In true SFA fashion Ian Maxwell said farewell to Partick Thistle as Livingston took their place in the SPFL Premiership, when he spoke to the media at Hampden on Tuesday there wasn’t the slightest spark of original thought or hope of a new beginning.
Replacing the disgraced Stewart Regan should offer the chance to make a real impact on the game but in his first week as Chief Executive he kept a low profile while Dave King launched the Gary Hughes grenade.
Maxwell’s workload is plentiful with a misguided jaunt to Peru and Mexico the least of his worries as he takes on a job that would stretch the most able administrator in the game.
A fortnight ago the Compliance Officer finally got around to dealing with the 2011 UEFA licence issued to Rangers (IL) despite plenty of public evidence that HMRC were owed £2.8m.
Ironically the debt had accrued from the unregistered payments made to Tore Andre Flo and Ronald de Boer that went unpunished by the SFA and SPL.
The Notice of Complaint was issued on Sevco who inherited the footballing debts and issues of the club in liquidation through the secretive Five Way Agreement.
The real culprits are inside Hampden, on the payroll of the SFA.
Under the guidance of former President Campbell Ogilvie various SFA officials failed to get documentation that the debt was under review. It was overdue, according to UEFA regulations that made Rangers (IL) ineligible to play in European football for the 2011/12 season.
There were three main losers from this failure to operate the rules.
Her Majesty, Celtic and every club in Scotland.
Knowing that no proper questions would be asked by the SFA, Rangers ignored the tax bill, signed new players, gave improved contracts to Allan McGregor, Steven Whittaker and Steve Davis hoping that reaching the Champions League group phase would provide the funds to pay HMRC.
After losing to Malmo, HMRC sent Sheriff Officers down Edmiston Drive.
Celtic were denied the chance to compete in the Champions League qualifiers by a club that ignored HMRC, stuffed millions into offshore accounts for players and refused to declare payments made to players to the SFA and SPL.
Had Celtic qualified for the group phase of the Champions League every SPL club would have picked up a £300,000 payment. With the money from the Champions League Celtic have spent more than £2m on Jonny Hayes and Jack Hendry over the past 12 months.
Time is against Maxwell in his new job.
He can decide to back the network of blazers inside Hampden or bring in transparency and accountability- even apply the laws without fear or favour.
Retrospective action is required regarding 2011.
Sevco fall foul of UEFA regulations for next season’s UEFA competition.
If the Ibrox club are in the draw for the Europa League first round qualifiers there could be serious questions coming Maxwell’s way from UEFA.
The new man at Hampden has until Thursday to decide on whether to apply the rules or not. If he chooses to ignore he’d be as well slipping on Regan’s mask as well as his blazer.
