SPFL NEEDS TO DO SUMMIT SPECIAL FOR SURVIVAL
Ross County chairman MacGregor calls for 42 members to club together or die apart
THE current crisis facing Scottish football as a result of the coronavirus pandemic is like nothing that the professional game in our country has ever faced before. There are serious concerns that many clubs will not be able to ride out the financial storm lockdown has brought with it, with many focused on simply keeping their heads above the water.
The issue is especially stark in the lower divisions, where money is tight at the best of times. Ross County chairman Roy MacGregor says that the situation that the SPFL finds itself in – and wider society – paints a bleak picture as to what the future may hold. Having risen through the ranks with the Highland club, he is acutely aware of the financial pressures that put teams under strain – and has urged the 42 SPFL members to come together to find a common solution to the crisis.
“I’m just concerned about football full stop, with a massive recession coming,” he told BBC Sportsound. “Unemployment is going to be high in Scotland. There is going to be less income and although people are dying to see football, whether they can afford to see football is my concern. Particularly for the lower league clubs.
“We came from there so we understand it. I think we have to get together as 42 clubs and find a way for football to survive. We’ve had some challenges over the last month or two and we need to put them right and make sure we have a plan that takes us all together.
“I do believe we need to unite for the sake of the game. Us at the top level have a responsibility for the clubs at the bottom, even financially.
“I don’t know the mechanism [for redistributing money throughout the leagues], football is a very complicated business but we should be trying as a governing body, as the SFA and the leagues, to ensure every club survives this.”
The SPFL board have faced criticism from some quarters in recent weeks for their decision to curtail the 2019/20 season, but MacGregor is sympathetic to the game’s governing body. He argues that the executive were simply ahead of the curve and while he admitted that relegating Hearts, Partick Thistle and Stranraer was unfortunate, he is adamant that it was the only possible solution.
“I think it was unfortunate, what we’ve gone through,” he explained. “Ultimately selfinterest will be in every club but if you look at the decision taken on Monday all the board did was call it early. They were trying to make sure football started in August.
“Maybe there were things that weren’t quite in a logical order but the result was the same. It was going to be a really difficult situation with promotion and relegation and no-one put to the clubs any other scenario.
“It’s really unfortunate for Hearts, Partick, Stranraer, and also the clubs not coming up, Falkirk. It’s really, really hard but I’m not sure what another result would be? It was really difficult. What was promoted a month or five weeks ago was exactly the result we got so in many ways the board was trying to be proactive.”
As it stands, the bottom clubs from the top three leagues will be relegated but there remains hope that reconstruction could save them. Hearts owner Ann Budge is expected to present a proposal for a shake-up of the current structure in the coming days after the reconstruction task force set up by the SPFL failed earlier this month. MacGregor is keeping an open mind about the prospect, but pointed out that similar projects have failed in the past.
“I think Ann is naturally looking at her own club and a really important club to Scottish football,” he said. “I think there was a view among the Premiership clubs that it needed time and the time to do it wasn’t in a crisis. But I suppose if we have a Championship season that doesn’t happen, or doesn’t happen until Christmas, that would further dent Hearts’ position.
“I think we just need to see what the paper is and whether it’s permanent or fixed. It is difficult. I’ve been through this before and worked six months on it and there still wasn’t unanimity on it after six months. But we have to be open and open to everything because I think the reality of where Scottish football is going to be is beginning to hit home.
“I was always for 12 in the top flight. In the last round of voting, I was one of the renegades who went for 12.
“I think in the time that it’s been 12 clubs, it has been really successful. The top end is good, the middle teams have incentive to get higher up the league – and at the bottom it’s been really challenging to make sure you’re not in the last two places.
“So I think 12 is understandable. But we’re in strange territory and I’m keeping an open mind.”
When asked if he believed Budge would be making such proposals had it not been Hearts facing the prospect of relegation, MacGregor responded: “No. And I’m not sure, if it was Ross County, St Mirren, Hamilton or St Johnstone who had been in 12th place, it would have been the same.
“But Hearts are a major institution. They’ve got a major fan base there. And I think they are unhappy, in that fan base, whether it’s about the football or anything else.
“They’re just expressing themselves, the fan base. As a responsible club, we need to listen to that.”
Us at the top level have a responsibility for bottom clubs