QUESTION TIME
Dons chief wants full inquiry into SPFL voting farce
ABERDEEN chairman Dave Cormack has thrown his weight behind calls for an independent investigation into the SPFL voting process.
Although one of 10 Premiership clubs to vote in favour of the successful resolution to immediately end the season in the league’s bottom three tiers, the Pittodrie club have sided with dissenters Rangers and Hearts in calling for an inquiry.
Much of the suspicion surrounds the still unexplained circumstances of Championship club Dundee’s lost casting vote, originally intended as a no, but later changed to yes.
The league eventually confirmed the passing of the motion on Wednesday. However, a confirmatory statement made no mention of Rangers’ strident demand for an external probe.
SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster did confirm that a process would begin to discuss league reconstruction in time for next season, with Hearts chair Ann Budge and Hamilton’s Les Gray placed in joint charge of a 15-strong task force that will meet
tomorrow for the first time. While Cormack insists Aberdeen are in favour of expanding the top flight to 14 teams for next season, he echoed Budge’s call to address Rangers’ concerns over transparency.
He said: ‘We have to think about how we look from a fans’ perspective. We can do better. An Aberdeen fan got in touch with me and sent me an 18th-century quote from a guy called Edmund Burke: “For evil to succeed, it is only necessary for good men to do nothing”.
‘If that’s the feeling of the fans out there, we owe it to ourselves and them to right this situation and bring back the credibility. As Ann has said, we would like to see an independent investigation. If we don’t, then I’m not sure people will believe it.’
Speaking earlier, Budge expressed her desire to see the process exposed to expert scrutiny and insisted SPFL chairman Murdoch MacLennan’s vow to look at the matter internally was inadequate.
She said: ‘This has reached such heights that I think without an independent review it’s not going to ever really go away.
‘I’ve already heard a lot of clubs say it (an internal review) is like marking your own homework. So I don’t think that would carry the same weight.’
The decision to call the league standings from the Championship down has set a precedent for making a decision on ending the top flight, subject to approval from a meeting of UEFA’s executive committee on Thursday.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s
Sportsound programme yesterday, Cormack revealed that prior to the vote on Friday April 10, he had sought assurances from Doncaster that any move to call the Premiership standings should not be a board decision but taken by a member poll.
And he was forced to defend the chief executive when it emerged the pair had spoken at 4:40pm, just 20 minutes before the provisional deadline for the Dons to cast their vote. In that conversation, Doncaster revealed the 75-per-cent threshold for passing the motion had already been met.
‘I don’t have a problem with Neil getting involved,’ insisted Cormack. ‘He didn’t push us either way in the conversations we had. He absolutely understood our position.
‘We were very much of the mind that in order to vote yes, we needed assurances that the democratic majority would call the Premiership itself. We were undecided. We were trying to negotiate a position in writing.
‘To Neil’s credit, he said: “I’ll take this to the board”. He was calling me to say: “We are still going to do that but just be aware, we now have the nine votes”. Our vote didn’t count from there but we then made a decision to be seen to be supporting the lower-league clubs.
‘What we have achieved is what we set out to. We have to sit down as a group of 12 clubs in calling the Premiership. Could we have done it better? Yes, we could have.’
Although he and Budge have neglected to side with Rangers’ calls for Doncaster’s immediate suspension, Cormack remains unhappy that the vote was scheduled at barely 48 hours’ notice.
He continued: ‘We needed more time. I said to Neil that if I were in your position, I would show some contrition for what has happened.
‘It’s clearly a vote that was forced down our throats in many ways.’
The reconstruction task force will meet via conference call tomorrow and Cormack insists he is ready to approve a move to enlarge the SPFL structure. However, he is sceptical that a 14-team top flight is a viable long-term solution.
‘I learned a long time ago that the worst time to make long-term decisions is during a crisis,’ added the US-based software businessman.
‘From Aberdeen’s perspective, we have always been supportive of looking at the Partick situation in particular and trying to see fairness.
‘We are for an expanded Premiership of 14 for one season — or two if it takes that to blend it back through.
‘The important thing to do is take a deep breath and get a temporary change in place for this coming season because, boy, we have so many things we need to focus on.’
Faced with a £5million shortfall in revenue, Cormack has negotiated wage deferrals with manager Derek McInnes and his squad, alongside an emergency investment package of £2m. And he insists the Scottish footballing fraternity needs to quit squabbling and address the bigger fight brought on by the pandemic.
He added: ‘We would be as well taking £1m out into the Pittodrie car park and setting fire to it. That’s how much we are losing each month.
‘We want to see clear leadership from the SPFL setting out terms of reference to get back playing safely. If we are not playing four or five months from now, we are looking down the barrel of a gun.’