Derek Johnstone: It has been a shambolic week for Scottish football…

[ian1964 10,613]

and it won't get better with the SFA and SPFL in charge.

 

IT has been another incredible week in Scottish football and three major incidents have shown our game up once again.

 

It all started with the SFA – the governing body and the people who run Scottish football.

 

The situation with the Scottish Cup tie between East Kilbride and Celtic was farcical. It is a tie that might never happen again and, less than a fortnight before the game, they still didn’t have a venue.

 

You would have thought before they announced it was to be played at New Douglas Park they would have made sure the stadium was available and confirmed it with all relevant parties.

 

But then you get Hamilton coming out a few days later and saying it can’t be played there because they have other things on and won’t change their plans.

 

The SFA were rightly hammered for the fall-out and it is only after a meeting the next day that it was finally sorted that the game will be played at Airdrie.

 

These are the people who run our game, and they made a complete and utter mess of hosting a high-profile tie in their flagship competition.

 

If that wasn’t bad enough, then the SPFL prove their incompetence and leave St Johnstone furious over the ticket allocation for their League Cup semi-final with Hibernian at Tynecastle.

 

St Johnstone were told that if they sold their initial allocation then would be given an extra 500 in the Main Stand, but when they asked for them they were told they couldn’t get them due to security concerns and the police.

 

To make matters worse, the SPFL then go and give the tickets to Hibs fans instead.

 

So, at a neutral venue, Hibs have three stands and St Johnstone have one. Where is the fairness there? It was a shambles and the SPFL handled it really badly.

 

Then to top it all off on Monday night we have Andy Halliday sent off for celebrating a goal. Andy was bemused by the decision and Rangers were rightly furious.

 

He was walking towards his own fans, he was in the middle of the park and all he did was raise his arm with a clenched fist. There was no offensive gesture, no raising his fingers.

 

But then the linesman decides he has to bring it to the referee’s attention and Andy ends up being booked and therefore sent off.

 

I watched Sky Sports the next day and all the pundits couldn’t believe what they were watching. It was a laughable decision. But, in Scottish football we just accept it. It is nothing new for us.

 

Those three things really showed up Scottish football this week and we wonder why fans are staying away in their droves from the game.

 

When the SFA, the SPFL and the referees are all making a complete mess of it, you have your answer.

 

These three events made Scottish football a laughing stock once again and we need to do something about it or our game will get worse and worse.

 

We don’t have the people at the top to take Scottish football forward, and our referees aren’t good enough.

 

The SPFL is made up of the clubs and they are the ones making the decisions, but they are being taken for their own benefits. Three or four clubs run Scottish football.

 

People in power here are looking after the interests of their club, not of Scottish football and we are letting ourselves down badly. There is nobody strong enough at the top, there is no leadership in Scottish football.

 

We need new people at the top at Hampden and the SPFL have got to get a grip. Look at someone like Ann Budge. What an impact she has had at Hearts.

 

But she tries to get onto the SPFL board and is turned down because they have their own clique there and they don’t want anyone new in.

 

Stewart Robertson, the Rangers Managing Director, is the same. He did really well at Motherwell and knows the game inside out. He tries to get on and it was ‘sorry, you are not in either’.

 

That is the petty mindedness that we have got on the SPFL board. We need the right people on the board that will help Scottish football, not who are looking after themselves. Doing the best for your club is not doing the best for our game.

 

We need all the brains we can get on these committees. We have had these people for so long and nothing is happening.

 

We need people with foresight and ideas, because the ones there appear to not have a clue at this moment in time and this week was another shambolic episode.

 

Scottish football is on its knees and it is only going to get worse.

 

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/14241880.Derek_Johnstone__It_has_been_a_shambolic_week_for_Scottish_football___and_it_won_t_get_better_with_the_SFA_and_SPFL_in_charge/

[trublusince1982 243]

agree with all of that. Blind leading the blind

[SteveC 150]

Yikes, DJ, and whoever types it for him, in good column shocker. Spot on with this.

[BEARGER 1,829]

You can add to that the SFA decision on Match tickets prices for the next WC qualifiers.

[RANGERRAB 3,456]

Nothing will change in Scottish football as long as we've got Liewell's men in charge i.e. Dumbcaster at the SPFL and Rhegan at the SFA.

[RANGERRAB 3,456]

You can add to that the SFA decision on Match tickets prices for the next WC qualifiers.

 

Let me guess - sky high ticket prices ?

[pete 2,499]

Rangers Media people. Derek Johnstone, Barry Ferguson and Kris Boyd. Hardly a half brain between them no wonder we lose all the press battles.