Stewart Regan does not believe the row between the ruling body and Rangers highlights holes in the SFA's judicial system. The new disciplinary system was put in place last year but Scottish football has suffered a turbulent and traumatic 12 months since, with Rangers forced to call in the administrators in February. The club have been embroiled in a battle with the SFA over a 12-month transfer embargo imposed for bringing the game into disrepute. The Court of Session overturned the decision last Tuesday and the issue has been sent back to the SFA's appeal process, which is set to comprise the same members as made the original decision over Rangers appeal. Asked if there were holes in the SFA's judicial system, Regan said: "No, I wouldn't concede that at all. Categorically not. The Judicial Panel has been proven to be robust. We all know that when you get matters to a civil court, you are down to interpretation by different legal brains. That's how convictions are over-turned in a civil court because different legal brains have different interpretations."Regan was speaking after SFA members unanimously approved a resolution addressing the change of control at football clubs at Wednesday's annual general meeting at Hampden. The SFA Chief Executive added: "I think Scottish football has taken a knock as a result of what's happened in recent months. In fact, it has detracted from some fantastic progress that has been made perhaps away from the elite end of the game, within the grass-roots side of the game. Behind the scenes there is some great work going on and what has happened with events of recent weeks, they have perhaps overshadowed and in some ways undermined a lot of good work that has happened in the last 12 to 18 months. Is it a mess? As a result of a club taking civil court action for a football matter, we find ourselves in a very complex position. As a result of that, we are having to navigate our way through an extremely complex set of issues. I'm sure there will be an outcome but that outcome needs to go through a number of hurdles right now and that's what we're working with. We spent a long time putting the Judicial Panel process together and we put in place a situation where the rules and sanctions that were set out were deemed to be final and binding. That's because we didn't envisage any member club taking the matter beyond football into a civil court. Categorically, I would say that the Judicial Panel protocol has actually been found to be working, which is why in two separate cases the matter was upheld."
FIFA have been keeping an eye on the situation but are content with the SFA to deal with the situation now that the case has been passed back to the football authorities to deal with under their processes. Regan said: "We will do what is right within Scottish football and the Scottish FA is the governing body. We are here to lead. We said 12 months ago that one of our strategic themes is to be respected and trusted to lead so we will do what's right. Events will come and go. I'm sure there will be other situations that will come along in the future, perhaps not so large in the scheme of things. But we will take all those issues, we will deal with them and we will lead the game with integrity and transparency."
Source: FOOTYMAD
