Raising teenagers is a gruelling labour of love. Despite the opinions and the attitude, the instinct to provide food and shelter for our children is hard wired. The desire to protect them from harm never fades. Their security and welfare becomes the only thing in life that really matters.
Press any parent hard enough and they’ll tell you that they’d take a bullet for their offspring. They’ll do whatever it takes to keep them safe from the kind of people only too keen to take advantage of their inexperience of life and their vulnerability.
That’s why Derek White’s departure following allegations of inappropriate behaviour at Hibernian, as reported by Mail Sport on Thursday, should leave every parent outraged.
It’s why he couldn’t be allowed to slip quietly out the back door of Easter Road without a proper investigation.
It’s why the SFA can’t allow him to walk straight back into another job involving young footballers, in this country or anywhere else without establishing the full facts.
A former media officer and company secretary at Livingston, the 24-year-old landed a move to Hibernian as head of football operations in May 2022.
Derek White left the Easter Road club following allegations of inappropriate behaviour
Hibernian confirmed that White resigned prior to conclusion of an internal investigation
Despite that unfortunate business when an ineligible Rocky Bushiri played in a Premier Sports Cup game against Morton and the club landed a sanction from the SPFL, he settled into his new role. In public, at least, he made all the right noises.
After a presentation to Hibs academy players on the topic of ‘integrity’, the club’s top administrator took to social media to breathlessly extol the importance of delivering Hibs ‘values and expectations’.
‘Integrity,’ he added, ‘is doing the right thing when no-one is watching.’
The allegation in question is that White engaged in inappropriate behaviour towards a young player at the club.
Hibs stress that the player involved is over the age of 18. With no illegality involved, there was no reason to involve Police Scotland.
None of which excuses an unacceptable breach of power, influence and trust from a senior official at one of Scotland’s biggest football clubs. Or removes the gnawing questions over the way the matter was handled from start to finish.
Supporters of Hibernian would give anything for a normal day right now. Under the stewardship of the Gordon family, there’s been precious few to savour.
Accepting £6million from American investor Bill Foley for a 25 per cent stake in the club, the Hibs hierarchy ignored the Bournemouth owner’s suggestions for a new head coach and charged on with the appointment of David Gray, a fine footballer with no frontline experience in management.
Defeat to St Mirren last weekend made it seven games without a win, the team now rock bottom of the Premiership.
Expectations of a change of manager ended in confusion, as most things do at Hibs. On Monday evening, former club captain Gray was given the dreaded vote of confidence and the ink was barely dry on the statement when fresh questions began over the circumstances of White’s sudden departure from the club last month.
Hibernian are also struggling on the pitch, and David Gray has been given the dreaded vote of confidence
White’s departure has raised queries that Hibernian must ensure they answer
Awarded the grand – and largely meaningless – new title of director of football operations as recently as September, he left his post with a haste which bordered on the suspicious.
Acting on information from credible sources, Mail Sport checked rumours of disciplinary action over inappropriate behaviour with Hibs and learned that White had resigned from his position.
Pressed on the matter the club now acknowledge that, prior to the conclusion of an internal investigation, White jumped.
In a statement, Hibs maintain that they ‘informed the relevant authorities and organisations following our strict safeguarding procedures.’
Be that as it may, the episode raises a few queries. None more pertinent than the question of why Hibernian allowed White to leave by a side door on his own terms when the allegations around him concerned the welfare of a young player.
A CV boasting a senior role at a club of Hibernian’s stature might persuade another unwitting club to place him in a position where he was allowed to work, side by side, with vulnerable young players. What then?
The details of what constitute ‘inappropriate behaviour’ remain cloudy and unclear. Irrespective, football is duty bound to show that lessons have been learned from the 2021 independent report, published by the SFA, into historic sexual abuse.
Bad things happened when senior football figures in positions of influence abused the trust of young footballers who, in turn, were afraid to speak up for fear of jeopardising their chances of a professional contract. Clubs allowed these people to move on to a fresh start at another club.
Football has to show that those days are over.
Replace Lineker? Beeb should try MoTD with NO presenter and NO pundits
When Gary Lineker compared asylum policy in the UK to Germany in the 1930s, the BBC spent days conducting the longest VAR review in history.
As programme bosses pored over images of a reckless, uncontrolled assault on editorial impartiality, team-mates walked off the pitch in the biggest act of theatrical solidarity since Sid James called the comrades out on strike in Carry On At Your Convenience.
Podcast playmates Alan Shearer and Micah Richards downed tools. Jermaine Jenas took a rare day off the nation’s TV screens, oblivious to the fact that the decision would soon be taken out of his hands.
For one night only, Match of the Day featured match footage with no presenter and no pundits. And, far from sparking civil unrest and the next Jarrow march, we were offered a tantalising glimpse of how the programme would look if they did away with the lot of them.
Viewers have already had a tantalising glimpse of what MoTD will be like without Gary Lineker
MoTD has never been like Question Time or Newsnight or Parkinson. It doesn’t need a big-name presenter or a master of ceremonies, because the football is the star of the show. It speaks for itself.
And, thanks to the invention of the iPad, it’s now possible to watch every goal without the waffle.
Flip on the BBC iPlayer app after 11pm on a Saturday night and viewers – like this one – can scrub straight to the match coverage without watching a second of the punditry.
Here, then, is a suggestion.
These are difficult times for the Beeb. Under significant financial pressure and chasing the elusive under-30s audience – newsflash, they’re all watching YouTube – the corporation is looking to save £300million a year by 2028. That’s in addition to £400m in savings already delivered, with 185 jobs culled.
They could always save themselves a few quid by giving people a Match of the Day with a real difference. Goals, outstanding football, no presenter and no pundits.