JUST WHAT DID SFA BOSS REGAN MEAN?

STEWART REGAN appears to have given succour to the wild rantings and ravings of those with a Celtic DNA who believe the world of Scottish football is weighed against them.

The new chief executive of the Scottish Football Association has no doubt acted and spoken from the best and most noble of motives.

However, he has still to discover that every action and every word is pored over and picked at with the sort of forensic manner which the old Kremlin watchers used to apply to statements from the Soviet Union.

The first mistake Regan made, if what was widely reported was correct, was going to have a meeting with his Celtic counterpart, Peter Lawwell at Parkhead.

Regan is the top dog at the SFA and if  Lawwell wanted to see him then it is the club representative who should have been invited to Hampden.

And even if any meeting was instigated by Regan, then Hampden and not Parkhead should have been the venue. At worst a neutral venue, but, under no circumstances, should Regan have headed for Parkhead, thus giving the impression he was dancing to Celtic's tune.

Next we come to what he said in the interview which appear in the newspapers, and in particular to the demand from Celtic for an independent investigation into the Tannadicegate affair.

According to Regan his probe was effectively just that, for, and again in his own words, he had just arrived as the SFA chief executive and, as an Englishman, arrived with no political baggage or hidden agenda.

Those words may actually damn Regan and reveal what many people will no believe is his view that Scots, working at the SFA, do have political baggage and do work to a hidden agenda.

I am sure Regan meant no such thing. But it is what many at Celtic, both within the club, among those who have been associated with Celtic, and almost all of those who support Celtic, believe and have articulated.

Therefore, in saying such a thing, the appearance is that Regan is kow-towing to that rampant paranoia.

Of course, my belief that Regan did not mean to imply bias within the SFA may be wrong. Perhaps that is exactly what he meant. Some will certainly think so.

His words, when weighed and picked over with a forensic toothpick, will mean what people want them to mean, with Celtic supporters believing they prove they have been right all along, while those at the SFA may well feel insulted and wronged.

To be fair to Regan, he has endured a baptism of fire, walking straight into the still to be explained Allan McGregor situation, where it took 13 days for the Rangers keeper to be reported for what he did at Pittodrie, the clear implication being that whoever did the reporting, timed things so that McGregor was banned for the Old Firm game.

Regan showed a quick and reasoned grasp of the facts in that situation and acted with speed to ensure that did not happen.

The Tannadicegate affair has been a much more complicated thing for him to try to resolve as the drip-drip-drip of poison which has been landing on the SFA's head, has cranked up unacceptable pressure.

What Regan has done, and what is to his credit, is to get proper chief executive powers from the SFA board in order that he can steamline the committee system. Or at least that is what appears to be the case from what he has said in today's interview.

Once again though, his words are open to interpretation, and they carry more than just a hint of David Brent style Office speak babble.

Regan has come to Scotland from Yorkshire Country Cricket Club. Yorkshire folk revel in being blunt, to the point and calling a spade a bloody shovel.

But then again, maybe that is just what he was doing when he spoke about being an Englishman with no political baggage or hidden agenda.

If that was what he meant, there is sure to be unrest within the SFA. Celtic though will feel vindicated and be cock-a-hoop.