Ian Maxwell and the SFA are in the spotlight of Maddengate with the very serious claim that they aren’t fit for purpose.
For almost a year the SFA, led by the former Partick Thistle CEO, have been in contact with the Scottish Government and responsible for managing the bubble that has allowed football to resume and continue under the claim of being elite athletes.
Over the last 10 days the SFA agreed to send three part-time contractors to Athens involving four flights and at least a two nights hotel stay.
Not only was it approved as ‘elite athletes’ allowing the Quarantine Hotel check-in on return to be by-passed but either the SFA don’t have a competent system of testing or they use match officials who refuse to self-isolate in order to collect fees. If Bobby Madden and Graeme Stewart were regular employees it is unlikely they would have made the decisions that they did over the weekend.
David Roome tested positive on Tuesday. We know that Stewart travelled to Edinburgh on Saturday, did Madden and Stewart continue in their day jobs between Tuesday and Sunday night’s SFA statement? Are their co-workers self isolating?
Stewart was an assistant referee at Hibs v Hamilton on Saturday, Madden was on route to the Ross County match against Celtic when, three hours before kick-off, The Sun revealed that he had been dropped from the match.
If the Match Supervisor at Easter Road wasn’t aware that Stewart should have been self isolating it looks very like no-one at the SFA knew of the Roome positive test.
Last night the SFA issued a statement that was very vague. There seems to be no other conclusion than they have no worthwhile testing system with identification of close contacts, or, they have two match officials prepared to ignore the Law of the Land.
Maxwell apologised to Hamilton and Hibs last night. Ross County and Celtic are due explanations. Two weeks ago an untested referee had to be dropped at the last minute from taking charge of a match between Alloa and Queen of the South.
Are these the only instances of a breakdown in SFA protocols or like the u-19 international abandoned at half-time or the group tango in Serbia does the SFA think that they are above the Laws of the Scotland.
In November Ryan Christie was identified as a close contact of Stuart Armstrong and missed a club match. Kieran Tierney was also identified but Arsenal chose to play him, ignoring the SFA.