‘Shut down Scottish football ... it no longer exists’

That was the order from Sky Sports chief after Mitchell’s deal flop ... your game has never recovered says TV presenter Keys

RICHARD KEYS had a seat inside Sky TV’s high command when the order came through from above: “Shut down Scottish football. It no longer exists.”

That was 15 years ago. But Keys believes the game in this country is still paying the price.

And yesterday, when the TV anchorman read Record Sport’s expose on the paltry broadcast deal that is keeping our game locked in Europe’s poor house, his mind immediately raced back to that mean-spirited dispute between the satellite giants and Roger Mitchell – a row he blames for our game’s financial plight.

Yesterday we mapped out the paucity of the SPFL’s TV deals with Sky and BT Sport by comparing them with mega-money contracts being handed out in countries across the Continent.

While Scotland’s clubs scrape by on a share of £18.75million for the rights to 60 live games per season, 17 other leagues are raking in relative fortunes.

From £1.71billion per season in England to £46m a year in Denmark and £50m in Greece, our game has been frozen out of football’s broadcast fortunes. Keys decisions domestically which I didn’t understand but which have had a very detrimental effect on the game. And you know what I’m referring to.

“All these years on still no one can tell me what Rangers were guilty of when they were sent down to the bottom tier.

“The expectation was they would be found guilty but my understanding is they were never convicted of any wrongdoing. But I guess that’s another matter entirely.”

Keys stayed at Sky for nine more years before leaving under a cloud of controversy in 2011.

But in his next job, with TalkSPORT, he was quick to reconnect with the Scottish game – and to understand its value.

He said: “When we went to Talksport I was very much aware that the station was broadcast nationally. But that we only ever

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