Will Scotland finally decide enough is enough?

....or are we set for more seasons like this one?

By SHAUGHAN MCGUIGAN

NEIL Doncaster should have been a happy man on Thursday morning. The chief executive of the SPL should have been in his office haggling over the price of the helicopter that would be required to transport the title trophy to its final destination on yet another last day decider, the third time in four years that this has happened. Instead he had to gather in front of the assembled media throng and attempt to explain what he intended to do about the latest controversy to envelope the game north of the border.

If he ever got round to booking that helicopter then it may have crossed his mind to use it as a means of escape rather than ferrying a trophy.

When the season kicked off back in August it all seemed so promising. Lennon's newly created Celtic team opened proceedings live on Sky against  promoted Inverness and secured their first three points in an entertaining game. Walter Smith's final season at Rangers began with a 2-1 win against Kilmarnock and in Aberdeen the 12,000 crowd wondered if the 4-0 win they'd just witnessed meant that their team would at least provide them with pride if not trophies. Aberdeen's flirtation with the bottom of the league from September onwards may have been predictable but nothing else was, unfortunately the twists came off rather than on the park.
 
The stories of this season have not come from the twelve SPL grounds, they've come from disciplinary panels, press conferences, dug outs, post offices, board rooms and court rooms. The climax of this season can not come soon enough for a lot of supporters, not because they are excited for what it may hold, simply because they wish it were over. The last ten months have at times been mortifying for Scottish football fans who could only look on incredulously at what unfolded between the cracks in their fingers.
 
The floodgates seemed to open on an October afternoon at Tannadice. What appeared to be an isolated incident from Dougie McDonald to overturn a penalty he had just awarded to Celtic instead seems to have started a chain of events that led indirectly to the fan attack at Tynecastle some eight months later. The resignations of Dougie McDonald and Steven Craven that stemmed from the incident at Tannadice led directly to the referees strike that affected the entire Scottish football fixture list. It was a situation that many believed was down to Lennon's fierce criticism of McDonald that day, although the referee himself also blamed Peter Houston for inflammatory statements he made after the  game. This entire debacle turned a large swathe of supporters against Neil Lennon who felt his comments were over the top. It was the beginning of the most unsavoury period in Scottish football for over two decades. For a while it seemed Sky Sports News yellow breaking news banner was exclusively reserved for our use.
 
Hugh Dallas would resign due to circulating an email containing a joke about sex scandals within the catholic church, bullet's would be posted to both Neil Lennon and Celtic winger Niall McGinn and within weeks this had escalated to explosive devices intended for Lennon, his lawyer QC Paul McBride and former deputy presiding officer of the Scottish parliament and Celtic fan Trish Godman being intercepted by postal workers.
 
 In the stands Celtic supporters group The Green Brigade were coming under fire for protesting against Celtic wearing poppy's on their strip while Rangers supporters were found guilty by UEFA of singing bigoted songs during a Europa League match against PSV Eindhoven.
 
Even the actual matches that were taking place were not making headlines for footballing reasons. The Scottish cup replay in March saw 34 supporters arrested in the stadium, three red cards, 13 yellows and the Scottish government getting involved after a scuffle broke out between Lennon and McCoist on the side lines. The final old firm fixture in April saw Strathclyde police arrest 257 people in the Glasgow area on Easter sunday, a record for arrests on one day.
 
Through all of this one name in particular keeps coming up. Neil Lennon. No one else has polarised opinion since Graeme Souness was the Rangers boss in the late 80's. To his fans he is one of them, a man who would be in the stands supporting if he wasn't the boss. To those against him he is a troublemaker, a man who criticises referees and other teams while venturing onto parks to antagonise opposition fans.
 
Lennon has indeed questioned the standard and impartiality of referees this season and his actions, both on the sidelines and in the centre circle has incensed the opposition fans, but doesn't Sir Alex Ferguson ask the same questions of refs? Hasn't Jose Mourinho wound up opposing supporters through his behaviour? How many bullet's and bombs has Sir Alex had posted to him? How many supporters have aimed a flying punch in the direction of Mourinho?  Whether you agree with Lennon or not, and a significant amount of people don't, his actions are not unique in the world of football, unfortunately what he receives in return most certainly is. It suggests that Lennon attracts such vitriol not just because of what he does but also because of who he is.
 
The spectre of sectarianism has loomed large this season and like every time it emerges it ruins everything it touches. Scottish football has not seen such embarrassment since Mark Walters was subjected to monkey noises and bananas being thrown at him when he became the first black player to ply his trade in Scotland in 1987.  As sickening as those scenes were at the time, some good actually did come from them. Led by the media, clubs and the emergence of a more politically correct society, racism has been almost eliminated from the stands. Nowadays, fans are more likely to report someone for racist chants rather than join in, so why can't we shift the same focus onto bigotry?
 
Rangers and Celtic have worked hard to eliminate bigotry from their stadiums but recently it seems to have taken a backward step. Perhaps the clubs and the police can only do so much, and at a time when Scotland's largest anti bigotry charity Nil By Mouth is in danger of downsizing to a voluntary organisation because of funding issues perhaps the onus needs to be shifted elsewhere. The newly elected Scottish government could drive it, the media should play a huge role as should schools and of course parents. It'll never be a quick fix but wouldn't it be great if we could look back on this season and realise it was where Scotland decided enough was enough?