IT’S TIME TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF DUBAI DEBACLE
ACCOUNTABILITY matters. For any governance model to retain even a scintilla of credibility, leaders must be compelled to take responsibility for their decisions. As our national sport teeters on the brink of a second shutdown, with the current partial suspension potentially only the precursor to a blanket ban, you might consider those guiding principles to be somewhat important.
What are we to make, then, of SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell actually using the words ‘nothing to see there’ in relation to the high-profile debacle t hat has handed politicians the perfect excuse to kick football into touch?
How should Scottish fans feel about the most senior figure at Hampden hiding behind the narrow i nvestigative brief of a compliance officer already halfway out of the building?
No. Not good enough. Nowhere near the level of thoroughness or vigilance required.
Without the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, there can be no trust in the structure established to run the country’s most popular spectator sport.
And, at a time when the game is going to need all the goodwill it can muster, that cannot be a healthy situation.
This i s why an o ut s i de independent agency must be appointed to investigate Celtic’s already notorious mid-season trip to Dubai. In full and in depth.
Official i nquiries should be wide-ranging in their scope. And entirely open in their findings.
As things stand, Maxwell intends only that compliance officer Clare Whyte — still on schedule to stand down ‘early in the New Year’, remember — look into whether certain bubble breaches occurred while Neil Lennon and his men were in the United Arab Emirates.
Seriously? That’s it? Nobody’s going to f ace even a single question about Celtic’s trip to the Middle East being not only allowed by the SFA, but actually accommodated by the SPFL?
Surely such a clear failure of judgment and common sense should be subjected to a more powerful investigation? One with the ability to interview everyone involved and, if required, access emails and phone records.
And the findings should be published in full. If that exposes a f ew uncomfortable truths about how these two members’ associations are run, so be it.
Simply ‘ reminding Celtic of their responsibilities’ after a standard private hearing would, i nevitably, l ead to cries of a cover-up and accusations about the cosy relationship between the club and the authorities.
Hammering the Hoops without the SFA or SPFL accepting any complicity in the offence, on the other hand, would draw accusations of persecution and scapegoating.
Because, yes, the people at Celtic Park who signed off on the entire misadventure are entirely at fault for making that call.
At a time when the rest of the population — Celtic fans included — were locking front doors and resigning themselves to many more weeks of not seeing family members, it was a move entirely at odds with the prevailing mood.
But there’s plenty of blame to go around in relation to a travel/ training itinerary that might have consequences for supporters of every team in the land.
On this subject of national importance, we have a right to seek answers to some pertinent questions beyond merely the identity and logic of whichever Celtic powerbroker rubber-stamped Lennon’s £250,000 request.
Let’s start with asking how those conversations with the SPFL played out. When the reigning champions requested that their home match with Hibs be pushed back from a Saturday afternoon until the following Monday night, so they could squeeze a mid-season break into a pandemic-ravaged season, did nobody at the league raise even minor concerns?
Clearly not, given the speed with which they acceded to Celtic’s demand, despite the protests of their opponents. Either that... or all official objections were simply overridden.
Then there’s the issue of what specific guidance Celtic were given about how they should behave in Dubai, where social distancing rules clearly don’t apply to normal tourists.
Was it emphasised to Lennon and his players that they must abide by Scotland’s own ‘elite athlete’ bubble guidelines even while abroad? Or were they given further leeway to let their guard down?
As plenty have pointed out, professional footballers enjoy special freedoms to train and play together precisely because they are giving up some of the basic rights afforded others. That’s the theory, anyway.
We shouldn’t forget, either, the central issue of the SFA simply standing by and allowing all of this to unfold without raising even the mildest of objections.
Because all of us have been guilty of using misleading language by describing the trip as ‘government approved.’
The truth is that the Scottish and UK Governments did no more than put a framework in place to cover elite sport. A structure consisting of guidelines and advice, privileges and exemptions.
I have been quick to pick fault with Nicola Sturgeon’s obvious dislike for football, but she’s entitled to expect the game’s governing body — one of them, anyway — to then be across their brief.
Now, you may argue that her faith is misplaced. That, for all the good work being done by really hard- working people on the ground, there are numerous examples of football failing to take the right precautions every single time.
But it’s not any government’s job, as Maxwell rightly points out, to micro-manage football.
So, if neither the SFA nor the SPFL sought further clarification from Holyrood before waving Celtic on their merry way, that represents a failure in its own right. If that isn’t how things played out, let’s hear it.
Moving on, we can at l east expect to find out whether the first-team squad broke any rules while enjoying t heir l uxury surroundings. But why did the SFA initially appear to resist even that level of investigation? And why, exactly, are they digging in their heels and refusing to ask the big questions now?
On a related note, despite his denials, how much political pressure has been placed on Maxwell to at least be seen to do something to quieten the raging mob at Holyrood?
And what link, if any, is there between the Celtic fiasco and the timing of Monday’s decision to shut down football below the Championship?
Yes, we know what the SFA are saying, Maxwell himself explaining that the suspension — which also throws the Scottish Cup into chaos — had been a matter of discussion among the Joint Response Group for some time, with a final call made last Friday.
But that doesn’t quite tally with the evidence of l ower- l eague chairmen, some of whom are convinced that they’re being offered up as a convenient sop to the political classes. Kicked to the curb just as indignation is reaching fever pitch.
Anything to keep the top flight up and running, right? And, if the ‘wee teams’ have to put their season on hold for more than just the initial three weeks already on the cards, well, that’s a shame for those affected...
All of this is being played out against a backdrop of nearconstant rage and frustration. Also known as Scottish football’s natural state.
You see, people in the real world like to talk about a recent trend called the ‘ footballisation of politics’ — a shorthand way of describing increasing tribalism among party followers.
Ha. Amateurs. We’ve been at this for almost a century and a half now. Look and learn, folks. Look and learn.
And, i f history teaches us anything, it’s that brushing major issues under the carpet doesn’t lead to an atmosphere of harmony and unity.
Keeping the public in the dark breeds only further distrust. Far better to shine a light upon the whole affair. And identify whether a regulatory system so deficient in necessary checks and balances needs to be fine tuned, overhauled or rebuilt from the ground up.
That starts by asking the right questions. Of everyone.