McLeish says next chief is make or break for Scotland

HENRY McLeish, the author of the 2010 review whose 108 recommendations Stewart Regan was tasked with implementing, expressed a belief last night that the outgoing Scottish Football Association chief executive had simply been “worn down” by the constant political in-fighting of the role.

He also believes now is make or break time if the association wants to re-establish its place ahead of the SPFL as Scotland’s pre-eminent authority.

The former first minister, chairman of the Fife Elite youth academy, which has been omitted from the top two tiers of the association’s Project Brave plans, told SportTimes from Tampa yesterday that in some ways he was “disappointed” to hear that Regan had stepped down after near eight years in charge.

While criticism of the Englishman has only reached a crescendo and a critical mass over our non-qualification for Russia and the Michael O’Neill fiasco, his departure also feeds into one of the simmering fault lines in our sport, namely the internecine squabble between the SFA and the big clubs for the soul of our game.

Everything else – decisions about whether or not to renew the lease at Hampden, move to Murrayfield or simply share the cash around Ibrox and Celtic Park – simply feeds into this struggle.

In the end, when he took the decision to step down from one of the hottest seats in Scottish society, Regan appeared to have succeeded in alienating clubs at both ends of the scale.

While smaller sides took umbrage at the financial jeopardy that his Project Brave plans were i nsisting upon, giants such as Celtic were looking askance at the move to send our international players off to far-flung destinations such as Mexico and Peru during the summer.

One theory even doing the rounds amongst certain clubs is that so gratuitous was this last one that it might even have been a deliberate provocation.

“Stewart will have his critics, and there are issues where he can be criticised, but he came in at a crucial moment,” said McLeish, who was non-committal as to whether he could have any role to play going forward.

“He is a reformer and in my judgement he has simply been worn down by the challenges of Scottish football which haven’t been properly addressed.

“I am not surprised he has resigned,” McLeish added.

“In some respects I am disappointed. He has helped modernise the game significantly and in my view has restored some of the credibility of the game in the eyes of the government and some outsiders.

“He has dealt with a number of difficult issues, such as the replacement of Gordon Strachan which was vastly overplayed. The replacement of the national stadium lease has been difficult.

“But this is a pivotal moment for Scottish football, with no manager of the national team, no chief executive of the SFA, and the game littered with so many challenges,” he added.

“This is a make or break moment for Scottish football, and appointing the next chief executive is possibly more important than the Scottish manager because the SFA boss has to set the parameters of our games, and the outcomes, do the things that are in the best interest of everyone, not play second fiddle to the club game.

“In terms of where we go next the problems of Scottish football are much more deeply rooted than merely appointing a next chief execu

tive.”