Stewart Regan has emerged from his Hampden bunker but refused to discuss the Supreme Court ruling against Rangers (IL) or the SPFL’s call for an independent review of Scottish football.
Regan had plenty to say to Alex Thomson of Channel 4 News after one verdict went in Rangers (IL) favour during the Big Tax Case but has been quietly spreading the no appetite/ time to move on message since the Supreme Court ruling.
With Andrew Dickson now a member of the SFA Congress while Paul Murray, Alastair Johnston back inside the Hampden tent Regan is keen to promote business as usual as he pushes for the gory days of the ‘Old Firm’.
After failing to even reach the play-off stages for the European Championships in 2012 and 2016 either side of a failure to reach the 2014 World Cup play-offs Regan is confident that Gordon Strachan’s faltering side are on the verge of reaching the World Cup Finals in Russia next summer.
With eight points from six matches Scotland are sitting in fourth place in Group F but Regan sees only good times ahead for the national side.
“We now go into an important double header against Lithuania and Malta knowing that a couple of strong results can put us in the mix for a play-off place,” he told the Daily Record.
“It would make the last two games against Slovakia and Slovenia really interesting. It’s an exciting time and we have players who want to be part of the squad and play for Scotland. Players want to play for Gordon. Scott Brown for example decided to come back and play.
“Gordon always gets himself up for the games, he’s always very passionate. He announced his squad this week and handled questions of that squad which were asked of him.
“He gave very well-positioned answers and I feel he is going into these games believing we can get the two results we crave.
“Let’s hope we can get those results and get back in the mix.”
Had Regan operated the UEFA licence system properly in 2011 Scottish football would be in a far healthier place.
Rangers (IL) failure to pay the Wee Tax Case of £2.8m could have gone either of two ways rather than being ignored to give them a chance of Champions League football at the expense of Celtic.
By paying the £2.8m to HMRC the Ibrox club may have been looked on more favourably by HMRC who eventually put the club into administration then liquidation.
Had the SFA refused the licence it might have alerted fans and ‘wealthy blue noses’ to the scale of the financial crisis allowing supporters to step in and save the club in the same way as fans from Livingston, Dundee, Motherwell, Hearts and Dunfermline did.
