From top to bottom SFA heads must roll and it should start with Stewart Regan

[ian1964 10,724]

Gordon Parks

 

IN his latest hard-hitting column for MailSport, Parks argues the chief executive puts himself before the greater good of our game.

 

AS the son of a policeman, Stewart Regan should know when he’s bang to rights.

 

Had it not been for hearing issues, the SFA chief wouldn’t be playing football’s politics – he’d have been granted his wish of becoming PC Plod.

 

Instead he eventually ended up at Hampden and became responsible for hiring the men to lead our boys in blue.

 

As another qualification campaign lies in tatters, the evidence is piling up that he has failed in his job over the past six years.

 

Scotland’s visit to Wembley was always going to be a watershed.

 

Predictably, those in charge played the victim card and lamented the travesty of it all.

 

Those same old delusional affirmations have been the most disturbing aspect of Regan and Gordon Strachan’s double act.

 

The manager spoke of a chat with his chief executive minutes after the 3-0 embarrassment against England, the pair apparently shared a sense of bewilderment over the harshness of a scoreline which somehow mirrored the sense of injustice they felt in Slovakia last month. Talk about dangerous minds.

 

No other international side in the world would have made eight changes from a team which started the previous game. It stunk of having no cohesive game-plan, no consistency of selection and reeked of a last throw of the dice from a manager who already knew the game was up.

 

It’s time to bring a halt to all of this nonsense. We are four games into a World Cup qualification campaign of sheer and utter garbage and the pair of them must walk.

 

Strachan will wander the golf course this week with that sense of what might have been – he won’t require encouragement to fall on his sword.

 

It will be a dignified departure as his paymaster hangs around for grim death.

 

Just like Scotland’s display in London, no case can be made in Regan’s defence.

 

When he left his role with Yorkshire County Cricket Club six years ago, it was in a state of financial strife and certainly no success story.

 

But as has always been the case with the SFA chief executive, it’s never about the bottom line – it’s about how you dress it up.

 

There’s a bigger picture at play here. Regan puts himself before the greater good of our game and it should have cost him his hefty salary weeks ago.

 

Here’s his scenario and he won’t enjoy it being spelled out.

 

The Englishman, like the majority of those who hold top positions across Europe, seems to have his eye on landing an even more lucrative and respected post within UEFA.

 

It’s the jackpot job which is whispered and joked about within the corridors of Hampden but it requires more than a bit of political finessing.

 

And here’s the rub, Regan’s recent decision to act against the best interests of Scottish clubs by backing Aleksander Ceferin to replace the disgraced Michel Platini as UEFA’s new president has the stench of self-interest about it.

 

A man with a manifesto which could slam the door shut on Scottish clubs gaining access to the Champions League. It appears to be a back-scratching exercise – how else can it be explained?

 

Regan’s refusal to support Dutchman Michael van Praag, a man who promised to rip up controversial plans to restructure UEFA’s elite event as his first act in office, was an act of treason against his own association.

 

He admitted recently he finds the Scottish negativity “wearying”. He’d prefer we charged on in his own deluded state of self congratulation at a 20-year failure to qualify for a major finals.

 

I asked Regan last week why he was using a London-based recruitment agency to find a replacement for Brian McClair who fled the scene months ago as Performance Director.

 

The response was some rubbish about world-renowned head hunters and it was delivered with a look of withering disgust.

 

Regan has played his part in a shake-up in the governance and shape for football in this country, a revamp of the Scottish game which implemented a pyramid system which has had most impact on his own bonus structure. A box ticker you might say.

 

Then there’s that sense of gratitude to have Strachan stay on as manager, no accountability for the Euro 2016 shambles and the public bended-knee pleading for his man to remain in situ.

 

The shameful stats for Strachan’s reign can be found elsewhere in MailSport but for me it’s about celebrating failure with selfies with the fans over in Gibraltar and the hyperbole of having managed a win over Malta which will linger most.

 

Regan must not be allowed to appoint the new manager.

 

Strachan’s successor can’t be sheltered by the same sycophantic and blameless rhetoric.

 

He must also resist the lure of earning an extra few bob by touring the TV studios and most importantly, base himself in Scotland.

 

Strachan claimed the humiliation against the Auld Enemy ‘wasn’t fair’.

 

He said: “How do we protect the players? How do we send them back to their clubs feeling good about themselves?”

 

Who cares? But we’ll be spared all of that mock concern soon.

 

There are sobering facts to Regan’s reign and here are a few on the back of two years where our senior side were capable of no better than managing wins over Malta and Gibraltar.

 

Our Under-21s have lost their last five games without even scoring a goal.

 

The Under-16s couldn’t muster a single shot on target during a Victory Shield game against Ireland last Friday after adopting an arty farty false No.9 formation which left us without a striker.

 

From top to bottom, heads must roll and it should start with Regan. That would be more than a fair cop.

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/top-bottom-sfa-heads-must-9247972

[ian1964 10,724]

Getting rid of Regan is right,however Lieswell will only appoint another patsy,Petrie?.

[Uilleam 5,948]

It should be noted that Yorkshire cricket went from strength to strength after the imbecile Regan's departure.

[compo 7,055]

They all must stay there doing a great job

[boabie 230]

" No other international side in the world would have made eight changes from a team which started the previous game. It stunk of having no cohesive game-plan, no consistency of selection and reeked of a last throw of the dice from a manager who already knew the game was up. "

 

Does the author forget just how shyte we were in the previous game ?

I'd have changed all eleven.

[ian1964 10,724]

The whole of Scottish football & media have been so focussed/obsessed with trying to kill Rangers off that nobody really cared about Scottish football,now it's a problem?

[RANGERRAB 3,680]

The whole of Scottish football & media have been so focussed/obsessed with trying to kill Rangers off that nobody really cared about Scottish football,now it's a problem?

 

We're now beginning to see the consequences of that. Scottish clubs are cannon fodder in europe & the national team struggles to finish third in qualifying groups

[ian1964 10,724]

The trial of Stewart Regan - why the man in charge of the SFA needs to go

 

06:00, 14 Nov 2016

By Michael Gannon

 

MICHAEL GANNON argues the case for the SFA's chief blazer to get the chop after a succession of failures at the top.

 

THE PROSECUTION

 

Failure to reach major tournaments: Regan has now been at the helm of three failed campaigns and Scotland failed to reach an expanded Euros that saw 24 countries competing, including all of the other home nations.

 

Abject failure of the Under-21s: The youths have lost five on the spin and have a horrendous recent record.

 

The referees’ strike: Regan was less than a year on the job and presided over a major crisis when the whistlers downed tools after accusing the SFA of failing to back them following criticism. The move nearly got the game stopped but the beaks flew in refs from all over Europe to stand in amid the shambles.

 

Dithering over Craig Levein: The decision to bullet the boss came two games too late and left Scotland out of the World Cup campaign before the halfway stage.

 

The handling of the Rangers meltdown: Regan’s predicting social unrest if Gers were not allowed back in the SPL offended just about everyone in the country, while claiming the game would endure a slow lingering death was a Gerald Ratner job. Chuck in the cloak and dagger five-way aggreement and he had a top-table place in another shambles.

 

The SFA development strategy: Critics accuse the set-up of being too bloated, with 2,500 kids in the programme, rather than focused on the elite.

 

Performance director pain: Mark Wotte left after three years claiming his hands were being tied. Replacement Brian McClair lasted 17 months and Regan admitted his hiring was a mistake. Role is currently vacant.

 

Scottish Cup Final farce: The organisation of the match was shown up then it took months for the inquest and it turned out to be a whitewash. Then there was a bust-up with Rangers involving Record Sport over a meeting with Ibrox officials to discuss Cup Final fallout.

 

Another fine mess: UEFA fined the SFA for insufficient organisation after a pitch invasion of fans during the Euro qualifier with Poland.

 

Fan fury: The SFA failed to provide sufficient access and viewing areas for disabled fans.

 

Flying by seat of the pants: The SFA’s organisation of the trip to Georgia was ridiculed after players were left stranded in the airport for three hours.

 

Doesn’t add up: Awarded himself a £30,000 pay rise, taking his salary to £280,000 per year.

 

Playing politics: Siding with Aleksander Ceferin to succeed Michel Platini, despite warnings from the clubs he has a manifesto to shut the Champions League door on clubs from smaller countries such as Scotland.

 

Costly mistake: The price of tickets at Hampden has riled up the fans – and has resulted in empty seats for big games.

 

THE DEFENCE

 

Agreed lucrative sponsorship deals: William Hill, Vauxhall, Specsavers, McDonalds and Tesco Bank signed up.

 

Secured a deal with Sky to broadcast matches: But this does exclude most of the nation from watching on terrestrial TV.

 

Building blocks: Regan was the driving force behind the Oriam partnership as well as the creation of the seven new performance centres.

 

Girl power: The Scotland women’s team have made progress, qualifying for the 2018 European championships in some style.

 

Revamps: Introduced a new management structure at the SFA and played a role in ushering in the pyramid system in the league.

 

Hosts with the most: Scotland have been awarded group games at Euro 2020.

 

Erm, that’s about it.

VERDICT: GUILTY

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/stewart-regans-rap-sheet-man-9253685

[ian1964 10,724]

Scotland's problems run deeper than Gordon Strachan and it's time to take aim at the SFA blazers

 

KEITH JACKSON says it’s likely the Scotland manager will depart and his bosses should follow him out the door.

 

SOME managers lose the dressing room. Gordon Strachan has lost an entire nation.

 

And that’s why – even though Scotland’s players remain firmly behind the man in charge – in all probability Strachan will fall on his skean-dhu at some point over the next few days.

 

The public – who began growing weary of him some time ago – will rejoice when he’s gone. And the SFA will cash in on this feel-good factor when tickets begin to fly off the shelf for our next World Cup qualifier against Slovenia in five months.

 

The permanently delusional Stewart Regan will pat himself on the back for a job well done and Rod Petrie will return to Hampden in a state of some exuberance, knowing his own time as president of this cartel is drawing nearer by the day.

 

They’ll sit next to one another in the posh seats watching the Tartan Army roll in, muttering “suckers” under their breath, and a whole new cycle of failure will begin.

 

And when it’s over they’ll simply slit the next man’s throat before washing their hands of it too.

 

The fans, meanwhile, will dust down their kilts and get back in line for another giant booze up.

 

Not because they actually believe we will get any closer to reaching the next World Cup in Russia under a new manager, whoever that man may be.

 

But simply because their overwhelming desire to achieve change has been satisfied by the charlatans in blazers who masquerade as decision makers on Hampden’s sixth floor.

 

The will of the people will have been served by Regan and his gang.

 

After all, if it was good enough for Brexit and Trumpit why shouldn’t it work also for Haudit and Daudit?

 

And Scottish football’s slow, lingering death will continue unchecked. That’s the very phrase Regan used when he was botching up the Rangers fiasco all those years ago and it’s just about the one thing he ever got right.

 

Elsewhere on these pages you will see a list of the chief executive’s greatest calamities and it reads more like a reoffender’s rap sheet than a professional’s CV which is perfectly fitting as his running of Scottish football – or ruining of it to be more precise – has been criminal.

 

That he has been allowed to stay in charge for so long is a damning indictment of the SFA’s bowling club structure.

 

The board’s failure to recognise the level of Regan’s incompetence is in itself an embarrassing indication of the caliber of men around the big table.

 

So long as this includes men like current president Alan McRae – a man from Cove Rangers let’s not forget – and the next in line, Petrie, then Regan is effectively bombproofed by the buffoons who surround him.

 

There are eight of them in total. Regan, McRae, Petrie, Ralph Topping from the SPFL, Michael Mulraney of Alloa Athletic, and Tom Johnston from the Juniors (that’s right, the Juniors) along with two independent non executive directors, Barrie Jackson and Gary Hughes.

 

These are the men who are plotting the course for all of Scottish football as it plunges into a death spiral.

 

What exactly is their plan to pull us out of it? Do they have a strategy at all, other than to

cut Strachan loose and find another manager to paper over the cracks?

 

In this latest hour of crisis, perhaps it’s time to demand that they join Strachan on the way out rather than elect his replacement. What Scottish football needs now is life saving surgery and fundamental changes from the top down to its grassy roots.

 

In order to achieve this the SFA requires a routing.

 

The board should be obliterated and replaced by a credible, independent group

of professionals and clear thinkers.

 

Men who make decisions based upon the greater good of the game rather than indulging

self-interests or furthering petty club agendas.

 

Only in such a topsy turvy country can this lot be left to call the shots while the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson sit around twiddling their thumbs.

 

No wonder our game is dying on its feet.

 

Strachan, meanwhile, must now pay the price for the state Scottish football has got itself into.

 

It’s a bit like taking a dump on your living room carpet and then sacking the cleaner because of the smell.

 

No, Strachan did not get everything right during his four years in charge. And yes, the longer he stayed the more these mistakes began topile up.

 

If anything, Strachan was guilty of trying too hard to come up with solutions to conundrums for which there were no answers.

 

Though no fault of his own, his squad has been built around defenders who cannot defend and strikers who very rarely strike.

 

And because of their inadequacies Strachan strived to come up with another way of turning this team into world beaters.

 

The further he strayed from his original blueprint, the less successful he became.

 

On Friday night at Wembley, Strachan went back to basics and for 50 minutes or so it was working. Scotland’s players were both aggressive in chasing the ball and then, having won the thing, intelligent in what they did with it.

 

They made England’s superior talents look even more laborious and disjointed than usual which is quite some doing.

 

And they still ended up on the wrong end of a hiding.

 

Which is why Strachan himself knows that this is most probably the appropriate moment to say his goodbyes. The will of the people will prevail.

 

And then it will be up to Regan and his cohorts to come up with a candidate capable of answering all the questions which Strachan could not. Good luck with that.

 

We’re talking here about a group of men who could not be trusted to pick a decent restaurant in the whole of London for their all-expenses-paid lunch ahead of Friday night’s defeat.

 

And now they get to select another manager on our behalf?

 

Strachan, in all probability, will take his leave in the coming days and when he does the SFA will have lost a good man and a shrewd operator.

 

Scotland’s players will then shut their eyes and hope for the best knowing that their own shortcomings have cost their boss his credibility with the public.

 

Almost to a man they will be truly saddened by that because they know they had a better chance with Strachan in charge.

 

That’s the bottom line in all of this but it will be lost among the defeaning clamour for change.

 

As recent global events prove, when momentum builds behind a mob, often there is no way of stopping it. Not even basic logic can stand in the way.

 

But if this new world order of anti-establishmentariansim is to have any sort of redeeming legacy then Strachan won’t be its only victim from within the SFA’s bunker.

 

Compared to the real culprits, Scotland’s manager is the very least of our game’s worries.

[MacK1950 2,378]

"Wha's Like Us" nobody unfortunately that's the sad fact we are a laughing stock.

Run by foreigners(E****sh men) with a bigoted puppeteer controlling them what chance do we have?