Isn’t it funny how the SFA will apply the laws of the game to Hamilton Accies, but chickened out of doing the same to the Ibrox side?

Imagine my surprise today when I read the news that Seref Zengin, the owner of Hamilton Academical, and his director of football, Gerry Strain, were deemed ‘not fit and proper’ to run club operations by the SFA?

Now, I’ll be honest in saying that I haven’t been following Hamilton’s misfortunes very closely, but it’s clear the club is now in a pretty bad place.

It is interesting, however, how the SFA picks and chooses who is fit and proper, and who is not.

I guess it depends on what club you’re involved in?

Now, I that recall not so long ago in Scottish football that a convicted criminal, found guilty of 41 counts of tax evasion, was deemed fit and proper by the SFA to run a Scottish football club.

Let’s just jog our memories when it comes to this guy…

Judge Brian Southwood said that the court was “unanimous in finding that he is a mendacious witness whose evidence should not be accepted on any issue unless it is supported by documents and other objective evidence. It was remarkable that he showed no sign of embarrassment or any emotion when he conceded that he had lied to the (SARS) commissioner in a number of his income tax returns. In our assessment, he is a glib and shameless liar.

Does that jog your memory?

Any idea of who I’m referring to?

Now, the above statement is as damning an indictment as you could get on any individual.

The SFA, for reasons completely unbeknownst to us, took that as a glowing character reference.

Yes, they didn’t bat an eyelid, and declared the notorious tax dodging arch criminal David Cunningham King a ‘fit and proper’ person.

If that passes for the definition of a ‘fit and proper’ person, then you can surely understand my confusion when it comes to Seref Zengin and Gerry Strain, can’t you?

What heinous crimes have these two individuals committed?

Mass murder?

Human trafficking?

Weapons dealing?

I mean in comparison to Honest Dave, who apparently only owed the South African tax authorities around R900 million (£180 million), they must have done something really bad?

Surely?

Well no, it appears they’ve broken some rules in the SFA’s rule book, quite a lot actually.

This has landed them in a lot of hot water with the Hampden beaks.

Below are some of the rules they broke:

• Giving incorrect information to the league about stadium ownership
• A late submission of their membership criteria for the season
• Failing to meet the required standard of Scottish FA licence to participate in the league.

And that was just last season.

The most astounding thing in all of this is that the SFA actually have a rule book. Apparently, if you break the rules in it, the book gets thrown at you.

But ironically enough, there are no provisions within the SFA’s rulebook when it comes to convicted criminals running Scottish football clubs.

Go figure.

I researched it, and this is what I found:

The Scottish Football Association (SFA) has no specific publicly available regulations explicitly barring convicted criminals from running clubs, but clubs must comply with the SFA’s “Fit and Proper Person” test, which requires individuals holding senior positions to be deemed suitable to manage the club. This test, which can involve checks on financial and reputational matters, is discretionary and is applied on a case-by-case basis.

So, let me get this straight, individuals holding senior positions must be deemed suitable to manage the club?

Fair enough.

So I’m guessing mass tax evasion counts as a minor transgression then, nothing serious?

The test also involves checks on financial and reputational matters.

Well, in Honest Dave’s case, owing £180 million in tax, and the small matter of 41 convictions, are but teeny weeny indiscretions.

As for his reputational matters?

Nothing to worry about.

I’m sure he told the SFA that SARS had it in for him, and he did nothing wrong, which they of course totally believed.

I guess this guy did manage to convince the television media, the SMSM, and the entire Ibrox fanbase that the club they supported was going for 55 titles, when at the time that club was only 4 years old.

I must say, I commend him on that.

That was serious sleight of hand, and it held well until Celtic over took their imaginary “world record trophy haul” last season.

Which, I might add, happened on Brendan Rodgers’ watch.

So when you’re quick to criticise the ex-Celtic manager, or believe Dermot Desmond’s character assassination of him, take the time to remember that.

I digress.

Back to honest Dave, and my final observation of the farcical SFA rule book, which has been well and truly thrown at Hamilton Academical.

For the majority of his time as Chairman of the Ibrox side, his club traded whilst insolvent.

Season after season, they recorded loss, after loss in the tens of millions.

Hamilton Academical’s financial transgressions are but a drop in the ocean in comparison.

Yet, the SFA somehow managed to misplace their rulebook when it came to the club from Edmiston Road.

Things got so bad that the Takeover panel in London gave Honest Dave the dreaded “Cold shoulder” in late 2019.

Thus making him a financial pariah.

This ostracised King from the U.K.’s financial sector in it’s most severe form of punishment.

The Takeover panel found that King’s Off Licence putsch of 2015 to oust billionaire Mike Ashley from Ibrox was carried out in contravention to the Takeover panel’s code.

Funnily enough, such a sanction did not encourage the SFA to declare that Honest Dave was no longer a “Fit and Proper person”.

Indeed, it seems that there is an entirely different rulebook in Mount Florida for the club the plays out of the stadium that Bilel Mohsni played for.

Unfortunately for Hamilton Accies, they have to abide the rule book all other member clubs of the SPFL, bar one, have to abide by.

As a result, they now find themselves in a position where they might end up at the bottom of the SPFL pyramid if the SFA keep imposing sanctions on them.

If they do, as a result of their misfortune, find themselves in SPFL League 2, at least they will be telling the truth when they say they got relegated down to the bottom tier of Scottish football by the SFA.

Unlike another certain club.

Which seemed to incapable of telling the difference between relegation and liquidation.

Now, I wonder what club that could be?