SFL hope momentum of move for change won’t be lost

SCOTTISH Football League clubs yesterday digested the news that, in the first instance, means they will not be required to attend a meeting on Friday to vote on the future of the game.

The short-term consequences of the failed Scottish Premier League vote is that promotion and relegation issues in the SFL become relevant once again. In the slightly longer term, it is hoped that the work already carried out on re-forming the game will not now go to waste, although the fear is that it will.

“The current momentum for positive change need not be lost,” said an SFL statement, although most sounds emanating from the Scottish Premier League suggested that all that was left was for a return to the status quo – four divisions, and no play-off between the top two tiers – for the foreseeable future.

The statement by the SFL acknowledged the earlier decision made by the Scottish Premier League clubs, one in which a proposal for leagues of 12,12 and 18 was rejected, with St Mirren and Ross County voting against it. As a result, Friday’s planned SFL special general meeting, when the SFL clubs were due to vote, “will no longer be required”.

“The Scottish Football League have supported the core principles of the proposed League reconstruction plan since the Henry McLeish report was published in December 2010,” said the statement. “Henry’s review was well received and reflected a broad view of input from the widest range of football stakeholders.

“We believe that positive change for the good of the game can still be achieved, but this will require compromise, and a more flexible approach to some key issues. If all parties agree to this approach and some realistic time frames can be agreed, then the current momentum for positive change need not be lost.”

The SFL board will meet on Thursday. Some SFL clubs yesterday expressed surprise at the outcome of yesterday’s vote, having expected that the SPL might transfer the responsibility into their hands, as they believe happened last summer, over the Rangers issue.

The prospect of the Ibrox club now being promoted into the Second Division will be welcomed by Stenhousemuir. However, Iain McMenemy, a director, yesterday stressed that this would not have informed the club’s decision about which way to vote, which was still under discussion even as late as yesterday. “We would rather not have a payday if it meant a proper structure was in place,” he said.

This, however, will not now be the case. “Disappointed,” is how McMenemy viewed it, but then he felt the proposals were not given a chance to succeed. According to McMenemy, Stenhousemuir were edging towards voting no, due to the lack of information on offer from the SPL, and the feeling that change was being pushed through without adequate discussion.

“But it’s disappointing that the plans seem to be off the table completely now,” said McMenemy. “There is no doubt about it, Scottish football needs change.

“Hopefully something positive can come out of it, and the SFA, SPL and SFL can sit down together and plot the way forward – with independent people involved as well. We can look at restructuring the game within a more realistic timetable, and give boards time to properly evaluate it.”

McMenemy is concerned about what he described as “the elephant in the room” – SPL 2. However, Raith Rovers chairman Turnbull Hutton believes this extreme course of action is a non-starter, even though his club would be one of the prime candidates to be attracted by the idea. Indeed, First Division clubs had the most to gain from reconstruction. Hutton admitted he was “disappointed” with the outcome. “The SFL can’t drive it, it has to come from the SFA and the SPL and that has not happened,” he said. “All we can do is hunker down, cut our budget accordingly and try to carry on – but it’s hardly a brave new dawn.

“SPL 2 has not really been on everybody’s agenda. The question was asked after the last SFL meeting. It was a bit difficult to understand within the SFL where a 28-1 vote in favour turned into a 14-14. What the hell happened?”

What happened is that clubs began to resent being dictated to by the SPL, while there was further disquiet at the timing, with next season deemed to be too soon a time-frame for such a major restructuring of the game. Forfar Athletic chairman Alastair Donald questions why it has to be “now or never”, as SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster constantly stressed. “When a gun is held to the head, the natural reaction is to shy away,” he pointed out. “But this wasn’t about clubs like Forfar Athletic. It wasn’t about the majority of clubs in the SFL, who operate with a shoestring budget. It was about those clubs spending money they don’t have.”

Like many SFL clubs, Donald was not against the proposals themselves; rather, he was against the rushed nature of the proposed reconstruction. It isn’t something anyone needs to worry about now.