A year after telling Celtic to move on for the sake of Scottish football Stewart Milne has called for a review of the Scottish game.
Shortly after backing his good friend Stewart Regan Aberdeen were rewarded by hosting Scotland’s international friendly against Holland.
Now after a couple of disciplinary decisions have gone against his club Milne wants a summit involving ‘stakeholders’ to look into the state of the national game.
In a statement issued this afternoon the housing tycoon claimed: “I very much feel there is genuine concern for the state of the game in Scotland at the moment. We simply must have consistency and transparency or we all, as Clubs, the SFA and the SPFL lose significant credibility and risk losing the fans who have been baffled by several of the outcomes arrived at recently.
“Without supporters there is no game and they, as we all do, deserve far more clarity and transparency than we have at present.
“There are so many positives in our game right now, from a great crop of top-class managers, to a very competitive Ladbrokes Premiership and two cracking Betfred Cup semi-finals to look forward to, yet conversations and news headlines seem to be dominated the several controversial decisions that have been arrived at, and we’re only just into October, without having a clear understanding of the process and the reasons these were arrived at.
“It’s imperative that we get everyone with a vested interest together, sooner rather than later, in order that future decisions can be clearly explained to the fans who must always be the main consideration.”
Perhaps if Milne had called for a review of the SFA a year ago his argument may have carried more credibility.
Every club in Scotland lost out by the SFA decision to award Rangers (IL) a licence to play in UEFA competition for the 2011/12 season.
After Celtic Aberdeen were the club that suffered most from playing against ineligible players during the so-called EBT players when Rangers (IL) denied HMRC money in order to field players that they couldn’t otherwise afford.
Aberdeen fans have been among the most critical of the SFA, now it seems that after a couple of dubious suspensions Milne feels that there are governance questions to be answered.
