Andy’s Sting in the Tale (31/07/26) "SFA Out of Touch?"

A disturbing week for football after Martin Ziegler of Murdoch’s Times somehow dug up, then went public on Jahnnie and Donald’s wee plan to re-monetise football’s key asset and further enrich the Trump family et pals.

And as normal, in the realm of King Donald, it was all just scheduled to ‘happen’ except it leaked early and caused a stooshie.

Fifa blaming the press was cynical, farcical and in reality another smokescreen to the real levels of corruption and financial favouring that props the whole Fifa empire up under Infantino, the once upon a time ‘Reform Candidate’ against Fifa’s last corrupt head.

None of it was really a surprise.

But, ‘Every dark cloud has... and all that’ and for me the biggest and hopefully positive outcome is after a procession of Infantino outrages and power plays Uefa finally grew a pair and fought back.

Well ‘maybe’.

I say that because some subsequent responses including our own SFA’s , was deeply disturbing. (more below).

I don’t often agree with politicians but Andy Burnham came out and said. “This was an outrageous suggestion, the idea that it could even be brought forward shows Infantino is the wrong man to lead the organisation’.

We now also know that Concacaf, and Asia have supported Uefa’s stance.

So is it dead in the water?

No, don’t be stupid Andy.

Will it lead to a ‘vote of no confidence’ about Infantino under article 25(4) of Fifa statutes?

I hope so but don’t think that will be the outcome.

Something doesn’t smell quite right to me.

So Let’s Look Close, very, to Home.

I was first of all happy at Uefa’s fast unanimity and press announcement.

“We unanimously and unequivocally reject Fifa’s proposal to transfer ownership interests in the World Cup and other competitions to private investors. The World Cup is not for sale. This is not a democratic decision but governance by intimidation. An act unworthy of an institution entrusted with the stewardship of the global game’.

Meanwhile North of the Wall

That same day, I read our SFA’s brief press release which I have copied here in full.

“The President and Chief Executive of the Scottish FA today attended a remote meeting of Uefa nations to discuss the proposed Fifa Forward Enterprise.

“The Scottish FA Board agrees unequivocally with the concerns raised by all members over the manner in which these proposals have been issued, and deadline set, without a full consultation process or consideration to good governance.

“The Board is fully supportive of the statement issued by Uefa following the meeting.

“We are also aligned with our fellow national associations who seek to ensure our collective voice is heard resoundingly, and that the Corinthian spirit which underpins the beautiful game – invented here in Scotland and shared with the world – is protected.”

In my view it’s a classic but very scary fudge especially when it qualifies its vote with Uefa with, “the manner in which these proposals have been issued, and deadline set, without a full consultation process, or consideration to good governance”.

So to me that reads that “we voted with the body of the kirk, for now, because of process issues not fundamental disagreement/beliefs in the plan.

The word without is plain wrong and cynically changes the meaning of the whole piece.

Why did our SFA put out a statement that essentially keeps the side door open?

The same SFA that were deafeningly silent on the abusive last minute World Cup ticket price hike that really hurt ordinary but desperate Scotland fans at the expense of the monied, was silent at Trump’s peace award, and more, much more.

I’ve been asking why they seem to be so out of touch with Scottish fans and the answer is complex.

I get that for a long time we were just wee guys in the world game and represented at meetings by one Employee who’s told what to do and a fixed term President.

Sitting schtoom on tour hands, not making a fuss.

Cleverly we recently somehow realised that was hampering us financially and I guess, used our Ifab connections, followed the money and got close to the centre of Fifa and especially the key player.

So our current SFA President is now Chair of the powerful Fifa Finance Committee.

Our CEO on the Fifa Men’s Stakeholders Committee.

Our COO on the Football Technology, Innovation and Digital Transformation Committee.

And even Doctor Jimmy Gordon is on Fifa’s Medical Committee.

I’d Further Guess

If I was chair of the Finance Committee at Fifa, I’d have known all about stuff like the ticket price plan, the resales racket and stuff.

Also I’d know about this week’s ‘leaked’ but well-developed model that has just tried to railroad a ‘forever source of wealth’ to all the ground floor pals already lined up.

If I’m wrong and our man didn’t know then I’d be asking what the point of being chair of the Finance Committee was if stuff like that is/was happening without my involvement.

So that explains why Wednesday’s Press Release from our 7th floor did not condemn the privatisation plan outright.

That also probably tells you why we had no ‘Outrage’ earlier in the summer about fan ticket prices.

At best our representatives must be complicit, or even worse we’re part of the dark side.

Time will tell because this has all a long way to run and Infantino and his stormtroopers know the small nations will still back anything he proposes that brings them money for free.

The stark reality is Fifa’s game is inherently corrupt and a gravy train and power base for so many votes.

But for now, naively I hope there is a chance of something good happening.

Maybe Uefa can seize the moment and wrestle back the game from the Dystopian, Trumpian, Nightmare it’s hurtling towards.

Ugly, ugly politics.

Andy’s Sting in the Tale

1. Is Football Sky to Sky Too Much?

2. Time for the Right Kind of Thinking

3. Hitting a Nerve

1. When Saturday Comes

The season will already have been pre-empted by tonight’s opener at Tannadice.

All six Matches are televised and it will be interesting to see what that does to attendances.

Or if Sky pick up viewers north and south of the border.

It’s not that there has been a shortage of football over the summer so I’d guess an over-exposed low key, low audience start and another two horse race.

Last year was exciting even if our co-efficient is falling through the floor.

2. What I want from the SFA

I’d like to see a complete realignment where the SFA becomes the heart of all the good things in football and much more active with our kids and communities.

For that we need a reset and some long term initiatives regeneration and that strange word in modern Scotland, collaboration.

3. A Good Response

Last week I welcomed the functionality of the post-riot report but questioned why football doesn’t want to help address the underlying issues.

If you didn’t read it, the answer is money.

Here’s a couple of replies, one from an MSP reader and one an SPFL director.

“Spot on Andy. Football needs to stop blaming society for the song books. Scotland has moved on but Scottish football hasn’t’.

“A Scottish version of Strict liability is long overdue; More power to your blog”.