Montford memories: TV cash is bankrolling football but saturation coverage is killing game

IN THE days when Scotsport and Sportscene shared the televised coverage of Scottish football, there were highlights of one featured game on a Saturday, and one on a Sunday. It's a world away from the situation today, when there are live games on our screens every day, almost all day long.

Back then, there were only really two live games screened per year, the Scottish Cup final and the Scotland v England match. That made those fixtures hugely significant parts of the football calendar, and of course the two domestic games which were chosen for highlights each week were also the subject of eager anticipation. It was a treat to see your team on television, whereas nowadays it is unimaginable not to have access to footage of every single goal that is scored in the Scottish Premier League. It is to be welcomed, of course, because in the past there were many great gams and wonderful goals that could not be captured for posterity.

The even split of highlights between Scotsport and Sportscene didn't come about by accident. In those days, there was excellent co-operation between STV and the BBC, and for the first couple of decades we worked together very well. We would get together over lunch with Willie Allan, the SFA secretary, for talks in the spirit of co-operation. Willie would have his view on how much games were worth, and we would have our view. The best deal I ever did was 375 for 15 minutes of film from England v Scotland at Wembley.

With the BBC, we would pick two games per month and then they would pick two games, and for the following month they would get first choice, then back to us, and so on. We even shared the scaffolding on which we positioned our cameras at various football grounds. The other big difference was that if there was live football on offer anywhere else in the country, we couldn't screen a match, which was insisted upon so that attendances were not affected. The SFA were rigorous in their application of that rule.

The current set-up brings unimaginable amounts of wealth into the game, and it cannot be denied that TV money bankrolls the sport now. But I have to say that saturation levels of television coverage are also killing the game. Just look at the attendances.

Live games that finish at twenty to three on a Saturday put off people from going out to see a match. They know that there's another TV game coming along at 5.30pm, so they are just as likely to open a tin of beer and ring a bet over to their bookmaker as they are to head out to watch a game 'live'. The clubs that really suffer are in the Scottish Football League, where every person through the gate really counts. Many of these are community clubs – and they need to attract their communities to their grounds on a Saturday.

Television sustains English football and to a lesser extent Scottish football, but don't forget the damage it is doing at the same time.