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Date: 19th January 2024
(Photo:@Homesoffootball)
And Why Does Henry Care So Much?
Stuart Murphy our CEO at the SFSA, and a volunteer like me, is a lifetime Dundee fan.
He is also ex-Chairman at Dens Park where he stopped his life for a while to sort out some very difficult times as his club turmoiled and was headed towards the abyss.
He is a football fan as well as being a passionate Dee, and like me his motivation is he genuinely wants to leave the game in a better place for the future.
Anyway Stuart has written a very considered response to Ian Maxwell, after the SFA CEO’s recent ‘performance’ at the Holyrood committee just before the mid-winter break.
Here is a link to Stuarts letter which he wrote in conjunction with Henry McLeish and the rest of the SFSA board. (It’s an easy read and well worth the 2 minutes. It tells the MSPs from the committee room that they were mugged)
OPEN LETTER TO IAN MAXWELL OF THE SFA – Scottish Football Supporters Association – SFSA (scottishfsa.org)
And here also is Ian Maxwell’s recorded performance at the Holyrood committee. Our simple view is much of what was spouted as fact in reality needs to be challenged openly.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee | Scottish Parliament TV
It is obvious in ‘2024 hindsight’ that Ian is not used to having what he spouts in committee-type meetings reach the public domain.
That is simply because the ‘Establishment’ who pay his wages don’t believe in transparency. They also don’t like or publish any records of internal meetings or even external meetings with agendas when held with our government.
That is despite many of these government conversations leading to substantial monies flowing from Scottish taxpayers to Scottish Football.
All that money.
And no public records!
And disgracefully, the last time I asked MSPs and civil servants what the gross sum coming into football is, it seems that nobody has ever added it up or published the total.
Our board watched the Maxwell Holyrood Show individually but were collectively aghast at Ian’s performance.
Basically he breezed through questions from MSPs the way I’d guess he handles enquiries from his lesser SFA members, the ones with no real clout, the ones who don’t matter.
It was a brazen demonstration of an ‘Establishment’ that has perfected the ‘Nelson Telescope Technique” and just does what it wants to do the way it wants to do it.
Ian’s mantra on the day could be summarised as “Nothing to see here – move along smartly”, but in the cold light of analysis I think it was a massive own goal.
His dismissiveness simply poured petrol on to a smouldering bonfire because it highlights the very real and inherent issues.
The very real failings of his “establishment’.
They are all writ large in what he said.
Make your mind up yourself if you think he was being truthful.
I have and he wasn’t, and at best I can put that down to mischief.
Deep down we all know the SFA and the SPFL are simply long standing secret ‘Establishments’ who control the game. And they control it for the good of the few not the many. The few who control the self-same ‘Establishments’. So the power is for the benefit of the ‘controllers’ rather than for the long term good of Scottish football.
In England cross party politicians clearly see the potential that football can deliver and are well down the track of statuting an External Regulator to make football look far beyond their dominant top league.
Scottish politicians are coming round slowly to thinking it is something needed here too.
Ian’s performance, and Stuart’s fact-checking letter simply reinforce why.
And Why Does Mr McLeish Care?
He’s a busy ex-First Minister and doesn’t need the hassle that this will bring but he cares.
If Henry’s arms were like sticks of rock one would have ‘East Fife’, and the other ‘Community Football’ right through in wee red writing.
He also knows when East Fife and Buckie Thistle are strong, and community football is thriving, that we will have successful Scotland teams, a plan for a Hampden fit for purpose, and school football teams etc. etc.
Henry knows that football builds from the bottom up not the top down.
And remember this is a man who just a few years ago the SFA paid handsomely to fact-find, survey, review and provide insight from 2 successive reports.
Reports that internal SFA power bases ‘killed-off’, a step at a time.
Like Stuart Murphy, Henry McLeish wants to leave football in a better place.
Our research confirms most Scottish fans also care and want the same, so I am optimistic.
Ian Maxwell’s performance at the Holyrood committee will in time become our game’s Iwo Jima moment.
And a base to build on and from.
In the meantime I hope the MSPs recall him.
This Week’s Sting
1. From Sports Scotland With Love
2. Life’s a Gas
3. Why 42 Clubs Have Nothing To Fear If They Go Bust
4. Big Jim’s First Move
5. Norway’s Bully Dog
1. £15,993,791 in Just 11 Years
It took a “Freedom of Information Request” but this is a summary of one of the many sources of funding from the Scottish Government into Scottish Football from Sports Scotland.
2013-14 £1,919,121
2014-15 £279,868
2015-16 £1,580,112
2016-17 £1,410,541
2017-18 £1.439,956
2018-19 £1,364,949
2019-20 £1483,253
2020-21 £1,721,493
2021-22 £1,777,452
2022-23 £1,670,040
2023-24 £1,347,000
Total £15,993,791
I list these figures on the back of some self congratulatory postings by the SFA yesterday about how well they are succeeding with youth football.
They are claiming more kids than ever taking part in football and taking full credit like it was all their achievement.
https://x.com/ScottishFA/status/1747985946262597833?s=20
Following on from Stuart’s fact-checked ‘open letter’ which easily drove a coach and horses through what Ian Maxwell had spouted to MSPs here is some real feedback from members who are actually running kids football about the SFA initiative.
And they are singularly unimpressed with not just the SFA’s claims yesterday but their whole approach to grass roots football.
“Wow, how they have the bloody nerve to take credit for these stats is absolutely breath taking”.
‘The SYFA is run 99% by volunteers not the SFA and where it is strong it is despite the SFA not because of them”.
“We now only have 300 schools involved and that’s a long term disgrace that they haven’t even thought about. What do they do all day”.
“I can easily see their numbers are over-claimed by 54,412 on the surface and when you dig deeper only 13,303 were actually registered not the 22,977 they listed. The numbers are so wrong it’s corrupt”.
“Sports Scotland give the SFA over £1.3 Million of which just £55K goes to SYFA and £26K to schools. Where does the rest go and do they agree spurious targets just to justify the game they are playing’?
“Why do clubs and especially child players have to pay the SFA anything just to play”?
Andy’s Thoughts.
I’m mindful of and leaning towards the well documented Benjamin Disraeli quote.
“There are three kinds of lies.
Lies.
Damned Lies.
And Statistics”.
The SFA are probably simultaneously guilty of all three.
I’d guess this is probably more about telling Sports Scotland what a good job the SFA are doing for their money.
It’s a PR stunt I hope gets found out.
The trouble is the people at the coal face are now pretty much united in shouting, “Nagumbi”.
They don’t buy the SFA’s statistical B-S.
It’s almost funny except it isn’t.
2. Sports Washing With the Wrong Kind of Name
All week the Beeb have been showcasing the ‘Scottish Cup’ in promotional slots.
And yesterday I got an email from the SFA about guessing the outcome of ‘Scottish Cup’ games in their predictor.
So much for their sponsors, ‘Scottish Gas’.
Their name when linked to Scottish Cup is so unwieldy it’s already been dumped by the media and the SFA.
I’ve worked in sponsorship and if I was investing money for media exposure I would have been angry at my sponsors name being dropped.
After all, that is the whole bloody point of the flow of pound notes.
But then hearing today’s ‘Which’ survey on the radio using descriptions like “Worst offender”, and “Abysmal customer service” as two of the quotes for their parent company I maybe understand that they British/Scottish Gas have other fish to fry.
3. The Ever Present ‘Holding Company’ Quirk
My sharing of the possible financial troubles at two Scottish clubs raised some feedback about how they will be treated if the worst happens and they go under.
One member asked if my quoted Edinburgh City financials and problems with the taxman were with the club or the ‘holding company’.
One other asked if indeed it was now SFA policy since 2012 that all clubs had parallel ‘holding companies’ to avoid the problems that Gretna faced in Scottish Football’s pre- ‘Holding Company’ era.
Fans know what happened back then.
Rangers fans were let down by the system and the 5 way shenanigans still asks questions of all involved.
Goodness knows who invented the ‘Holding Company’ nonsense but it has set a dangerous precedent for when our next club casualty is treated like Gretna and told to bugger off.
4. A Learning for Our 6th Floor
Well done Jim Ratcliffe.
Not even officially a Reds shareholder yet but straight into the heart of the club.
What does he do the Monday after his first game sitting beside Fergie?
He heads with his heavy hitting team for the fans lounge to meet and speak to all kinds of fans.
A meeting with MU Supporters Trust, the club’s advisory board, local leaders including the Mayor, Andy Burnham, the local council and most of all, The Fans Forum.
Here is some fan feedback.
“It was so different to the Glazers”, `
“Football first at United from now on”,
“There will be a root and branch review of everything”.
Imagine, just imagine we were fired up and saying that about Scottish Football.
All it takes is the right approach.
That’s why the Scottish Football Supporters Association exists.
5. Scottish Football Needs Lises
Norway’s Football Association head Lise Klaveness asked Fifa a year ago to compile and publish a report on some deep failings in many aspects of the world cup.
Stuff in particular like a lack of financial help for mistreated migrant workers including casualties sent home in boxes.
Fifa said they would do it and that it would be out by Xmas.
It wasn’t, so she is now on their case and won’t let it drop.
We, in Scotland, don’t even know who represents us at Fifa, and Uefa, and have no idea what they do when they are there, what they say, what is talked about etc. etc.
I have no idea why we don’t.
The reason for the delay affecting Lise’s request might be that Fifa have basically shoed-in Saudi Arabia to be hosts for the 2034 World Cup.
This move engineered by chess Grand Master, Gianni Infantino is set to be ratified as a formality this year and the Fifa’s Grandest Fromage doesn’t want the scrutiny that Lise is demanding because, maybe, it might impinge on his plan to acquire a new house in Saudi, like his recent pad in Qatar.
And while we are talking about Saudi being engineered into World Cup Hosts, I wonder if anyone out there knows what Scotland’s position on taking the World Cup to Saudi in just 10 years is?
Just asking.
That’s it for this week
Feedback welcome and the wee-est of stories you send aren’t always wee.
Andy’s Album of the Week
This week sees the return of the wonderful Celtic Connections which is back on the full burner again.
The festival was the brain child of Colin Hynd back in 1994, now where have those 30 years gone?
He worked at Glasgow Council and had an empty Royal Concert Hall to fill and the nous to partner with BBC Scotland and start small.
He did and it grew wings.
My first concert was James Taylor in 1998 and I love the fact that Celtic Connections shows just how well Scotland shares its Celtic music with both close and far off cousins.
And it showcases different kinds of music within very broad walls and constant fusion and seminality.
I reckon the wonderful ‘Transatlantic Sessions’ which premiered in 1995 is a direct spin off.
So today I started with some James Taylor in the background, and moved on through Cara Dillon, Julie Fowlis, Sinead O’Connor, Clannad, Shane McCowan, Roseanne Cash but then settled with Runrig.
‘Once in a Lifetime’ is a good live Album, and who can listen to their ‘Loch Lomond’ without spiritually being at Hampden?
We, as a nation should be proud of the music we have been making, influencing and borrowing.
Celtic Connections is vibrant and shows that music is as broad a church as you want it to be.
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