Controversies – Cadete and Farry (Misc Articles)

The sentimental sentinel

Scotland on Sunday 19/01/1997

SUE MOTT

“I TAKE it you and Hitler are not related,” I asked Jim Farry, the chief nabob of Scottish football in his Glasgow bunker. “I am unaware of my family connection,” he replied, his moustache fairly twirling with mischief. “Our genealogist, I’m afraid, hasn’t gone that far back.”

This was an almost supernaturally typical response from a man who gleefully admits he is public enemy No1. Funny, sarcastic, unperturbed and slightly smart-arse; all couched in the language of a legal document requiring five rubber stamps and a monarch’s signature.

Farry is a man who has probably never said “yes” or “no” in his life. There would be provisos, sub-clauses, riders, bluffs and all kinds of strings attached. He was, after all, bred up to this job, joining the SFA in 1972 as a fresh-faced office boy of 18. “I was the boy sharpening the pencils and making the tea. We still have pencils and I still sharpen my own, I may add.”

He dug ditches before that. But he’s grown up. Now he mans the machine guns.

He is powerful in the sport and clearly loves it. His bald head positively glows with self-esteem and the twinkle rarely leaves his sexy eyes. (He is only 42 but going on 123, the age of the Association to which he is umbilically attached.) He is, perhaps, one of the most enormously likeable old flatulents in sport and this from a visitor who was kept in the freezing cold on the SFA doorstep because it was a few minutes before 9:30 -opening time – when I arrived. That’s typical too.

“We must be alert to protect the game from potential abuse,” he said at one point. How? “By our regulations, by our articles, by our membership being vigilant,” he replied and you could almost see the red tape holding up his trousers. But he is more than the sum of jumped-up car park attendants. He might even rule, as Boutros Boutros Ghali was said to have run the UN: “by stealth and sudden violence”.

But he is not a brute. Far from it. “Good morning, Glenda. Tea for two please,” were his first words into an intercom as we settled into his oceanic office. Then he moved smoothly into highly-charged, unrepentant controversy.

“We want football to be protected from the entrepreneurs.” Protected? “In England,” I said, “football has never been run with such entrepreneurial spirit, and yet you could argue it had never been richer.”

“You could argue that,” he replied, “but with it have come many problems.” Like what? “Crime.” It was the only time in the interview – possibly in his life – that he had used a one-word response to a question.

“You know what I’m referring to. Many, many stated cases – some still the subject of court action – but there’s been a fairly widespread and regrettable highlighting of some of the unfortunate aspects of this encouragement of entrepreneurialism,” he said, in fine Circumlocution Office manner. But I can offer a translation: George Graham’s bung, Marseilles’ alleged 11m in bribes, Bruce Grobbelaar in court. “I couldn’t possibly comment,” said Farry.

“The game of football is a sport and when you introduce the aspect of business, paying dividends to shareholders and city investors, then they’re not too interested in the ethos of our sport. They’re interested in the bottom line. How the bottom line is achieved is regulated by the Companies’ Act not by any sporting ethos.”

He is supported in his view by the rumour that Sir John Hall at Newcastle is considering a pull-out to recoup, indeed improve upon, his outlay. “Well, we have a club’s managing director who’s stated the same,” said Farry. “Celtic‘s managing director…

“…Come in. Thank-you, Ann Marie. Do you take milk in your tea?” he said, elegantly being mother.

“I fear that at the present time there is an over-concentration on the bottom line rather than considering the attractiveness of our sport, the maintenance of its development and the needs of others. In this lemming-like rush for financial goodies others have been trampled along the way.”

I took that to mean Rangers and Celtic don’t put enough back.

“Well, if you’re Boots the Chemist, your mission in life is not to go along to your rivals and say: ‘How may we help you?’ Now football doesn’t have that, because you need opposition, so I support those endeavours of any clubs who genuinely want to support the maintenance of professional football by making sacrifices from their own income to ensure the challengers are better equipped to challenge.
“But that’s maybe a wee bit wishful thinking,” he conceded with a hearty laugh.

If you are talking sacrifice, the powers of Rangers and Celtic might prefer to offer Farry up to the great god Mammon if he goes on like this. He should surely be more worried that they might simply push off to a European Superleague soon.

“Well, if any member club were to take the view that their legitimate aspirations cannot be met from within the existing structure, then they would not pay their subscription fee for the next season. But you’ve got to be sure of where you’re going. Sometimes it is more financially worthwhile to be the big fish in the wee pool rather than the wee fish in the big pool.”

This veiled threat surely ignores the mortal blow to Scottish football were the big two to leave. “Only if they’re playing Scottish players,” retorted Farry. “If they’re just a multinational side with no Scottish identity they could hardly claim to represent Scotland.” I mused it seemed to be going that way with more Scandinavians on a working-holiday in Britain than generally clog the beaches of the Costa del Sol.

“I think it is that way,” said Farry. He is what the Tories would call – and whip – a Euro-sceptic. I hesitate to paraphrase a man who chooses words with the fastidiousness of a wine-buff picking a bottle in Oddbins, but his gist was that the whole European ideal was alien to sport. In politics the trend is towards homogeny. Sport, on the other hand, must guard its national identity.

It was a beautiful concept, utterly at odds with reality. But his shining forehead showed no signs of banging against brickwork. “I’m fairly philosophical, pragmatic,” he said, as indeed he must be to repel the vitriolic personal attacks frequently heaped on his person.

“Well, I am not a fragile flower but, yes, some of the petals have been pinched. Of course you’re not made of stone.”

That was not what they thought on the touchline when the schoolboy Farry played full-back, giving an apparent impersonation of a concrete block. “I was pretty ropey, I’d say,” he conceded. “But I quickly realised having a reasonably numerate mind that you stood a better chance of getting a game if there were 15 in the team than if there were 11. So being a fairly unexciting full-back or centre-half, I soon converted to being a more glamorous wing-half at rugby.”

As a Third Lanark supporter, he would watch football of a higher quality than he played, but his parents would not allow him to go to the bigger clubs. His dad was a policeman and so it must have been in the genes. He is, after all, policing football.

“Shall we say, more, the procurator fiscal,” he said, hugely entertained. “Reports get referred to me. I tend not to arrest them. Sometime I wouldn’t mind that power, right enough, but so far they ain’t giving me it.”

For a heavy-set man he dances through a conversation like Fred Astaire. You wonder that the image of the SFA has not been thoroughly lightened by his presence. But, of course, I was forgetting. “We are governed by our articles, our rules, our regulations. I don’t make them, the clubs make them. They’re the ones who telephone me on a Monday morning and say: ‘Did you see what he said! He can’t get away with it! What are you going to do about it?’ ”

“Just say: ‘Where’s your sense of humour?’ and put the phone down,” I offered.
“Well, amazingly, the clubs wouldn’t like that. My job – I’m the Fiscal – is to put it to the test. If there is a case to answer, the appropriate sub-committee will deal with the matter.”

Ah! the sub-committee. Farry’s spiritual home where, you suspect, he tells them all what to think and then they reach his concensus. Not that his views aren’t cogent. He is frankly dismissive of Celtic’s suspicion that they may be victims of some Masonic conspiracy amongst referees.

“It’s sometimes an asset for management – and it might also massage the shares value – to blame others for your own inadequacies. You know, it’s just an unfortunate part of life in Scotland, particularly in the west of Scotland, that you really are aware of innuendo and aspersions and unsubstantiated allegations which are borne out of nothing to do with fact, but are akin to ‘did you hear Mrs McGuffie’s hingin’ oot her washing on a Sunday. Isn’t that terrible?’ I mean we’re dealing with gossip.” He said the word with profound contempt.

Farry has more high-minded matters to consider: the whole tenuous, sometimes bitter, always chaotic, business of Scottish football. “I am the fulcrum on which the system operates. But I’m not the legislator or policy-maker. The answer for football is really self-respect, self-regulation, self-discipline.

“You don’t get many occasions where professional lawyers square up and headbutt each other. I’m not witnessing too much of that. So let football live up to its status. Let’s act professionally.”

Sport: Football SFA boss suspended

See Also: Controversies – Cadete and Farry
Monday, March 1, 1999

The Scottish Football Association has suspended its Chief Executive, Jim Farry, in a row over the transfer of a Celtic player three years ago.

Mr Farry had vowed to carry on but the suspension was announced on Monday. He and Celtic Managing Director Fergus McCann are in dispute over Jorge Cadete’s move to Parkhead three years ago. A statement read by SFA Vice-President John McBeth said: “The Scottish Football Association advises that the arbitration raised by Celtic against the SFA has been settled by the parties prior to completion of the arbitration.

“The settlement is in favour of Celtic. The SFA has issued a letter of apology to Celtic, will make payment of an undisclosed sum of compensation to Celtic and will make payment of Celtic’s reasonable legal expenses in connection with the case. The SFA also advises that its chief executive Jim Farry has been suspended on full pay. Due to the legal nature of this matter, the SFA will not make further comment presently.”

Celtic had said the SFA delayed the player’s registration, leaving him ineligible to play in a cup tie against Rangers. The BBC’s sports reporter Roddy Forsyth said: “The notion that a player was held out of a game against Rangers that Celtic ultimately lost is rather explosive.” Mr Farry was adamant he would carry on working at the association’s Park Gardens headquarters even if the inquiry, headed by John Murray QC, went against him. “I have absolutely no intention to resign. To say that is mischief making,” he told the Daily Mail.
Cadete moved to Celtic in 1996 from Sporting Lisbon but was forced to miss a Scottish Cup semi-final clash against Rangers, which the Ibrox club won 2-1. Mr Farry has courted controversy during his career at the SFA helm and has survived several calls for his resignation.

One of his most troubled passages involved the decision to sanction the playing of a Scotland World Cup qualifying match on the day of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. He said: “I have received notification from my employer that the SFA may require to carry out an additional investigation of certain issues arising from the dispute between Celtic and the SFA.

“I indicated I would be pleased to co-operate with any such additional investigation which will be the third review since the player was registered for Celtic on March 30 1996. “It is normal, I understand – although it is a first for me – that when an employer notifies you of a suspension pending the outcome of a proposed investigation, it is nice to comply.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/football/288283.stm

A fall guy called Farry

Scotsman, The (Edinburgh, Scotland)
March 2, 1999

THE ramifications of the Jim Farry affair hint at a scandal which reaches far beyond the maladministration of one man. From the evidence presented yesterday, it is difficult not to conclude that this is a game in which collective inefficiency, negligence and hypocrisy have played a blinder.

If Farry, the SFA’s discredited chief executive, was guilty of deliberately and damagingly delaying the registration of Jorge Cadete when the player joined Celtic from Sporting Lisbon in 1996, the behaviour of the association’s office bearers and executive committee members is unlikely to stand much scrutiny. It is now known that Fergus McCann began agitating over the Cadete registration procedure at the end of the first week in March 1996. The Celtic managing
director having made his discontent known, the executive committee did not decide until the 29th of the month to approve the player’s registration.

When asked yesterday about the part played by the office bearers and the executive, McCann questioned whether “they had received all the relevant information”, a clear implication that Farry had deliberately kept details from his masters. Even if this was the case, the responsibility of ensuring that there was no wrongdoing lay with the officials. At the very least, the office bearers, John McBeth, of Clyde; Chris Robinson of Hearts (both vice-presidents) and George Peat of Airdrie (treasurer), should have insisted on examining all pertinent material and accelerating the process.

Their lack of action is at least the equal of Farry’s, even if the chief executive, as the man in charge of administration, was the starting-point for the improper handling of the matter. The fourth office bearer, president Jack McGinn, is exempt from indictment because, as an interested party – he is Celtic’s representative -he was not permitted to take any part in the case.

But McCann, having at first appeared to have excused the officials, later referred to his general dissatisfaction, with the observation:
“Are the right people making the decisions on Scottish football? Is there manipulation? Could the decision-making process be better handled? We know the bureaucracy could be reduced.”

These utterances all hint at culpability on the part of those who make the executive decisions. Farry is not empowered to do so and, even if the Cadete business began purely as an administrative issue, it became a matter for the executive committee when McCann began making dissenting noises.

It is hugely significant that these officials took the advice of counsel last week and agreed to capitulate in the face of McCann’s onslaught. This evasive action precluded the opportunity for John Murray QC to deliver a written judgment. There is little doubt that the arbiter would have left those who run Scottish football’s governing body without a name.

The former Lord Dervaird, for example, would surely have questioned how internal inquiries into the business at Park Gardens could possibly have exonerated Farry on a previous occasion when the case presented by Celtic proved to be unopposable.

This would unquestionably have brought a recommendation that the least the SFA could do in future would be to have such matters settled quickly by an independent tribunal such as the one Murray himself had conducted. More than that, he would almost inevitably have condemned as an unfair practice the SFA regulation which forbids its members from seeking satisfaction through the judicial process.

This is an anachronistic rule which would not stand up in any court and one which has caused McCann most annoyance throughout this inordinately and unnecessarily lengthy search for an admission of wrongdoing, an apology, a reimbursement of Cadete’s wages for two weeks and, ultimately, the sacking of Farry.

McCann was so enraged by the three years it has taken and by Farry’s obstinacy, that he expanded his original demands to embrace the chief executive’s removal.

This was not one of his original objectives. The longer the executive dithered over their own nonsensical “internal inquiries”, the more insistent and the more vindictive the Celtic chairman became.

The office bearers’ hypocrisy is seen in their rush to take disciplinary action against Farry in the form of suspension. This is an employee who was cleared of any offence by their own investigation. Given the sequence of events outlined by Celtic yesterday, how could they possibly have made a proper examination of what is, as McCann said: “an open and shut case”, and arrived at exoneration of their man?

And, having done so, it is hypocritical in the extreme to be contemplating his dismissal, the normal corollary to suspension. Their folly could now cost them a substantial amount of money, with a 1million pay-off not out of the question. Farry’s refusal to resign is the least shocking aspect of the entire business.

He knows perfectly well that employers can hardly fire him for gross negligence when they themselves have already declared him innocent. Well, not without handsome compensation.

Since his salary runs to six figures and he is only 44 – some 21 years short of retirement age – his settlement negotiations could cause some panic in the executive breast.

This is not to say, of course, that Farry should be retained. There has been a series of miscalculations by the chief executive, including the Duncan Ferguson case, which have caused severe embarrassment and his position does now seem irretrievable.

But, on the question of poor judgment and the abuse of power, he is not alone.

Football: Celtic win Farry fight

David McKinney
Tuesday, 2 March 1999
(Independent)

JIM FARRY’S football career is effectively at an end after the Scottish Football Association chief executive was yesterday suspended over the Jorge Cadete affair. Celtic have claimed for three years that Farry delayed the processing of the transfer of the Portuguese player in time for the Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers in 1996. Celtic lost the game 2-1, but yesterday they won the war against the most powerful figure in the Scottish game.

The SFA has offered Celtic a written apology as well as agreeing to pay compensation and meet Celtic’s legal fees, and Fergus McCann, the Celtic chief executive, yesterday wasted little time in condemning the part played by Farry. “It has taken Celtic and its supporters three years to receive justice on the issue of the SFA’s chief executive Jim Farry’s failure to properly register Jorge Cadete.

“It is deplorable that a prominent member club should be disadvantaged in this way when on several occasions the SFA’s chief executive had the opportunity to make the correct decision. Mr Farry’s failure to properly and timeously register Jorge Cadete leaves the club in no other position than to ask for the office bearers of the SFA to recognise that Mr Farry’s position is untenable. This case demonstrates clearly that Mr Farry cannot be allowed to hold and exercise such powerful authority.”

The issue recently went to arbitration with the SFA admitting liability before proceedings could finish. Clearly angered by the whole situation, Celtic are demanding the dismissal of Farry, who has held the top job at the SFA since 1990 following 10 years as secretary of the Scottish League.

In the last nine years he has been frequently criticised for his dictatorial attitude which at times appeared out of tune with the ordinary supporter. He insisted on Scotland playing a European Championship qualifier on the day of the funeral of Princess Diana only to back down in the face of severe pressure and criticism.

Farry’s motives for delaying the Cadete transfer remain unclear and although Celtic supporters will interpret his actions as indicating a pro-Rangers stance McCann refused to be drawn on the topic. “I’m not claiming there was malice but there was intent. There was a failure on his part despite the advice of Fifa and Celtic. This is a matter that goes beyond Celtic Football Club, it’s a question of somebody who has failed to follow the rules of football.”

McCann intends to hold discussions with the other clubs in the Scottish Premier League and his frustration with the powerbrokers at the SFA could prove the motive towards a shift of power towards the new body who would effectively run the elite body of Scottish football. In the meantime Farry has agreed to co-operate with an SFA investigation into his actions.

SFA boss suspended

Monday, March 1, 1999 Published at 18:53 GMT
(BBC)

The Scottish Football Association has suspended its Chief Executive, Jim Farry, in a row over the transfer of a Celtic player three years ago.

Mr Farry had vowed to carry on but the suspension was announced on Monday. He and Celtic Managing Director Fergus McCann are in dispute over Jorge Cadete’s move to Parkhead three years ago. A statement read by SFA Vice-President John McBeth said: “The Scottish Football Association advises that the arbitration raised by Celtic against the SFA has been settled by the parties prior to completion of the arbitration.

“The settlement is in favour of Celtic. The SFA has issued a letter of apology to Celtic, will make payment of an undisclosed sum of compensation to Celtic and will make payment of Celtic’s reasonable legal expenses in connection with the case. “The SFA also advises that its chief executive Jim Farry has been suspended on full pay. “Due to the legal nature of this matter, the SFA will not make further comment presently.”

Celtic had said the SFA delayed the player’s registration, leaving him ineligible to play in a cup tie against Rangers. The BBC’s sports reporter Roddy Forsyth said: “The notion that a player was held out of a game against Rangers that Celtic ultimately lost is rather explosive.” Mr Farry was adamant he would carry on working at the association’s Park Gardens headquarters even if the inquiry, headed by John Murray QC, went against him. “I have absolutely no intention to resign. To say that is mischief making,” he told the Daily Mail.

Cadete moved to Celtic in 1996 from Sporting Lisbon but was forced to miss a Scottish Cup semi-final clash against Rangers, which the Ibrox club won 2-1. Mr Farry has courted controversy during his career at the SFA helm and has survived several calls for his resignation. One of his most troubled passages involved the decision to sanction the playing of a Scotland World Cup qualifying match on the day of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. He said: “I have received notification from my employer that the SFA may require to carry out an additional investigation of certain issues arising from the dispute between Celtic and the SFA. “I indicated I would be pleased to co-operate with any such additional investigation which will be the third review since the player was registered for Celtic on March 30 1996. “It is normal, I understand – although it is a first for me – that when an employer notifies you of a suspension pending the outcome of a proposed investigation, it is nice to comply.”

Farry sacked by SFA

Monday, March 8, 1999 Published at 16:08 GMT
(BBC)

Jim Farry has been sacked as chief executive of the Scottish Football Association for “gross misconduct”.

Farry’s nine-year term was ended following a complaint from Celtic over the registration of Jorge Cadete three years ago. He was suspended last week and his fate was decided at a meeting the SFA Council on Monday.

Farry insisted he had done nothing wrong and had said he would not be resigning from his job. He is now considering legal action. SFA president Jack McGinn has been named acting chief executive pending the appointment of Farry’s successor. Celtic ‘satisfied’ The move follows an independent commission ruling in favour of Celtic last week after the Parkhead club protested at the delay in registering Cadete.

The Portuguese forward missed vital matches towards the end of the 1995/6 season sparking a bitter dispute. The decision will delight Celtic managing director Fergus McCann who had demanded Farry be sacked for his role in the affair. Celtic released a short statement in response to Farry’s dismissal making it clear they were satisfied with the outcome. It said: “No-one likes to see anyone lose their job. However, in this circumstance it was inevitable due to the substantial evidence of Mr Farry’s behaviour and attitude.” Farry issued a short response after the announcement, saying: “I will now be forced to seek legal advice. I can make no comment beyond that.” It is understood that Farry had requested to attend the SFA Council meeting but received no answer.

‘A lot to think about’ SFA council member Hugh Scott, owner and chairman of Greenock Morton, said: “It is always disappointing to see someone of that quality no longer fulfilling that function.

“I would think that we have confidence in the office bearers to make sure natural justice is dispensed. “We must always remember that the president and vice-president are very capable of running the SFA. “I think the answer is that we all have a lot to think about and we all have to be comfortable with what we have heard and seen, and I have a high regard of what we have seen and heard.”

Statement from the SFA

The Herald 09/03/1999

THE Scottish Football Association advises that, following the suspension on full pay of its chief executive, Mr James Farry, the decision has been taken to dismiss Mr Farry immediately for gross misconduct.

Pending the appointment of a new chief executive/secretary, the president of the association, Mr Jack McGinn, has been appointed acting chief executive.

A detailed report from the SFA’s external lawyers was received by the Association last Thursday, March 4.

The report related to matters arising from the recent arbitration with Celtic FC, relating to the registration of Jorge Cadete.

The Emergency Committee, comprising the SFA’s office-bearers, considered the report on Friday, March 5, and decided to request the views of the executive committee, given the policy issues involved.

The executive committee, after detailed consideration of the report and having received further legal advice, unanimously recommended that Mr Farry be dismissed from the SFA immediately.

The emergency committee effected the recommendation on Friday evening.

Council was appraised today of the situation, viewed the report, and detailed discussion took place.

The reasons for Mr Farry’s dismissal result from his acts and omissions during the Cadete affair, including his conduct during:

(i) the period of the investigation of the registration by an SFA sub-committee;
(ii) the preparation of the SFA’s case for the arbitration;
(iii) his testimony during the arbitration; and
(iv) the period since his suspension on February 26.

The SFA does not intend to make further comment on the reasons for Mr Farry’s dismissal for reasons of confidentiality.

In relation to the Cadete affair itself, approximately 110 documents were produced by the SFA and Celtic, 13 witnesses in total would have given evidence, and there had already been five days of evidence, which was scheduled to last at least a further three days with legal submissions to follow.

The SFA has made the most strenuous efforts to keep matters confidential throughout, first to comply with the rules of confidentiality in the arbitration, and thereafter in fairness to Mr Farry.

The SFA wishes to make the following comments:

(i) The SFA decided to settle the arbitration prior to the conclusion of Mr Farry’s evidence, following very strong advice and recommendations from its external legal team;
(ii) Mr Farry was immediately advised of the decision to settle and, indeed, agreed with the decision. He did not, however, agree with the terms of the letter of apology to Celtic;
(iii) Attempts were made by the SFA’s legal team to have Mr Cadete himself testify on their behalf. However, Mr Cadete refused to come to Glasgow.

In light of recent events, the SFA will, of course, undertake a thorough review of its registration procedures.

For information, the SFA processes around 47,000 player registrations per year at all levels of football, and this has been an isolated case.

It has been a very difficult period for the association and the recent events should not be allowed to cloud the work which Mr Farry has undertaken on behalf of the association and, indeed, Scottish football.

There are many positive things which can be attributed to Mr Farry over these years which should not be forgotten.

His misinterpretation of what was written in the game’s statutes forced him to face Celtic’s lawyers in an arbitration case and ultimately forced him out of office in what will be remembered as Scottish football’s greatest courtroom drama.

Ten years ago this week the Royal Automobile Club in Glasgow provided the setting for the endgame in an extraordinary saga. Its starting point had come three years earlier when the SFA fatally delayed registering the new Celtic signing, Jorge Cadete. Farry’s stubborn refusal to lodge the paperwork in time for the Portuguese striker to appear in the 1996 Scottish Cup semi-final, and Celtic owner Fergus McCann’s equally stubborn refusal to let the matter rest, have given rise to various theories on the motives of two abrasive men. Previously unreleased legal papers shown to Scotland on Sunday do not lend any credence to the fanciful interpretations which have taken root in the decade since. Nothing supports the notion that Farry acted deliberately to hold up Cadete’s registration out of “anti-Celtic” bias. Or that his adversary, McCann, was responsible for a “witch-hunt”. Yet so sensitive does the episode remain that McCann declined to discuss it this week. Neither was Farry available for comment.

Farry left the arbitration hearing at the RAC on February 24, 1996 with no future in a game he had served across three decades because his own testimony destroyed his reputation. Even the SFA’s own lawyers, Burness Solicitors, picked Farry apart.

The case revolved around the wording of an International Transfer Certificate for Cadete, who joined Celtic from Sporting CP (Lisbon). Celtic forwarded the ITC to the SFA on March 7, 1996 with all other relevant paperwork having arrived two weeks earlier. Initially, the club believed the player was a free agent. He wasn’t, but that should have had no bearing on Farry registering Cadete. Celtic could not convince him of this because of a “conditionality clause” within the ITC. Under law, this was an irrelevance, which a fax from FIFA explained. Yet, it was not until Celtic lodged a third application to register Cadete at the end of March that Farry was eventually persuaded of that fact. Under the SFA’s 14-day clearance rule, that was too late for the striker to play in the Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers on April 6 – a match Celtic lost 2-1.

On March 29, Farry agreed to apply it retrospectively, only to change his mind the following day.

The Burness report exposed the extent of Farry’s bungling. At the arbitration hearing he “substantially damaged his credibility and the integrity of the Association’s case” by failing to produce correspondence from FIFA between 1994 and 1996 on the conditionality of ITCs. He “drew a warning” for “consistently” evading questions; was “unable to give a convincing explanation” why conditions in the second application “were unacceptable to him”; “indicated significant aspects…of registration fell to subordinates” “as he had been abroad”; “he gave evidence … not regarded as credible ….”; “he gave contradictory evidence on the powers of the Executive Committee”; “was unable to explain why retrospectivity of the ITC was not applied in this case” and “deflected responsibility to Mr (Sandy] Bryson (head of registrations] …. (on] certain executive decisions”.

Moreover, it had emerged that the day before his self-destructive evidence he had to be ordered to appear at the hearing by SFA vice-president John McBeth. Farry had intended to travel to Geneva for a conference.

The errors by Scotland’s supposed supreme football law enforcer resulted in Burness advising the SFA to settle. They did so immediately for fear of the further damage that could follow from allowing the arbitration to proceed to a conclusion. In doing so, they paid Celtic’s legal costs and gave them a £10,000 compensation payment – somewhat short of the £600,000 McCann demanded for the semi-final loss. Farry was suspended on full pay and removed from his post permanently two weeks later. He departed with a £200,000 pay-off that still rankles with McCann.

The downfall of the infuriatingly bumptious SFA secretary/chief executive of nine years is one that has to be understood in the context of the infamous workings of the Association. “Increasingly, he was running the Association as if it were his personal fiefdom,” one former colleague reveals. “He had a way that made it very difficult for other voices to be heard and meant there was no way of suggesting to him he could have made a mistake. He prided himself on his knowledge of the rule book, and had an impressive grasp of it.”

Clearly, he did not have as solid a grasp as he imagined. Hubris was a by-product. Every single piece of mail sent to the SFA would be delivered to his desk at 9am. He would read all correspondence then forward it to relevant departments. Replies to letters had to be written as if composed by him and at 4pm every day he would sign them off.

McCann was also a steely, single-minded operator but his martinet ways did not extend to this level of control in his day-to-day business. And neither did his determination to correct the wrong over Cadete’s registration amount to a personal vendetta.

“At Celtic the Cadete case was not a ‘get Farry’ exercise,” says a former club official. “Achieving justice on the matter certainly became a crusade for Fergus, but then he could go on a crusade over a bag of crisps. No one at Celtic, especially him, thought Jim was working to any agenda. We just thought he had made a huge mistake and wanted that recognised. Yes, there was an element of rubbing the SFA’s noses in it, and therefore Jimmy’s nose in it because he was the personification of the SFA. But plenty people at Celtic had a lot of time for him, could appreciate that he had strong points and worked hard. It was never the ultimate aim that he lose his job, and that was a surprise.”

But his departure became inevitable, when the SFA announced on March 1 that the arbitration had been settled in Celtic’s favour. McCann declared Farry’s position untenable. The settlement including a letter of apology to the club that didn’t best please Farry.

His fate was sealed when Burness delivered their report to the SFA on March 4. In damning fashion, it set out his “obstructive actions”, the impact of which was, “to impede the preparation of the Association’s case, to increase the expense of the process and to cause material frustration to Counsel who indicated his dismay at the counter-productive stance adopted in this complex case”.

The following day, at a meeting of the SFA Emergency Committee, the office bearers unanimously agreed that “the Chief Executive be dismissed from his executive position and his office as Secretary of the Association on the grounds of gross misconduct”. In Park Gardens, meanwhile, as they had since the end of the Cadete affair, employees continued to sport broad smiles, walk the corridors with a free air and even sign their own letters.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (2009)

JIM FARRY

From East Kilbride he came, to East Kilbride he has returned. Initially worked as a landscape gardner then went into football administration when he joined the Scottish Football League in the late 1970s, before moving to the SFA. Little was heard of him in the years immediately after his sacking for his “acts and omissions during the Cadete affair”. In 2007, however, he was appointed business development manager for construction and refurbishment firm AKP Scotland Limited. Now 64.

FERGUS McCANN

The removal of Jim Farry, with whom he had several battles – most notably over the £53m spent on the redevelopment of ‘white elephant’ Hampden – was the last of many disputes he saw through successfully. His five-year plan complete, in April 1999 the Scots-Canadian sold his majority shareholding in Celtic for a £29m profit and returned across the Atlantic to set up a luxury bus service operating between Boston, where he is now based, and New York.

JORGE CADETE

The striker’s season-and-a-bit at Celtic proved to be where he last enjoyed the scoring form that made him such sensation in his early 20s at Sporting. Following 33 goals in 43 games in the 1996/97 season, he claimed mental health problems prevented him returning the following season, and eventually he moved to Celta Vigo for £3.5m. Later played for Benfica, Bradford and Partick Thistle. In between times, he appeared in Portuguese Big Brother. Now makes the odd TV appearance.