Our tribal, paranoid game requires a final arbiter of justice

A BOLD prediction in an uncertain world. The planned crisis summit between leading clubs and the SFA is guaranteed — absolutely guaranteed — to produce changes wholeheartedly endorsed by the vast majority. Until half-a-dozen baffling decisions push everyone right back to the brink of revolution. Again. Compliance officer Clare Whyte’s recent run of form has been, in footballing terms, the stuff of a relegation nightmare. A lawyer to trade, Whyte arrived at Hampden knowing that every decision would be subjected to the kind of febrile cross-examination that owes more to mob justice than any court of law. So being summoned, along with new referees’ chief Crawford Allan, to explain herself to clubs will hardly come as a surprise. Because more than one team has a strong case for demanding change. Here is the logic problem at the heart of the push for reforms, however. What do you value more, the independence of the compliance officer, or checks and balances that keep this powerful prosecutor under the watchful eye of clubs?

Either you want the compliance officer to be given a completely free hand when it comes to issuing complaints, meaning no one on the board can influence her thinking. Or you believe that SFA members, all club representatives, should be able to intervene in the name of ‘common sense’. It’s the sporting extension of an issue that has preoccupied politicians of various stripes since human beings first started organising the very first courts. Make the judiciary independent, by all means. But not too independent?

Further confusing matters, of course, is the fact that football has never been perfect. See VAR for further proof of this. In a game of judgment calls, there has to be a final arbiter of justice. In an environment as tribal as the Scottish game, there is simply no way to keep everyone happy. But that doesn’t mean that you give up. Keep striving to improve, righting wrongs along the way... accepting that you’ll have to do it all again a couple of years down the line.