Regan is relishing challenge of leading innovation

Former Yorkshire Cricket Club chief executive Regan – who officially took over the post from Gordon Smith in October last year – witnessed one of Scottish football’s most turbulent and controversial campaigns in his first season at the helm.

But he insists he is enjoying the challenge and looking forward to the future after his radical reforms won unanimous support at last week’s agm.

Asked if he ever thought of quitting, Regan said: “Not at all, never. As daft as this might sound, I really enjoy the job. I think it’s great.

“I love Glasgow, I think it’s a fantastic city, I love the people and I’ve got some brilliant staff working for me.

“It’s a really exciting future, with what happened on Tuesday and our new strategy now laid out.

“I’ve always enjoyed jobs with a challenge. I’ve always enjoyed jobs where change is at the heart of the job and you can put a vision in place and try to lead people towards that vision. That’s the buzz I get.”

Reflecting on last season, he added: “It’s been really challenging. I came in in October and, within the first month, we had a number of major issues.

“I had to deal with the disciplinary matter involving the Scotland and Rangers keeper Allan McGregor on my first day in the job.

“We then had referees’ withdrawal of labour, the Dougie McDonald incident at Tannadice in the Dundee United-Celtic match and we had the whole email scandal which resulted in parting company with a number of staff.

“It took my eye off the ball for a few weeks when I was constantly having to get involved in what I call putting fires out instead of allowing me time to look forward and try to put a strategy together.

“That first three months made me realise, and made me even more resolute, that we had to change. I said to the board ‘We can’t go on like this, this is crazy.’

“We were constantly on the backfoot and all the press coverage about the SFA was negative. It was all about the fact that people thought we were an outdated organisation and the words ‘fit for purpose’ were used.”

All 93 member clubs supported Regan’s proposals to streamline and modernise the SFA’s decision-making processes last Tuesday, with a complete overhaul of the disciplinary system one of the main changes to be implemented.

One of the controversies surrounding disciplinary procedures last season saw Celtic cut the length of manager Neil Lennon’s two touchline bans, one of which was for an offence which took place four months earlier, because of legal doubt over whether they ran consecutively or concurrently.

Another issue which dominated headlines last season was the problem of sectarianism and the ongoing fight to eradicate it from Scottish football.

Regan added: “I think it will always be a difficult one to deal with because of the history.”