Alan Pattullo: SPL faces retro future if Old Firm has its way

Published on Sunday 12 December 2010 13:09

THE details of a secret dossier were spilled in a Sunday newspaper yesterday and no-one will be surprised to learn that the thumb-prints of the Old Firm can be detected all over its contents.

It is the work of a Scottish Premier League strategy group, apparently. But why bother with the pretence of having those such as Hibernian's Rod Petrie included in this gathering if it is so clear that the other teams in the SPL are being bent by the will of Rangers and Celtic?

Not so long ago league reconstruction meant only one thing, and that was increasing the size of the top league. Now we are decreasing it, going back in time to when it was known as the Premier Division and when the moans about it being too small, too restrictive and just too plain dull were all too commonplace.

Saddle up, then, for the ride. We are set to go back to the future in SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster's DeLorean DMC-12, and obscured in its wake by exhaust fumes is the next instalment of Henry McLeish's review of Scottish Football. This is expected before the end of the year, but the former First Minister has now been beaten to the punch by a suspiciously-timed leak to a Sunday newspaper.

"I don't know how it is a way forward," one chairman of an SPL club wondered yesterday. An SPL 2 will undoubtedly make for a softer landing for those clubs who slip through the top tier's trapdoor, but the unseemly scramble to avoid the exit door could, this same chairman warned, see some resort to desperate measures.

Fear of not being present at the very top table can easily lead to the hazards of over-spending being ignored. The same chairman also denied that the new format of two leagues of ten, with regionalised lower divisions, would see a redistribution of wealth, as planned. He complained that the proposals had been presented in an "arrogant manner" at a recent meeting. "It feels like everyone is just sucking up to the Old Firm," he added.

The incentive to look kindly on the new format is that it does at least do away with the unpopular split. While this is indeed a seductive proposal, there is the huge drawback of playing everyone four times.

The over-riding complaint about Scottish football at present is over- familiarity, something which is a turn-off for fans who are being charged over 20 a time to see the same old faces play at the same old stadiums. What's been billed as a "Scottish football revolution" is really just a return to the past, though there have been attempts to make it seem like a modern take on an old blueprint.The season will start earlier, which, while preferable, is suspiciously geared to the needs of two Glasgow teams who must now accept that they, like the Motherwells and Dundee Uniteds of the world, will be required to play a series of qualifiers simply to get into European competitions.

Also highlighted among the proposals revealed yesterday was the fact that starting the league campaign in mid-July meant midweek dates were freed up. This isn't, however, to aid the physical condition of players, or make watching games more appetising for fans.

"The gaps this will create in the schedule will be of huge interest," explained one Old Firm source. Apparently this will be welcomed by those who ache to see foreign teams invited to Celtic Park and Ibrox to play glamour friendlies. Supporters in far-flung parts of the world can look forward to visits from the Old Firm too, the source also added. Is this the best Scottish football can hope for from what is being billed as dramatic change? Time off for Rangers and Celtic to play meaningless matches abroad?

One chairman recently commented that "it's a shame there isn't a Chris Robinson around anymore". It isn't a lament you hear too often. However, his point was that those on the boards of other clubs have lost the desire to stand up to the Old Firm, and fight their own corner. The Hearts chairman/chief executive wasn't afraid to make enemies if it meant ensuring the Tynecastle club's needs were being met. He was alert to signs of bullying behaviour by others, and he was also able to sniff out those who were prone to obsequience.

Doncaster's desire to shake up Scottish football has to be applauded. However, perhaps understandably for someone who had previously observed the game in this country from afar, his outlook appears to be coloured by the Old Firm. Some might say it has been manipulated by them.

Too few are prepared to put their head above the parapet and do what Terry Butcher's admirable Inverness Caledonian Thistle have done three times to the Old Firm in recent weeks, which is give as good as they get.