GO FIGURE
While Stewart Regan rode off into sunset with a saddle full of silver from the cash strapped SFA, Neil Doncaster has struck gold for the SPFL
quid. But while the SFA needs around £16m of that cash just to pay for its own existence, the SPFL gets by on less than a quarter of those running costs.
And most of that goes towards paying referees and linesmen to keep the game going from one week to the next.
Last season the SFA shared out £10m to the clubs and that, by their own admission, was from their biggest recorded profit. But now Regan’s real legacy is about to come home to roost with sponsorship and TV cash drying up, the real dilemma is set to hit home.
If they are to maintain that level of funding moving forward – and spare themselves from the wrath of their members – then something, somewhere is going to have to give. With the money running out and Lawwell battering loudly on Hampden’s front doors, leading demands for radical reform and fundamental change, Regan is probably relieved to have done a runner with around a quarter of a million tucked into his hipper.
As for Doncaster, his defining moment may also be around the corner as this summer he will enter into renegotiations with broadcasters.
If he can emerge from these talks clutching a bumper new deal his reputation will have been turned around completely.
The current agreement, a joint production between Sky and BT Sports, is up in 2020 and is worth a relatively paltry £21m a year.
That said, how much can we really expect from hawking plastic pitches and double-decker buses around the market?
Now Doncaster has to find a way of overhauling the inventory, chiefly by persuading Celtic and Rangers to act in the greater good by allowing the cameras into Parkhead and Ibrox far more regularly. If that leads to a drop in season-ticket sales – which is far from certain – they can be compensated from a far larger pot of TV cash.
If these discussions are handled properly it is entirely possible any new deal would double in size to somewhere north of £40m a season – maybe closer to £50m.
If Doncaster delivers that he will put considerable distance between himself and Regan. No longer would he be considered guilty by association.