SFA chief hopeful of vote for radical reform

Tue 7th Jun 2011 | Football Governance

Scottish football could see radical reforms introduced should its member clubs vote for revolutionary reforms at today's annual general meeting.

The Scottish Football Association’s chief executive, Stewart Regan is keen to discard what he believes to be out-dated practices and procedures and see much-needed changes introduced to the 138-year-old organisation.

And he is hopeful of receiving the 75 per cent backing required from the 93 member clubs at the summit at Hampden.

He said: "Sometimes I have moments of optimism and other times I think 'it's an AGM - you're never quite sure how people will vote'.

"All I can say is that we have done as much as we have possibly been able to do.

"We couldn't have done any more, we have literally travelled the length and breadth of the country and I think we have done as much as we can to explain the background.

"It's now up to the members to vote with us."

If not given the green light on this occasion, Regan says he will simply try again in the future.

He said: "The structures we currently have can still accommodate some of the new procedures and processes and we will have to work within the confines of the existing structure.

"That said, if you are going to implement a brand-new strategy, which is something we're trying to do, it's always nice to have the right structure in place.

"If we don't get our way, I think we will see it as an opportunity lost but it won't be the end of the world.

"We will make sure we work with what we've got and we will come back and we will present it again at some point in the future."

The reforms would see the main board reduced from 11 directors to seven, with a further two operational boards overseeing the professional game and the non-professional game.

The other substantial change would be an overhaul of the committee system, with a new judicial panel dealing with disciplinary matters instead.

Regan said: "As far as we are concerned, the disciplinary matters have been areas that have let us down.

"Some of the processes have really had to be unpicked and put back together again in a much tighter, defensible way.

"We've done that, we've started again, we've got a much more clear and robust set of measures and I'm confident we will have a much stronger SFA going into the new season."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RETURN TO LATEST NEWS SECTION

SUBSCRIBE TO THE F.C. BUSINESS RSS FEED

If you have any football business related news stories you’d like to share then please contact us – agourley@fcbusiness.co.uk or ryan@fcbusiness.co.uk

Add to: Google | Yahoo | Live | del.icio | Digg |