CRO - Stewart Regan's Legacy as SFA Chief Executive and Serial Truth Avoider

[Zappa 0]

Article for CRO by yours truly... Stewart Regan's Legacy as SFA Chief Executive and Serial Truth Avoider

 

Having read Keith Jackson's Q & A session with the Scottish Football Association Chief Executive Stewart Regan on Friday I feel obliged to comment on the man and the subject of his tenure thus far at Scottish football's governing body.

 

Stewart Regan is a relatively clever chap and while I've been known to call him all sorts of pleasantries such as a muppet, a buffoon or an idiot, the fact of the matter (and credit where it's due) is that he certainly is not daft! It's actually specifically because I know he's not daft that I felt compelled to write this riposte as my first contribution to CRO after having been asked back in December.

 

I don't want to risk illegally slandering the man by accusing him of being a liar (even although I think he is one), so for the purposes of correctness here I'll just say that Stewart Regan is what I'd call a "serial truth avoider" and I come to that conclusion through the application of good old logical deduction. You see, as I've already said, I'm positive that he's not daft and I'm also certain that he's not in some sort of bizarre denial to himself, so very much like the famous Ostrich myth he's not burying his head in the sand.

 

That leads me to the logical and perfectly obvious conclusion that what we witness from Regan is a man who callously, deliberately avoids the truth and tries to paint it in a favourable light rather than just being honest and telling it as it really is. He may not be telling outright lies, but let's not beat about the bush here, neither is he just a man who is economical with the truth. He knowingly avoids the stark cold reality of the truth and if he has to address it, he twists it and tries to paint it into a nice glossy picture as if he were polishing one of his very own turds and trying to sell it as something of value on Ebay.

 

Where's the integrity in that coming from the chief of last summer's sporting integrity gang? Not only was this "truth avoider" Stewart Regan the cheerleader and default spokesman of last year's "integrity" gang hammering Rangers with freshly invented rules not yet written down and trumped up charges, but as SFA CEO he's overseen and been in charge of matters where Rangers and even Charles Green personally, have been battered for supposedly "bringing the game into disrepute".

 

I hope like myself, you're all seeing the irony & hypocrisy I'm alluding to here and like myself, not finding it particularly funny. How can a man who doesn't tell the truth as it should rightfully be told still have a tenable position as the Chief Executive of the Scottish Football Association? His continued employment in the job as SFA Chief Exec puts the SFA in a very awkward position indeed because how can the SFA support and talk about the concept of "sporting integrity" as well as dish out charges (including fines) of bringing Scottish football into disrepute all while employing Stewart Regan, a man who doesn't tell the truth?

 

Stewart Regan knows fine well that his tenure so far at the SFA has been a complete disaster. He knows fine well that he's presided over the biggest SFA shambles and scandal that Scottish football has ever seen. He knows fine well that he's overseen the introduction of inconsistent and unfair disciplinary procedures and I'd hazard an educated guess he also knows fine well that these absurd reconstruction plans are not only completely crazy, but ill-conceived and badly timed.

 

Of course Stewart Regan not only continually and vehemently denies any wrongdoing, but astonishingly, he actually tries to convince journalists and the readerships of their articles that in fact he has done an excellent job. Well, he hasn't convinced me and I doubt if very many people out there who read this consider him as having done an excellent job. In fact public opinion on his tenure at the SFA so far is surely quite to the contrary.

 

I don't think very many of us out here in the real world consider Stewart Regan wasting money on independent decision making processes and inconsistent disciplinary systems anything other than disgraceful when money is such a rare commodity in Scottish football and in life in general during difficult economic times. Regan on the other hand, tries to convince us all that these money wasting experiments are some of the many good things he's done during his couple of years at Hampden.

 

Regan's exact words in the Record Q&A were "We’ve dismantled the old committee structure, revolutionised the disciplinary system, delivered a new performance strategy, opened seven new performance schools and now we’ve helped to deliver unity between the SPL and SFL.".

 

Revolutionised the disciplinary system indeed? Well that's one way to put it, but I doubt if there's very many football lovers in Scotland who would word it that way. Wasted money turning Scottish Football's disciplinary system into an inconsistent, shambolic laughing stock would be significantly more accurate.

 

In the Record Q&A Regan also said 'I would say I’ve delivered more in the last two years than the Scottish FA delivered in the previous two decades".

 

That may actually be so due to everything that's been happening and all the changes going on, but how much of it has been change for the good, change for the betterment of Scottish football? I think Regan needs somebody to explain the concept of quality over quantity to him. I also think Regan should have taken a big fat marker pen to the McLeish Report and scored out anything that came into the "if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it" category, but that would have been easy and would have saved money, two concepts the SFA during Regan's tenure don't seem willing or able to grasp.

 

Anyway, I've made a small list of what I think many of us will remember as Stewart Regan's legacy as Chief Executive of the SFA when he eventually does the dignified thing, shows some integrity and admits that his position is no longer tenable. I'm sure it's not complete, but it's what came to mind off the top of my head:

 

• out-sourcing decision making processes to independent parties (which effectively takes money straight out of the game).
  
• installing an inconsistent and thus unfair disciplinary system.
  
• catastrophic national team failure and failure to act quickly enough regarding the manager's position.
  
• failure to keep the SPL's power-brokers in line.
  
• letting the SPL govern Scottish football even when they're willing to damage Scottish football to serve their own agenda.
  
• unprecedented, mishandled and over-zealous treatment of a football club which suffers an administration event.
  
• trying to re-write the rule book for the purposes of serving an agenda against Scotland's most successful club.
  
• failing to deal with Rangers transfer of SFA membership in an appropriate and timely manner when it shouldn't have been an issue.
  
• using the transfer of SFA membership as a mechanism to blackmail Rangers into accepting unprecedented sanctions.
  
• failure to bring Scotland's biggest and most successful club to the discussion table regarding reconstruction talks.
  
• slamming Rangers and our CEO with disrepute charges when Regan himself should be charged with bringing the game into disrepute.
  
• taking a ride on the "sporting integrity" bandwagon during the Rangers witch-hunt when he has shown zero integrity himself.
  

 

His constant attempts to try to absolve himself of responsibility by avoiding or whitewashing over the truth of these matters simply prove that Stewart Regan is a serial truth avoider, perhaps even a liar. One way or another, this man's P45 is long overdue and it's about time the SFA did the honourable and sensible thing by requesting his resignation. After all, his position certainly is not tenable and so for the good of sporting integrity, he must be asked to leave or else be forcibly removed.

Edited January 14, 2013 by Zappa

[Stimpy 0]

Here's mine on CRO:

 

Scottish Football thrives on drama, drama which feeds the relentless frenzy. Facts matter little and nor does any sense of pragmatism. We have become accustomed to rumour, familiar with conjecture and well acquainted with hyperbole.

 

The easiest thing to do is blame the media who are without doubt worthy of some criticism in the spreading of misleading information. Indeed, if they carried out their duties, then most of this soap-opera-style reporting would never reach our breakfast tables.

 

Ed's note: Their new logo is such an affront

to design I couldn't include it here.

 

The real issue though goes beyond the media. One of football’s oldest organisations has plummeted to new depths in recent times. The Scottish Football Association’s failure to rejuvenate our national game, protect one of its oldest members (yes, protect) or even adhere to its own rules is there for all to see. In fact, it’s undeniable.

 

The SFA has recently become a parody of itself: unable to lead, organise, show any form of integrity, or just function with some level of dignity. When such an organisation fails, who do we look to for guidance and leadership?

 

Yes, that's right, the Chief Executive. In this case we have Stewart Regan. The man from the world of cricket rather likes talking himself up and blindly ignoring any negatives. In the past week alone for example Mr Regan has desperately tried to go on the charm offensive. He persistently praised himself, listed his apparent achievements and described how he faced challenges and overcame them. The truth however seems to have been lost in translation.

 

Let’s briefly look at Stewart Regan’s comments in the written media, starting of with a piece in the Daily Record.

 

In this interview he brushed aside criticism like it was a completely groundless accusation. There was no mention of walking out on a meeting with the Rangers Fans’ Working Group; why he blackmailed Charles Green with an ‘unlawful’ transfer embargo; the sacking although continued employment of Craig Levein; the inept performance of the national team; the social networking behaviour of an adolescent teenager.

 

Speaking of which, do you remember his Twitter account? Mr Regan, the man who preached to us about transparency, blocked countless Rangers fans for having the audacity to ask reasonable and relevant questions yet continued to converse with Celtic fans despite their use of the sectarian term ‘Hun’. (And that little bit about favouring Jig hung from a tree.)

 

Have I forgotten to mention that our national game’s first ever referees’ strike was on his watch? Of course only “one club," as many were advised to report, ever complained and they were allowed to do so unchallenged. They didn’t just question the competence of the officials, they went as far as to question their integrity. The men in the middle were subsequently left to rot. To add insult to injury the SFA, under the guidance of Stewart Regan, recruited foreign referees. Talk about being spineless.

 

Now let’s look at this short interview from The Sun. It doesn’t disappoint.

 

I should perhaps warn you, if you do indeed follow the link above then the chances are you’ll either despair at the contradictions or cry. But this following quote is relevant:

 

“The SFA can’t be seen to be dealing with Rangers in one way and other members in another way and that frustrates Charles simply because of the profile of Rangers.”

 

I must say Mr Regan, I am very glad to hear this. You see, you already have treated Rangers differently. Just think back to August, it was not that long ago. Yup, is it coming to you? Nearly there? Nope?! Okay, I will jog your memory for you.

 

Just before the season started you blackmailed Rangers FC by imposing a transfer embargo deemed “unlawful” by the Court of Session in Edinburgh. Yes, that’s correct, a sanction deemed to be illegal. Are you hearing me correctly? Unlawful!

 

Now, you can talk yourself up until you are blue in the face however the facts do not lie. Mr Regan, you are an abomination of a CEO and quite frankly the worst thing ever to happen to our game. Ever since you darkened the door of our national stadium our game has been tarred with bigotry, corruption and sheer negligence.

 

You may well be wondering quite why I said that Mr Regan failed to ‘protect’ one of Scottish Football’s oldest members. Well, as matter of public knowledge, the SFA Chief Executive was fully aware that Craig Whyte wasn’t fit for purpose as far back as October 2011. He disgracefully refused to take action until we were at our lowest ebb, almost at the point of no return.

 

Why did he wait to we were defenceless? I suppose I’ll leave that up to you.

 

Our game will never move forward while we allow such incompetence and corruption to reign supreme. Mr Regan and his cronies are completely unfit for purpose. It’s about time they were removed.

[aweebluesoandso 290]

Two good and accurate accounts of the disastrous tenure of Mr Liar Liar Regan.

[RANGERRAB 3,387]

every day we are told (by the likes of bill mcmurdo) this cabal(regan,dumbcaster etc) will fall. when will that be? next month? next year? when?

[kuznetsov 0]

every day we are told (by the likes of bill mcmurdo) this cabal(regan,dumbcaster etc) will fall. when will that be? next month? next year? when?

 

they are not going anywhere mate.

[RANGERRAB 3,387]

they are not going anywhere mate.

 

They certainly seem to be here for the long haul(unfortunately) while scottish football lurches from one problem to the next (celtic excluded of course)

[Darthter 542]

I think Jonathan Watson's New Year only an Excuse sketch with Craig Whyte would fit Rhegan perfectly (adapted to suit...):

 

"I said I would make Scottish football history....I have.....it is!!!"