Our game faces a fight to find changes that will work for all
EXCLUSIVE
AMONG Scotland’s bigger clubs, Stenhousemuir chairman Iain McMenemy has acquired a reputation. Where others nod and go with the flow, he’s the man who likes to say no. The gatekeeper blocking the road to progress.
‘I’m not terribly popular within the confines of Scottish football,’ he tells Sportsmail. ‘I sit there and get incredibly frustrated at meetings with the inertia within the SPFL and the Scottish FA. And I am not the kind of person who will sit there and take that.
‘I have an alternative point of view and, unfortunately, some people take that as you being critical of them and Scottish football. Someone who is the enemy.
‘I’m not. I’m just someone who thinks things could be done differently.
‘What they don’t realise at times is that people like myself, who are more openly critical, are not being critical because we don’t like Scottish football or don’t want to see Scottish football flourish or don’t like bigger teams.
‘We are putting ideas forward because we think there just might be a different way of doing things that might work for the big clubs, the medium-size clubs and the smaller clubs in Scottish football.’
A member of the SPFL’s Competitions Working Group, McMenemy attended a meeting on Thursday, where the group was told for the first time about discussions among Championship clubs for an expansion of the league from ten to 12 teams by season 2020-21.
The motivation for the move is fear. For clubs like Dunfermline, Partick Thistle and Morton, the relegation of Falkirk from a brutal and cut-throat second tier came as a jolt.
Likely to cost the Bairns a whopping £500,000, other full-time teams in the second tier are anxious to avoid the same financial calamity befalling them.
And, before quitting Morton at the weekend, chief executive Warren Hawke drew up plans to distribute Championship prize money more evenly among the clubs and add two teams to the league to provide a new safety net.
If the plans are put to the SPFL annual general meeting, Championship teams could be asked to play each other four times in a 44-game league.
Sportsmail understands, however, that a 38-game season mirroring the top-six split in the Premiership is more likely. To take place, the changes need to be voted through by a 75per-cent majority in all four leagues.
In a statement, the SPFL claimed there were ‘no plans to change the format of the Ladbrokes Championship’. Yet the chatter of chairmen yesterday said otherwise.
A communications professional, McMenemy insists Stenhousemuir
might vote for an expansion to the Championship in return for a fairer distribution of prize money for clubs in League One and Two. What they won’t entertain — in common with many others — is the notion of Celtic and Rangers colts teams making up the numbers in a 44-team set-up.
‘The season before last, we had a discussion on colts teams and it didn’t go through,’ he adds. ‘We had a discussion on colts teams this year and it didn’t go through.
‘There was zero support from any League One and League Two clubs.
‘I made the point: “I think you need to let this one rest before bringing it back again”. Yet, here they were again bringing it back as an option.
‘I ended the discussion by saying that they should take it the case for the Old Firm colts is not yet made.’
Neither is the issue of a 12-team Championship likely to pass if League One and Two clubs feel there’s nothing in it for them.
‘I don’t think there are many clubs in League One and Two who would be against the plan if that’s what Championship clubs want to happen,’ says McMenemy. ‘But it shouldn’t come at the financial expense of League One and Two clubs.
‘One of the first questions we asked was how this was going to operate in terms of the funding model. ‘Where you finish in the league dictates what you are entitled to. And the team that finishes top of League One in 2021 would only get the money you get for finishing third now.
‘What that means is that if you now finish top of League One, if this comes in, you are going to get £24,000 less than is the case now.
‘So, straight away, it seemed there would be a financial penalty for League One and Two. That didn’t seem right. Neither can they leave it open as to what happens at the other end of the league if they expend the Championship by saying: “It could be two lowlands clubs” or “it could be two Colts teams”.’
The chasm between the interests of Celtic and Albion Rovers or Queen’s Park is so large it’s almost impossible to bridge.
Finding a financial model which allows David and Goliath to thrive is Scottish football’s greatest conundrum. Yet Stenhousemuir’s chairman believes it’s a noble goal the game should aspire to achieve.
‘When the SPFL put out an announcement about record prize money this year, I put out a tweet saying they should be embarrassed,’ adds McMenemy.
‘The top team is making £3.3m. The club at the bottom is getting something like £42,000.
‘We need to ask: “What is the way forward for all of Scottish football?”. We’ve got to find a way that works for everybody.’
SCOTLAND’s biggest clubs were last night accused of ‘bullying’ lower league teams into accepting change with threats of a breakaway league. Stenhousemuir chairman Iain McMenemy spoke out as Championship clubs consider plans to expand the second tier to 12 teams by season 2020-21 and adopt a Premiershipstyle top-six split. The proposals were discussed by the SPFL’s Competitions Working Group last Thursday. Clubs in League One and League Two could agree to vote through the Championship expansion in return for a fairer distribution of prize money. They remain determined, however, to see off another attempt to expand the league by drafting in Celtic and Rangers colts teams and McMenemy said that Premiership counterparts have threatened to go their own way in the past — taking the Sky Sports money with them. ‘We get these threats thrown at us all the time