We really do live in revisionists times.
In the past few months over in America, I noticed that chat show darling Ellen De Generis has rolled out George W Bush like he’s some old cuddly darling grandad of American politics.
This is, of course, an attempt to use the political elite to have a go at Donald Trump’s presidency. Like we need George W to tell us how much of a shit show that all is.
In amongst all the fawning over the ‘good ol’ president’ everyone conveniently forgets of course that Mr Bush and his UK cronies took us all into an illegal war in Iraq which cost the death of hundreds of thousands and created the legacy of Isis and complete destabilisation in the middle east. And all based on a huge lie as confirmed in the Chilcoat report which has also been conveniently forgotten about.
It’s funny how easily and selectively people forget.
In the past few days, it appears George Peat has emerged from his crypt.
Good old George eh?
He was president of the SFA during that glorious period for Scottish football between 2007-2011 just in case you forgot.
Right before he did his latest interview with BBC’s Sportsound which was broadcast via their podcast on Monday I swear I could hear the Adams Family theme playing in the background as we once again got a glimpse of Scottish football’s very own Uncle Fester.
As the interview unfolded George wheezed out all the old dust that had accumulated in his lungs over the past seven years and then wiped off some of the cobwebs from his SFA / bowling club blazer to give us his earth-shattering insights into the state of Scottish football.
To sum up the highlights………he negotiated a big SFA TV contract with Sky before he left his role the money from which has not been used satisfactorily – if at all, the current SFA are incompetent, he threw Gordon Smith – his appointment as SFA chief executive – under the bus and then claimed a prominent Scottish club chairman had contacted him requesting the SFA didn’t help Rangers as the 2007/08 season reached its climax.
That last one in particular really stuck in his throat apparently.
George wouldn’t identify the chairman directly of course. Instead, he relied on winks, nudges and general innuendo.
But then Goegoe once said that he was the “kind of guy if someone asks me a question, I will give them an answer”.
That is until the question is: “So who is the chairman you are making these rather serious allegations against?”
In this instance, the reply is: “I’m not saying but you can guess.”
Yeah, the thing is that isn’t an answer George. But then George always was a coward.
Originally an accountant by profession he spent 22 years on the board of Airdrieonians FC. They, of course, were liquidated due to financial mismanagement.
“Then the club went out of business. And the ultimate irony is that far from being held responsible for a club going to the wall, Peat pulled another club’s blazer on at Stenhousemuir, kept his privileges with the SFA and went on to become the top man in the game.” – ex-Airdrie defender Chris Honor, Daily Record, 12/06/2011.
George doesn’t talk much about his time at Airdrie. I wonder why.
Many years back I remember writing an article for the Celtic Underground. It related to George’s handling of Neil Lennon’s six-match ban which had just been handed down at the time.
Here’ an insert:
“Perhaps Celtic should devote more time to their own responsibilities and discipline than questioning others.” George Peat.
Are you being serious George? What like how you dragged your heals over Hugh Dallas’s sacking, relegated Dougie McDonald to 4thofficial status for a few weeks after he’d admitted to doctoring post-match reports and how no investigation was conducted into the circumstances surrounding the resignation of assistant referee Steven Craven amid claims that the head of referee’s (the aforementioned Hugh Dallas) bullied and intimated Scottish referee’s and asked him to lie in his post-match report in regards to the previously mentioned incident involving McDonald? – Celtic Underground, 13/01/2011.
Apparently, the events above didn’t stick in George’s throat too much.
But a chairman having the temerity to request that he was “not to help Rangers in any way” did.
The thing is George that you were the president of the SFA. You could have moved the cup final – which would have seen Rangers’s opponents in said cup final Queen of the South go without a competitive game for four weeks in the lead up to it by the way but I guess that’s life eh? – but being that you had no involvement with the SPL at the time you couldn’t have done anything to reschedule their league games. Nothing at all in fact.
The SPL, under the leadership of Lex Gold did, in fact, extend the league season by four days, with the final games played on Thursday 22 May, instead of the previous Sunday.
So to sum up George has decided to conjure up a ten-year-old issue for nobodies benefit but his own. You see George always did love the attention.
“He’s now trying to portray the SFA changes as some kind of victory for him. Yet he doesn’t see the irony that his stewardship contributed to the game needing a total overhaul. All that tells me is he never loved the game – he just loved the power.” ex-Airdrie defender Chris Honor, Daily Record, 12/06/2011.
George’s selective memory doesn’t stop there. He also has a dig at the current SFA leadership for the way they handled the failed Michael O’Neill appointment. Yeah George, because your appointment history was just bang on, wasn’t it? Let me see. First, you appointed George Burley and then it was Craig Levein. Both were unmitigated disasters but why dwell on that when you can have a dig at the current men in power?
Then there’s also his recollections of Gordon Smith’s time at the SFA. Smith has persistently claimed that his decision making power was limited when the chief executive of the SFA.
So, does he regret taking the job?
“No, I think I was right to.” Adding in his experience in business, he thought he was well-qualified. “If I hadn’t taken it, I think I would have regretted not having a go. The one regret I have, what I didn’t check beforehand, was the scenario regarding how much control you actually have as chief exec.”
Does he mean how little?
“Well, an awful lot – nearly everything goes to committees or the board. I mean, I was able to offer my opinion on certain matters, and I was happy that a lot of things were accepted, but if I’d known about the procedures I might have thought: if I’m going to do this job properly I’d like to have a bigger say. I didn’t get the final say.” – Gordon Smith, The Scotsman, 02/10/2010
George though remembers it different of course.
“I thought it would do Scottish football good to get a football man in. Unfortunately, it didn’t come off because Gordon lacked the business experience………”
How much power does that man actually have?
“He has a lot of power. At the end of the day, a lot of the decisions have to go to the board. But if the chief executive strongly recommends something, nine times out of ten the board will approve it. It’s only if something unforeseen happens that the board would turn down a recommendation.” – George Peat, BBC Sportsound, 17/09/2018.
George also claims that Hampden needs an overhaul. The thing is George it needed the same overhaul ie: bringing the stands closer to the pitch, back in 2007-2011 too but you did sod all about it.
He also takes credit for securing the Sky TV deal before his departure. Though the sum part of George’s involvement was signing off on the offer that Sky had made the SFA. Any delusions by George that he was a tough mediator locked in a room all night with hard-nosed negotiators from Sky’s London office trying to get the best deal for Scottish football are utter fantasy. I believe the meeting went something like this:
“Come in George. Sorry for the delay.”
“Oh, that’s okay. I was just admiring your marble staircase and how it reminded me of ……..”
“Okay so sign here please.”
“Eh, yeah. I mean everything looks in order. Can I…..”
“Just sign it George.”
George glances eagerly at the large oak table in the middle of the room on which a buffet lunch has been laid out.
“Yeah, sure. Are the sandwiches and mineral water free?”
Anyway, George has grabbed the headlines once again in a sad attempt to live out former glories.
He’ll be relevant for a few days and then it’ll all calm down.
Rangers will make some noises about it but there’s little they can do because, as they are often keen to point out, this is really a matter for the ‘old club’.
....Always A Tim! 