Stewart Regan has much more to answer for than chasing Craig Whyte for an unpaid fine dating back to 2012.
The SFA chief executive likes to congratulate himself on restoring the Old Firm rivalry after a four year break but his inactivity has put Scottish football in greater jeopardy than ever.
When Rangers failed to get a CVA agreed in 2012 it was the perfect opportunity for the SFA to crank up their procedures to ensure that Scottish football clubs were viable businesses rather than the circus act that has been uncovered during the Craig Whyte fraud trial.
Introducing the sort of Financial Fair Play regulations that operate elsewhere in the UK and in Europe wouldn’t have met with any resistance.
A club from Ibrox may have taken a year to emerge but on sound footing it wouldn’t have attracted the notoriety that has stalked Sevco since they were fast tracked into action at Brechin while Rangers were about to be placed in the morgue.
The folly of providing Charles Green with a licence has been multiplied by the red carpet treatment handed out to Paul Murray and Dave King with Alastair Johnston set to follow follow in their footsteps.
Critical to the whole governance issue is the UEFA licence granted to the old club for the 2011/12 season.
Numerous witnesses at the Whyte trial confirmed that the wee tax bill was overdue long before the 30 March 2011 deadline.
As directors King, Murray and Johnston knew that the licence application wasn’t valid since there was a £2.8m unpaid tax bill.
Football administrator Andrew Dickson would have been aware of that issue as well, Dickson is now on the Scottish FA Football Regulatory Advisory Group.
Resolution 12 won’t be going away, for the first time today Regan admitted that the licence could have been issued in error. Celtic were denied the opportunity to compete in Champions League qualifiers, handicapped for paying HMRC on time.
Until he gets King, Murray, Johnston and Dickson to explain their role in the 2011 licence application Regan has no chance of moving on no matter how often he congratulates himself.
When Sevco run out of cash this year or UEFA investigate their licence for this season Regan will be a central reason for the demise of the five year old club.
