Stewart Regan has revealed that personal abuse forced him off twitter during the summer of 2012.
After warning of social unrest if a club from Ibrox were to play in the lowest tier of Scottish football Regan was a co-author of the top secret Five Way Agreement with the new club formed by Charles Green.
Promises of accountability and transparency were ditched for a quick fix that left supporters questioning the value of a sport that seemed to be governed towards producing certain outcomes.
At the same time, rather than looking within, fans of the Ibrox club were fed a largely unchallenged diet of claims that their club had been harshly treated and victimised by the football authorities. Tell that to the 276 creditors.
Recalling those times in an interview with The Sun Regan said: “I’m always told not to get sucked in and involved but sometimes it is hard, especially when your kids are asking you who the idiot is abusing you.
“It’s not nice for them to read and see things like that. It’s social media so I can’t shield them from it either.
“After the summer of 2012 I took the decision to come off Twitter for a while because there was a lot of personal abuse.
“I have no problems with people criticising decisions I’ve made at work but when it becomes personal then I feel a line has been crossed.
“I’m back on Twitter now and I do enjoy the constructive debate you can have with some however, there are others on Twitter who merely use it as a vehicle to hurl abuse.
“It’s a rollercoaster job. You ride with the highs and you learn to live with the lows. That’s never going to change.
Personal abuse and threats are a complete no no but perhaps if the SFA were to publish the Five Way Agreement and the correspondence relating to the licence issued to Rangers (IL) in 2011 everyone would have a far greater understanding of Regan’s job at the SFA.
While Regan is the public fall guy he has the support and backing of almost all members including the major professional clubs who have rarely if ever challenged any of his decisions.
NOTE: Two weeks ago the Daily Record were calling for Regan’s resignation, by providing The Sun with exclusive interviews the relationship between Regan and the Record is likely to deteriorate.