ALEX’S ANGLE: ‘THERE IS ENOUGH STUPIDITY AT THE SFA TO START A NEW COUNTRY’

Managers at the SFA often discuss the attributes of individuals in authority without the use of cameras or microphones.

One famous team manager frequently stated: “There is enough stupidity at the SFA to start a new country.”

These were the days when an off-the-record comment went unnoticed and unheard. Undoubtedly, there was a friendship among the team leaders and the media that does not exist today.

Forgive me for seeming like Methuselah and harping on about the past, but there were times when you disregarded top and back page headlines, which would have surely resulted in serious consequences for the person who had initially trusted you.

I never betrayed that faith. Patting yourself on the back while attempting to pin medals on your chest is a difficult maneuver, so I have always avoided engaging in such bodily contortions. Self-praising is a waste of time. I slept well that night, which I doubt would have happened if I had violated a confidence.

Back in the day, there was a referee who despised Jock Stein and all things Celtic. He would frequently denounce the club’s iconic manager to the SFA for post-game comments, which would inevitably result in a fine for the gaffer.

It was a pitiful pattern spanning many seasons that resulted in Stein receiving financial penalties as he made the necessary trip to the SFA’s former headquarters at Glasgow’s Park Gardens to face whistleblower accusations.

I recall Big Jock being punished with a severe £100 penalty after a series of charges. In the 1960s and early 1970s, this was a significant sum of money (about £2,000 now), and the club did not cover the cost. That was met by the unfortunate man who had been targeted by the SFA.

Dear old chairmen like Bob Kelly and Desmond White trusted their manager to be the club’s voice, but the employee was on his own if he spoke out of turn.

Bobby Davidson was the match official who routinely brought Stein’s name to the attention of his cobwebbed employers. The Airdrie referee’s performances in Celtic games would not be scrutinized in today’s technological technology. Even at its most controversial, VAR couldn’t ignore the very evident faults that plagued his confusing displays when green and white hoops were present.

If you believe I’m exaggerating, watch footage of the 1970 Scottish Cup Final between Celtic and Aberdeen. Stein’s team fell 3-1 in the most heinous execution of football laws I’ve ever seen.

I was among the 108,434 perplexed onlookers at Hampden that April afternoon. The fury that cascaded down the old terracings on that day appeared to be music to the ears of the guy with the whistle, who continued on his undeterred path to ensure that the trophy was bedecked in red and white ribbons and traveling to the northeast once the terrible bedlam had calmed.

I was honoured to co-author the autobiographies of four Celtic players involved in that game – Davie Hay, Tommy Gemmell, Bertie Auld, and John Hughes – and you will not be surprised to learn that all of the combatants rated Davidson’s performance as one of the worst they had ever seen during their lengthy careers.

As I recall, Stein fired a verbal barrage at the referee following the Cup Final, and the SFA fined him a paltry £10 fee as a result.In subsequent years, I learned that Eddie Turnbull, the grateful Dons’ manager that day, was asked how he would have responded if his team had been the victim of the referee’s illogical decision-making at the national stadium.

Ned, as he was known in the football world, was not known for his sense of comedy or quick one-liners.

The curmudgeonly Turnbull paused for a time and responded: “Put it this way, if I had been in Big Jock’s shoes, I’d have had twenty quid’s worth!”

So, dear reader, here we are today, with Brendan Rodgers summoned to the sixth floor of Hampden to answer a complaint from SFA.

Time passes, but certain things never change.

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