THE unprecedented exodus of executives from the SFA boardroom has continued with the news that Andrew McKinlay, the man who has been standing in for departed chief executive Stewart Regan, is leaving to take up the chief executive’s post as Scottish Golf.

The move of the SFA chief operating officer to take up a position vacated by Blane Dodds when he departed after just 16 months to return to Tennis Scotland could be interpreted as another body blow for the association who are currently searching for a national team manager and a chief executive, not to mention uncertainty over sponsorship beyond this summer for both the national teams and the Scottish Cup. It remains unclear for now if the SFA will move to replace him on the association’s main board which is tasked with filling both those posts.

Former SPFL chairman Ralph Topping was quoted in a morning newspaper saying that losing McKinlay after the recent departures of former head of communications Darryl Broadfoot, finance director Scott Lindsay – all of whom worked under Regan – would be the “equivalent of losing Neymar, Messi and Suarez”. “I think there would need to be questions asked about ‘why have so many skilled exectuives left?’”