Six years after their organisations created the Five Way Agreement Ian Maxwell and Neil Doncaster are discovering the consequences of that shameless document.
By ignoring warnings from HMRC and looking the other way when contracts for players like Barry Ferguson were being registered for £10,000/week the SFA and SPL allowed the Ibrox monster to grow out of control.
All for the benefit of marketing the great ‘Old Firm’ rivalry to television companies and ending up with a deal worth one hundredth of the country down the road with ten times the population.
While Celtic and every other club played by the book Rangers (IL) were pandered to at every turn with nice guy Campbell Ogilvie oiling the wheels with a firm handshake and rolled up trouser leg.
An attitude of doing everything possible to maintain a footballing challenge to Celtic has taken the SFA and SPFL to the very brink.
Any crook can put on a blazer and brogues and be welcomed inside Hampden. Dave King meets with the chief executive, Paul Murray and Andrew Dickson trawl the corridors, Dave Murray has never had any action taken or been served with a Notice of Complaint.
Now King is throwing mud in every direction.
After three years the Takeover Appeal Panel are closing in on him. Like HMRC they are based in London and don’t behave with the reverence of Scottish organisations to the second most important institution after the kirk.
If the SFA want to halt King’s wrecking ball they can reject his club’s UEFA licence application. And deal with the fall out- all that they have to do is publish the documents and highlight where they fall foul of UEFA.
If Dickson and a few SFA blazers have been performing gymnastics then they can exit in disgrace- without a pay off.
After six years of pandering to the tribute act the spoiled brat is biting the hand that has fed it.
Maxwell and Doncaster know what to do. It’s a decision that they can’t afford to get wrong if they want to remain on board the gravy train.
