It’s the twenty sixth of May, 2019. The weather’s sunny but changeable. The 2018/2019 football season in Scotland has just ended. Two days ago Theresa May resigned as Prime Minister. Celtic football club took that opportunity to release a statement on their former employee and kit-man Jim McCafferty having been convicted of offences against children. That conviction took place 10 days previous.

Celtics statement expressed regret and sorrow but never expressed any apologises. Presumably because to do so would be to accept some responsibility, in both the legal and moral senses. And when responsibility is applied to actions then come consequences. And when crimes are involved the consequences should balance. It’s called justice.

Celtics adopted legal stance from the day that abuse was uncovered has been to ignore the issue, to hide it and to consistently accept no responsibility. That moment and that legal stance didn’t coincide with a single point in time were all and any abuse simply stopped. We know it didn’t. It continued and it was allowed to continue through either neglect or complicity. The omertà endured.

Celtics tactics of self-preservation have evolved and been adapted over the years and within the past decade phrases like “separate and distinct” began to appear in relation to Celtic FC and the Celtic Boys Club. These days “separate entity” appears to be the preferred parlance. The Scottish media also gives Celtic the (from what i can see) unique courtesy of attaching the abuse to the Boys Club. And no doubt as part of this ongoing legal think-tank came the decision to change the name of Celtic Boys Club to St Patrick’s Sports Academy. A less than subtle attempt to distance the name Celtic from the scandal.

Responsibility, what that means and what should come with it is an area of debate (at least amongst the public that aware of this scandal). The stock defence from Celtic-minded detractors is that the victims don’t want the subject raised, whilst what they really mean is that they and Celtic would prefer that the subject wasn’t discussed. Unfortunately for them this has proven to be untrue with many victims stepping forward and demanding that Celtic accept responsibility and show some form of long overdue contrition.

Without a doubt the coverage of the scandal in the Scottish press has been bizarre. A story of its magnitude and severity, relating to an institution of Celtics standing, should be front page billing. The threads, lose ends, cast of famous and well-known characters involved, almost every connotation lends itself to months of debate and speculation across on any platform. And yet that hasn’t happened. The why is perhaps more obvious; simply, many key people don’t want Celtics reputation damaged, don’t want their chosen legal strategy undermined and for the good of the club they want any financial impact to be kept to a minimum. Against that the victims requests are secondary.

We’ve seen a slightly change in tact recently with some cheerleaders asking for Celtic to say sorry, but at pains to assure the public there is no associated blame. A weak but perhaps necessary concession to save face considering the rate at which evidence is accruing. Let’s be honest the likes of Graham Spiers, James Dorman MSP, John Mason MSP only want the best for Celtic and this has been a proven part of their operating model for many years. Unfortunately for them the family of Andrew Gray are determined and relentless in their demands for answers; where wrong-doing has occurred then they want it out in the open where it can be judged. But this is not what Celtic’s politicians and press men want, so they ignore the Gray family. Or they down-play their pleas. The SNPs Justice Secretary and vocal Celtic fan Humza Yousaf has chosen to ignore the Gray family all together, presumably because he realises how difficult it could make his nice and easy life. Spiers and Dornan had eventually contacted them (more through the uncomfortable fact they could ignore them no longer) and quickly realised that their determination would not be intimidated or manipulated, to the extent that they ended up in less than pleasant public spats with them – so much for sensitivity and meeting the needs of the victims?

And what the victims want may vary widely. Some just want it over with. Some just want to hear sorry. Some expect Celtic to compensate for a life damaged, knocked off course or ruined. Some expect Celtic’s part and actions to be held to a greater scrutiny and for the natural consequences to follow. The unacceptable length of time that has passed means that many of the victims are no longer with us and their wishes gone with them. They’ll never know what their justice, if any, looks like.

We know how Dornan operates and who he serves. Would we be surprised if Dornan selectively championed someone who backed his apology-without-blame stance? And then supply with the attention and devotion and prominence that the Gray family had been publicly denied from him? I say prominence because meetings with the SFA and meetings with selected MSPs and journalists to forge strategies carries a degree of responsibility, and if that process then deliberately refuses to involve all victims, or represent the views of all,  then it’s slightly disingenuous. There’s been enough games played already in this cover-up to be vigilant and cynical.

Also unfortunate for Celtic and the SFA, and for Celtic fans wishing this would just disappear, is that fact that the Penn State scandal happened. Across the pond the police acted decisively. The governing bodies acted, strongly and assertively. Penn State was dealt heavy punishments and fines as a consequence. The facts of the scandal are contained in this link.

The parallels with Celtic FC are abundant and eerily similar. Why this isn’t use as a topic or starter for discussions and as a model to follow falls into the same bizarre bucket as the rest of the coverage. Perhaps had Celtic and the SFA acted sooner then it could be dismissed. But they didn’t. And now the general public rightfully expect any club found guilty of similar conduct to Penn State to face the similar sanctions. The Scottish press and governing bodies have failed and are failing victims (and the public) miserably in this. Only recently have a few started taking this on. Perhaps some decent journalists in England or the US could join the dots and have the debate that Scotland refuses to have?