May Flashback: Ali Russell Moving On?- Update: NO!

[QPR Report]

Evening Times - Scotland

SFA step up quest for new top man

Haughey to back cup again
Bert Mitchell
18 May 2010

The SFA’s bid to find a replacement for Gordon Smith will be cranked up tomorrow when the chief executive vacancy is formally advertised.

And SportTimes understands that the frontrunners to follow the former Rangers star into the SFA hotseat include Queen’s Park Rangers managing director Alasdair Russell and former Aberdeen and Everton chief executive Keith Wyness.

QPR powerbroker Russell, 38, a former commercial director of the Scottish Rugby Union and Hearts, is thought to be the early favourite.

PFA Scotland chief Fraser Wishart has also been linked with the SFA’S top job.

However, former Rangers director Campbell Ogilvie has already ruled himself out and will instead become SFA president when George Peat steps down next year.

Rangers current chief executive Martin Bain is also a non-runner.

Meanwhile, former Celtic director Willie Haughey may help the SFA fill their £2million Scottish Cup sponsorship gap.

The millionaire businessman came to the rescue two years ago after the national tournament went without a sponsor for a season following the end of the long standing sponsorship deal with Tennent’s.

Now Haughey is considering backing the Scottish Cup until 2012 after funding the SFA’S link with the Scottish Executive via the ‘Homecoming’ campaign in 2009 and this term’s Active Nation backing to the tune of £1million a season.

Haughey revealed: “I am involved in discussions with the SFA and we will be talking again over the next week. If we do get involved again it will be a two- year agreement.”

www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/sfa-step-up-quest-for-new-top-man-1.1028643

[eastpaddoknutta]

let him go

with a nice kick too

warnock can provide a nice big boot

[Lonegunmen]

Please, please, please.

[The Scooter]

Keith Wyness should get that job. Good man.

[cpr]

TAXI FOR RUSSELL

[QPR Report]

Criterion for job

Telegraph

SFA president George Peat searching for 'superman' as next chief executive
The next chief executive of the Scottish Football Association need not be a Scot but he must be "a superman", according to the organisation's president.

By Martyn Ziegler
18 May 2010

Advertisements for the vacant post will go out this week – and SFA president George Peat says a thick skin will be a minimum requirement.

Gordon Smith resigned as chief executive after three years in the job and Peat said Henry McLeish's review of the Scottish game recommends a businessman to run the SFA and a football person to be performance director.


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Sport on television Peat, in Zurich for the International FA Board meeting, said: "The new chief executive has got to a be a superman! That's the bottom line because it doesn't matter who it is, he will be criticised.

"They definitely have to be thick-skinned but I think they will know that before they apply."

Peat said there would be no barrier to a non-Scot getting the job.

"There's no bias or anything involved," he said. "We are open to suggestions.

"I was one of the boys behind Gordon's appointment because he had the football background.

"What we have decided now – following the independent report into Scottish football I commissioned, carried out by Henry McLeish – was that we appoint a performance director to carry out the football side.

"So what we are really looking for is a businessman to do the chief executive's part and a football man to do the performance director's job, that's the plan."

Peat added that he wanted an appointment to be made quickly.

"As I am acting chief executive the answer is definitely as soon as possible!," he said.

"We have appointed a company to headhunt and that should be going into operation this week (along with) an advert in next Sunday's newspapers, and we hope to speed on from there."

www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/scottishpremier/7737734/SFA-president-George-Peat-searching-for-superman-as-next-chief-executive.html

[Macmoish]

Oh well! Seen nothing reported/leaked to suggest it will in fact be Ali Russell. But the SFA announcement is supposedly coming soon


From a few days ago...

BBC
Scottish FA close to announcing new chief executive

Peat is pleased at the level of interest shown in the chief executive post


George Peat has revealed that there have been about 80 applicants for the vacant role of chief executive of the Scottish Football Association.

The SFA president hopes to reveal soon who will replace Gordon Smith, who resigned in April for personal reasons.

Peat says the organisation is "looking for somebody from business with a great deal of experience running a company".

He added: "The person has to run the business, be a public figurehead and be prepared to take the criticism."

Also imminent for the SFA is a change to the appeals procedure and disciplinary points system, along with the appointment of a performance director and more co-operation with the Scottish government over the Henry McLeish report into the state of football in the country.

Peat said: "We have agreed that an independent review panel will sit to determine any claims for wrongful dismissal.

"A similar system will also be in place for investigations into incidents missed by a referee.

"This should significantly reduce the time it takes for investigations to be completed and I think everybody will be in favour of an independent panel."

He also said the SFA will issue an official stance on vuvuzelas at Scottish matches at a later date but, personally, he admitted that he "cannot stand them".

news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/scotland/8850916.stm


Daily Record

SFA closing in on new chief executive to replace Gordon Smith
Jul 24 2010 Gordon Parks

GEORGE PEAT last night revealed the SFA are closing in on the appointment of a new chief executive.

But Peat admits the successful candidate will be from a business background and NOT from the world of football.

The SFA president believes the task of replacing Gordon Smith, who quit the post three months ago, is nearing a conclusion and claimed the priority is to find an expert in the field of finance.

He said: In the current climate we feel it is important to look for somebody from a business background, somebody who has a great deal of experience running a company.

"I keep reminding people that the Scottish FA is much more than the national team and the Scottish Cup - it is a £30million business and requires a wide skill-set to lead such a company.

"We hope to make an announcement shortly. The World Cup has enabled us to conduct the interview process quietly and thoroughly.

"We had approximately 80 applications from our recruitment consultants and from our advertisement of the position.

"We have spent the time whittling the applications down to a short list and have conducted a series of interviews.

"And we are hopeful this process will be completed in the coming weeks and have been impressed not just by the number, but by the quality of candidates."

Peat is under pressure to find the right man to lead the game forward after the disastrous appointments of national boss George Burley and former chief Smith who endured an error-ridden reign before it came to an abrupt end.

He said: "Every appointment has an element of risk. I was as disappointed as everybody else at the way things ended with Gordon because I was one of the guys behind his appointment .

"At the time it was a good idea to bring in a man with a football background which we never had before.

"The job requires many qualities. The chief executive has to run the business, be a public figurehead and be prepared to take the criticism that comes our way.

www.dailyrecord.co.uk/football/scotland/news/2010/07/24/sfa-closing-in-on-new-chief-executive-to-replace-gordon-smith-86908-22436102/

[Macmoish]

The job goes to Regan....


BBC - Regan named new Scottish FA chief executive

The Scottish Football Association has appointed Stewart Regan as its new chief executive.

Regan, 46, joins the SFA after four years in a similar position with Yorkshire County Cricket Club.
He succeeds Gordon Smith, who ended his three-year spell in the role in April because of personal reasons.

Regan said he aimed to "achieve the obvious common goal of improving the overall standard of the number one sport in this country".

The SFA received more than 80 applications for the vacancy and said it was seeking someone with a strong business background who could handle criticism.

Regan, who is a former Football League director, said he was aware of the debate on the best way forward for the game in Scotland.

"Scottish football has not been immune to the difficulties of the current financial climate but the passion and commitment to the national game in this country remains unrivalled," he said.

"It is this loyalty and dedication that will be essential to re-establishing the game."

Regan, who will take up his new post in October, said Scottish football had "drifted a bit" recently.

"As an outsider looking in I have seen lots of fall-outs, lots of disagreements, challenges and criticisms of how things are done," he added.


Stewart's got a business background and that's what we're looking for

SFA president George Peat
"I think there is a need to draw a line in the sand and say that building football for the future in Scotland isn't just the job of the Scottish FA.

"The Scottish FA can lead, but I think the Scottish FA need to bring people with them and bring partners to the table."

SFA president George Peat said the association was delighted with its appointment

"Of all the applicants, Stewart stood out for the level of his success in business and sport but also for his diversity of experience," he said.

Peat added that the decision to appoint Gordon Smith, a former Rangers, Kilmarnock and Brighton midfielder, as chief executive had been a mistake.

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"I was behind Gordon's appointment. I thought it would be a good idea to bring in a football man, as we say, because Gordon had worked with media, he had been a professional footballer and everything else," Peat said.

"But it didn't really work from the business point of view and that's why I think this is a better idea.

"Stewart's got a business background and that's what we're looking for. The SFA has a £30m turnover - it's a business we're running here."

Yorkshire chairman Colin Graves told BBC Radio Leeds: "We're disappointed in some ways but at the same time very pleased for Stewart. He's got himself a big position in football, which he always wanted to do, so I wish him well for the future.

"We are going to do nothing for at least six months, nine months - I will take on the role of chief executive on a daily basis.

"Stewart was under no pressure whatsoever in terms of the financial position of the club. We will be looking at some redundancies, but there won't be many."


newsvote.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/scotland/8863484.stm