Have the SFA admitted that they are incapable of regulating Scottish football?
Chief Executive Stewart Regan looked very uncomfortable being interviewed by Alex Thompson on Channel 4 news as the London-based broadcaster joined the dots on the financial problems at Rangers.
Before that report was broadcast it emerged that the SFA had sent out a letter to its 93 member clubs looking for them to admit to any wrong doing with regards to payments to players outwith their footballing contracts.
Whether it’s termed secondary contracts, shadow contracts, discretionary payments or anything else, all payments between clubs and players should be on the one contract with copies held by the SFA and SPL.
Next weekend sees the deadline for clubs to submit audited accounts to the SFA to allow them to play football next season. Any club that can’t submit accounts at least six months old (upto 30 September 2011) will not be allowed to compete in Europe next season.
Why the SFA needs to send out a letter basically requesting that clubs ‘grass themselves’ is a mystery.
In order to comply with UEFA regulations the SFA has its very own licencing committee chaired by Rod Petrie of Hibs. Amongst the other members of the seven strong committee are Michael Johnston of Kilmarnock and Andrew Dickson from Rangers.
While licensing and payments outwith contracts are separate matters it should be fair to assume that any club involved with making other payments to players would be refused a licence to represent the SFA in UEFA competition.
According to STV the SFA sent out a letter on March 9 giving clubs until April 6 to send “any written agreement(s) falling within the scope of Article 12.3 which has/have not previously been lodged with the Scottish FA in the previous ten years, in respect of any current or former players of your club.”
The SFA letter also requests that the reply includes “a declaration signed by the club secretary to the effect that your club has complied, without qualification, with the terms of this article at all times throughout the previous ten years.”
Article 12.3 of the Scottish FA’s articles of association says: “…all payments, whether made by the club or otherwise, which are to be made to a player solely relating to his playing activities must be fully recorded within the relevant written agreement with the player prior to submission to the Scottish FA and/or the recognised football body of which his club is in membership.”
With the UEFA licencing deadline looming and the prospect of Rangers going into liquidation the workings of the SFA are coming under greater scrutiny than ever.
Asking clubs to self regulate or report themselves for any breaches of the rules are likely to bring closer scrutiny from UEFA who haven’t been slow to deal with issues elsewhere such as Switzerland.
The Swiss FA were warned that if they didn’t punish Sion an international ban would be applied to their national team and clubs competing in UEFA club competitions.
If the SFA are unable to regulate the Scottish game it can only be a matter of time before UEFA decide to investigate for themselves.
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Just read this article about the SFA, letters to clubs and asking them to grass themselves up.
I then went on and clicked the link to read the blog about Minty moombeams, he done an interview with Jeff Randall at sky news. In it he freely admits using EBT’s.
My question is, was the use of these EBT’s submitted to the SFA when a copy of a new players contract was handed to the SFA?
David Murray has said that he was told by his accountants that there was no problem using the EBT system, so it was lodged with the SFA right? Also, it was so out in the open Campbell Ogilvie has said that he was paid through the system.
Would he have known that players were paid through EBT’s? He knew he was and he surely should have known that players were. So would it not seem a wee bit dodgy if a players contract came through to the SFA and EBT’s were not mentioned?
I nearly crashed when I heard the news on the radio this morning – giving all clubs an amnesty until a date in April to declare any secondary contracts not lodged with them in the last 10 years.
I’m exasperated by this, only ONE club has had a newspaper report on these contracts, only ONE club has it mentioned on a live radio phone in about using secondary payments, only ONE club has had an ex director CONFIRM this was the practice on print and on television, and only ONE club had had TWO ex directors (one the chairman and the other the secretary) admit to using EBT’s and what does the governing body? Investigate the claims which are a clear contravention of their rule book (and I believe UEFA and FIFA’s) with clear penalties inscribed in stone which describe how this should be dealt with – NO, they begin a process of whataboutery and blame spreading among all member clubs who have nothing whatsoever to do with any of the accusations.
Celtic and all the other decent clubs should demand a vote of no confidence in the SFA as they clearly do not have the b*lls to deal with this and are in danger of putting the whole of scottish football in dispute with UEFA and could have a major effect on club and national team involvement Europe and the world cup qualifiers next season and possibly years to come.
I’d hazard a guess that the SFA are either hoping that other clubs WILL be involved and then can sweep aside as a general warning or that they want to show they are being fair by checking ALL clubs and not just picking on Rangers.
Quite who they think will be stupid enough to admit guilt is beyond me. I doubt that Forfar or Elgin players are using offshore accounts 🙂
Simple enough…these are the rules, you break them then you pay the consequences.
I couldn’t believe what i was hearing when he was asked the questions. Talk about trying distance themselves from the problem (typical SFA) It looks clear that they wont be allowed to escape this time.
We have been telling everyone for years how dodgy they were but now the English media has got it’s teeth in hopefully they’ll keep hunting & naming those who are guilty.
I don”t see major concern here . Obviously the SFA have never asked for this information before .The complaint afterwards would eventually be by Rangers and the lackey media ,why are you not asking other clubs these things (read Celtic).
Once the replies are in it isolates Rangers even more. I don’t see any amnesty. If such a thing does take place then without a doubt UEFA will get involved .
The SFA are on the hook.
The SFA cannot be trusted,they will find a way to go easy on the govanites.Time to get UEFA involved.