Almost a decade ago Paul McBride ran rings around the SFA.
Whatever charge they tried to hit Neil Lennon with, Celtic’s QC had the answer with George Peat and his dinosaurs forced to tear up their rule book and start again.
McBride was revered by Celtic fans as he tackled the legislators without fear, standing up for the club against a number of charges that defied natural justice.
Tragically, in March 2012 McBride died during a trip to Pakistan with his loss badly felt as governance of Scottish football was called into question over various issues.
Delighted to have successfully represented Celtic captain Scott Brown in his case before the Scottish FA today – now looking forward to watching him play at the match tomorrow #Celtic #SFA #ScottBrown https://t.co/aYSAaw6gNv
— Nick De Marco QC (@nickdemarco_) April 26, 2019
Today a new legal name emerged as the SFA attempted to pin a bizarre charge of ‘not acting in the best interests of Association Football’ against Scott Brown.
The precise details of the charge remain unknown but into Hampden today Celtic produced Nick De Marco.
According to the website of London based Blackstone Chambers:
Nick is ranked as one of the leading barristers in Sports Law. He regularly acts for sports governing bodies, players, clubs, sponsors, broadcasters and agents. He is the ‘go to’ barrister in disputes in football in particular, whether commercial or regulatory. In addition to his busy sports practise, he practises in Commercial, Employment and Media law.
Nick is recognised as a leading individual in the latest editions of both the leading legal directories, Chambers UK 2019 and Legal 500 2018, for his expertise in sport and employment law.
Nick is authorised to accept instructions directly from lay clients through the Direct Public Access scheme.
Nick is a director of the British Association for Sport and the Law (BASL).
Brown will face Kilmarnock tomorrow as planned, the SFA will need to be surer than sure the next time they try to pin a charge against anyone from Celtic.
