Scottish football governance

Sir,

We, at the Scottish Football Supporters’ Association (SFSA) are writing about what we believe will be the moment of truth for the future direction of Scottish football. We firmly believe that everybody who loves our national sport should be united in looking to improve the wider game in Scotland.

At Holyrood we launched the first ever benchmarking and evaluation exercise into the governance of Scottish football.

We propose to do this annually at the end of each season to gather information for benchmarking purposes. This is not just for fans. Players, former players, referees, managers, coaches and any other interested parties will be able to participate, if you love football or used to love it help us change the landscape.

Result evaluation will be supported by a team of highly-respected academics who have been working on football analytics in Germany.

We are doing this because Scottish football has no external performance evaluation process and regulation and governance is all conducted internally. Sadly key stakeholders including players, managers, coaches, fans are excluded from decision making.

We don’t think this is good enough from FIFA and UEFA all the way down to Hampden Park, football governing bodies have shown little interest in reforming to allow key stakeholders a proper input to, and scrutiny of, the game.

We believe from talking to fans around the country that trust in Scottish football’s current management structures is at an all-time low.

Your readers and followers now have the chance to help by sharing the survey details with their contacts and support the initiative on social media by using the hashtag #GiveUsOurBallBack

Results will be revealed at an event in September or October. Scottish Football Supporters Association (SFSA) road shows will go to various towns and cities in Scotland to explain the results and help fans develop action plans for the way forward for football at all levels Paul Goodwin and Simon Barrow, Co-founders SFSA, 4 Woodside Place, Charing Cross, Glasgow G3 7QF.