Source: FOOTYMAD
No Naming Of Names
Stewart Regan will be regretting applying for the job of SFA Chief Executive. Just imagine how Gordon Smith would have handled this. He wouldn't have stood a chance SFA chief executive Stewart Regan has responded to calls to name names of those accused of questioning the integrity of referees by pointing out they already have a disciplinary process in place to punish individuals. Rangers manager Walter Smith protested the innocence of his own club on Friday after reports that the SFA was set to write to all senior clubs asking them to back their officials. He claimed neither he, nor any of his players, had ever called into question the honesty of officials and that the SFA should name those who had. Regan said: "There is a process in place already for dealing with anybody from any club that steps out of line and those individuals are dealt with through the various committees who operate within the SFA and that will continue. But obviously we'll take a much tougher stance going forward." While the SPL card on Saturday survived, with officials from Israel, Malta and Luxembourg taking charge without incident, the two SPL games and the Alba Cup Final scheduled for Sunday fell victim to the weather. Regan went on: "I came out last week and said I sympathised, and the SFA sympathised, with the position they've found themselves in. Over a period of weeks, they've taken an awful lot of stick in the press, their integrity has been challenged, lots of questions have been asked about them and a number of them had received threats which, really, in football, is not on. As a governing body, we met with the referees, we sat down and proposed a number of areas of improvement. But, unfortunately, they wished to have a weekend of action to make a point, which I personally didn't agree with, and that's why we had to go elsewhere to bring in referees to officiate yesterday." Regan is confident there will be no repeat of the strike action and that referees will be back at work this coming weekend, apart from Dougie McDonald who has decided to retire immediately. Regan said: "They said it was one weekend, it was to simply make a point that the Scottish football authorities needed to sit up and take note of their concerns. We've done that, we've recognised that we do need to support the referees more and we've made a certain number of offers to do that and hopefully they'll be back refereeing at the weekend. It's business as normal." Asked about the prospect of further strike action if referees feel they are still being subjected to unacceptable treatment in the future, Regan replied: "I can't comment on what might happen in the future. My view would be, if we can put in place the measures that we've offered, we can satisfy the referees that we are taking their point seriously and hopefully it won't come to that." Meanwhile, referee Craig Thomson said: "We have to start again next week. It got to such a low stage that we took this step not to do the games. This is the lowest it has been in terms of questions about our integrity and the abuse we have been getting." Editor Ger Harley (ger@scottishfitba net)Admin Team (admin@scottishfitba net)This is ScottishFitba Net
