NOT SO BEAUTIFUL GAME
Despite an obvious lack of cash, participation at grassroots level not money is the key to restoring Scotland’s long-term football fortunes
Investment is required to improve Scotland’s football fortunes
Just when you thought Scotland’s national obsession with football was resting midway through its summer break, the sirens have started up for the new season, kicking off on 1 August. You might think that would indicate a game with healthy club attendances, buoyant income, a jostling queue of sponsors and swelling TV revenues. But, in fact, the opposite is the truth. Both club attendances and finances of Scottish football have been in decline for years. Latest figures point to a steepening descent. The Beautiful Game is fighting for its survival in Scotland.
Average attendances in the 2014-15 season were down by 15% year-on-year to 8,669, and if you remove attendance figures for the three most popular clubs – Celtic (44,585), Rangers (32,798) and Aberdeen (13,359) – the figures look dire. Clubs such as St. Johnstone, Motherwell, Kilmarnock and St Mirren pull in an average attendance of fewer than 5,000. In the country’s second-tier, The Championship, the average attendance is just 7,543; in League 1 it is 997 and in League 2 it is a mere 510. All are in unremitting decline.
Almost everywhere else, the game – the most popular spectator sport in the world and with fantastical finances to match – is creating new records for numbers of fans and/or turnover. But not here. The outlook is made all the more stark by the ever-widening financial gulf between Scottish and English football. The latest annual assessment by accountants Deloitte reveals Scotland’s top tier suffered an £11 million or 8% fall in total revenues in 2013-14 to £137 million.
In sharp contrast, booming broadcasting income ensured the English Premier League’s combined revenues went up by 29% to £3.3 billion over the same period. The clubs made pre-tax profits of £187 million. As well as record pre-tax profits, operating profits increased by £532m – a huge 649% – to £614 million, smashing the previous record by nearly £430 million.
This, said Deloitte, may mark a turning point in football finance and ‘a new age’ of significant
profitability for top clubs. Club revenues across the English Premier League in 2013-14 ranged from £433 million (Manchester United) to £83 million (Cardiff City). Combined broadcast revenue was up by 48%, commercial revenue by £135 million and match day revenues by 5% to £616 million.
As for player wages and transfer fees, Scotland and England are worlds apart. Total transfer spending across all 92 English league clubs exceeded £1 billion for the first time.
In an excoriating assessment this summer, economist Tony Mackay describes the overall state of Scottish football as ‘very poor. It is now a multi-million pound business worldwide and in countries such as England, but it is in a shambolic state in Scotland. Television has made it a very lucrative business in England, Spain, Italy and a few other countries, albeit not in Scotland. The general standard of football in the Scottish Premiership is poor in comparison with most other countries.
‘Ralph Topping, the chairman of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), complained recently about the relatively small television revenues received by Scottish football. He has obviously never switched from watching a Scottish game on BBC Alba to English or Spanish games on Sky TV! The difference in standards undoubtedly justifies most of the differences in TV revenues and the associated sponsorship deals, as I think 99 per cent of those who watch these games would agree.’
Little wonder long-time followers of the Scottish game have been throwing up their hands in despair. ‘What happened,’ asked Huffington Post commentator Chris Smith, ‘to the days of household names such as Larsson and Gascoigne playing their trade in Scotland? What happened to the days when clubs in Scotland could buy and even produce players that cost £10 million plus? What happened to Scottish teams reaching the finals of European competitions? The Scottish game is becoming more dilapidated as time goes on, and it doesn’t seem as if it’s going to change any time soon.’
The long-term decline in Scotland is often ascribed to the demise of Rangers, who were relegated to the bottom of the league system for a series of financial irregularities, and the failure of Celtic to qualify for the latter stages of the European championships. Celtic’s European adventures in 2013/14 accounted for more than half of the total revenue of Scot-
tish Premiership clubs that year, generating £64 million in revenue for the Glasgow club compared with less than £6 million on average for the other 11 clubs.
While the Rangers fiasco has undoubtedly damaged the reputation of Scottish football, both domestically and internationally, the decline is far longer-term and more deep-seated. Since Motherwell went into administration in 2002, five top-flight Scottish clubs – Dundee, Livingston, Gretna, Rangers and Hearts – have all subsequently succumbed.
Nor is the malaise just at club level. The governing bodies of Scottish football turned down a £45 million deal with Sky for the TV rights to the games thinking a better deal could be struck elsewhere. It went with Setanta Sports, which later went bust owing so much money to the SPL some clubs almost went under.
The one sliver of hope for Scottish football is that Deloitte has secured Ladbroke as title sponsor of the four Scottish professional football divisions for two seasons from 2015-16 after two campaigns without any major backer.
It argues that the cash surge in England was fuelled by broadcasting revenues – a point that niggles with Scotland’s football establishment. Ralph Topping’s criticism was that the BBC was paying only about £1 million per year to show Scottish Premiership highlights, which he claimed was less than two per cent of what they paid for the English highlights. BBC Scotland defended its position, saying it was hailed by Scottish football chiefs at the time as great news for fans. But the criticism was also blind to the fact that what the BBC pays for the high- lights is dwarfed by what Sky Sports and, more recently, BT pay to show live English Premier League games. Those two recently agreed to pay £5.1 billion for the live rights for three seasons from 2016/17 – a 70 per cent increase on the present deal.
It’s easy to give in to total despair and to ignore the examples of good management and investment in bringing on young talent. The game does not lack exemplars and indeed many fine and promising players. Nor is it unresponsive to the crisis that has befallen it. An outstanding National Football Survey two years ago by Repucom for the Scottish Football Association, league bodies and Supporters Direct Scotland tackled issues such as league reconstruction, national team performance, rules and regulations and match day experience.
Grassroots football was seen as a crucial element in the long-term development of the game in Scotland. Fans felt this should be the top priority for the Scottish FA, whilst increasing participation was seen as vital to improving the standards of football. Fans also pointed to a lack of facilities, competition from other leisure activities, and the cost to parents as potential barriers to the Scottish FA achieving its aim of increasing youth participation.
The survey concluded that more money by itself is not the magic solution – indeed, money in the shape of the near farcical explosion in transfer fees and player wages may prove the game’s long-term undoing. Encouragement of participation at grassroots level is surely the vital first step towards any recovery of the game in Scotland.