Time to exclude the conflicted president

There are around 7 weeks until the beginning of season 2012-2013 in Scottish football. Just 7 weeks yet reports are emerging that the SFA is trying to merge the two bodies who manage the proffesional football leagues in Scotland.

Now i’m all for change for the good of our game, but this feels like change to accomadate a NewCo in a way which the current regulations wouldn’t allow. Theres also something else that doesn’t sit easy with me, a question that all Scottish football fans should be asking…

 

 Is Campbell Ogilvie fit to sit as president of the organisation that is in charge of restructuring our league system?

 

SFA chief executive Stewart Regan has already came out in the media and said that Campbell Ogilvie is “heavily conflicted”, yet he has not stood down or been given gardening leave. The SPL is currently investigating dual contracts at Rangers, Mr Ogilvie was Rangers from 1978 until 2005 and held the positions of General Secretary, Club Secretary and was also a Director. This falls in with the period when Rangers paid staff through EBT’s and Mr Ogilvie had actually admitted he did have an EBT whilst at the club. 

Now Mark Daly’s of the BBC has investigated the EBT case at Rangers there has been a few instances where employees have actually been paid sums from the club many years after the left Ibrox. Graham Souness was paid £30,000 from Rangers when he was manager at Blackburn Rovers, around 10 years after he left Ibrox. 

If Rangers were paying people who were no longer at the club could there have been payments to people who then went on to be employed by the SFA. Now I am not suggesting this has actually happened but until the outcome of the SPL investigation is made public then nobody really knows the details of these payment apart from Rangers and the beneficiary’s of the EBT’s. Unfortunately neither have been forthcoming with details to put or minds at ease.

At any other organisation, any employee this conflicted would at the very least have been given leave until the outcome of an investigation, this applies even more to the president of such organisation. As mentioned before Stewart Regan knows this himself yet has done nothing. 

It’s time for action Stewart, it’s gone on long enough.

The biggest restructuring in Scottish football history is supposedly about to happen. The reputation of our national game has been dragged through the mud, this restructure should bring with it a bright new future for Scottish football.

Campbell Ogilvie is not the future.

It’s time to go.

 

MickC