SFA chief says ‘left-field thinking’ required in reconstruction debate

SFA chief executive Stewart Regan is hopeful he can become the “facilitator for change” to end the impasse over SPL reconstruction.

Regan accepts that the demise of Scottish clubs in Europe last week has brought sharply into focus the need for a revamp of the country’s top flight because of the “hysteria” the results have engendered and the feeling that “oh Christ, we’re haemorrhaging; we’re going south”.

He said: “We are trying to change it but maybe not as quickly as we would like. We don’t run league football, so there are no guarantees.”

Stalemate seemed guaranteed by the voting structure in the 12-team set-up that requires 11-1 for a redistribution of the monies that would be inherent in any size change to the top flight. A ten-team top flight as the key measure in a package containing play-offs, a merger between the SPL and SFL, a winter shut-down and a pyramid structure was originally proposed by the SPL hierarchy but has met with growing opposition from clubs whose earnings could be slashed if they lost their place in a reduced league.

“We have to think long-term,” Regan said. “If we don’t, then we won’t have a league to play in. We could be the Northern Ireland league or the League of Wales. Players will disappear not just for financial gain but simply for their betterment and we’ll lose TV revenue. We are not moving forward at the moment and the SPL voting structure is preventing that movement.

“The board have asked me to look at this and see what we can do to unblock things. We need to get the SPL and the SFL around the table and explore solutions. I think left-field thinking is required.

“Having a ten-team league is one way of creating some new money. Having a much better television deal which actually brings new money in is probably the other big one. If you were able to go to a television company and present a vision of what we want to put in place – a single league with play-offs, another relegation place, the possibility of another promotion place – then suddenly you start to get a little bit more interest. I don’t think there’s a single answer but there’s a series of things we can do and my job is to help facilitate the debate and try to move this forward.

“There are frustrations about the SPL voting structure. It was created to support the interests of member clubs but the counter argument is that it makes change very difficult. But having an 11-1 voting structure should not mean that we do nothing.”

Regan pointed to his success with modernising his governing body as evidence he could be the man to make something happen. “When I first came here I was told that changing the committee structure of the SFA would be impossible,” he added. “It had been there for 138 years – it was turkeys voting for Christmas. But we have done it and we did through consultation.”