TV football deal ‘unfair’ for Scotland

SCOTTISH FOOTBALL urgently needs to attract more money if the game is not to fall further behind its English rival, a sports accountant has warned.

Charles Barnett of BDO LLP was commenting on the £5.136 billion Sky and BT Sport deal for televising English football for three years from 2016.

He believes the money will go into even more inflated wages for players and put Premiership and most Championship signings out of reach of SPFL clubs.

“This is a further sign of the growing financial gap between Scottish and English football,” Mr Barnett said.

“If Scottish clubs are unable to buy players from the first and second tier of English football then the game will potentially suffer in Scotland in years to come.

“It is likely that Scottish clubs will be buying from the lowest tier in English football, which will force clubs to develop more home-grown talent.

“The best home-grown talent will then be drawn to the third, second and possibly even the first tier of English football.

“We could see a revolving door emerging where talent is developed here but quickly moves to England.”

The £20 million cost of showing two English premiership games on Sky is more than all of the broadcast fees Scottish football receives in a year. The figures indicate if Sky and BT are happy to pay £1.712bn a year for English football, the comparable figure for Scotland per head of population should be £142m.

Mr Barnett said:“To be getting just over one-10th of that at £15m is unfair and unsustainable. The hierarchy of Scottish football must start to lobby for more money.”

He admitted a £142m deal was unlikely but even another £20m or £30m would make an enormous difference to Scottish football.