He knows SFA

With no input from the match official in charge, this would, in fact, contravene one of Fifa's fundamental laws of the game, namely 'the decision of the referee is final'.

That was Gordon Smith, the bumbling incompetent atop the SFA slag heap, explaining why there could be no change to the appeals regulations in Scottish football.

And then up pops a contradiction:

So let’s not hide behind FIFA rules. Let’s look at our own appeals system and ask ourselves how it can be improved. Let’s admit that referees have a tough job and sometimes need help to make the best decisions. Let’s not have an appeals system in place that relies on referees admitting their mistakes. In this way we will prevent compounding a genuine error on the field of play with another, this time avoidable error, which adds points or suspensions to an innocent player’s disciplinary record.

And the author of these words? Rangers, Hearts, the PFA, Celtic, St Mirren, Hibs or any of the other growing band of critics of the way the SFA handles these disciplinary matters? No. In fact that quote is from Neil Doncaster, Gordon Smith’s counterpart at the SPL.

So basically the boss of the big league publicly rubbishing the big boss of the game.

And proof that Gordon Smith is either unaware of the rules his own organisations is governed by or is prepared to misinterpret those rules to fend off any critics.

Time, perhaps, for Mr Smith to be on his way?

Many moons ago when I worked in the civil service we discovered that some African republic had a farming law that made a specific expemption for farmers in Northern Ireland. Britain is seen as a model of good governance so younger countries would just lift our laws word for word.

So perhaps we’re doing the world a service. Anyone wanting to develop a structure to run football in their country could do worse than look at Scotland and just do exactly the opposite.

The SFA was established in 1873.

Why have we spent all that time perfecting our imperfections?