What does it take in order to be sued for slander?
Paul McBride QC is probably pretty well qualified to tell us; presumably he feels he could get away with calling the SFA "dishonest" and "biased" this week.
That's right, the fallout from that Old Firm cup replay continues to spread, causing untold damage. It's a bit like Chernobyl but without the radioactive sheep (insert joke about Aberdeen fans here).
As soon as the news of the paltry punishments for Majdid Bougherra (£2,500 fine for manhandling the referee twice) and El Hadji Diouf (£5,000 fine for ignoring a policeman and throwing his shirt into the crowd, and for not leaving the pitch immediately on being sent off) - all right, they are paltry in terms of footballer's wages, I tweeted "Celtic will claim conspiracy again", and I was right.
The trouble is that their grievance is quite understandable, especially considering the other outcome was that Ally McCoist got off scot-free for his part in the touchline spat with Neil Lennon, whilst Lennon got a touchline ban (mind you, since that ban ended up running concurrently with another ban, Lennon didn't actually have to sit in the stand for any extra games. Still with me?). Yes, Lennon wagged his finger, and snarled a bit, but Coisty was hardly an angel himself.
Diouf is lucky he didn't get a breach of the peace charge to add to all his previous convictions. Meanwhile, the message from the Bougherra incident is that for five grand you can now physically interfere with the ref during the game - stop sniggering at the back, there - which might be enough to deter players at provinicial clubs but is really only a day's wages to some Old Firm players. If Paolo Di Canio gets a twelve match ban for shoving an official, surely jostling and physically intimidating one has got to be worth at least a game or two?
As for the QC's comments above (McBride, for the record, is the lawyer who defended Neil Lennon recently), the main issue for me is that, if the SFA doesn't have grounds to sue him, it must be because they are worried they can't prove that they aren't dishonest or biased.
For the record, I don't think the SFA are either of these things. I just think that they are completely useless. McBride's other comment that "they are the laughing stock of world football" is only partly true though - Rangers, Celtic and the rest of the Scottish game increasingly come under that banner.
Still, look on the bright side, we could make a few bob on the side by offering Referee Wrestling as an activity - at £2,500 it's a bargain, and I can think of a lot of fans who would be up for it. Depends on who the official is, I guess. Willie Collum probably wouldn't put up much of a fight, whereas Iain Brines is a scary looking bloke who looks like he might fight dirty. But I could see it being the ultimate birthday present for many of our supporters - "happy birthday, darling, here's your present - 10 minutes in the ring with Calum Murray. I paid an extra £500quid so you're allowed to gouge his eyes as well".
I'm onto something here, I reckon. Maybe this is what will turn around the
finances of our football clubs...
L.
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