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The shadow of suspicion grows over the SFA

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MCLEAN STEVEN bbcFour days of silence and hoping that it will go away has left the SFA in a bigger mess than they were in when Steven McLean blew the final whistle at Hampden on Sunday.

As an exercise in how not to handle a crisis it has managed to overtake the SPFL’s botched attempt to stagger the final round of fixtures in The Championship.

If there is one characteristic that most fans would use to describe the highest levels of the SFA and the refereeing fraternity it’s arrogance.

From the three officials that apparently saw nothing of Josh Meekings handball to the bizarre comments of John ‘for a millisecond Steven was unsighted’ Fleming through to Stewart Regan at the top of the house the entire handling of things has been an utter disaster.

It can only be presumed that there was dialogue between Celtic and the SFA in the 24 hours between the match finishing and the club publishing a statement about their request for an explanation.

The hard of thinking and easily deluded immediately jumped on the conspiracy bandwagon but that vehicle is in the ownership of those that believe the liquidation of their club in 2012 was the result of a cunning plan hatched by Peter Lawwell, Glasgow City Council, SFA, SPL, Lloyds TSB and the Vatican.

After getting no reasonable reply from the SFA Celtic had to go public about their concerns- in doing so they have uncovered an utterly chaotic system where no-one takes blame or shows responsibility.

Either Regan or Fleming should have taken control on Monday morning. A statement that the SFA were disappointed with the refereeing performance in the Celtic v Inverness Caley Thistle match and were taking actions to deal with the matter would have taken much of the sting out of the issue.

With every passing hour and day that the SFA are unable to answer Celtic’s question so the suspicions grow.

Even if the SFA were to come out today and say that Steven McLean and Alan Muir had fallen short of the standards expected of them the question will be why did it take them five days to come up with that answer.

Whatever the outcome of the latest debacle the blame comes back to the clubs who elect everyone into power at the SFA and do next to nothing about bringing about change at the end of season AGM.

The club that proposes that all referee reports are published on the SFA website three hours after a match is bound to be met with support. Reading the reports from the referee and his supervisor will go a long way towards avoiding a repeat of this week’s events. Where available, such as in semi-finals and finals, the audio between the officials could also be published.

Until a club or director comes up with a blueprint to overhaul the workings of the SFA disciplinary and refereeing departments the only certainty is that the echoes of Dougie Dougie will continue to surface every couple of years.

If the end of Campbell Ogilvie’s term as president doesn’t prove the catalyst for change it’s doubtful if the SFA will ever embrace the concept of transparency.

Is there an individual somewhere within the Scottish game capable of pushing for change?

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