03/03/2008

Scottish Football Association chief executive Gordon Smith surprisingly granted the Daily Record an exclusive interview on Saturday to say he has no intention of quitting his job ...only days after the tabloid landed him in hot water with Scotland's top clubs.

And in what could be interpreted as a thinly-veiled attack on some members of the media, the former BBC soccer pundit  declared: “I would feel an awful lot worse if I believed for just one minute that any of this criticism was accurate. People are entitled to hold any opinion of me that they like and I might give  the impression that I am guilty of being what they think I am.

“But I have researched the subject and my belief is that people with low self-esteem attack those who are more confident.”

The Daily Record’s exclusive on Saturday, by sportswriter Hugh Keevins, was the front and back-page splash, and given two full pages in the sports section.

Smith admitted he erred in attacking the media during the  press conference when George Burley was formally announced as the new Scotland manager.

“I made a point of addressing those who had questioned the need to conduct interviews for the job. With the benefit of hindsight, I now regret doing that. I don’t think there was anything wrong with what I said but, on reflection, I should have chosen another time and another place. I gave my critics a chance to react to what I’d done. I can see why what I did has been thrown back at me ...I made an error of judgement.”

Before Saturday, Smith had already backed down on his claim that the Daily Record misquoted him about Scottish Premier League clubs complaining of bias among referees - which didn’t go down well in at least certain quarters of the SPL - saying: “I wasn’t misquoted, it was more of a misunderstanding. I was trying to be light-hearted.”

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