SPFL: Why does league seem so worried about independent inquiry?
- Published
Murdoch MacLennan has spent three years in the background, but has come to the fore this week
Last Friday, through their non-executive director Karyn McCluskey, the SPFL issued a 700-word open letter basically saying 'there's nothing to see here' in of the questions being asked about its corporate governance.
On Tuesday, through its chairman Murdoch MacLennan, the body issued another open letter - 755 words - basically saying the same thing: nothing to see, please move along.
On Wednesday, a third open letter - 4,252 words now - landed, and once more the entire thing could be boiled down to the same line - nothing to see folks, please stop going on about this, nothing untoward happened.
Also on Wednesday, SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster finally stepped out of the shadows and went public for the first time since this saga erupted. From him, through a range of different interviews, there was a reinforcement of the same mantra.
The more the SPFL says that there's nothing to see, the more the interest is piqued, the more you wonder why it is going to such lengths to close down the possibility of an independent inquiry.
It has questioned the motives of those clubs that are calling for transparency (somewhat lacking in self-awareness, it has in the next breath called for reconciliation). It has talked about "distractions, scapegoating and sideshows".
It has effectively warned all clubs that if they vote for an inquiry, they will be spending vast amounts of their own money on an investigation that is "wholly unnecessary and inappropriate". How much money? The SPFL doesn't say.
It has also gone another route in an attempt to dissuade clubs from getting on board the inquiry train. "At a time when thousands of people in our communities are dying of Covid-19, Scottish football needs to reflect and consider how this looks to the outside world," the SPFL says.
What's being said there? That because of the continuing horror that is Covid-19, nobody should asking be questions of the way the SPFL is doing its business? That because of coronavirus, the SPFL should be spared scrutiny and allowed to carry on without full ability to all of its ?