Lawwell’s optimistic about doing business with the council
Celtic at Hamilton, but there are 60,000 who go to Parkhead every week, plus those who aren’t able to get to a game, and that is a lot of viewers. We are talking big numbers. Same with Rangers, of course.
“The thing for me is this deal is more concentrated with less live games – not a bad thing if you ask me – but Celtic and Rangers will still dominate. We won’t see any less of their fixtures.”
Davidson is an admirer of how BT Sport breathed fresh air into the game’s coverage but understood why the league ignored public opinion and went with the far less popular Sky Sports.
He said: “You can’t blame the SPFL for taking this offer. For the first time in years they could listen to a and Celtic in particular is consistently under-valued.
“While a huge amount of attention is rightly paid to one-off events like the Commonwealth Games and other activities which attract interest to Scotland and Glasgow, football’s economic contribution tends to be overlooked – yet it brings people here from around the world.
“There has to be some sort of recognition about what we do and what football in general does for Scotland. Hopefully we can build on that together and utililse the economic contribution that football makes to the general economy.”
Celtic’s foundation was also highlighted by the report as having a valuable charitable role in the community, something that Lawwell has stressed is in keeping with the fabric of the club.
The Parkhead side are currently the only club in Scotland with Investor in People accreditation while there was a recent move to ensure that all permanent staff receive in excess of the Living Wage, features that the chief executive believe displays a commitment to the foundations of Celtic.
“It is an area we are very proud of,” he said. “We like to think that we are a club like no other and I think that is reflected in the extraordinary work that we do in terms of improving health, promoting equality, encouraging learning and tackling poverty in our community.
“Our social side is something that we have worked hard on in order to offer a sincere and genuine foundation that seeks to help in whatever way we can.” number of bids instead of nobody or just one broadcaster interested. They had to take the highest offer for the benefit of their member clubs and Sky paid the highest price.
“They created a bidding war which has got them more money and Sky deserved the contract because they put together by far the best deal. You can’t blame either the league or Sky Sports for this deal going through.
“I would ask where the BT Sport bosses were in all of this. BT had the better broadcasting product. I would say the majority of football supporters in
Scotland would have wanted BT to get a deal done.
“BT seemed to know what the punter wanted. They got Scottish football for what it is. They did make a better fist of it.
“Ally McCoist on our screens is always a good thing. And love or hate Chris Sutton, he was enthusiastic and had something to say. Whether he actually meant everything which came of his mouth I’m not so sure, but he made you want to watch.”
Davidson won a Scottish Bafta for his work on Scotsport Extra Time, and it’s this kind of show missing from the current schedules.
He does not believe there is going to be a massive change in philosophy come 2020.
Davidson said: “It would alarm people if they knew just how low down the list of priorities Scottish football is to the likes of Sky. Compared to what they think of the Premier League, they are not one the same planet. Take that from me.
“So, for those wanting a show on Sky such as we had with Scotsport Extra Time back in the day; sorry, but that is just not going to happen. Same goes for highlights shows and any number of ideas you could come up with.
“Look, I don’t know their plans, obviously, but I would be surprised if you get more coverage, aside from the games of course. It would be a better product and help to showcase Scottish football but it’s just not going to happen. People need to accept that.”