Interesting...

Isn't it interesting that while there is absolute uproar on the dark side about the SFA sacking Shuggie Dallas - apparently for sending an offensive email (among other reasons) and the subsequent retirement of his pet poodle Dougie-Dougie for being a dirty liar, no-one among the laptop loyal, or within the blue-rinsed parlours of the Scottish Referees Association has mentioned other reasons for Shuggie's dismissal. I'll try to summarise them for you:

1. During his short time as Head of Referee Development (July 2009 - November 2010), there have been more complaints about poor refereeing than ever and the number is increasing.

2. Recently, (February 2010), 26 out of 31 Referees failed to pass the 30-question test to assess their knowledge of the laws of the game and how to interpret them. Apparently the pass mark was 80%. One ref apparently didn't even get 60% (I'll leave others to decide who that might have been!)

3. Shuggie decided 30 questions was way too many for these poor, harrassed, souls and he reduced it to 10 questions for the future. (Eh ? How does that improve knowledge ?)

4. Shuggie knew about the Dougie-Dougie lie, and even agreed to accept the piece of fiction and how they would present it to the press. Dougie-Dougie and Shuggie then blamed Steven Craven. Dougie-Dougie (when he told Neil Lennon the lie), and Shuggie when he failed to honestly explain the situation to the press.

Meanwhile, Assistant Referee Craven, who felt he'd been handed the shit end of the flagstick, promptly told the real story and resigned from the referees panel. So all three were found out for lying to various people and degrees of inaccuracy. Are we clear so far ?

Of course all hell breaks loose.

5. Shuggie gets pinged for the nasty sectarian email, Dougie-Dougie refuses to resign or apologise to anyone except Shuggie and the Catholics fall into apoplexy. As do the Celtic fans. Dougie-Dougie gets pulled up in front of the beaks - his pals in the Referees Association - and gets told he's a naughty boy.

6. The referees vote to go on strike to protect their honesty and integrity! At which point Shuggie boy makes an offer to Stewart Regan to call the strike off if he gets to keep his job (interesting - not just a hopeless referee-developer, a liar and a sectarian - but a blackmailer too!), at which point Regan finally gets the picture and goes postal! Shuggie bites the dust, the strike goes ahead with fairly minimal effect - due in part to the weather!

8. Dougie-Dougie retires from the refs panel - obviously he can't go on without his wee pal Shuggie.

It has all the makings of a Hollywood blockbuster. Lies, Cover-ups, strikes, nasty emails, blackmail. You couldn't make it up!

One small note: When I took the referees exam back in the 1980's, the exam contained 100 questions and the pass mark was 90 per cent. (I passed first time with 98 per cent, by the way). If you are short of a few refs, Mr Regan, I'll get my kit out again - I wouldnae mind the Huns game next week! ;)

Ok, so it wasn't such a wee note... but here's another one:

there is a lot more to come, yet - wikileaks has nothing as damaging as a fella named Phil MacGiollaBhain - a very impressive journalistic talent, not to mention a campaigner for what's fair and right and honest. My hat is permanently tipped in the direction of that young man and his cronies and SFA mole! Good work guys - keep it up!