Sunday 10 September 2017

Scottish Football's Shame

Taking a break from blogging specifically about Hibs, I wanted to put out my thoughts on the decision by the SFA to refuse to participate in an independent enquiry at the request of the SPFL, into the handling of the Rangers affair.

I have held the view for a long time that Rangers' behaviour was outright cheating. They deliberately and systematically concealed information (the infamous EBT side letters) from the governing bodies and HMRC. This was not an accidental piece of administrative carelessness, it was deliberate, institutional deception.

Rangers have been proven to have misled the authorities by claiming a known tax debt was in dispute (it wasn't) in order to gain a licence to play, and it's clear that the registration of players in the EBT years was not complete - the requirement was to declare all payment terms. Rangers, by concealing the side letters, did not comply with that requirement.

As time has passed, more and more evidence of nefariousness at Ibrox has emerged. Rangers were not simply chancing their arm during this time, they were blatantly flying in the face of the rules as they stood at that time.

There are, in my view, justifiable calls for title stripping. However, stepping back from what could be perceived to be a blood-lust driven call for revenge, the refusal to investigate what actually happened is a massive slap in the face to every single supporter of Scottish football that ploughed their hard-earned cash into watching a competition that was fundamentally skewed in one side's favour through rule-breaking.

It has not been a level playing field at the best of times for every team outside of the Old Firm. Their financial dominance has meant that every side for the last twenty-thirty years has simply had to hope that they could be the 'best of the rest' as some barometer of success.

That the massive financial advantage wasn't enough for Rangers will give you an indication of why Scottish football fans are so irate at the decision not to open an enquiry into what happened.

The assumption, rightly or wrongly, is that there are people in the corridors of power in the SFA who have blood on their hands. If they have nothing to hide, why not open the doors to an independent enquiry? If anything, you'd expect the SFA to welcome the opportunity to show the world that "Hey, we got shafted as much as you guys - how were we to know?".

Instead, we have officials who are happy to plug their fingers in their ears, shut their eyes, and hope that it all blows over. It leaves a monumentally bitter taste in the mouth and drains any confidence that lessons have been learned and that there will never be a repeat of the incident.

It is to the great detriment of Scottish football that an enquiry has been denied. I hope that there is enough will and resource to force the issue, otherwise it will forever be a black mark on the beautiful game in this country.

Neil Lennon's Green and White Army

This week Hibs announced that manager Neil Lennon has extended his contract with the club until 2020. On a personal level, I'm delighted. Lennon arrived at the club with a bristly reputation. Adored by Celtic fans but almost universally detested by everyone else, and after a bruising experience at financially crippled Bolton Wanderers, Lennon had a point to prove and real job on his hands to win people over.

That said, Hibs fans were warm to his appointment. Lennon's record in Scottish football management is fantastic, virtually unparalleled amongst his current SPFL top flight management peers. There was always a question of whether or not Lennon could repeat his success at Celtic at Hibernian, without the massive financial advantages that he was afforded in Glasgow.

Lennon's remit was simple - take Hibs back into the top flight. He succeeded comfortably, with the league won with weeks to spare. Additionally, a brave showing in Europe and a Scottish Cup defence that took Hibernian back to Hampden to face (and agonisingly lose to) Aberdeen.

So we are back in the big league. Lennon's summer recruitment looks to have been very shrewd indeed. Few Hibs fans would have expected quite the calibre of player that we managed to bring in over the transfer window, whilst at the same time holding on to our most prized asset, 'Super' John McGinn.

Six full internationals joined the club to supplement what was already seen as a squad capable of competing for a top six position in the top flight. Lennon was comfortable seeing Jason Cummings leave the club. A prolific goal-scorer is always a commodity that is difficult to replace, but Lennon clearly looked for someone that could bring more than goals, and in Simon Murray he appears to have found someone with an eye for goal but with it a work rate that was all too often missing from Cummings' game.

Murray started the season in fine form, winning over many doubters with an impressive goal return in the early matches. His scoring form has stuttered slightly over the last couple of games, but a fine solo goal in our win at Ibrox will keep the fans on his side longer than they might otherwise have been.

Lennon's side is shaping up nicely. On the back of consecutive draws at Dundee and St Johnstone, Hibs can consider themselves very unfortunate not to have taken six points from these games rather than the two actually taken. In both matches, a lack of a finishing touch coupled with meeting goalkeepers in fine form stopped the scorelines reflecting the dominance of the visiting side.

The manager, never shy in criticising his players when they fall below his demanding standards, has been full or praise for the performances in the last two games. If we continue that level of performance, we will win more games than we lose.

As may have been expected, controversy is never too far from Neil Lennon. In the Championship he fell foul of the Compliance Officer after a touchline tussle with Jim Duffy, and more recently Lennon's goal celebration at Ibrox created such a stir that Club 1872, the supporter's association with a stake in the Glasgow club, deemed it necessary to issue a statement condemning his antics.

The brass neck of that particular statement was incredible, and to such an extent that even  some Rangers supporters were quick to deride it. More concerning, in my mind, was that the press were quick to play out the narrative that Lennon was somehow the villain of the piece at Ibrox. Video footage of the team bus arriving shows that from the moment he stepped off of the bus, Lennon was subjected to vile sectarian abuse. This abuse continued throughout the match and afterwards, where he received death threats via social media.

The press make out that he brings this on himself, that he loves being the pantomime villain, except in this pantomime it's one way abuse with no comic relief, and if the panto villain dares come back with an 'Oh no it isn't' then all Hell breaks loose.

I was disappointed that Hibs themselves never publically backed the manager, though I appreciate that Lennon may himself have preferred to let the issue blow over. Equally, it was disappointing (though not surprising) that Rangers again failed to condemn the sectarian element amongst their own support.

Lennon's start at Hibs has been hugely entertaining, big performances against Brondby, Hearts, and Rangers, along with a Championship win have laid the foundations for what promises to be an entertaining and (hopefully) successful period with Lennon at the helm. It certainly won't be dull, that's for sure.