Are the SFA scared to hit Brendan Rodgers with a disrepute charge?
More than two days after John Beaton was accused of incompetence the SFA are still deciding whether or not to hit Brendan Rodgers with a disrepute charge.
On Sunday Celtic host Livingston in the SFA Cup.
The match will be shown on the obscure Viaplay Sports channel with the catchy tag-line of Scottish Gas Men’s Scottish Cup.
A year ago under the dynamic leadership of Neil Doncaster and Ian Maxwell the Scottish Football Marketing division was set up with the Scottish Gas Men’s Scottish Cup their first success story…
That was after they shifted last season’s Scottish Cup Final to a 5.30pm kick -off with the bizarre claim that the match would now attract a television audience from England. Even having it for free BBC only showed it in Scotland with a gardening show getting the full network treatment.
With blazers like Maxwell, Rod Petrie and Crawford Allan living life under a veil of secrecy it is hardly surprising that respected commercial operations keep a distance away from Scottish football.
After waiting four years to introduce VAR and taking best practise from elsewhere they have come up with a shambles dominated by the Lanarkshire Refereeing Association with some assistance from their branches in Renfrew, Ayrshire and Glasgow. Sunday’s match between Hearts and Celtic was a classic.
With little media interest from elsewhere and cynicism from social media swamping out the feel good stories fed to legacy media the SFA could do with every possible asset to back their flagship competition.
Even Neil Lennon and Graeme Souness spent Monday’s round of stage managed media conferences expressing their contempt for most aspects of Scottish football, governed by the people that they were taking a fee from.
As much as they detest him, Rodgers and his club provide Scottish football with some profile, attention. TalkSport discuss him, he is on Sky Sports News, google isn’t required to find out the background of the Celtic manager.
If the SFA want to hit Rodgers with a Disrepute charge for calling out John Beaton there are two consequences.
Previewing the Livingston match for the media Rodgers gives his defence, highlights the ‘inconsistencies’ of Beaton and shines a torch into the areas of the SFA that they prefer to protect. Or
Rodgers takes a step back, John Kennedy deals with all media matters around their showpiece match gets virtually no publicity or attention.
It looks like a lose lose situation for the SFA, the only certainty is that Maxwell and Allan won’t be open to interview from anyone capable of asking a searching question.
Hoping that everything will blow over is a forlorn wish, social media is on the case with no amount of placemen able to take attention away from the ‘honest mistakes’ led by Beaton and Robertson.
After being earmarked for the April 7 Glasgow Derby at Ibrox the weekend storm means that Beaton is likely to be watching from his favourite perch in the Crown Bar.