Leggat - SHAMEFUL SFA LET LAWWELL OFF DISREPUTE CHARGE

[ian1964 10,461]

PETER LAWWELLâ??s Scottish Football Association boardroom pal, Stewart Regan and SFA lawman Vincent Lunny have let Celtic get away with it....

 

Again!

 

So, no surprise there then.

 

Unless of course lawyer Lunny is merely trying to keep a low profile on the orders of his boss, SFA chief executive Stewart Regan. And I leave others to speculate on why Celtic chief executive and SFA board big wig, Peter Lawwellâ??s Hampden buddy, Regan would want to order Lunny to adopt such a secret course of action.

 

For after Scottish Premier Leagueâ??s three-man Independent Commission, headed by High Court Judge Lord Nimmo Smith cleared Rangers of cheating and found the Ibrox club not guilty of gaining any unfair sporting advantage, Celtic launched an astonishing Peter Lawwell sanctioned statement which questioned the verdict.

 

It appears that Lawwell, no doubt after consultation with Celticâ??s lawyers, is convinced High Court Judge Lord Nimmo Smith and two eminent QCs got it wrong.

 

Whether or not the Peter Lawwell-Celtic statement encroaches on the thin ice of being defamatory about the competence of the Independent Commision I leave to a High Court Judge, Lord Nimmo Smith, plus Nicholas Stewart QC and Charles Flint QC to decide. They are more competent in legal matters than this old hack.

 

And also more competent in such matters than Celtic chief executive, Peter Lawwell, even if he did take legal advice.

 

If he did, then I wonder who it was who gave such legal advice to Peter Lawwell on the verdict of Lord Nimmo and those two eminent QCs?

 

Surely not anyone from Celtic and the Scottish Premier Leagueâ??s lawyers, Harper Macleod? Surely not the man from Harper Macleod, who has represented Celtic in the past and who was chosen by the SPL to be their attack dog in their vicious witch hunt against Rangers, Rod McKenzie?

 

That is, Rod McKenzie, the man whose legal assertions and arguments were dismissed by High Court Judge Lord Nimmo Smith and two eminent QCs.

 

Now, as I have already stated, my legal know how is of the journalistsâ?? fairly rudimentary variety and does not stretch to even the beginnings of the vast store of legal knowledge of Lord Nimmo Smith and those two eminent QCs, but even to a layman there is surely something of a whiff about Celtic consulting the man who acted for the SPL against Rangers on behalf of the SPL in order that they should comment about Lord Nimmo Smithâ??s verdict is such a high handed fashion?

 

Something not quite right?

 

If, indeed, it was Harper Macleod Peter Lawwell consulted.

 

However, as I have said, anything which may need to be settled in the Court of Session, anything which Peter Lawwell and Celtic said about Lord Nimmo Smith and those two eminent QCs, is a matter they are all eminently qualified to attend to.

 

However, in matters of bringing the game into disrepute, the Scottish Football Association and its arbiter, lawyer Vincent Lunny, require a lesser standard of proof and there is often newspaper speculation about this manager, that player, or a chief executive saying something which the SFA may consider brings the game into disrepute.

 

Just think how often you have read in a Monday morning paper that someone could be in trouble with the SFA after the Sunday papers were full of them mouthing off about this or that.

 

Yet since Celticâ??s Peter Lawwell sanctioned rant against Lord Nimmo Smithâ??s Independent Commission appeared in Saturdayâ??s papers I have not read one line from one journalist or heard one word from one broadcaster speculating on the possibility of Peter Lawwell and Celtic facing a disrepute charge.

 

Nor have I been able to discover if any journalist has taken the basic newsgathering step of contacting the Scottish Football Association to ask if lawyer Lunny is considering action against Celtic.

 

Funny, that!

 

I have the impression that Peter Lawwell has tried to position Celtic on the high moral ground through recent events. However, when he and Celtic sounded off about Lord Nimmo Smith, they lost any claim to such lofty heights.

 

It may be the view of many that the Peter Lawwell sanctioned Celtic statement about Lord Nimmo Smith and two eminent QCs brought the game into disrepute.

 

But what does the SFAâ??s lawyer Lunny think? What does Scottish Football Association chief executive Stewart Regan think?

 

I know what I think. I think we should be told what they think.

 

But which reporter will be brave enough to risk the wrath of Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell by asking the Scottish Football Association if any action will be taken and then printing the reply?

 

I bet it wonâ??t be Keith Jackson.

 

....

AND.....

 

REMEMBER Alastair Murning? He was one of Stewart Regan's Scottish Football Association's so called independent tribunal which imposed a transfer ban on Rangers which was later declared illegal.

 

But can you guess who the independent Murning was spotted having dinner with in a fashionable Glasgow city centre restuarant?

 

Why, none other than SFA chief executive Stewart Regan. I wonder who picked up the bill?