The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Three-leagues plan lacking incentives, says Loons chief
Being dumped into the bottom tier of Scottish football is the obvious initial blow for Forfar Athletic of a three leagues of 14 reconstruction proposal, writes Eric Nicolson.
But Station Park chairman Ross Graham has a longerterm issue with the plan that the League Two clubs have given their collective support to.
Graham believes that cutting the SPFL from four divisions to three would drastically diminish the incentive of success at the start of a campaign for part-time sides.
Graham also insists such proposals would create a less appealing lower league product as a consequence.
“This first got mentioned a couple of weeks ago and I wasn’t a big fan of it for a number of reasons,” he told Courier Sport.
“I just think that the likelihood of any form of success for your better part-time clubs is reduced.
“At the moment they are Arbroath and Alloa. You’ll have your top division of 14 and considering there are 23 full-time teams in Scotland it isn’t realistic to think you could get into it.
“There will be eight or nine fulltime clubs in the second tier.
“The chances of Arbroath, Alloa or Forfar, if we sort ourselves out, winning a league or getting promotion are absolutely minimal.
“Even when you’re doing well, you could never really see a parttime team going up.
“For that reason I don’t like it.” Graham added: “Both Alloa and Arbroath have been in the fourth tier in the last few years, had a couple of promotions, been in play-offs and had things to celebrate.
“It’s been exciting for their fans. “You’d basically be saying to the part-time clubs that you only have one real chance of winning a title – and that’s if you find yourselves in the bottom division.
“What does success look like? Success for an Arbroath and an Alloa becomes seventh top in the middle league. More likely you’re just trying to avoid relegation every year. That doesn’t sit well with me.”
There may be flaws in the current SPFL structure but a lack of end-ofseason excitement isn’t one of them.
Graham said: “With the way things ended in Scotland a few weeks ago, just about every one of the 42 clubs in Scotland still had something to play for.
“That attracts supporters towards the end of the season and you continue to sell out your hospitality because every game means something. It’s only in the last couple of matches that you might get the odd dead rubber but they are few and far between.”
Graham does not believe that the League Two clubs forming a block vote at this stage has been a welcome development.
“You create this league reconstruction committee to put proposals out there for the good of Scottish football,” he said.
“But if League Two are saying the only thing they’d consider is 14-14-14, how is that for the good of Scottish football?
“The reconstruction committee hasn’t even had the opportunity to put something to the 42 clubs. All of a sudden you’ve got these 10 clubs saying that’s the only thing they’d consider. I thought it was a wee bit disrespectful to the reconstruction committee. I thought we should all have sat tight to see what they came up with.”
Forfar’s manager, Stuart Malcolm, has also outlined his dissatisfaction at the three 14s concept.
“They have said that the aim is to make sure nobody is punished because of the coronavirus,” he pointed out.
“Well, how does that work for ourselves, Clyde and Peterhead? That can’t be fair. We would be in the bottom division. I understand the importance of the top end of the SPFL but what’s success going to be for a part-time club in the future?
“The leagues of 10 are really tight just now. That has to be a good thing in terms of excitement. It works. You have to perform every single week because things can change very quickly.”