SFA president Mike Mulraney has stressed he is determined for the governing body to maintain a strong working relationship with major “economic driver” Rangers after launching an ambitious £50m campaign to upgrade 90 football pitches and 75 dressing rooms across Scotland by 2030.
Mulraney and SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster helped to facilitate the Ibrox club’s temporary relocation to Hampden back in July when redevelopment work on the Copland Stand ran over schedule due, despite written guarantees the materials were in place from the contractors, to a delay in a shipment of steel from Asia.
The Alloa honorary president rubbished suggestions his organisation are at loggerheads with the Glasgow giants as the controversy over the Vaclav Cerny penalty incident in their Premier Sports Cup final against Celtic, who lifted the trophy after a dramatic spot kick shootout, on Sunday rumbled on.
Relations between the SFA and Rangers have often been strained in recent years and the outcry over the failure by VAR officials Alan Muir and Frank Connor to spot that Cerny had entered the opposition area while he was being pulled by Liam Scales has led to renewed claims that ill-feeling persists behind the scenes.
However, Mulraney, who was at the home of Pollok United in Glasgow on Wednesday to get the Pitching In project underway with a donation of £5m, stressed that he has been personally incensed at refereeing decisions which have gone against his own club in the past and has asked for clarification.
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The businessman knows that his crusade to improve facilities for footballers of all ages and abilities across Scotland in the next six years depends on all the clubs in the country working as one for the greater good of the game and he is eager to have Rangers on board.
“I can only speak personally and say that since I have been involved with the SFA I have had pretty good relationship with most clubs,” he said. “Often it’s about letting people know that your door is open. They don’t even have to walk through it so long as they know it is open and we certainly have that attitude.
“It’s having a positive impact. We can’t improve facilities unless we have our senior clubs on board. Senior clubs drive the economy of Scottish football. They are the big motors behind the economy of our game.
“If I want Ian [chief executive Maxwell] to produce £7m profit for the SFA when other sports are struggling then we need our big economic drivers to be on board. To allow us to use that money to do good. So we have a really good relationship, I believe, with our partners and our members.”
“When I had my Alloa hat on and we didn’t get a penalty I thought we should have had I got as upset as anyone. I didn’t get as many column inches. But I was on the phone asking, ‘How come my boy got sent off?’
“That’s the passion of football and I hope it never goes away. I want everybody to be up for what happened at the weekend. Now, I want success and I don’t want mistakes to be made, but I want the theatre of our game. It’s fantastic.
“But, remember, when clubs ask for discussion it’s with themselves. They are us and we are them and we’re in it together. The reason we sit here today is so that we can talk and say, ‘This is what we are trying to do’.
“To build the infrastructure we need money, and to get money we need Rangers, we need Celtic, we need Aberdeen, Hearts, Livingston, Annan, Elgin, Peterhead and Sauchie Juniors. We need everybody on board.”
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SFA head of refereeing Willie Collum contacted Rangers this week to admit that Philippe Clement’s side should have been awarded a penalty for the Scales tug on Cerny and he publicly admitted that when he appeared on The Var Review show on You Tube yesterday lunchtime.
However, Mulraney pointed out that the modern technology remains susceptible to human error and stressed that mistakes will still be made in games despite its presence at grounds around the country and the best efforts of staff at Clydesdale House.
He is sure that Collum and his colleagues will be devastated that there was such a glaring error was made in such a high profile match and will be redoubling their efforts to ensure that there are no further mistakes in the weeks and months ahead.
“Knowing Willie and every single person involved with every decision that’s wrong, it hurts,” he said. “I am not sure it hurts them any more if it is a cup final than any other game. I really don’t think so.
“Every ref, linesman, VAR operator, all of them, it hurts them just as much as the centre forward who misses a shot from three yards out, the guy who misses the penalty, the goalie who fumbles the ball into the net and goes home and beats himself up about it. I honestly think that’s the case.”
