Wir haben zwar einen Thread zu den Verbänden in Schottland, doch ich denke es ist auch mal nötig, einen eigenständigen dafür zu haben, wie Celtic in den letzten Jahr(zehnt)en die Verbände unterwandert und/oder manipuliert hat.
Redet man darüber mit Leuten, die nicht mit dem schottischen Fußball vertraut sind, wir man mitleidig mit einem leichten Verdacht auf Paranoia angesehen. Doch da sind nun mal leider die Fakten, welchen icht immer leicht aufzudecken und zu finden sind, aber dennoch vorhanden.
Alles anzeigenThe Mysterious Past And Recruitment Of Stewart Regan
I was requested to post this in the Bears Den. Hope it's doing some damage to Mr. Regan and his disreputable cohorts at the SFA!
In July 2010 the weather was rather dismal. There was some infrequent sunshine, but long suffering Glaswegians mostly had to deal with spells of scattered showers and heavy rain. Nothing new as far as Glasgow weather goes, but the month turned out to be more depressing still when on Wednesday, 28th July it was announced that Stewart Regan had been appointed as the Chief Executive of the Scottish Football Association.
Mr. Regan, a native of County Durham, joined the SFA after four years as Chief Executive of the Yorkshire County Cricket Club. But even before his appointment was ratified - even before the ink was dry on his lucrative contract - his appointment was shrouded in mystery and controversy.
It is alleged that the recruitment and selection process (if, indeed it can be called that) was subverted by individuals who consciously 'touted' Regan for the job. Many believe that Regan was 'hand-picked' for the job and was urged, initially by telephone, to apply for the post. During that infamous phone call, it was suggested to him that he might wish to apply for the SFA job, and later it is alleged the caller went much further and specifically invited him to apply for the job, which of course he did to the everlasting detriment of Scottish football and Rangers FC in particular.
Not long after his appointment, the rather suspicious link between Kevin Reid (John Reid's son) and his best buddy Paul Nolan of Nolan Partners (who helped the SFA to recruit Regan) was uncovered by our own Rangers Media, and we now know of course that Regan and Peter Lawwell worked together during their time as employees at Coors Brewers. We also know that Nolan Partners is a business supplier to Celtic, and that the rumour mill suggested that the SFA committee tasked with finding a new Chief Executive was headed by Eric Riley, a prominent Celtic director. Some might, therefore, conclude that Regan's appointment was a stitch up.
Not a very auspicious start for Stewart Regan, and a highly dubious appointment made in the total absence of the transparency and openness that Mr. Regan so recklessly and glibly espouses.
Upon his appointment he said, "I am aware there is currently a great debate on the way forward for Scottish football and it is my intention to bring all the relevant parties closer together to achieve the obvious common goal of improving the overall standard of the No.1 sport in this country". A laudable objective, but one that he has signally failed to achieve!
Was Stewart Regan the right man for the job or is he simply the Lawwell lapdog that we all believe him to be? The available evidence would, perhaps, suggest the latter. In fact it would not be unfair to say that the 'relevant parties' he referred to in his inaugural statement are as far apart as ever, and the Scottish game irreparably damaged, fractured and factionalised under his abysmal stewardship and his blinkered partisan support for all things from the Dark Side.
For instance Lawwell's appointment to the SFA's new Professional Game Board was greeted with considerable suspicion by many, given the bitter and acrimonious legal disputes between the two organisations over disciplinary procedures and, particularly, their vitriolic clashes over the Dougie McDonald affair. Other high profile disputes characterized their relationship up to the point at which Lawwell was appointed to the Professional Game Board.
A Celtic statement read: "It is well known that following events last year, Celtic called for a fundamental review of the processes and procedures within the SFA. We fully supported Stewart Regan's plan for reform and we feel that the creation of this new board is a very positive outcome of the SFA's own review. Peter Lawwell, on behalf of Celtic Football Club, will be pleased to accept this invitation to join the professional game board."
You can bet your life he is! Yes, I'm quite sure he is tickled pink to think that he now has an influential 'foot' in the SFA camp and ready access to its malleable and gullible Chief Executive, Stewart Regan. I wonder would he have been so pleased, and Celtic so willing to 'bury the hatchet', had he been excluded from this prestigious, hand-picked committee?
However, we should not be so surprised by Stewart Regan's courtship of Peter Lawwell and Celtic, or his antipathy to all things Rangers, after all Mr. Regan is no stranger to intrigue, controversy and scandal as his tenure as Chief Executive of Yorkshire County Cricket Club suggests.
In April last year the English press reported on the conclusion of a libel action which detailed an alleged plan, to launch a Twenty20 cricket league in England reportedly worth £1.2 billion. The plan was called ''Project Victoria'' and many believe, had it come to fruition, the proposal would have irreparably damaged English cricket.
It is alleged that the plan was revealed by Lalit Modi, the founder of the Indian Premier League, during a meeting in Delhi on 31st March 2010 with Stewart Regan, then the Chief Executive of Yorkshire CCC, and two of his professional colleagues, Colin Povey, chief executive of Warwickshire CCC, and David Hodgkiss, the treasurer of Lancashire CCC. Regan took notes of the meeting with Modi and representatives of IMG, the international sports marketing firm, and subsequently produced a minute of the Delhi meeting that he then circulated to Giles Clarke, the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board under cover of an email dated 2nd May 2010.
When he had fully absorbed Stewart Regan's email, and the attached minute of the Delhi meeting, Giles Clarke was so shocked by its content that he described Project Victoria as ''destructive of the structure of world cricket, especially in England. Some days later, on 8 May 2010, he wrote to Mr Shashank Manohar, the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) alleging a plot to destroy the structure of world cricket, and as a result of his accusations, Lalit Modi, was charged with financial impropriety and suspended as vice president of the BCCI and barred from participating in the affairs of the Board or the Indian Premier League.
In light of Regan's involvement with Modi at the Delhi meeting, the Chairman of Yorkshire CCC, Colin Graves, moved at light speed to distance his club from the scandal. The Delhi trip, he said, "Was a fact-finding mission. Lalit Modi did not put a proposition on the table. There were no secret proposals, no secret agenda, nothing underhand." Oh really?
His statement is in stark contrast to the view of English cricket supremo Giles Clark, and it should be noted that Graves was not at the Delhi meeting and is solely reliant on Regan's account of what took place.
"We attended that meeting in an educational capacity, as we wished to learn more about how the IPL has gone from nowhere to being one of the biggest sporting businesses in the world inside two years," said Regan immediately after the BCCI made public the accusations against Modi. Thereafter he made it clear that he would not comment any further and he has been true to his word - his lips remain sealed!
I have been unable to obtain a copy of the minutes of the Delhi meeting and it is, therefore, impossible to establish what actually passed between Modi, Regan and his two colleagues. However, Regan's role remains the subject of speculation and suspicion in some quarters, and questions continue to be asked about how he (and his colleagues) could have been so naïve - so gullible - as to continue to participate in a meeting which was so potentially explosive for English cricket. Remember, this was not a mere 'spot-fixing' scandal but a major conspiracy described as ruinous for English cricket.
Giles Clarke maintains that Regan's notes of the Delhi meeting provides clear evidence that Modi had presented the English counties with a commercial proposition wherein if they supported his idea, the IPL would guarantee each county a minimum of $3-5 million per annum plus a staging fee of $1.5 million. An incredible and very attractive inducement to undermine the existing cricket regime in England!
If that is the case, and knowing the full implications of Modi's proposals, why did Regan not withdraw from the meeting? Why did he not tell Modi that he was exceeding his remit? Why did he not explain to Modi that this was purely an 'educational' exchange? Why did he not tell Modi that he did not have the authority to broker any agreement? Why did he not tell Modi that his plans would be extremely detrimental to English cricket? In other words, why did he not tell Modi 'where to get off?'
Stewart Regan seems to lurch haplessly from one crisis to another and the 'Delhi incident' certainly has not enhanced his credibility - if, indeed, he ever had any! His judgement and competence is suspect, and as each day passes it becomes more apparent that he is incapable of providing the innovative leadership that the SFA so desperately needs. He is a bumbler and a buffoon; a comic character with no charisma and no clout. His position as Chief Executive of an organisation constantly ridiculed and under relentless attack by all and sundry, is fast becoming untenable, and what little respect he may have had, has all but disappeared.
His unholy alliance with the evil empire at Parkhead and his willingness to 'kow tow' to the dark and dangerous forces who seek the demise of our great club is repugnant. Prime amongst those dark forces is Regans sycophantic and Machiavellian buddy Peter Lawwell, a man well versed in the art of sophistry - the clever use of arguments which seem true but are really false in order to deceive people.
There is no doubt that Regan has been deceived by Lawwell and others, although I believe that he is content to be deceived. Indeed, I think that was the purpose of his appointment - he is the ideal patsy!
I conclude this article with the prescient words of Oliver Cromwell. I think our Chief of Men may have had some presentiment about Regan and the SFA when he made this speech to the Long Parliament in 1653.
It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonoured by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice; ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government; ye are a pack of mercenary wretches and would, like Esau, sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money. In the name of God, go!
I demand that Regan take Oliver Cromwell's sound advice, and go now!
Nolan Partners ... unparteiliche Anwälte und Rechtsberater der SFA / SPFL ... und Celtic
Der Boss der SPFL ...
Murdoch MacLennan (born 10 April 1949) is a British senior media executive. He is Chairman of the Press Association Group, Independent News & Media, and also of the Scottish Professional Football League.
Alles anzeigenDAVE KING has hit back at the SPFL and insisted they would ‘welcome’ an independent review if they had ‘behaved properly’.
And he has claimed that Hampden board members were not informed about a potential conflict of interest involving chairman Murdoch MacLennan and Celtic.
On Tuesday, the Rangers chairman called for MacLennan to be suspended from his role whilst claims for a conflict of interest and non-disclosure were probed.
MacLennan has been appointed as non-executive chairman of Independent News and Media PLC – a Dublin-based firm which is part-owned by Dermot Desmond and his long-term associate Denis O’Brien.
Desmond is the majority shareholder at Celtic, while O’Brien bought a minor stake in the club in 2006 from former boss Martin O’Neill. The pair own around 45 per cent of the shares in INM.
SportTimes reported on Wednesday that Rangers were furious with the latest developments at Hampden and wouldn’t let the matter rest as they seek answers over who knew what, and when, and a potential conflict of interest arising out of MacLennan’s appointment at a company where two influential Celtic shareholders have significant investments.
The SPFL insisted that there was no case to answer as they dismissed King’s calls but the Ibrox chief is unhappy at the way his request has been treated by the Hampden hierarchy.
King said: “I am surprised at the SPFL’s response to my request for an independent investigation into the relationship of its chairman to major shareholders in Celtic FC.
“Any organisation that has behaved properly would welcome an independent and transparent review.
“The SPFL’s response does not even attempt to answer why there was non-disclosure of the conflict that immediately arose when the SPFL chairman accepted this appointment.
“SPFL board members were informed that their chairman was taking up a non-executive directorship with another business but they were not told there was a conflict of interest due to common shareholders with significant influence within that company and Celtic FC.
“We need to be told if the SPFL chairman chose not to disclose the conflict. If it transpires that he did in fact make the required disclosure then to whom did he address this and why did that person not relay this critical information to SPFL board members?
“Had the conflict been disclosed the SPFL board members could have carried out their fiduciary obligation by interrogating this conflict of interest and agreeing how the chairman would deal with it going forward.
“The existence of this conflict means that the SPFL chairman must recuse himself from much of the business of the SPFL going forward thereby rendering his present position as being not fit for purpose.
“The SPFL’s rather hurried and inadequate response merely reinforces my personal view that good governance is not a priority for the SPFL executive.
“These questions must be addressed immediately if confidence is to be restored in the SPFL executive and its chairman.”
Murdoch MacLennan besitzt eine Dauerkarte für den Celtic Park.