[Fast_Ted]

To all Scotland fans!

As a lot of the regular followers of the TAMB and the various goings on around the Tartan Army will know, the Association of Tartan Army Clubs hold meetings with the SFA on a fairly regular basis. One such meeting took place on Friday 4th December at Hampden Park where ATAC reps met with Gordon Smith, Darryl Broadfoot, Derek Kirkwood, Colin Banks and Alison Jack from the SFA. In light of recent events around the Scotland set-up (shambolic campaign, debacle in Cardiff and sacking the Manager), we wanted to be very specific with this meeting and to make an attempt to get the SFA to provide the answers to the questions which we wanted to ask and which we believe all Scotland fans (ATAC or not) wanted asked.

We are conscious that ATAC can be viewed as a closed shop by many despite our efforts at being as transparent as possible with all minutes of SFA and ATAC meetings published on the ATAC website for anyone to see. ATAC has never claimed and will never claim to represent all Scotland fans, however with our spread of members, we do believe that we ARE REPRESENTATIVE of the Scotland support as a whole.

Notwithstanding, we wanted to make sure that the output from this meeting was available to anyone with any interest in the Scotland team and we wanted to try and offer a greater insight into the approach ATAC takes in dealing with these meetings. As we have an ongoing relationship and open dialogue with the SFA, we have always offered to take up issues which non-ATAC members raise with us, however this is a pretty rare occurrence. So, in the interests of greater transparency and to try and make it easier for non-members who have real issues to approach us if they feel we can help, we have taken the unusual step of inviting 2 non-ATAC affiliated, randomly selected guests to also attend this meeting.

These two individuals are regular posters on this board and regular attendees at Scotland games, both home and away. Both are viewed on here (at risk of fluffing their ego’s ) as among some of the more reasoned posters and both are completely (and occasionally vocally ) independent to ATAC. Both attended the meeting as observers and were aware of the questions beforehand. We've agreed that it's up to them if they want everyone else to know who they are, so if they decide to do so, I'm sure they’ll be along here with their comments on the meeting shortly enough.

In the meantime, with the poor state of Scottish football at the moment, we felt it would be more productive to try and restrict the meeting to very specific questions which asked about the issues which we don’t feel have had the coverage required in the press. In addition, we’ve all heard (especially over the last few months) the statements attributed to members of the SFA, only for the subsequent comments to claim misreporting or misquoting (Hamish knows all about it! ), so to ensure that there can be no misunderstandings and no “spin” put on anything, we pre-submitted the questions which we wanted answered and asked the SFA to provide written responses to each of these. The intention then was to use the meeting as a chance to review these and pick up on any issues which the attendees felt needed a bit more explanation or some context put around and subsequently the Q&A would be updated to include any salient points from the discussions. You'll see from the notes that there is a colour coding. The black text is the questions we submitted up front, the blue text is the SFA written response and the red is the points that were picked up on and discussed. The meeting was restricted to 1 hour and this included the time for the guys attending to review the SFA comments for the first time, so focus was put around the issues which they felt were most important to address, so they focussed on the issues with the red text updates.

The SFA were made well aware in advance that we’d be taking their written responses and publishing them on the ATAC website, and also posting a link to them on here, exactly as we received them, so they’re in no doubt who this is going to. They have also had sight of these since the meeting and we’ve had confirmation from them that they’re in agreement that they’re a fair and accurate reflection of the meeting.

So, all that is basically the pre-amble to what happened! The full list of questions, the answers from the SFA and the subsequent mark-ups to reflect the discussions can be found on the link at www.tartanarmyclubs.com.

Any Q's can be fired over to me on here or via the contact address on the ATAC pages.

Fill yer boots!

Stevie Imlach
ATAC Co-ordinator

[Faddy and Fletch]

Steve, quick question although a little unrelated.

Who answers the questions/queries sent to info@tartanarmyclubs.com?

I've sent at least two e-mails to this address and never had a reply.

[Flure]

For the avoidance of doubt and speculation, I can confirm that I was one of the guests.

[Ayrforce]

Flure, on 22:30 7 Dec 2009, said:

For the avoidance of doubt and speculation, I can confirm that I was one of the guests.

Is it true Saltire Lover was the other guest?

[Flure]

Ayrforce, on 22:33 7 Dec 2009, said:

Is it true Saltire Lover was the other guest?

I can't comment on that. Positively OR negatively.

[Al Sex Gore]

Good stuff lads, though shouldnt the reply to question 18 have actually read...

Darryl Broadfoot, Head of Communications:

Firstly, I am delighted to have slinked my way into a cushy job at the Scottish FA and look forward to dealing with the ATAC in a controlled environment once every blue moon.

With regards the "Anti Tartan Army" accusation, let me mischievously divert you from your actual question and confusedly state that anyone who is considered Anti Tartan Army must also be considered unpatriotic (cough).

In my previous job I was employed to wind up readers on all aspects of Scottish football. From my experiences, I have commented on the thrilling sight at Hampden of cuddly old has been Ronnie Browne kilted-up to rouse the troops, while the squad stand uncomfortably to attention wondering who hired Papa Smurf for the karaoke gig and the joyously disturbing scenes of being caught in the midst of the Tartan Army at airport security.

As with the Old Firm and other clubs, I have also commented on a number of supporters, some of whom dress as if they are re-enacting the Battle of Bannockburn, in my opinion let down the good name of the Tartan Army. Rest assured I am very passionate about the future of my job here so look forward to a positive and mutually rewarding relationship with all officially sanctioned supporters' groups. Ultimately, I ask you kindly forget all the spiteful inflammatory stuff I said in my previous paper job and allow me to get on with my lucrative job at the Scottish FA.

This post has been edited by Al Sex Gore: 07 December 2009 - 11:01 PM

[glasgowredz]

Flure, on 22:30 7 Dec 2009, said:

For the avoidance of doubt and speculation, I can confirm that I was one of the guests.

My stock has taken a nose dive if you are now classed "as among some of the more reasoned posters"
before moi......


The only thing that could make it worse if Reeky was the other one.

This post has been edited by glasgowredz: 07 December 2009 - 11:15 PM

[Cove_Sheep]

glasgowredz, on 23:15 7 Dec 2009, said:

My stock has taken a nose dive if you are now classed "as among some of the more reasoned posters"
before moi......


The only thing that could make it worse if Reeky was the other one.

Jimbers was the other one.

[save_the_whale_chris]

Well done to the ATAC guys on asking the hard hitting questions, although it was a shame that the written answers were only provided during the meeting instead of advance and that it was limited to an hour.

Well done to Al Sex Gore for making me laugh quite a lot.

[tamrough]

thanks for the info, good to see that questions about Smith and Peat are being asked at last, in my opinion WE are never going to oust them or change the way the game is run in Scotland but if asking difficult questions does nothing more than making them 'raise their game' then it was worth asking the questions.

[kiltedblue2]

Aye, weel done guys, appreciate the feedback. I think ye ruffled a few feathers at the SSC
when asking for more transparency, but they have to give us the information as members
of the club, think its a legal thing as well.

Your choice of two 'normal' folk fae the ranks, well Jimbers nae probs but the other waan??
no, only joking Flure your choice was a good one the pair of them do post here and nine
times out of ten have constructive things to say as well as have a good laugh.

Am a wee bit suspicious of yer man Broadfoot though, one of the questions I would have
asked would be, is his job at the SFA his ONLY journalistic one, or are we going to see him
pop up in columns all ower the place? because, as they would say in the corridors of
Westminster with members having non-executive directorships( ither joabs), there could be a definite
conflict of interests!

I believe that 'the rest of us' who are not in any TA clubs do deserve a voice or two at these meetings
as I think we may be in the majority, but thats by the by you have generously now opened the door
so to speak.

A wee idea I have for instance is, why dont we, before every away game, through our charities, TACC
and Sunshine appeal have a draw, say £5 a ticket, and the prize is a place for 2 people and their partners,
female or male! (am no wantin another bit on ma warn bar) on the official team plane going to the away
match, am sure the SFA would go for that one, wee things like that I think would be cool.

Guys like myself who live and work away find it very difficult to be members of ANY clubs at home as
we rely on the good grace of our employers or our rotas to fit in games and I know there are hundreds
of us that are in the same boat so to speak, so we need a voice outside the ATAC set up and cheers for doing
that, its not an 'elite' club after all as some may say.

Well there ye go thats ma wee rant over for the morning get me aff this rig am starting to be sensible haha

[Fast_Ted]

Faddy and Fletch, on 22:18 7 Dec 2009, said:

Steve, quick question although a little unrelated.

Who answers the questions/queries sent to info@tartanarmyclubs.com?

I've sent at least two e-mails to this address and never had a reply.

Mick, it's intended to forwarded to a couple of the guys who deal with them. Both have said that they've not had anything through for quite some time now, so it may be that there's an issue with the mail forwarding. Will get someone to have a look.

Meantime, if you need to raise something, just drop me a note on facebook or you can get me on my la-social@loonyalba.com address.

Cove_Sheep, on 23:16 7 Dec 2009, said:

Jimbers was the other one.

Whilst not naming the 2nd person (after Flure so graciously revealed himself ), I can absolutely confirm that it was not Jimbers!

FT

[Fast_Ted]

kiltedblue2, on 06:48 8 Dec 2009, said:

I believe that 'the rest of us' who are not in any TA clubs do deserve a voice or two at these meetings
as I think we may be in the majority, but thats by the by you have generously now opened the door
so to speak.

Guys like myself who live and work away find it very difficult to be members of ANY clubs at home as
we rely on the good grace of our employers or our rotas to fit in games and I know there are hundreds
of us that are in the same boat so to speak, so we need a voice outside the ATAC set up and cheers for doing
that, its not an 'elite' club after all as some may say.

Cheers for the comments, just a quick bit on the two para's above.

Bear in mind that this meeting isn't an open forum for as many folk as we find to pile along to. We're restricted in terms of the number of attendees we're allowed to take in with us to 8. With 19 clubs represented by ATAC, this gives us issues straight off, and whilst we're happy to pick up concerns of non-ATAC members if we're able to help, these meetings are still meetings of ATAC and the SFA, so priority for attendance will always be ATAC reps. If we do decide to offer invitations to random guests again in the future, it will likely be a different two random people and will be on the same terms (coming along as an observer).

However, as always, we're happy to pick up on any issues if you think it's something we're able to help out with. As we've always said, we don't claim to represent the Tartan Army, but given the number and spread of our members, we do believe we are representative of the TA, so I'd be very surprised to find that any issues being raised are not similar to issues which ATAC members also have. We all travel to games and we all have the same gripes and issues, so hopefully things like bringing a few extra folk in to see how things work will help give a bit more clarity and make it easier for non-ATAC members to approach us if they think they can help.

Of course, for a lot of clubs who're not part of ATAC, the way we're able to have a voice is by having strength in numbers, so there's always the option of joining up with ATAC and becoming involved!

kiltedblue2, on 06:48 8 Dec 2009, said:

A wee idea I have for instance is, why dont we, before every away game, through our charities, TACC
and Sunshine appeal have a draw, say £5 a ticket, and the prize is a place for 2 people and their partners,
female or male! (am no wantin another bit on ma warn bar) on the official team plane going to the away
match, am sure the SFA would go for that one, wee things like that I think would be cool.

Not a bad idea, I'd suggest though that the best way to move this on would be via Carey and the TACC given that they're now an Official SFA charity and he's got existing links with them.

FT

This post has been edited by Fast_Ted: 08 December 2009 - 09:51 AM

[JohnW]

Quote

GS – went onto describe the success of the Under 21 team under the guidance of Billy Stark and spoke of how well the women’s football team were doing
JB – responded by stating that yes they are doing well, but the under 21’s were regarded as a feeder group to the national squad and as for the Women’s team, who really cares

Kinda hard to take you lot seriously if you can’t bring yourselves to acknowledge any progress in Scottish football.

[Cove_Sheep]

JohnW, on 10:20 8 Dec 2009, said:

Kinda hard to take you lot seriously if you can’t bring yourselves to acknowledge any progress in Scottish football.

But it's true though John.

The vast majority couldn't really care less about women's football.