Scottish football takes another bizarre twist as SFA set to investigate SPFL for rule breaches

By John McGinley

December 28, 2021

Scottish football is finding new ways to outdo itself in the drama stakes, as the SPFL finds itself embroiled in a new row – this time with the Scottish FA.

The Herald reports that SFA compliance officer Andrew Phillips is set to examine if the SPFL have breached articles 99.12 and 99.14, relating to bringing cases to a court of law without the express approval of the SFA board.

It all revolves around the farcical SPFL dispute with Rangers around sponsorship of the cinch Premiership, which the Ibrox club have taken issue with.

The SPFL signed an £8m deal with the online car retailer earlier this year, only for Rangers to claim it breached a current commercial agreement with motor group Park’s of Hamilton, which is owned by the Ibrox chairman Douglas Park.

For me, these legal disputes are a bad look for Scottish football, regardless of who is at fault. If money is coming into the game, that should be taken.

Sure, it should be examined over time if the game has been sold short and whether future commercial deals could be more lucrative.

But this petty nonsense is putting an £8m deal at stake. This cash may not make a massive difference to Celtic, but it could be important for smaller clubs.

Why would another sponsor want anything to do with Scottish football when a company such as cinch is treated like this?

If I had a few million pounds and was looking into investing it into sponsorship, I’d be running a mile from the SPFL.

A penny for the Celtic board’s thoughts as all this unfolds? None of this can be a good thing for the game in this country.

In other news, 3 former Celtic Bhoys are excelling in the English Premier League this week; stunning contribution today.