Politicians are best kept at arm's length when it comes to football governance. Jack McConnell was instrumental in reducing Scotland's chances of hosting Euro 2008 from slim to downright laughable, while George Foulkes left Hearts with more faces than Big Ben and less credibility and self-respect than George Galloway left the Big Brother house with.

Little surprise, then, to discover the Italian government's plan to curb organised violence is akin to giving lunatics the key to the asylum. Manufacturers of electronic turnstiles will be upgrading their Fiats to Maseratis after it was decided modern technology will rid Italian football of hooliganism.

From start to finish, the response to the murder of policeman Filippo Raciti in riots prior to the Sicilian derby between Palermo and Catania has smacked of reactionary idiocy.

Scotland's vested interest in the punishment meted out by whichever authority claims jurisdiction has dominated the football agenda for the past week. Why Celtic and AC Milan, Scotland and the Azzurri, should be punished for an incident in Sicily underlines incompetence levels from Rome to Geneva.

It is like telling the Old Firm they cannot permit fans to attend European ties because of a fatality at a St Mirren-Dunfermline match. Come to think of it, who actually rules Italian football?

A nation that once wore corruption like a badge of honour is paying for sins of the past. Police have lived in fear of the ultras who are not so much a plague on society but season-ticket holders with special powers and privileges.

Club presidents are vetted according to the mob manifesto and their influential figureheads treated like kings. At the last count, there were around 75,000 identifiable members of 445 organised ultra groups. How can electronic security prevent the access of right-wing, fascist thugs who have had every cordiality extended to them?

If the Italian authorities were serious about sending a message of zero tolerance, Palermo and Catania would have been suspended from all competition until the end of the season and relegated to Serie B. Suddenly the rest would have had little alternative but to sever all ties with the ultras.

But in Italy, the wheels turn slowly, and usually in reverse. Heavy sanctions were imposed on Juventus, AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina after their implication in a corruption investigation yet the original punishments were diluted upon appeal.

The police force are inadequately remunerated or armed to deal with the hardcore element of the Italian tifosi. What hope for change when, within hours of Raciti's death, the groundsman at Catania's Massimino Stadium was arrested for allegedly supplying the tools of battle, from crowbars to clubs?

After days of procrastination and idle threats, the smart money is on the status quo: Celtic and AC Milan concluding their knockout tie in front of a near capacity crowd at the San Siro. It can only be hoped that with the world's gaze on them, the Italian government and its sporting arbiters will ensure maximum security and protection for travelling fans. Celtic fans and the Tartan Army should be protected, not punished, and anyone who witnessed the eerie spectacle between Rangers and Inter Milan two years ago will assure you football is a spectator sport without parallel.

SPEAKING of politicians, has anyone negotiated the football power ladder more astutely than David Taylor, whose unwavering and sustained support of Michel Platini was rewarded with elevation to general secretary of UEFA?

Taylor was far from the revolutionary he pledged to be when appointed in 1999. He was swept along by Henry McLeish's misguided gusto in thinking Scotland could be a worthy host of Euro 2008.

He ignored evidence that Berti Vogts was a busted flush and paid over the odds for a coach so in demand he languished in Kuwait before his summons to Mount Florida.

Taylor was also guilty of mishandling the appointment of Gareth McKenna, the project implementations manager who lasted four days before it emerged he had been convicted of fraud.

He also paraded as Saddam Hussein at a fancy dress party and made a speech beyond parody at the Scottish Football Writers' Player of the Year Awards dinner. Yet with his new salary of around £800,000, he has had the last laugh.

On the subject of money for old rope, can Taylor or anyone else at the SFA justify the outlay on eight coaches for the recent international gatherings? Alex McLeish, Andy Watson and Roy Aitken started the new era with an A-squad get-together and surely one of them should have presided over the B international against Finland.

Bobby Williamson and Alex Smith, knowledgeable though they are, were made hired hands, while Maurice Malpas, Tommy Wilson and Archie Gemmill manned the dugout for the under-21 defeat to Germany.

Changed days from when Craig Brown had to beg for assistance as national coach/technical director.

And Another Thing... Dougie McDonald and his "assistants" ruined yesterday's match at Rugby Park.

McDonald gave Rangers a penalty when Kris Boyd was challenged outside the box, then linesman Willie Dishington wrongly ruled Barry Ferguson's headed goal offside.