Beaks, blazers, big-wigs, fat cats, call them what you want, the pencil pushers at the top of the Scottish game have made a right balls-up of this one.
On Friday the 13th of July 2012, the SFL clubs voted by a majority of 25-5 that NewCo Rangers should start their life in the Third Division. This news came one week after the SPL clubs denied NewCo Rangers immediate entry into the top flight. Two votes took place, both with definite outcomes. One would assume that we could now move on, and start progressing towards the new season. However, one would be wrong to assume that.
Loud murmurs of discontent can be heard. First up, Inverness chairman Kenny Cameron:
"All clubs will now have to live with the repercussions of this decision. Scottish football was at a crossroads today in terms of what was on the table for all clubs regarding reorganisation, financial distribution and a road map that would have taken the game forward.
"But this has now been thrown into disarray by this decision. This is a sad day for all clubs in Scotland."
These quotes were made very shortly after the SFL decision was made. Given the context of the situation, they seem very odd indeed.
Inverness were one of the teams to publicly come out to say that they were going to vote 'No' to NewCo's application to the SPL. Cameron's comments stink of hypocrisy, and the fact they were made so soon after the call would seem to suggest he was surprised by the decision that was made.
Next up, St Mirren chairman Stewart Gilmour:
"This is horrific news for St Mirren Football Club. The consequences are terrible - catastrophic even.
"To be fair to Stewart Regan, the document he released last week was a good document.
"It set out changes to Scottish football that would bring in a fairer structure, fairer distribution system, fairer everything.
"Unfortunately, the people in the SFL have not bought into that. I just hope they realise the damage they have done to Scottish football.
"Five clubs in the SPL could be in administration within weeks - and we will have to do everything we can to avoid being one of them."
Gilmour paints a very bleak picture, and it is all the fault of the SFL clubs apparently. St. Mirren also voted to reject NewCo's application for SPL membership.
Comments from these two are very disappointing. Both clubs chose to seek their own fan approval by voting 'No' themselves, and they both seek to pass the buck to other clubs who have made the same decision. These are two clubs who are certainly now fearing for the future. As sad as it is to say it, these problems are consequential. It is not fair to point fault to the clubs of the SFL. Glasgow Rangers went into liquidation, and they, as well other clubs, are feeling the consequences of it. Liquidated clubs, if want to re-join the league, apply for a new membership in their new form. So why the shock and disgust that this new club are to join the Third Division?
Well, on the 23rd of June 2012, before any of the meetings that took place Stewart Regan sent out an e-mail to Scottish Premier League chief exec Neil Doncaster; Scottish Football League boss David Longmuir, SFL President Jim Ballantyne, SFA vice-president Alan McRae, Hibernian FC chief exec Rod Petrie and SPL chairman Ralph Topping.
The e-mail does not make for good reading. It indicates that the blazers who run our game had decided what they wanted to happen, and their plan was to push this through. Some key points of the e-mail:
'The Rangers Football Club' were to be 'relegated' Rod Petrie was to relay this information to Charles Green so that this news should not come as too much of a shock Dundee were to take their place in the top flight.
Their hope would have been that NewCo would achieve promotion immediately back into the top flight, with Dundee proving more of a draw than Dunfermline to cushion the financial blow of just one season. With Rangers back up after one season, the amazing and best we could hope for deal that Sky have on offer could still be fulfilled.
To relegate Rangers NewCo is a misnomer. They were a new company as a result of liquidation, so could not be relegated.
Rod Petrie said publicly that integrity could not be bought, whether or not he ran this past Charles Green first remains unclear.
To simply provide that Dundee would gain entry into the SPL was to heavily underestimate the importance of this issue.
The carrot offered with this deal? Well this would be the chance we have been waiting for to re-structure our league set-up. We could finally introduce the long-overdue pyramid system and top-flight playoffs. The reasons as to why we could only do this whilst putting NewCo into the First Division at the same time remain not just unclear, but totally unexplained.
And the stick? Civil unrest and a slow lingering death for Scottish football. The bleak picture that they were keen to paint was simply only to scaremonger clubs into voting a certain way. The comments were made entirely on the assumption that NewCo would be in the First Division at worst, and did not have any foresight as to the possibility of trying to market our game with NewCo in the Third Division. Attracting investors into our game might be difficult when some of the top brass are suggesting that it is dying.
You cannot dictate to a democracy. It is easy to see why some of the lower league clubs said they believed they were being bullied. The powers that be clearly had their minds made up, and wanted things to pan out a certain way.
The new season is a fortnight away, and it is shameful that things have been allowed to drag on for as long as they have. The SPL AGM on Monday will hopefully draw things to a conclusion and allow us to move on. This is a hope though, not an expectation.
What lies ahead could be the re-birth of Scottish football. Two teams will not be able to dictate to the rest of the top flight anymore. Teams across the lower leagues can expect increased income if interest and supporter presence remains as strong in NewCo as it was in Rangers. And most importantly, the fans are being listened to. There seems to be a unity across supporters that had been lost, and hopefully that will be maintained as the season goes on.
It is time to look forward to the new season.
simpson_1903
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