Scottish football’s a brilliant product ...we need to start telling people that
SAYS HIBS BOSS JACK ROSS
JACK ROSS insists there’s nothing wrong with the quality of the product on offer in Scottish football but he does think it’s time to give the packaging a spruce-up.
The Hibs boss is fully behind Easter Road owner Ron Gordon’s attempts to ensure the days of our game being short-changed are over.
Gordon has joined up with chiefs from Aberdeen, Dundee, Dundee United and Hearts to launch a major review of the SPFL’s finances and structures as they embark on an ambitious bid to double the current revenue streams from £27million up to £50m a year.
Ross is honest enough to admit he has no idea how easy that will be to do. As a football man, his grasp of numbers is limited to 4-4-2 and 4-3-3.
But the former Alloa, St Mirren and Sunderland manager has seen enough in his time in the game to know more could be done to sell what Scottish football has to offer to advertisers and sponsors.
He said: “It’s difficult for me to say with any certainty that those who are in charge aren’t maximising the commercial revenues because I don’t know how difficult that is to do.
“But one thing I’ve always felt following my time in England is we don’t necessarily promote our game in the best possible way all the time. It’s a brilliant product.
“I’ve got a good relationship with our owner and I know he’s blown away with how big a deal football is in Scotland and how much it matters to people.
“I do think there’s scope to market it better. There might be people who have expertise and say I’m talking rubbish and they have every right to do so.
“But given how important it is to society in Scotland we might have a more collaborative approach to marketing and investment. That’s the direction they want to take it.
“Ron has asked me regularly what I think we could do better in the game in Scotland and we share dialogue on it.
“He’s a good communicator and he likes discussion and debate. He has a genuine wish to improve – not just Hibs but Scottish football – and some of that is born out of the background he comes from.”
In yesterday’s Record Sport, former First Minister Henry McLeish confessed he had concerns over the motives of the new review given four out of the five clubs involved have owners based in America.
Ross is among those who takes his orders from across the Atlantic, with Peru-born Gordon now based in Miami. The Hibs owner, whose background is in broadcasting and banking, has shown a ruthless streak when it comes to local sentiment having espoused the benefits of slashing the number of senior clubs in Scotland from 42 to 24.
But Ross boss believes there are some valuable lessons to be learned from looking to those with experience Stateside.
He said: “The MLS is completely different and can’t be compared because there’s no relegation and it has different dynamics.
“But they do a huge amount of collaborative work for the betterment of the league rather than the individual clubs. There are maybe things we can learn from that and work together more as clubs to promote the game. “A lot of American sport is like that. The NFL and NBA have no relegation. They’re different but the collaborative effort to strengthen the league all the time is there. “The biggest thing we’re a little bit guilty of – and I include myself in that – is to be afraid of change. “But sometimes change does bring benefits and it might be even a little bit of change can strengthen the game. “We have a good product that a lot of people are interested in but maybe we tend to rely on the fact people will always love it and will always come, rather than trying to think of ways to make sure people keep doing that. Especially for future generations.”
The current generation of fans in Edinburgh made the most of their first chance for 18 months to see the city’s top two clubs go head to head. The opening derby was played out amid an ear-shattering din.
Ross would be saddened to see a cap put on capacities again because of the Scottish Government’s plans to introduce vaccine passports for outdoor events staged in front of more than 10,000 people.
He added: “From a purely football point of view, we wouldn’t want to take a step back in that regard. But it always will be, as it has been the last 18 months, determined by factors outwith football.”