SFA’s escalation leaves Premier Sports scrambling for Celtic coverage

SFA’s escalation leaves Premier Sports scrambling for Celtic coverage

Celtic face St Mirren at Hampden on Sunday as the sides compete to take their place in the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup Final. The winners on Sunday will face Dunfermline Athletic in the Cup Final next month after Neil Lennon’s side triumphed on penalties.

Lenny was overcome with emotion after the final whistle went, marking a sensational achievement by The Pars to make it to the final despite their Championship status. The game had many subplots, Callum Morrison facing off against his former employers, John McGlynn’s impressive Bairns and Lennon looking to take the underdogs through to the Final.

However, one subplot that was bubbling away throughout the afternoon was the absence of Michael Stewart. The former Hearts midfielder was expected to be part of Premier Sports’ coverage but he was sensationally banned from Hampden by SFA chiefs, citing his criticism of officials as the reason for blocking his entry.

Despite this, Stewart popped up during coverage stationed in the broadcaster’s truck in the Hampden car park. Although, there has been a further twist in the discord between parties with Scotland’s Coefficient updating that Stewart is now banned from the Hampden carpark, meaning Premier are scrambling to make alternative arrangements.

“Following today’s Scottish Cup semi-final, where Michael Stewart was unable to broadcast from inside Hampden and instead contributed from our production truck, we have now been informed by the SFA that he is also banned from the stadium car park.

“This further escalation is deeply disappointing and has left Premier Sports, the SFA’s broadcast partner, scrambling to find solutions for our exclusive coverage of Celtic v St Mirren tomorrow.

“We also wish to reiterate our full support for Michael Stewart as a valued member of our team, and we will continue to seek alternative ways to ensure he can remain involved in our coverage of matches from Hampden.”

It remains to be seen how the broadcaster will deal with this setback. It seems like a strange hill for The SFA to die on, especially given that Stewart has simply been offering his opinion as a pundit, attempting to provide balance but calling out poor refereeing decisions where he sees them.