‘Dundee Hamilton, voting for the Vatican’ made me smile and credit to the poster on Sentinel Celts for that witty summary of the situation we appear to find ourselves in today.
If – as expected – Dundee today announce the biggest U-Turn since Nick Clegg shafted the entire student population in exchange for a ministerial Jaguar and vote yes to the SPFL’s proposal, it will mean Scottish football will at last get some semblance of clarity during the enforced Covid-19 outbreak and that green and white ribbons will adorns a ninth consecutive league title. And deservedly so.
The Pros in this matter certainly outweigh the Cons, particularly if you are looking for genuine closure to emerge from the whole sorry mess. Do the ends justify the means? Probably on balance they do, but there is very much a fractured game out there, it may never quite recover. Trust is certainly shot to pieces.
What we do get – and what this resolution was all about when it was presented – is a way to find closure to a season that is very unlikely to be concluded. If we do find a way to finish the league by kicking a football all good and well, but at least the bottom three divisions no longer have to worry about it and the top flight has a safety net on which to fall, should attempts prove fruitless.
We also get a solution that is compliant with Aleksander Ceferin’s UEFA request that top flight clubs hold back on an official decision until 23 April when the UEFA executive committee meets. That should in theory mean there is no threat to European football for Celtic and other Scottish clubs next season. In fact you can be certain Peter Lawwell made certain of that before this proposal was put to members.
Clubs can now access prize money. This can now be distributed in compliance with SPFL rules that only allowed payments to be made (that’s payments not loans Stewart Roberston) until final league placings are decided.
And possibly the biggest positive of the whole debate is that teams can start planning for next season. Fixing season ticket prices is based on what division you are playing in, clubs will now know that. Sponsors can now be approached and again fees pitched in line with the media exposure the division they play in comes with.
Then there is the biggest TV deal in Scottish football history due kick in on 1 August. The validity of that deal was somewhat questionable whilst a previous season hadn’t been concluded. This deal will now come into play and at £125 million its distribution is the life jacket Scottish football needs desperately.
From a football perspective Celtic get a well-earned 9-in-a-row confirmed, whilst in the Championship Dundee United also are in no danger of the cruelty of a null and void season denying their heavily funded return to the top flight.
There are of course negatives to all of this and that was always going to be the case. Without restructuring being part of the original proposal clubs like Partick Thistle and Hearts find themselves dropping out of their respective leagues, while clubs in play off positions look like missing out on promotion opportunities.
The SPFL statement itself did state acceptance of the proposal would lead to debate on league reconstruction, but there will be a worry for Gerry Britton and Ann Budge that member clubs will be unable to agree on this before a new season starts. Considering how shambolic even this simple yes and no vote has been handled by the SPFL I’d have sympathy for their position.
Given this situation both Partick Thistle and Hearts would have grounds, amongst others, for taking legal action to stop this proposal from being put into practice. They’d have grounds of course, though whether they’d have the appetite or the funds for it remains to be seen.
Taking such action will delay the financial and strategical planning opportunities the rest of Scottish football needs. To make a legal challenge may well see other member clubs go to the wall. These clubs and the SPFL may be better served finding a suitable financial compensation agreement before we open Scottish football to litigation delays, particularly if league reconstruction is unlikely before a new season begins.
Finally what this vote shouldn’t get to cover up is the behaviour of certain clubs and the shambles of an organisation the SPFL have shown themselves up to be.
Just because this deal was brokered by hook or by crook should not take away from the fact Neil Doncaster and friends have proven themselves wholly ineffective in managing the whole situation. They simply lost control of a simple administrative task.
If a vote lasts for 28 days it is open to scrutiny and to allegations of corruption if you publicly announce an exit poll before all the voters have finished queuing for the ballot box. Dundee made a right mess of their vote and they opened themselves to scrutiny, however it should never have been allowed to happen. That it was down to the SPFL’s amateur hour approach during the vote on the proposal.
If legal challenges ensue, the responsibility for the validity of that litigation lies squarely at the door of the SPFL and the mess they made administering the vote. It certainly looks like Dundee are open to allegations of a sweetener or two and that’s no way to run a professional governing body. It’s shameful really.
It wasn’t a secret ballot that’s for sure, Dundee can fully testify to that. An independent inquiry, not for blame but for recommendations of how to carry a vote out in future isn’t an opportunity to avoid it should be embraced, especially if there may be restructuring votes ahead.
And while the SPFL’ keystone cops approach to the proposal is shambolic, certain clubs have behaved despicably, though we shouldn’t really be surprised. Those independent eyes of an invited audit should extend their remit from the vote to the practices going on behind the scenes.
There are questions around ‘the’ Rangers attempting to influence votes from clubs like Inverness Caledonian Thistle, the conclusion of this proposal should not be the end of that investigation. Was Scot Gardiner offered a job at Ibrox in exchange for voting no? Were ICT board members compliant? Can Stewart Robertson continue on the SPFL board while allegations like this are in the public domain?
‘Rangers’ of course have their own concerns they’ve stated publicly in a series of statements they have concerns over coercive behaviour and as such I’m certain they wouldn’t now go back on their request for an independent inquiry into this whole sorry mess.
If Dundee FC do vote today and accept the SPFL proposal, Scottish football should now have a chance to close season 2019/20 and plan ahead for season 20/21. Sadly the pig’s ear the SPFL made of the whole thing may mean we end up looking back on this period as one of calm, while the eye of the storm is still to be navigated.
Whatever the outcome that line, ‘Dundee Hamilton, voting for the Vatican’ made me smile.
Niall J
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