Nothing prepared McGlennan for daily grief
THE man Tony McGlennan replaced as compliance officer had a funny story that summed up what it is like to hold one of the most debated roles in Scottish football.
Vince Lunny managed to escape too much vitriol but he did have a letter from an irate supporter who accused him of being biased against one club.
“He finished it off by saying ... and I’m not a bigamist.” Lunny joked. It gave the former SFA disciplinary man a chuckle but it proved in the battle of wits not everyone was fully armed.
Lunny’s successor McGlennan stepped in to the hottest of hotseats but after almost four years has decided his backside would be more comfortable back on the bench in a courtroom.
The compliance officer position should come with a health warning but the lawyer knew what he was in for when he took over from Lunny.
Controversy was never far away for either and the next man or woman for the job can’t say they weren’t warned.
Former SFA communications chief Darryl Broadfoot was forced to contain a fair few fires in his time at Hampden and he knows exactly what’s needed.
He said: “The ideal skill set for the next compliance officer is rhinoceros skin and poor broadband so they can take the flak and can’t check what people are saying on the internet.
“It’s a fantastic job, as long as you go in with your eyes wide open and understand it comes with a profile and almost daily dissection.
“Bear in mind, Tony’s a criminal lawyer. He’s a man of real substance. He’s the compliance officer but he has been in court with some of the most heinous characters in the country.
“Scottish football by BY MICHAEL GANNON comparison can be seen as trifling. That being said, nothing prepares you for it.
“Vincent worked at the war crimes tribunal at the Hague dealing with atrocities from the Balkan conflict. It kind of puts a case for wrongful dismissal into perspective.”
It might sound like the SFA might need to twist a few arms to fill the role but Broadfoot doesn’t see it that way.
Yet it does comes with considerable challenges.
The PR man said: “It’s a double-edged sword. There will be a stampede for the position but you need to separate those who crave the limelight and those who see it as a career progression. The position receives the most intense scrutiny in the legal realm. It might not be as important in comparison to murder or serious assault but there are times you become more known than the Lord Advocate.”
McGlennan has been in the firing line on a weekly basis.
Usually it was straight-forward rivalry and whataboutery, citing a certain player but letting another off the hook.
Other times it was a storm, such as the Josh Meekings Scottish Cup semi-final saga, the Tonev race row or the aftermath of the Scottish Cup Final in 2016.
The problem was more of perception. Broadfoot added: “People still see the compliance officer as the person who makes the complaint but he can only act if there’s a complaint. Who makes the complaints? Anyone.
“Whether it’s clubs, individuals, media or fans, there is a filtering process but the compliance officer’s job is to take an allocation.”
Clubs and fans will always moan when it’s their side or players in the dock but it doesn’t mean the baby should go out with the bathwater.
Broadfoot said: “Rewind to 2010 when we had a general purposes committee and we had club representatives, who could be coming from non-league football, deciding on cases concerning Premiership sides.
“The likes of Rangers and Celtic brought in QCs to argue the rule book with club officials and that wasn’t a fair fight.
“The game has become more professional. You can’t have a situation where the clubs take it in to a legal realm and then say it doesn’t work.
“There is a system of protocol and rule book that everyone signs up to. Of course it works. Or it works until your club is punished.
“People will say, ‘Where is the consistency?’ but it is the same in any court of law.”