Stewart Regan Was Hand Picked By The SFA, But Only Stewart Regan Can Say So

[Guest JCS]

Written by JCS

 

Some months ago I wrote an article for Rangers media entitled, â??The Mysterious Past and Recruitment of Stewart Reganâ?.

 

The opening paragraphs of my article dealt with the controversy surrounding Stewart Reganâ??s appointment as Chief Executive of the Scottish Football Association.

 

Prior to the publication of my RangersMedia article it had already been alleged that a formal, structured recruitment and selection process may have been subverted by an individual/s who invited Stewart Regan to apply for the job, and the core allegation was, therefore, that Mr. Regan was â??hand-pickedâ?? for the post.

 

My article repeated those allegations and, as a direct consequence, the RangersMedia team received two letters from Stewart Reganâ??s solicitors dated 2nd May 2012 and 4th May 2012, the latter specifically referring to a quite separate post on the site entitled, â??Stewart Regan was asked to apply for his SFA jobâ?

 

The first letter dated, 2nd May 2012 from Mr. Reganâ??s solicitors, Burness of Bothwell Street, Glasgow, is reproduced in part below.

 

Dear Sir

 

Scottish Football Association (â??The Associationâ?), Rangers Media blog post â??The Mysterious Past and Recruitment of Stewart Reganâ?

 

We act for the Association who have contacted us in relation to a blog on your website.

 

The post entitled â??The Mysterious Past and Recruitment of Stewart Reganâ? contains many false and grossly defamatory allegations against the Associationâ??s Chief Executive, Stewart Regan and also the Association. By way of illustration only:

 

â?¢Mr. Regan was not specifically invited to apply for his present role

 

The phrase in bold above is unequivocal in its assertion that Stewart Regan was not invited to apply for the Chief Executive post, and the 2nd letter, dated 4th May 2012 is equally definitive in its statement that,

 

â??We note that a blog on your website entitled â??Stewart Regan was â??asked to applyâ?? for his SFA jobâ? remains on your website. It also contains false and defamatory allegations against the Association.

 

All such allegations are false and extremely damaging to the Associationâ??s reputation".

 

However, in a television interview with BBC Scotlandâ??s Chris McLaughlin just a few days ago, on 31st July 2012, Stewart Regan appears to contradict the statements made by his legal advisors on his behalf in relation to his appointment as Chief Executive of the SFA.

 

During the interview entitled, â??Stewart Regan defends Scottish FA leadershipâ?, Chris McLaughlin asks Mr. Regan if there has ever been a time when he considered his position â?? that â??enough is enough â?? that itâ??s time to get outâ??.

 

Stewart Regan replies, â??I came here to do a job two years ago, I was head-hunted to come in and modernise Scottish footballâ?¦â?¦â?

 

You can listen to the interview and his response above on the BBC Sports website. The interview lasts 14 minutes 14 seconds and his specific statement is at 10 minutes 20 seconds

 

â??I WAS HEAD-HUNTED TO COME INâ? - that is what Stewart Regan says.

 

Forgive me if you consider my interpretation of his statement to be incorrect, but doesnâ??t that mean that someone â??invitedâ?? him to join the SFA; that someone identified him as THE man for the job and contacted him to encourage his application; that someone actively sought to persuade him to apply for the job; that someone purposefully set out to discuss the appointment with him and engage him?

 

Well, thatâ??s what I understand â??head-huntedâ?? to mean. Certainly the Cambridge dictionary concurs with my definition,

 

â??to persuade someone to leave their job by offering them another job with more pay and a higher positionâ?

 

But, perhaps, you prefer the Oxford English Dictionary definition,

 

â??identify and approach someone employed elsewhere to fill a business positionâ?

 

Mr. Reganâ??s solicitors â?? writing on his behalf and, I assume, with his full authority and consent â?? tell us unequivocally, and unreservedly, that he was â??not specifically invited to apply for his present roleâ?? and, if that is correct, then Stewart Regan is clearly telling lies in his interview with Chris McLaughlin.

 

However, the statement from Burness solicitors, made on Stewart Reganâ??s behalf in response to my article, will be untrue if Stewart Regan has lied to them and deliberately sought to deceive them.

 

Iâ??m not sure that there is any other logical conclusion given Regan's 'I was headhunted' statement. Regan certainly cannot claim to have been headhunted by the Scottish Football Association and then also claim that he was not â??invitedâ?? to apply for the post.

 

Equally he cannot assert that he applied for the post of his own volition, was not â??invitedâ?? or induced to apply, then assert proudly that â??I was headhunted to come in and modernise Scottish footballâ??.

 

This is not merely some simple contradiction, or a minor misunderstanding or a misinterpretation.

 

No, this revelation calls into question Stewart Reganâ??s honesty and integrity and that of the senior officials of the SFA who were responsible for the recruitment and selection process and his subsequent appointment.

 

But more than that, it raises serious, significant and fundamental questions about how the SFA went about recruiting its new Chief Executive. If, indeed, Regan was headhunted - as he clearly and unequivocally states â?? then who at the SFA authorised it?

 

How, when and by whom was Stewart Regan identified as the candidate to be headhunted?

 

Was this the collective decision of the SFA Board?

 

Was Stewart Regan the only candidate to be identified and approached in this way?

 

If not, how were the applications of the other candidates considered, rejected and eventually discarded?

 

Who at the SFA gave the required authorisation to approach and headhunt Regan?

 

Why was an agreed recruitment and selection process not initiated and conducted in accordance with SFA Memorandum, Articles, Rules and Procedures , and in compliance with statutory equality legislation and best practice?

 

These are but some of the many questions that now demand answers. Should Stewart regan and the SFA decline, then perhaps they must be asked more formally.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

saw this on ff mate. incredible stuff.

[ian1964 10,514]

It seems Regan has a problem with what he says and forgets,on the subject of the SFA asking CG to explain his comments on sectarian factors directed towards Rangers in the SPL clubs decission to vote Rangers out of the SPL!

 

Regan refused directly to implicate Celtic, who have been involved in an ongoing battle with officialdom, in the current row. He did, though, point to wider factors in this controversy.

 

"Clearly there are sectarian issues at play," Regan said. "I think that's something that has been around for a long time and its naive to think that can be removed overnight. There are a lot of efforts by many people to change the culture. This is a cultural issue, it's deep-rooted and will take time to change."

 

Ewan Murray

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 23 November 2010 23.26 GMT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/nov/23/scottish-fa-deadline-referees-strike

[the gunslinger 3,366]

so the refs strike was caused by bigots. Regan really is a Moron.

[BAP1872 0]

so the refs strike was caused by bigots. Regan really is a Moron.

 

Well, it was!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE LURGAN BIGOT!!!

[Blue Moon 1,150]

I hope Rangers lawyers are onto all of this.

[Guest cail]

I hope Rangers lawyers are on to all of this.

 

M8 if they are not someone needs a swift kick in the haw maws.

This bastard has been giving us enough ammunition to run his arse out of office for a while and no one seems to care.

That has to stop if we want to survive and beat these corrupt bastards.