Journalism and news reporting go hand in hand with leaks.
Sometimes it’s now called spin but basically it’s a leak when anonymous information becomes public without the original source being named.
Tonight’s news that Steven Craven has tendered his resignation to the SFA has been leaked to the stv website. The assistant referee’s resignation appears to have been rejected.
Will the SFA conduct an investigation to find out who leaked information that would only be known to a very select group of people?
Or is it a convenient leak from the ruling body to divert attention away from other matters?
In The Sun this morning the SFA were reported to be unhappy that news of a letter from Celtic complaining about the matters at the Dundee United-Celtic game had become public knowledge.
But who leaked the news to The Sun that the SFA were unhappy about the other leak?
New SFA Chief Executive Stewart Regan has certainly been given a baptism of fire and a crash course of the peculiar nature of Scottish football, the politics and issues that make it much more than a game.
Conducting an investigation into exactly what is going on within refereeing circles would be a good start- if Hugh Dallas had shown more interest in dealing with issues rather than self promotion this week the job of every official this weekend would be much simpler.
As Dallas basked in the limelight and attention every referee in Scotland can now expect to be forced into consulting with his assistant over every penalty box decision in case the assistant is better placed to make a decision.
Turning back to the issue of Craven news of his resignation adds fuel to the fires still burning from Tannadice. The SFA are reported to have turned down his resignation- will they force him in to handling matches?
He cold have quietly slipped down the pecking order and back to anonymity but clearly felt the need to offer his resignation if the stv story is to be believed.
Perhaps Craven feels that he’s been made the scapegoat for the incident as Dallas defends his mate Dougie and refuses to explain the events of Tannadice.
Neil Lennon has already contradicted Dallas’ view of what went on in the referees room after the match.
Could it possibly be that Craven wasn’t in a position to judge the penalty incident and unwittingly found himself put up as the fall guy after McDonald decided to change his mind?
Perhaps Craven will break ranks and finally give an alternative version of what really happened at Tannadice…
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Hopefully Steven Craven does get the chance to tell his side of the story. As can be clearly seen at the penalty incident, he had taken up the correct position for a penalty. Very strange then it was his decision to then cancel the penalty this decision stinks of a cover up.
Craven has form. As I understand it he’s a self confessed Rangers fan. He was responsible for disallowing a perfectly good goal the Hamilton scored against Rangers recently.
Even Mc Donald could not have concocted such a scenario without at least the connivance of Craven. Can anyone imagine a situation where the shoe was on the other foot and official who openly supported Celtic had connived with a well known Rangers supporting referee to chalk of a perfectly clear penalty for Rangers.
Not only would their been a hue and cry but both of them would have served in prison for corruption.
The SFA? what would expect form a pig but a grunt. Hopefully they’ll not be able to defy us again on Sunday after last years litany of ‘honest mistakes.’