When a similar proposal was aired three years ago, Scottish clubs overwhelmingly rejected the SFA’s plans.
Nothing has changed since then to encourage clubs to alter their views.
Clearly they are not going to vote for a major rule change that could see them heavily penalised for something they had no part in.
Under strict liability, the home club would be responsible for crowd conduct – even if the issue didn’t involve their own fans.
With the SFA currently looking at its annual rules revision ahead of May’s AGM, Regan said last week he was sure strict liability would be up for discussion again in the aftermath of Celtic fans releasing smoke bombs during the Scottish Cup tie at Stranraer.
If that rule had already been in place, the Stair Park club would have been fined for the idiotic behaviour of some away fans last Sunday.
That’s why Regan appears totally out of touch with Scotland’s clubs.
If the Hampden hierarchy is to make a drastic change to crowd control, Regan must come up with something much more far-reaching than penalising home teams.
The SFA, of all people, must know how unfair this law is when implemented by UEFA or FIFA.
Only last October the SFA was fined almost £15,000 by UEFA for insufficient organisation at the Euro qualifier against Poland at Hampden.
Yet it was the Polish supporters who caused all the bother and set off falres and fireworks.
For a start, football clubs should be receiving far more protection from police at games.
It’s surely not beyond their powers to detect fans sneaking smoke bombs and fireworks into football grounds.
After all, they successfully stamped out fans taking in alcohol.
With so many voices at Hampden these days, surely the SFA should have set up a sub-committee long ago tasked with coming up with a new – but fair – way to cut out the madness that’s definitely sneaking back into Scottish football.
Banning away fans isn’t the answer, as former English FA Secretary Ted Crocker tried unsuccessfully to do to the Tartan Army after they had caused problems on trips to Wembley.
If fans can’t be trusted to behave, it’s clear stewarding and policing must be stepped up ahead of automatically punishing home clubs.
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