You can bet we won’t copy FA

ANYONE who imagines replacing Scottish football’s backers from outwith the gambling industry would be easy is sadly mistaken.

In England, the FA have taken the first steps to doing just that by pulling the plug on a deal with Ladbrokes-Coral, just one year into a four-year contract. They were able to do so because of the incredible market value of the Premier League.

Here, where the league is sponsored by Ladbrokes, the Scottish Cup by William Hill and the League Cup by Betfred, it is a different story.

I was chief executive of the SFA back when we didn’t have a sponsor for the Scottish Cup. I remember well the struggles our commercial department had trying to find someone to take the place of long-term backers, Tennents.

It wasn’t as if we were too choosy, either. No company was turned down on the grounds of inappropriateness.