Stewart has refused to back down and named the exact incident he believes the SFA have taken issue with
20:02, 20 Apr 2026Updated 20:04, 20 Apr 2026
Pundit Michael Stewart on the Premier Sports Scottish Football Social Club
Furious Michael Stewart has launched a fresh tirade at the SFA over his ban from Hampden – branding the governing body ‘petty and pathetic.’
And he reckons chiefs at the national stadium have been trying to ‘undermine’ him ever since his controversial comments after St Mirren vs Hibs last year.
Outspoken pundit Stewart was denied access to Hampden for the Scottish Cup semi-finals – and after he filmed from the car park during Dunfermline vs Falkirk, he was told he wasn’t even allowed within the ‘footprint’ of the stadium for Celtic‘s clash with St Mirren.
It sparked a furious response from broadcaster Premier Sports but the SFA have refused to back down with top Scottish refs hitting out at what they perceive as personal attacks from Stewart.
The former Hearts midfielder though says that couldn’t be further from the truth.
He believes it’s the SFA who have made it personal with him – not the other way around.
Stewart said on the Premier Sports Scottish Football Social Club: “I’m not going to sit here and play some sort of victim because I’m big and ugly enough to take it on my shoulders. But there’s a strain that comes with it, and for everyone else around me as well.
“I take a lot of pride in trying to be straight and honest with my assessment of things. Clearly, that upsets people in power sometimes.
“Ultimately, I’m not here to appease them. I’m trying to be honest, and I think that’s important. There’s a serious issue here and a dangerous precedent set by the SFA. They see fit to ban me for things that I’ve said.
“There’s a false narrative that’s been peddled claiming there has been over a year of complaints and conversations between the refs and the SFA, who are unhappy by how I’ve approached things.
“My retort to that would be: why on earth did the SFA not decide to discuss this with their broadcasting partners at Premier Sports?
“This spreads from an incident at St Mirren against Hibs, where I saw a mistake — an unbelievable mistake — from a certain official.
“Since then, there has been a concerted effort from the SFA to try and undermine me. What that showed was there is a system in place, VAR, that isn’t fit for purpose.
“The SFA came after the BBC and came after Premier and asked for an apology of sorts. Let me be clear: that apology was about the use of ‘cover-up’.
“I was not trying to suggest there is a grand conspiracy here, but a mistake by the officials, and that mistake wasn’t articulated to us. The communication to Premier wasn’t as clear as it could have been, and Premier asked for better communication going forward.
“I could have used a better word, but they were trying to minimise and mitigate the mistake that was made. I should have articulated that better. There are good referees in this country, but I think there are some who aren’t, and there is weak leadership.”
Stewart also reckons the communication over his ban from Hampden chiefs has been ‘farcical’. He went on: “They didn’t take kindly to the fact I am still being given an opportunity on the broadcasting team on the footprint of Hampden, in the car park.
“They sent an email to Premier Sports saying they hadn’t followed what had been asked of them — whatever that means — and that I was banned from the car park.
“Quite simply, it was farcical. The fallout has been petty and pathetic. What sort of country do we live in that an institution sees fit to ban somebody for having an opinion they don’t agree on? Fundamentally, that’s what this is about.
“Everything I have done is out there in the public domain. Premier and myself have asked for better communication for six months.
“Is it really a tenable position to say ‘we’re not happy’ and not communicate, then you’re banned?
“That’s not how grown-ups behave. The status quo isn’t tenable, so how do you resolve that? You speak, you communicate.
“That is what Premier have been doing since October. Everyone else is looking for firm dialogue; why are the SFA not?”