. But he has also tried to make arguments based on standards, processes and specific decisions.

Who can say the same about Ally McCoist?

McCoist is going around studios today using words like “corruption” and “scandal.” This is a guy with a history of stirring up hatred against people he does not particularly like. His famous list of names. His famous allegation that Celtic fans were behind a team bus getting torched. Now, apparently, we are behind the incompetence of John Beaton as well.

He says Celtic fans have a history with John Beaton, and that it is not good. He suggests that this may have played into Beaton’s decision-making. Please notice that he never, ever mentions Beaton’s own history, not with Ibrox fans, but as one.

It is very clear McCoist has a willing audience for this rubbish south of the border.

That is why I could not care less how much Jeff Stelling stamps his feet. I could not care less how much Gary Lineker stamps his feet. I could not care less how much the TalkSport panel talks about a corrupt game up here.

They have not done their homework.

They have no interest in doing their homework.

They are absolute charlatans when they talk about a subject like this without understanding the context, the history or anything else that actually matters.

So no, I do not care how long they cry or what they want to wail about. There are tainted titles in Scottish football history, but none won by Celtic. Isn’t it strange how none of those others ever becomes the subject of a big discussion and a controversy down there?

I do not think there is any question that McCoist is accusing people of cheating. He is not exactly hiding the subtext under layers of softer language. He is using words which do not merely imply, but allege, that the game up here has cheated people at Ibrox and Tynecastle.

As though, by the way, it was officials who put the Ibrox club in third place after four defeats in a row.

As though poor little Hearts, who have not conceded a penalty all season, are to be pitied as victims of some grand injustice.

It is absurd.

McCoist goes far beyond anything Michael Stewart has said or done. So I guess my question is simple: when does the SFA inform him that he is no longer welcome at the national stadium? When does it tell him he will no longer be commentating from Hampden on Scottish games?

When does the SFA tell him that his criticism of referees has gone so far beyond what Michael Stewart did that he is not to come back?

Or are there people at the SFA who are perfectly happy for McCoist to suggest that the entire governing body is corrupt, but unhappy when Stewart picks certain officials for criticism?

I find the double standard hard to take because it is hard to understand. If you are standing up for your refs, then stand up for them. Do it properly. Make sure this kind of criticism is stamped on hard.

Because this kind of criticism casts the integrity of the game up here into dispute. If McCoist is allowed to get away with that, then someone will have to explain what Stewart did that was so bad.

I profoundly disagree with what Stewart said last night. In the cold light of day, he might even be a little embarrassed by some of it. But Stewart at least maintains the veneer of professionalism. He at least tries to sound like someone offering, if not a neutral perspective, then certainly a balanced one.

Even when I disagree with him, I do not question his integrity or his motives in calling out certain things.

I do not want to have to go over McCoist again, because everyone knows what I think of him. Everyone knows what I think of that alleged cheeky-chappie persona, and how it hides someone incredibly bitter and, I would go as far as to say, bigoted.

This is a man who has admitted he would sing illegal songs and dared the authorities to arrest him. Songs, by the way, which now fall under the rubric of hate-crime legislation. Quite how anyone can take his comments particularly seriously, I do not know.

But the governing bodies should take them seriously.

Because he is accusing the entire game up here of being bent.

In a year where journalists are now being banned for daring to question referees, and not even their integrity but their basic competence, I would think the SFA would come down hard on that.

Or show its true colours once again.

Selective in its outrage.

Selective in its targeting.

Selective in who it chooses to punish.

Maybe I am wrong. Maybe they will surprise us. Maybe they will come out swinging. But I doubt it.

At the very least, they should give Michael Stewart a call this morning and tell him that he is no longer banned, acknowledging that there are people out there who have done much, much worse and who never will be.

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