Rangers managing director Stewart Robertson took aim at BBC Scotland on Monday night, accusing the corporation of treating them differently from other clubs and ‘vilifying’ striker Alfredo Morelos.

In a lengthy interview on the club website calling for changes to the SFA’s disciplinary system, the Ibrox chief also voiced concern over compliance officer Clare Whyte potentially being influenced by ‘Trial by Sportscene’.

Rangers and the BBC have been in dispute since 2015, with the corporation refusing to send staff to Ibrox after the club banned one of their reporters.

Rangers managing director Stewart Robertson accused BBC Scotland of treating them differently from other clubs

Robertson claimed the BBC have recently confirmed to the club that they treat Rangers differently to the rest of the Premiership.

Citing the treatment of Morelos after a series of flashpoints in the last Old Firm clash, and an unsavoury picture of midfielder Ryan Jack that drew an official apology from the BBC, he wondered if the club is being punished due to the broadcaster’s coverage of Rangers.

Robertson said: ‘The BBC recently asked to come to Ibrox, but only to cover the matches. They would not be interviewing our manager and our players.

‘Now, if they are treating us differently in that respect, are there other areas where they are also treating Rangers differently in terms of the incidents which we are seeing being highlighted at the weekend?

‘You only have to look at the Alfredo Morelos incident in the Old Firm game, where they seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time examining Alfredo’s actions, but at no time at all did they look at any other actions from that game with the same scrutiny.

Robertson accused BBC Scotland of ‘vilifying’ Alfredo Morelos for his actions against Celtic

‘Morelos was then effectively vilified for three weeks on various BBC platforms.

‘We had the Ryan Jack incident where we had a banner showing the decapitated head of Ryan used as an image for a discussion on ticketing, I think.

‘So we have had various incidents with the BBC and it just doesn’t seem to be getting any better with them.

‘They have actually written to us and told us they are treating us differently from other clubs in the Premiership.

‘It is important the compliance officer isn’t influenced unduly by Sportscene given that background.

‘It feels as though the incidents, which are being highlighted on the television at the weekend, are the incidents which are being picked up by the compliance officer on a Monday.

‘I’ve heard the expression ‘Trial by Sportscene’ and that really seems to be the way it is going.

In addition, Robertson criticised the corporation over their coverage of the Ryan Jack incident

‘Now, we understand complaints come in from all sorts of avenues but the correlation between what is shown on television at the weekend and what is then being reviewed on a Monday and the notice of complaints which then appear is very high.

‘All we ever want from the BBC is to be treated fairly, in a balanced way and in an accurate way.’

On Monday night, a BBC Scotland spokesperson responded, saying: ‘The central part of this dispute is that Rangers is continuing to operate an exceptional ban of one of our journalists. We have offered to return to Ibrox to provide commentary, as per our contracted rights, while we try to find a permanent solution to the overall dispute, but Rangers have said this is unacceptable.

‘Our coverage, including analysis and comment, is editorially fair. We will continue to speak to both Rangers and the SPFL about the situation as we believe it’s in the best interest of our audiences to restore the ability to bring commentaries from all SPFL grounds.’ 

Rangers have also been unhappy with the SFA’s judicial process this season, most recently when goalkeeper Allan McGregor was given a two-match retrospective ban for a challenge on Aberdeen’s Lewis Ferguson.

That saw the club renew their call for the Scottish FA’s ‘flawed’ disciplinary system to be urgently overhauled.

Robertson accused compliance officer Clare Whyte of ‘re-refereeing’ matches

Now Robertson has accused compliance officer Whyte of re-refereeing matches and called on the system to revert back to the way it worked under her predecessors.

He said: ‘If you go back to last season and previous seasons, it was only incidents of violent conduct or off-the-ball incidents the referees didn’t see that would be reconsidered.

‘What we are now getting ourselves into is a situation where many more incidents are being looked at and we are effectively re-refereeing games.

‘That is placing intolerable pressures on the referees, which is then placing pressures on the compliance system and the disciplinary system.

‘Do we feel this has altered since the new compliance officer was recruited? There is no doubt.

‘Clare came in at the start of this season and there is no doubt things have been dealt with differently this year.

Robertson called for Video Assistant Referees (VAR) to be introduced in Scottish football

‘Some of the incidents which have been reviewed this year wouldn’t have been reviewed last year. That is leading to the confusion – there is much more inconsistency and it definitely feels as if we are re-refereeing games.

‘We feel we should now be looking to go back to what the system was previously where it was violent conduct and off-the-ball incidents that should be reviewed only.

‘That way, you are not going back to every incident and re-refereeing and examining it in minute detail.

‘You’re not having television pundits effectively setting the agenda of what should be reviewed on a Monday morning.’ 

The Ibrox managing director also threw his weight behind the introduction of Video Assistant Referees (VAR) in Scottish football.

‘I also think we need to look at VAR,’ he added. ‘It is the direction of travel in football and we need to be looking at it seriously to give the referees all the assistance we can.

‘I heard a stat the other day it takes decisions from 93 per cent accurate to 98 per cent accurate.

‘We are not going to get 100 per cent accuracy, but it is going to help and, if we have tools and technology which can help us, let’s use them and let’s take the pressure off the referees. That in itself will help them to referee the games better.’ 

The SFA declined to comment.

Time over again, Cardiff would no doubt have acted differently in their handling of the transfer and affairs of Emiliano Sala. The fact is, they didn’t.

They didn’t pay pressing attention to his return from a private trip to France; they did not ask too many questions about the interest in his services from other clubs; they were not overly curious about who got what, and why, from his transfer.

Until they were left with a £15million invoice for a dead striker. Sorry, but that’s the bottom line. This is all it is about now: the bottom line. The dignified ceremonies and speeches are over, and what remains is the coldest, hardest dispute over money.

It is all about the money now for Cardiff following the tragic death of striker Emiliano Sala

Had the Piper PA-46 Malibu piloted by David Ibbotson landed safely at its destination on January 21, had Sala now been fully engaged in Cardiff’s fight against relegation, had he been scoring the goals Cardiff hoped they were buying, there would not be a peep out of them about any of it.

Not just the hire, ownership and stewardship of a light aircraft, but questions about agents’ cuts and inflated fees and third-party ownership and Bordeaux’s 50 per cent. All the incidentals that did not seem so important when Sala was young and alive.

Cardiff are not asking FIFA, the FA — or the police, according to the most recent dispatches — to investigate any of their other transfer deals or negotiations.

They do not want them poking around in the six that involved Unique Sports Management, the company that counts Neil Warnock’s son James among its employees, for instance. James Warnock is believed to have been involved in Cardiff business involving at least three players — Sean Morrison, Rhys Healey and Craig Noone — but the club seem happy enough with that.

They also do not appear to have a problem with Jack McKay, son of Willie McKay who helped broker the Sala deal, signing a two-and-a-half-year contract as a professional with the club in January 2018 despite enjoying a less than exceptional career.

McKay began his career at Doncaster — a club with which his father had been involved — before going on loan to Ilkeston, signing for Leeds, being loaned to Airdrieonians, signing for Cardiff, and being loaned to Chesterfield in the National League. Given Cardiff were third in the Championship and chasing Premier League promotion at the time of McKay’s signing, this seems an excellent if unexpected break for a player who was already 21 and had scored just one goal, for Airdrieonians against Peterhead in the third tier of Scottish football.

McKay, by the way, is a striker. Since joining Chesterfield in the National League on loan from Cardiff, he has made two substitute appearances totalling nine minutes.

By happy coincidence, another of Willie’s sons, Jack’s twin brother Paul, was also considered good enough to be signed by Cardiff, at exactly the same time. He had also been with Doncaster and Ilkeston, as well as Gainsborough Trinity and finally Leeds, where he had played one game, against non-League Sutton United, in the FA Cup. Leeds lost.

This chequered pedigree, however, was enough to get him a contract until 2020 with Cardiff, the same as his brother. Paul is now on loan to Morecambe, currently 21st in League Two, where he has played 18 minutes across four matches.

Cardiff manager Neil Warnock and chief executive Ken Choo were in Santa Fe for the funeral

So, nothing there that Cardiff might want FIFA or the FA to have a look at — much like the transfer of Sol Bamba, whose move from Leeds was conducted by Mark McKay, also Willie’s son, via his company ExCel Foot.

Bamba went from starting the 2016-17 season as Leeds United captain to having his contract cancelled after four games, meaning he joined Cardiff as a free agent. This seems a very peculiar situation, but clearly no need for alarms — particularly as Bamba has arguably been Cardiff’s best player, certainly this season, and is very much alive.

Cardiff won widespread praise for their dignified handling of the Sala tragedy but, in reality, they merely behaved with decency, as would be expected of any football club in similar circumstances.

They were respectful, they were appropriate, their manager Warnock spoke sincerely about his emotions, their fans reacted with empathy and warmth to the loss.

Then Nantes put the first bill in. It may have been crudely timed — before a funeral had even taken place — but Cardiff’s reaction since has pretty much gone as expected, too.

This is the club that, in the year they were last relegated from the Premier League, 2014, wanted to sue over Crystal Palace finding out their team before a match on April 5.

This is the club that, having sacked Malky Mackay as manager and Iain Moody as sporting director, made belated allegations against both for wrong-doing over transfers and intermediary fees, which remain unproven, with the case struck out in March 2017. Much of the anger from that time centred around the signing of a young striker, Andreas Cornelius, for a then-record fee of £8m from FC Copenhagen. Cornelius, like Sala, was supposed to score the goals to keep Cardiff in the Premier League. He was a dismal flop, failing to find the net in any of his 11 games.

Vincent Tan, the owner, blamed Mackay and Moody, as if the transfer market is an exact science. He claimed the real fee for Cornelius — who has since gone on to play for Copenhagen again, Atalanta in Serie A and currently Bordeaux — was £10m and that his wages were £45,000 per week.

Had he been able to prove Mackay or Moody acted nefariously, he may have attempted to withhold or retrieve payments to Copenhagen. Sala was a record fee, too. Does any of this present pattern sound familiar?

Agent Willie McKay was the man who represented Sala and facilitated the move from Nantes

There are 10 questions Cardiff now say they want answered before fulfilling their financial obligations to Nantes. Most of them are irrelevant to the matter of payment, or are within Cardiff’s remit anyway.

Take numbers 2-6, which concern the crash itself. As documented in a national newspaper, these are: Who arranged the flight and why did that person put Sala on a single-engine plane at night in difficult conditions without adequate emergency apparatus?

Who took the decision to put Sala on the plane? Why won’t the owner of the aircraft come forward? Was the plane licensed to take commercial passengers? Was pilot Ibbotson in possession of a licence to carry passengers?

These are matters for Cardiff, not Nantes. The club’s refusal to take responsibility for Sala’s doomed itinerary would be pathetic if it were not so tragic. On January 19, Sala’s transfer was announced by the club.

‘It’s been a long process to secure the services of Emiliano but I’m very pleased that we’re now in a position whereby we can confirm his signature,’ said chief executive Ken Choo. ‘I’m sure all Cardiff City fans will join me in looking forward to seeing our record signing in a Bluebirds shirt.’

Sounds pretty unequivocal. So, why is it Nantes’ business who organised his travel two days later? It is said Cardiff sent Sala a text with some British Airways flight options. That’s it? A text? No follow-up call? No insistence on scheduled routes? No offer of a private charter that the club could organise?

Cardiff might not have known the precise shortcomings of the arrangements, but let’s not pretend they were all over it. This is their record signing — and they don’t know who put him on the plane? They don’t know who owned the plane? They don’t even know if the flight, or the pilot, was licensed? There may be a case for gross negligence somewhere in the chain, but that is nothing to do with Nantes or their transfer fee.

Questions 7-10 concern the transfer: Was Sala third-party owned? Are Sala’s previous club Bordeaux due 50 per cent of the transfer fee as part of a sell-on clause negotiated in 2015? What was transfer broker Willie McKay’s cut? Was McKay’s commission, or part of the transfer fee, due to be split between other parties involved in the deal — if so, who? All matters that Cardiff cared not a jot about until handed the liability for one striker, deceased.

Are they asking the same questions about Bamba’s deal? Are they asking why Leeds would cancel the contract of their captain and let him go to a rival from the same division?

Are they asking why a club months away from promotion to the Premier League would sign twin brothers whose football experience places them nowhere near that level? Would they have cared about McKay’s commission or the other agents involved had Sala landed safely?

What is Bordeaux’s cut to do with Cardiff? None of this is their business; or, if it is, it is business that should have been investigated and resolved prior to January 19. Cardiff’s arrival on the moral high ground seems rather late.

If anyone is still in the dark about motivation here, question No 1 should provide clarity: Was Sala a Nantes player when he stepped on to the fatal flight? To which Nantes should surely refer Cardiff to their chief executive Choo, two days before that journey was undertaken, being pleased to now be in a position ‘whereby we can confirm his signature’.

The Premier League have also stated that Sala’s international transfer certificate was registered with the FA of Wales, and that he had been named in a squad registered with the Premier League at the time of his death. Cardiff must know this, so why are they even asking?

Were Cardiff taken for a ride over Sala? Quite possibly. For reasons unknown, Willie McKay thought it would be helpful to reveal an email he sent to Sala prior to the move which stated he had deliberately released stories about the pursuit by rival clubs ‘just to stimulate interest in you’.

Is that ethical? No. Is it common practice? Absolutely. The media are full of stories planted by agents, by clubs, by managers, by players, to further their business, to expand markets. Nothing McKay did is greatly exceptional and if Cardiff are seriously claiming they overpaid because of his tittle-tattle, it does not say much for their contacts.

According to reports, Sala, who had a prolific start to the season but had scored one goal in two months before signing for Cardiff, was supposed to be of interest to Everton, West Ham, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Burnley and Wolves.

Cardiff couldn’t back-channel that? They had no other agents to ask, no friends, no allies in boardrooms or on backroom staff? Not to name names, but to find out in what areas a club might be looking. Of the six listed, just two added a striker to their squad in January. Crystal Palace took Michy Batshuayi on loan, Burnley bought Peter Crouch from Stoke.

Playing the market is a little like poker, or any auction. It is about knowing a bluff, or sensing when a rival is prepared to go all in.

The story linking West Ham, Palace and Fulham with Sala can still be located online. It was published in the Daily Mirror on December 4, 2018, and amounts to 209 words, reading like a standard plant from an agent drumming up interest.

It’s the oldest trick in the book. The People used to have a column in their northern editions called Soccer Scene. It contained brief items of gossip from across the four divisions.

Most of the information came from managers. The bloke from Doncaster would call up. ‘Arsenal have been watching our right back. We’d let him go for £50,000.’ Were Arsenal serious? Maybe, maybe not, but if it ran in The People, Doncaster might get a scout down from Newcastle or Everton to check him out. And they might have a chance of getting £40,000.

Pop by a manager’s office in the middle of the week and, chances were, he’d have a copy of Soccer Scene on his desk. It ran for decades and, as Warnock was a player and manager at small clubs in the north throughout that time, the idea Cardiff are such rubes that 200 words in the Mirror forced them to part with £15m unnecessarily feels a little ripe.

Approaching the January window, all the speculation about Sala suggested was the presence of a decent goalscorer at Nantes, that the club were prepared to cash in and there may be competition. No efficient club suitor would have their price set by such a flimsy newspaper tale.

Is Sala’s deal above reproach or forensic investigation? No. Too many agents, and there is an absence of transparency in crucial areas. The player’s family, at least, deserve better, deserve answers.

Yet are Cardiff the right people to be asking the questions and are they asking for the right reasons? Not really. None of this ferocious ethical inquiry seemed necessary when Sala was alive.

There is a precise moment Cardiff start caring about where their money went. It is when Sala disappears off their radar, forever.

Maurizio Sarri branded ‘stupid’ by Martin Keown after bizarre decision to leave Callum Hudson-Odoi on bench during FA Cup loss against Man United

• Maurizio Sarri is in huge danger of losing his job after defeat against Man United 
• Martin Keown called the Chelsea manager ‘stupid’ over a decision he made  
• Sarri brought on a defender and kept forward Callum Hudson-Odoi on the bench 

By

Jordan Seward For Mailonline

Published:
18:54 EST, 18 February 2019

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Updated:
18:56 EST, 18 February 2019

Maurizio Sarri was branded ‘stupid’ by Martin Keown after making the bizarre decision to bring on a defender over Callum Hudson-Odoi during their defeat by Manchester United.

The Chelsea boss’ stubbornness to stick with ‘Sarri-ball’ again proved futile and raised more questions about his future as United highlighted the flaws in the system and picked his side apart to knock them out of the FA Cup. 

The fans are now turning on him, and seem just at odds with his decision-making as the players do. The biggest disgruntlement of the night came when Sarri opted to use Davide Zappacosta as his last substitute instead of the promising young forward Hudson-Odoi despite his side trailing by two goals.

Callum Hudson-Odoi did not look happy with Maurizio Sarri after he was left on the bench

Chelsea fans also couldn’t believe he brought on Davide Zappacosta as his last substitute

Responding to the change, BBC commentator and Sportsmail columnist Keown said: ‘He’s [Hudson-Odoi] probably wondering isn’t he. I mean they’re two goals down and he’s put a defender on. Is it a politcal move from the manager because it’s a stupid one if it is.’

The 18-year-old, who desperately wanted to move to Bayern Munich in January, was spotted eyeing up his boss with the look of resentment written all over his face after being kept on the bench. 

Sarri is now facing an uncertain future at the club after this latest humbling and if results do not pick up soon, he will be out the door before the season comes to an end.

Martin Keown called Sarri’s decision to leave Hudson-Odoi on the bench ‘stupid’

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, meanwhile, is enjoying a totally different experience to life in the hot seat and earned more plaudits after his side bounced back from last week’s disappointment against Paris Saint-Germain to win here at Stamford Bridge.

It was another inspiring performance from Paul Pogba too with the midfielder scoring and making one in United’s comfortable 2-0 win. The Frenchman put his and the team’s turn around in fortunes down to the trust he and his team-mates have built up with interim boss Solskjaer.

And Keown’s BBC colleague, Alan Shearer, believes the Norwegian deserves much more credit for getting United organised and tactically astute again.

Paul Pogba shone in Monday evening’s win, scoring one and setting the other one up

Alan Shearer believes Ole Gunnar Solskjaer deserves more credit than he is getting

He added: ‘We are sat here praising the manager saying he’s got them smiling again and playing again but he also got this team set up tonight and said this is how we are going to play and this is how we are going to stop them. 

‘He done a magnificent job tactically as well. It’s too simplistic to say that he’s just got them smiling again because there’s a lot more work that goes into it than that. 

‘They are actually really close to being a really good team. I think they are two or three players away from competing right at the top.’

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Agent Willie McKay stands by work done on Emiliano Sala deal and says he paid for six flights on Cardiff’s behalf

By

Ian Herbert For The Daily Mail

Published:
17:32 EST, 18 February 2019

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Updated:
18:45 EST, 18 February 2019

Agent Willie McKay will argue that he paid for six flights to help Cardiff City if the club attempt to claim he deceived them in the process which saw Emiliano Sala join sign for £15million, Sportsmail can reveal.

McKay’s dossier of paperwork on the deal shows he twice paid for manager Neil Warnock’s flights to Nantes to see the player, once with assistant manager Kevin Blackwell in tow.

He twice paid to fly Sala and his agent Meissa N’Diaye on return flights to Cardiff, once to view the club and once to sign. McKay, rather than Cardiff, arranged transport from airport to club on those two visits. 

Willie McKay told Sportsmail argue he helped Cardiff during the Emiliano Sala transfer 

On the morning Sala signed, Cardiff club secretary Michelle MacDonald asked McKay if airport-to-club transport had been organised, he claims. He says his mobile phone records will bear this out.

Sportsmail revealed on Monday that the South Wales club’s senior executives are ready to use McKay’s admission that he spread false media stories about other clubs’ interest as a way of avoiding paying Nantes the full transfer fee.

Cardiff view him as an agent of Nantes, the club who had mandated him to find a buyer for Sala. They may try to argue that McKay was representing Nantes in booking the fateful flight which claimed Sala’s life and that the French club were therefore partially responsible.

McKay says Cardiff had a logistical dependency on him down to their inexperience in signing a big money overseas player.

He will argue that the first flight to Nantes for Warnock – from Stapleford airfield in Essex after the away match at West Ham on December 5 – included an initial meeting with Marseilles’ director of football Andoni Zubizarreta. This was to discuss two of his club’s players, before talks with Nantes’ president Waldemar Kita about Sala. The two French sides then played each other, with Warnock and Blackwell looking on. 

Striker Sala lost his life on a flight arranged by McKay travelling over the English Channel

McKay is dismissive of Cardiff’s suggestions that he inflated Sala’s price through media stories, which he says has always been part and parcel of the transfer business.

He insists he does not know who owns the aircraft and states categorically that it is not owned by him or any commercial entity linked to him. He will argue that pilot David Ibbotson was licensed to fly passengers, albeit not to do so commercially.

An experienced football administrator from the top of the English game has told Sportsmail that if the flight turns out not to be fully licensed – because the pilot was not authorised to fly commercially – then Cardiff’s insurance policy might be invalidated. Cardiff are yet to pay Nantes the first tranche of the £15m transfer fee, despite the club writing to request payment.

Sportsmail has seen a copy of the contract Nantes drew up with McKay’s son, Mark McKay, has the wrong date of birth for him – stating it as October 31, 1900. It states that ‘several English clubs have expressed their wish to sign him.’ It also states that Mark McKay will only be paid his ten percent when Cardiff pay up. 

 

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