Campbell Ogilvie is enjoying life on the UEFA gravy train as a match-day delegate!
Last week he performed that role at the second leg of the Bayern Munich v Atletico Madrid Champions League semi final.
The former SFA president, who Stewart Regan described as heavily conflicted, stepped down from his Hampden post a year ago and now enjoys the perks of first class travel and accommodation to ensure fair play across Europe.
Ogilvie signed up Tore Andre Flo and Ronald de Boer onto the Discounted Option Scheme which became known as The Wee Tax Case. Details of the payments made to both players were withheld from the tax and football authorities.
Among the duties of a match delegate they have to report on improper conduct of teams and racist conduct of players and fans.
In 1999 after Lorenzo Amoruso was caught on television racially abusing Victor Ipkeba of Borussia Dortmund Ogilvie said: “This was certainly a case of the player making remarks at a tense point in the match and deeply regretting his actions afterwards.”
After the match Amoruso denied making racist comments which came to light after UEFA called in a lip reading expert.
Ogilvie was widely regarded as one of the greatest administrators in the game with a deep knowledge of the rules of the game- until the Ibrox EBT scandal came to light. After that all contractual matters were dealt with by David Murray with Ogilvie portrayed as a lovely guy and executive pen pusher.
In March 2012, shortly after Rangers (IL) went into administration Ogilvie explained his role stating: “In light of comments by Sir David Murray, and the ongoing speculation surrounding my role as president of the Scottish FA and my previous employment as a director of Rangers FC, I would like to take this opportunity to clarify the following points.
“I was aware of the EBT scheme in operation at Rangers during my time at the club and, indeed, was a member. The existence of the scheme was published in Rangers’ annual accounts. My role at Rangers, until the mid-90s, included finalising the paperwork for player registrations.
“As confirmed by Sir David Murray , it was never my role to negotiate contracts during my time at Rangers. It is also worth noting that, since the mid-90s, I was not responsible for the drafting or administering of player contracts.
“I ceased being company secretary in 2002 and became general secretary responsible for football strategy, in effect becoming the main point of contact between the club and the respective league and governing bodies.”
As the point of contact between the club and the football authorities Ogilvie withheld details of payments to players and staff through the Discount Options Scheme and Employee Benefit Trusts. Before leaving Ibrox he received a £95,000 EBT which he described as enough for a good night out.
In March 2015 Ogilvie failed in a bid to be voted onto UEFA’s Executive Committee coming in eleventh out of twelve candidates for six places for the prestigeous post.
With the heavily conflicted Ogilvie given Champions League responsibilities, despite his chequered background, the credibility of UEFA is tarnished even further.