Crummy Lunny isn't doing his job

So, it's been nearly a week since St. Mirren's hatchetman/enforcer/thug Jim Goodwin did his best to decapitate Ross County's Filip Kiss with a forearm smash in Dingwall.  If it had occurred in a WWE ring, most fans would have winced and thought it was a bit OTT.  In a street, it would have probably warranted police attention.  On a football pitch, under the jurisdiction of Willie Collum (who was so close to the incident that, had Kiss lost some teeth, they might have hit the official), it was classed as a fair challenge.  Later in the game, there was another iffy incident involving Goodwin, when he headed the back of Melvin De Leeuw's napper, injuring both players.  If it was anyone but Goodwin, you'd put it down to a clumsiness and stupidity stereotypical of the player's not-so-distant neanderthal cousins.  But, given that it occurred inches from the home dugout, you could forgive County boss Derek Adams for going mental; in the end Adams and his opposite number, Danny Lennon, were both sent to the stand after having a shouting match - a pretty pointless punishment given they sat a few rows behind their dugouts and were able to dish out instructions as per usual.



After the game, Adams called for the SFA's Compliance Officer, Vincent Lunny, to take action.  And Lunny has, though not in the manner expected.  It is Adams and Lennon who will be called in to Hampden, cited for their touchline antics.  Goodwin?  As it stands, he'll only be visiting the national stadium if he has tickets for the athletics at the Commonwealth Games.  He will not face punishment for the challenge on Kiss.

This blog is not meant to be a character assassination of the Irishman, honestly.  Goodwin has a richly deserved reputation for being a master of football's dark arts - he has thirteen yellow cards this season, for a start - but plenty of blame for that should go on the officials who, for example, fail to keep count of the umpteen niggly fouls he commits and only book him after the fifth or sixth misdemeanour, or who spot the retaliation from the likes of Kris Boyd but not the umpteen bumps, nudges and kicks off the ball on Biyd beforehand, or who, in this case, have a blind spot for shocking challenges a few yards away.  If nobody's going to stop him, then why should he stop?

And he's certainly not going to stop when he gets away with actions like this.

Lunny, a qualified solicitor, has been the SFA's Compliance Officer since October 2011.  It was a move that, from memory, seemed to improve the disciplinary system initially.  If a referee didn't catch you, the SFA would - which is exactly as it should be.

This season, however, the actions of Lunny and the SFA in regards to player discipline have been inconsistent at best, and downright dodgy at worst.  The phrase "trial by Sportscene" has been used more than once by managers, implying that incidents will not be dealt with unless they are on the BBC highlights.  This accusation  may have some merit.  For example, Dundee United's Gavin Gunning received a 2 game ban after being caught on camera taking a sly kick at Celtic's Virgil Van Dijk back in August.  Yet when Celtic's Anthony Stokes kicked Hibs' Jordan Forster off the ball a few months later at Celtic Park (an incident mentioned by plenty of journalists at the game), no action was taken.  The incident wasn't shown on Sportscene...though STV Sport got hold of footage and ran an article on it (from which the video has sadly been deleted).  It was indisputably no less of an offence than Gunning's but it was ignored.  On the other hand, Goodwin was the centre of attention on Sportscene after the game with Ross County, albeit with his teammate Steven Thompson inexplicably trying to defend him; but that hasn't prompted Lunny and co to react.



Off the field, meanwhile, we had the betting scandals surrounding Rangers midfielder Ian Black and Ayr United striker Michael Moffat.  In January, Moffat was recently found guilty of placing seven bets on six Ayr United games between August 2012 and August 2013, and of betting on 150 other matches between February 2012 and September 2013.  Black, of course, was found in August to have bet against his "then-registered club" three times between 2006 and 2013, betting on 10 other matches involving his registered club, and on another 147 matches.

Moffat's bets were always in favour of his club; Black made some on his club not to win, in matches he was playing in.  Black got a three match ban with seven suspended.  Moffat, whose offence was clearly not has grave, got a six match ban - albeit reduced on appeal to four matches with two suspended after an almighty outcry.

But, for me, the most dubious judgement of the year was regarding the actions of Dundee United's Nadir Ciftci, which actually occurred right in front of me in Inverness during a League Cup Quarter Final.  Ciftci was sent off after some handbags on the touchline and was subsequently accused of grabbing a linesman by the throat.  I saw it with my own eyes, and 'grabbing by the throat' is to say the least an exaggeration.  He had a grip of the scruff of his neck for maybe a split-second, presumably before his brain kicked into gear and realized that laying hands on a match official is a bloody daft thing to do.  He was also accused of grabbing an ICT player by the face...on top of the red card in the fracas.



The end result of all of it?  A one match ban for "excessive misconduct at a match by placing an open hand into the lower area of the assistant referee's throat".  Correctly, the original red card was reduced to a yellow, as there was no evidence that, at that point, he had done anything beyond some rather pathetic pushing and shoving.  However, the other charge was dropped...despite clear evidence of his hand in the face of Graeme Shinnie.

Why did he get such a desultory punishment?  For me, it's because the officials and the SFA made an arse of it.  The original red card was unwarranted.  The claims by the match officials regarding the contact between Ciftci and the linesman were over the top.  And the SFA took several weeks to even meet up to discuss it.  It was a cock-up of the highest order.  I suspect the one match ban was a facesaving exercise, because even putting a hand on a referee or linesman should result in much more than that, but if Dundee United and Ciftci had continued fighting the case then it would have led to extreme embarrassment.

The current system with the Compliance Officer is no longer fit for purpose.  If you want this to work fairly, every minute of action from each game, at least in the top flight, needs to be viewed retrospectively by someone in the SFA, so that nothing is missed.  Given there's only six matches a week, that really isn't all that much to ask - heck, they could fast forward when the ball goes out of play.  In the USA, the NFL review every second of every match...and there are 16 matches each week, with lots more action happening!  The current system of cherry-picking incidents on what appears to be individual whims is just ridiculous.  But, hey, isn't Scottish football all about the individual whims of the men at the top?

L.