Milne right on the money when it comes to investment
‘WE have made precious little progress in terms of bringing more money into the game.’
It is quite an admission from Aberdeen chairman Stewart Milne ahead of the SPFL’s annual general meeting tomorrow — especially as its chief executive, Neil Doncaster, has long enjoyed his own handsome pay packet unchallenged.
Taking trophies off Rangers will be top of the agenda at Hampden, of course. Peter Lawwell’s decision to step down from the board is already being dressed up in some quarters as a possible prelude to Celtic challenging the advice that Lord Nimmo Smith’s ruling on EBTs giving the Ibrox club no sporting advantage in years gone by should stand.
It remains to be seen whether Milne’s assertion that continuing to push the title-stripping agenda is harmful and unnecessary will also result in a march on Hampden by his own club’s supporters, who have spent much of the summer, erm, continuing to push the title-stripping agenda. Milne, instead, believes clubs must work together to build a cohesive product that will compel media companies to invest ‘a lot more money’. Whatever you think of title stripping, this is, unquestionably, one of the major short-term issues facing Scottish football. The English Football League launches a streaming platform offering access of live matches this term and is reportedly talking to Amazon and Twitter about developing that front further. Live streaming is termed a game changer by tech-heads and it is to be expected that the SPFL are well down the road of exploring this avenue ahead of the next round of broadcast negotiations.
In addition to fending off appeals to raid the Ibrox trophy room, Doncaster will surely spell out the league’s plans to secure a better deal from old and new media, and address our position as paupers of the European game. In detail.
Amid the inevitable corporate speak, there will surely be something concrete.