As it stands, Neil would have to fund his pay-off!
A job well done is worth fair compensation.
That’s why Premier League chief, Richard Scudamore, will pocket a £5 million “Thank you” when he leaves his job.
Club bosses think £250,000 from each of them is a reasonable sum, given the hundreds of millions Scudamore has made for them over the years.
When you think about it like that, you could argue it’s the least he deserves!
But could you imagine Neil Doncaster getting the same treatment from Scottish teams? There’s absolutely no chance.
The SPFL boss would be dishing out his own cash to clubs to balance things out!
In all seriousness, Scudamore has had much more to work with than Doncaster while trying to sell their respective top flights.
Neither of them have been too visible to the public over the years.
Scudamore hasn’t had to be. He has done his talking in boardrooms.
But I reckon Doncaster should have talked to the fans more often.
The nature of the SPFL means its boss needs to bang the drum.
Scottish football has the English Premier League on its doorstep, for goodness’ sake.
But it does have something England doesn’t have – the Old Firm fixture.
That’s a game that people all around the world could be enticed to watch if it was sold properly – and be happy to pay plenty for the privilege.
After all, both Celtic and Rangers have fans in every corner of the globe.
Instead, Scottish football finds itself in a position where it earns less than almost every other major European league – and all on Neil Doncaster’s watch.
Richard Scudamore, by contrast, has done an incredible job for the Premier League over the years.
So, in a way, I have no problem with him being paid off so handsomely.
Yes, £5m is a lot of money. But, in Premier League terms, it’s peanuts.
The payment has been mandated, so the clubs have no choice whether to contribute
When you break it down further, to £250,000-per-club, it’s a drop in the ocean.
That’s a week’s wages for one player for some of them – and the player might be a dud! The clubs simply won’t miss it.
But there is one slight problem I have with how things have been handled.
As far as I know, the payment has been mandated, so the clubs have no choice whether to contribute.
And there’s another argument against Scudamore’s pay-off I’ve got some sympathy for – that from a fan’s point of view, it appears excessive.
For guys who are struggling to scrape the money together for a season ticket, or to take their kids to the odd match, seeing clubs drop £250,000 as if it were nothing must be sickening.
But the Premier League is a huge brand – and Scudamore has played an enormous role in making it that way.
The guy did his job incredibly well. He brought unbelievable amounts of money into the game, so I understand why the big beneficiaries – the clubs – want to give him some back.
But why shouldn’t they also be subsidising tickets for supporters?
That way, they get to enjoy the benefits of Scudamore’s work over the years while allowing more people to see what it looks like.
If Neil Doncaster wants to get a financial “thanks” from Scottish clubs when he eventually walks, getting more people to watch Scottish football is a job he has to succeed at first.
At the moment, any upturn in crowds is down to the resurgence of Hearts, Hibs and Rangers – not any of his initiatives.