Will the SFA hit King with disrepute charge?
Defending their decision to approve the South African based criminal as a Fit and Proper Person to be a director is going to be quite a challenge, for good measure Mr King sat on the board of Rangers (IL) as they went into administration followed by liquidation.
Yesterday’s rant, three days after his club had appealed for Scottish football to move on, puts the Sevco chairman in direct conflict with the SFA’s Rule 86 which states ‘a football official shall not act in any manner which is improper or use threatening, abusive, indecent or insulting words or behavior’.
For the avoidance of doubt, despite what Mr King may be getting told by the fan groups he holds so dearly, not one club or official in the Scottish game has commented on Her Majesty’s victory in The Big Tax Case.
Come December 3 that may change but as things stand no one has said a word, as an old song Mr King may have sang in his childhood states ‘no not one’.
The more suspicious bampots out there interpreted yesterday’s rant as a rallying call to galvanise the deluded as administration beckons for the club that Mr King has failed to invest a penny in.
Various attempts to provoke Mike Ashley into calling in his £5m loan have failed to get the desired response, big Mike won’t take the rap when the administrators gather in the blue room of dignity to measure up assets against liabilities.
Rule 86: A recognised football body, club, official, Team Official, other member of Team Staff, player, match official or other person under the jurisdiction of the Scottish FA shall, at all times, act in the best interests of Association Football . Furthermore such person or body shall not act in any manner which is improper or use any one, or a combination of, violent conduct, serious foul play, threatening, abusive, indecent or insulting words or behaviour.
In desperation, yesterday, fuelled by the paranoia of fan groups, Mr King exploded into action claiming: “It is extraordinary that representatives of other Scottish clubs – who admit the damage done to Scottish football by Rangers’ removal from the Premier League – should even wish to re-engage with this issue.
“It is time those individuals, who represent other clubs, recognise their legal and fiduciary responsibilities to their own clubs and shareholders rather than submit to the uninformed ramblings of a few outspoken fans to whom attacking Rangers is more important than the wellbeing of their own clubs.
“This is a misguided attempt (that will ultimately fail) to rewrite history and defeat Rangers off the park when their teams could not do so on the park at the time. The history of many other clubs would have to be rewritten if this illogical argument was to be consistently applied.
“Having reviewed documentation that has become available to me I believe that Rangers was harshly and, in some instances, unfairly treated in the period leading up to demotion from the Premier League. However, that is now history and I have publicly stated, with the full support of the recently installed board, that we wish to put the past behind us and move on in partnership with all clubs throughout Scotland to improve and restore the image and quality of Scottish football as a whole. This will be to the benefit of all clubs.
“For the avoidance of doubt, however, I wish to make one point clear. If the history of our Club comes under attack we will deal with it in the strongest manner possible and will hold to account those persons who have acted against their fiduciary responsibilities to their own clubs and to Scottish football.
If the SFA fail to charge Mr King with bringing the game into disrepute they will leave the door open for others to throw about wild unsubstantiated allegations that can only harm the game.