Glenn Gibbons: Gretna debacle marks a sad milestone as the SPL completes a decade of disgrace

TENUOUS as the connection may seem, the origins of the debacle that is Gretna Football Club date back a decade, to the day in 1998 when the ten leading clubs seceded from the Scottish Football League to form the SPL. The defection was driven by the urge to establish an organisation founded on nothing more reliable than Old Firm blandishments and promises that would never – could never – be fulfilled, made to scandalously acquiescent fellow travellers.

The readiness – indeed, the untrammelled enthusiasm – with which the other eight followed Celtic and Rangers towards an utterly predictable folly stands as a monument to gullibility, myopia, greed and weak-kneed compliance. Assurances from Ibrox and Parkhead of unprecedented wealth and an end to what they called "the tail wagging the dog" existence at the SFL were merely a crude and, to many of us at the time, transparently ineffective attempt to camouflage the big Glasgow clubs' ulterior motive.

Celtic's and Rangers' motivation sprang from nothing more honourable or altruistic than the conviction that the day would soon dawn when they would be able to negotiate their own television deals, thereby putting even more distance – in terms of financial strength – between themselves and their so-called rivals. Astonishingly, the other eight fell for it with the keenness of a grifter's dream "mark".

In fact, they became so hysterical in their rush to make a quick getaway that they resorted to bribery to circumvent the SFL regulation that would have kept them affiliated for another two years. This took the form of the legally-binding pledge to increase their membership to 12 by 2000 and an index-linked annual payment to the clubs they left behind. The consequences of that action include the embarrassing "split" and the quite despicable attempt by the SPL clubs to reduce the amount of the annuity.

Unsurprisingly – except, perhaps, to the Old Firm – independent television deals never did materialise. Much worse, the comparatively lucrative contract with Sky was lost as the SPL's then chief executive, Roger Mitchell, pursued his own brainchild, the launch of SPL TV. Even Celtic and Rangers did not buy that one, recognising immediately that the number of subscribers required to achieve a break-even figure – far less generate more income than they were already guaranteed by the established satellite broadcasters – was unattainable.

This is only a sample of the seemingly uninterrupted series of faux pas made over the past ten years. Many of the legislative decisions taken in that time have been prompted by an urge to show the public – but, more than anything, to convince themselves – that the SPL is an elite entity, worthy of respect.

These include preposterous criteria for stadiums, demanding a minimum of 10,000 seats at clubs who would fill them only on the two or three days in the season when one of the Old Firm teams would visit. The measures were designed merely to keep the riff-raff out and the figure, inevitably, was modified to 6,000 as the "administrators" finally caught up with everyone else in recognising the ludicrousness of their original "standards".

The faltering, improvisational nature of their running of the organisation has led directly to the Gretna situation. Having previously prevented Falkirk from entering the league because of their "non-compliant" stadium, the SPL executives decided to countermand their own rule by allowing a club without enough supporters to fill a beach cabin to share a ground 90 miles from their home town. By admitting the Dumfriesshire club, they failed to show what is known in legal circles as "due diligence".

Apart from a reputation for staggering incompetence, the SPL has gained nothing that was not within their reach at the Scottish Football League. Now they are approaching their tenth anniversary, but surely nobody within the organisation will be brazen enough actually to celebrate. It has been a decade of disgrace.

THE ever-deepening disrespect for referees among delinquent footballers in England has spurred the Football Association into a crusade aimed at altering the attitude of clubs – or, more specifically, their managers – who regularly defend to the point of condoning the appalling behaviour of even the most extreme miscreants.

The action prompted a response from David Moyes that is legitimised by the Everton manager's reputation for common sense. "I see many incidents," said Moyes, "where I do not feel the FA have respect for clubs and the situations that arise. Now they seem to want us to stand up and help them. Well, it goes both ways."

With his response, the Scot would doubtless be remembering the derby with Liverpool earlier in the season, when a notoriously unbalanced performance from referee Mark Clattenburg cost Everton at least a draw, but more probably victory.

Moyes was making the point that referees, by their incompetence – sometimes even a failure to apply the laws – often bring criticism on themselves. In the two most recent examples of odious behaviour by players, Ashley Cole against Spurs and Javier Mascherano against Manchester United, both men should have been ordered off long before their protracted, demented ranting had the chance to horrify all who witnessed it.

While the modern game is unquestionably polluted by the diseased behaviour of too many egocentric players, there are, as Moyes suggested, times when match officials' weakness is a contributory factor.