Sacked Hugh Dallas is reportedly going to sue the SFA for sacking him over a sectarian email which claimed that the Pope was a danger to children. The News of the World claims that Dallas has spoken to lawyers after he was shown the door on Friday.
His sacking, followed an investigation by SFA Chief Executive Stewart Regan. Four other SFA staff were sacked along with Dallas, and they also reportedly plan to fight their sackings.
An SFA insider said, “The SFA has all-out war on its hands. Dallas is absolutely furious.”
NOTW sources claimed that five of them were mad scapegoats and that many more workers and officials had passed on the email at Scottish Football’s Headquarters.
One source was quoted saying, “If they were sacked, others should have gone, too. They’re just scapegoats so the bosses can say, ‘Look, we’ve axed the culprits, now let’s move on’. But that isn’t going to happen. The SFA has all-out war on its hands.”
The NOTW insider claimed, “Nine staff were interviewed at a disciplinary hearing on Thursday with Regan and Viv Coady, the head of Human Resources. Then five were sacked the following day. Since then they have all taken legal advice and intend to lodge appeals.The thing is that the email about the Pope was sent internally within the SFA. Some people who sent it were sacked but others who sent it internally have kept their jobs. The punishment seems very harsh and there’s a feeling it hasn’t been dealt with even-handedly. There’s a definite feeling Regan has over-reacted.”
Those dismissed were Tim Berridge, an audio-visual technician. Amanda MacDonald, an administrative assistant who acted as national team manager Craig Levein’s secretary. Coaching official Marco McIntyre and Mailroom manager Bob Bryan. All four worked in the SFA’s Football Development department.
SFA President George Peat distanced himself from the sackings indicating that he’d not even been told about them. He said, “I read reports in the papers this morning that some people have resigned but I don’t know and I can’t get involved in it. All I know is Stewart Regan was meeting with several members of staff. But if there were to be appeals they would have to come to me, so I can’t get involved.”
According to the News of the World, other offensive emails are set to hit the news soon, with one poking fun at a high-profile member of the Scottish Football fraternity.
Source: News of the World
