AFTER the Record's Keith Jackson, yesterday, it's the turn of the Scotsman's Stephen 'Doc' Halliday to step into the limelight and accept the plaudits for a top class exclusive. Halliday reveals today that the General Purposes Committee of Stewart Regan's Scottish Football Association has convened - despite the snow stopping the members making it to Hampden for Monday's scheduled meeting. His Scotsman exclusive tells us the business in hand - dealing with comments made by Neil Lennon - was dealt with by the committee members in a conference call. Now the SFA will notify Celtic of their decision. In the prevailing surge of secrecy about some things - though not others - we may need some more investigative reporting of the calibre shown by Jacko and the Doc to discover just what the sentence is. After all, at least two newspapers refused to publish the secret decision to merely censure Celtic after their official website's "no fair minded person" rant. On the subject of websites, the SFA's seems to have undergone a North Korean style touch in recent days. The section with the information of who's who on all of the SFA committees has disappeared. Not a good sign, but what we are coming to expect from Regan's reign. Leaks, which give all the appearance of being to his advantage, spring up all over the place. But when he is called to account, Regan refuses to speak to newspaper reporters. And on the subject of reporting, there was an astonishing piece written by Roy Greenslade in the Guardian's media section which almost bowed down in supplication at the feet of Phil Mac Giolla Bhain. However, if Greenslade had grovelled at his feet he would have needed to push the Daily Mirror's Brian McNally out of the way. For McNally compared Phil Mac Giolla Bhain to the two Washington Post legends, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, whose two years of investigative reporting brought down the president of America. The Daily Mirror connection is a bit of a clue here. McNally works for it, and Greenslade once edited it. And still on that connection, it was the Mirror which once splashed a Troops Out! demand at the height of the IRA's terrorist bombing campaign in England and Northern Ireland. It was also the Mirror which more recently published fake pictures which had been scammed to show prisoners being tortured by the British army, a scam which led to the downfall of its editor and the freefall of its circulation. The Guardian's Greenslade also wrote that there is clearly sectarianism in Scottish football. Really? What's his evidence? Who told him? Phil Mac Giolla Bhain? Brian McNally? Paul Brennan? The old hokey cokey man, Peter Kearney? Old Uncle Tom Cobleigh and all? STEWART REGAN? However, I am indebted to Greenslade for one more piece of the jigsaw, regarding the leaking of the Hugh Dallas email. Greenslade wrote that the day after it appeared on Phil Mac Giolla Bhain's website, the story appeared - coincidently he claimed - in the Scottish edition of the News of the World. Yet Phil Mac Giolla Bhain's byline has figured regularly in the Scottish edition of the News of the World in recent times. What is also curious is the number of wild allegations - and indeed outrageous lies - which have been peddled on various Celtic websites, and by a number writers who have a Celtic bias. It seems to many who follow much of this, these claims are designed to muddy the waters. Arrant nonsense they may be, but the world is full of fools willing to believe anything which conforms to their warped view, despite overwhelming contrary evidence. Indeed, much of what is being written now, appears to some to have the hand of a hidden scriptwriter behind it, including one incredible rant on a Celtic website attributed to someone called Tony Hamilton. This falls clearly into the category of making wild claims and ignoring overwhelming evidence to the contrary. One of Hamilton's claims is the presidency of the Scottish Football Association is passed from one Rangers supporter to another. This is a blatant lie, and pays no attention to the recent history of those who have held that august office. When George Peat became president he succeeded John McBeth, and McBeth, in turn, took over from former Celtic chairman, Jack McGinn. As a matter of fact - I repeat, FACT - McGinn's reign as president was actually extended by a year by his SFA colleagues. As for McBeth, I would be grateful if anyone could provide any evidence about the former Clyde chairman's support for Rangers. McGinn and McBeth retain their first class seats at Scotland matches and on the Scotland team flights by dint of them both being Honorary Vice Presidents of the SFA. There was also the piffle peddled on Celtic Quick News which claimed Celtic's Sir Robert Kelly forced Sir George Graham to resign as the SFA president in the early 1950s. The facts are that Graham was NEVER the SFA president. During the period quoted by Celtic Quick News, the SFA presidents were J Lamb of Arbroath and Hibernian's Harry Swan. As for the Rangers influence in the SFA. Well, there has been only ONE Rangers man to hold the presidency. That was Dougal Mackenzie in season 1897-98, when Queen Victoria was on the throne. As lies go, these ones did not even need the investigative reporting skills of Jacko and Doc to nail. Though I am sure they will both have more revelations about what went on which caused referees from numerous countries to change their minds about answering Regan's pleas, plus the way the General Purposes Committee of Regan's Scottish Football Association goes about its business. ......AND...... Police are set to be called in to probe a threat of assault made on the Celtic Huddleboard. But the waters are muddied. The threat of violence is directed at Stephen W Hawking, and the laptop warrior claims he will have no problems attacking him, despite the fact Hawking is in a wheelchair. PRICELESS! The man who is running a campaign against the Stewart Regan's Scottish Football Association for caving into the Roman Catholic Church and sacking Hugh Dallas, is Richard Dawkins. http://leggoland2.blogspot.com/
