The Soul of Celtic | About Celtic | Games | Players | Managers | The Board
(by TheHumanTorpedo)
This suspicion of the national association was born from incidents such as the infamous ‘Flag Flutter’ and a perceived bias against Celtic players in the selection of the Scotland squad.
By the early 1990s though most Celtic supporters were willing to accept that if such a bias existed it was in a by-gone age. But a remarkable series of clashes between SFA head Jim Farry and Celtic chief executive Fergus McCann would fan the flames of suspicion once more.
SFA chief Farry, a former landscape gardener, and McCann were certainly contrasting characters. Farry cherished the red taped bound world of football administration. He revelled in its complex committee structure and the seemingly endless lists of rules and regulations.
In contrast the straight talking McCann thought Scottish football was over-burdened by needless bureaucracy and contradictory legislation which, he believed, merely hindered progress. To the successful ‘go-getting’ entrepreneur the SFA appeared antiquated and self-serving. From the minute McCann walked through the Parkhead doors a showdown was inevitable.
The first clash would come in July 1994 with the appointment of Tommy Burns as Celtic manager. Burns and assistant Billy Stark had resigned from their managerial roles at Kilmarnock so they could complete the move to Paradise. In a rather undignified affair things were complicated further by the fact both had also been registered as players with the Rugby Park club.
Kilmarnock were furious with what they saw as Celtic’s underhand methods and the Scottish League and SFA were strongly sympathetic to the Ayrshire club. Celtic would be fined by the league £100,000 for the poaching of the duo and would also be ordered by the SFA to pay double that amount in compensation.
It was now McCann’s turn to be furious. He argued the scale of the fine – imposed by the league and supported by Farry and the SFA – was unprecedented and pointed out that when Rangers tapped up Dundee United’s Duncan Ferguson they were given a punishment of just £5,000.
Ultimately McCann had no option but to stump up the cash. While the fine certainly seemed excessive almost all outsiders sided with the league and the SFA. Many in football and the media had been appalled by McCann’s behaviour throughout the affair during which at no time did he show even the slightest regret for his blatant tapping of Burns.
The redevelopment of Celtic Park would spark Round Two of Fergus v Farry. When McCann drew up the proposals for the stadium rebuild he was told by the SFA’s Stadium Committee that Celtic would have no choice but to play away from Parkhead for a season (1994-95). The advice was given on legitimate safety grounds but McCann was uneasy with the fact that the SFA could make such a decision given that they, along with Queens Park, would benefit financially from Celtic’s temporary move to Hampden.
McCann was further infuriated when he learnt that Celtic would not only have to pay an annual rent of £600,000 but that the landlords would also be the ones who would be raking in the cash from catering and programme sales etc.
In a bid to make the National Stadium a little bit more homely the Bhoys had hoped to add a few temporary touches to the changing rooms and the ground which would give it a slightly more Celtic flavour for the Hoops ‘home’ games. They were refused. It was obvious to McCann and Celtic that while their money was very welcome their actual presence at Hampden was barely tolerated.
McCann would become a frequent and vocal opponent of the SFA’s proposals to redevelop Hampden. The multi-million pound revamp of the National Stadium was Farry’s pet project. Fergus was only too keen to let it be known that millions of pounds of public money would be wasted creating what he called “…the third best ground in Glasgow”.
The final battle between the two would be a long and bitter struggle. It started in February 1996 when Celtic – pushing for a league and cup double – attempted to bolster their squad with the signing of Sporting Lisbon striker Jorge Cadete. Transfers which involve a player moving from one country to another are frequently far from straightforward affairs, and this being the case Celtic kept the SFA fully updated with developments.
When, on February 26, a personal agreement was reached with the player Celtic forwarded all the required paperwork to the SFA. No concerns were raised by the SFA so when the international clearance certificate arrived on March 7th and was forwarded to the national body it was assumed the transfer would be processed as a matter of course.
However, the SFA now expressed concern about the compensation arrangements between Celtic and Sporting, and Farry claimed that until these were resolved he regarded the international clearance certificate as invalid. The SFA then informed Celtic that because Cadete had also entered into a separate financial arrangement with Sporting regarding his pay-off, the original player agreement was unsatisfactory. They subsequently asked Celtic to make a number of specific changes.
These were done but when the club submitted a revised agreement it was returned by the SFA who were now unhappy with various other points of the deal that they had previously had no issue with. Meanwhile a fax from FIFA to the SFA stated that having looked at the details of the deal they had no concerns and the international clearance certificate should be regarded as valid from March 7th.
An SFA management meeting accepted this but amazingly, Celtic were ordered once more to make changes to their personal agreement with the player as the SFA yet again voiced concerns about elements of the contract they had previously had no worries about. On March 30th Celtic, were once more forced to make further changes to the agreement – but at last the transfer was registered and cleared.
However, the SFA refused to backdate their ratification of the transfer, meaning Cadete missed the 2-1 Scottish Cup defeat to Rangers.
When the striker was finally able to take to the field he would score 5 goals in 6 games. It was however not enough to maintain Celtic’s challenge for silverware and with Rangers securing an eighth successive league title angry Hoops fans were left wondering what might have been if Cadete’s registration had not been delayed.
During the period of the delay Celtic had played and drawn two league games – 1-1 at Rangers and 0-0 at Motherwell.
McCann was raging at the seemingly needless delay and stalling in the processing of the transfer. Farry was held personally responsible by McCann and the Celtic chief was not prepared to let the matter rest – even if it meant carrying on the fight after his tenure at Parkhead was over. Unlike many Hoops fans, McCann let it be known that he didn’t perceive the delay in Cadete’s registration as being the result of any specific anti-Celtic bias. Rather he stated it was a simple but intolerable example of ineptidude at the very highest level.
Two internal SFA investigations cleared Farry of any wrong-doing but McCann was not to be placated so easily. Some three years after the affair, and after McCann had departed Celtic, the Canadian based businessman finally got the independent inquiry he was after. The media had again lambasted McCann for what they believed was a paranoia-fuelled witchhunt. But after just one day of the independent inquiry they would be eating their words.
Under cross-examinantion from Celtic’s legal representative Farry was dismantled. Even when presented with over-whelming evidence to the contrary the SFA chief stuck to his guns and insisted that everything about the deal was completed as per the established protocol. But with every word uttered he merely dug himself into a deeper hole and by the end of the day his reputation and career was in tatters. The SFA conceded the case put forward by Celtic and acted with an ironic alacrity by immediately suspending Farry.
Farry would be sacked for gross misconduct. He may have been the SFA’s fall guy but put simply he had picked one fight too many with McCann and paid with his job. His exit was certainly greeted with delight by the Celtic support. But it was in truth scant consolation compared to the league title the club may have won.