Leggat - Doncaster Must Be Axed When SPL Is Scrapped

[ian1964 10,486]

I was not only saddened at the outbreak of bile spewed over Scottish Football League chief executive David Longmuir. I was sickened too.

 

For of all the people involved in Scottish football, right across the spectrum of all the governing bodies, Longmuir is the most decent, fair minded and honourable of all. Some may even say he is the only one who is decent, honourable and fair minded.

 

And throughout last summer, when every one of the many Rangers haters who infect our wee country crawled out from under their stones to take up their cudgels against all things Ibrox, David Longmuir was a shining beacon of fair-minded decency.

 

Is there anyone out there who would argue with that?

 

Yet now he is being lumped together with such arch Rangers haters as Peter Lawwellâ??s two best pals, Scottish Football Association chief executive Stuart Regan and Scottish Premier League chief executive Neil Doncaster.

 

That is as preposterous as it is potty.

 

For an start, just look back to last week and at the photograph of the three of them together. For goodness sake, Longmuir is the only one who looks like a human being.

 

It would be hard to blame him if he felt hurt and aggrieved at some of the unjustified stick he has taken and decided to walk away from the whole sad, sorry and sordid business of having to deal with men such as Lawwellâ??s best pals and willing puppets, Regan and Doncaster.

 

Frankly, I do not know how such a decent and honourable man as David Longmuir can stand being in the same room as Stuart Regan and Neil Doncaster. I know I would find such a scenario stomach churning.

 

Perhaps some of those who have vilified Longmuir would care to carefully and calmly tell us all what it is they believe the chief executive of the Scottish Football League could have done?

 

Answers on the back of a Penny Black.

 

Longmuir and the SFL agreed a format which saw the top tier increased to sixteen teams, with the SPL and SFL merging.

 

The Peter Lawwell retort â?? through Neil Doncaster â?? was two SPL Divisions of 12, with financial incentives dangled as some sort of sordid bribe. Though the way the SPL bribe was going to be funded was never explained. It also meant the SPL survived.

 

No matter. Some mugs in the SFL â?? led, I believe by Partick Thistle and Dunfermline â?? were tempted and were ready to jump ship and lead an exodus of another ten teams, which would have left the SFL with a rump of 18 clubs.

 

That plan would still have left Rangers outside of the top two divisions, just as the new blueprint does.

 

But worse!

 

It would have strengthened the hand of the Scottish Premier League. Meaning it would have left Peter Lawwell in an even more powerful position than before.

 

It would also have meant that Rangers, if they wanted to play in the top flight, would have had to return to the Lawwell dominated SPL, despite chief executive Charles Greenâ??s express promise that would not happen. Something which has the full backing of Rangers supporters.

 

Now, under the new proposals, Rangers will wait no longer than before to be given the chance to return to the top flight and that top tier will not be the SPL. That is important.

 

That is what quiet man, decent man, honourable man, David Longmuir has achieved, providing he can get his 30 SFL member clubs to vote it through.

 

Will somebody out there please explain to me how that is bad for Rangers? How that is anti Rangers? How it is that David Longmuir, the only man who, in the last year, has worked at finding a solution for Rangers, is now somehow anti Rangers?

 

Of course David Longmuir knows the deal on the table is flawed. Actually, I believe it is beyond flawed and if it is allowed to become the settled will of Scottish football, it will be catastrophically damaging to the game in Scotland.

 

But it does have its good points. It gets rid of the Scottish Premier League and starts the process of restoring one vote per club to all 42 League clubs in Scotland when it comes to matters of league football.

 

I believe the new set up will be a short term stop gap and that it will be changed in the next couple of years or so. Perhaps to the 14-14-14 set-up favoured by Rangers.

 

However, the David Longmuir and the Scottish Football Leagueâ??s clubs, still have a powerful ace to play before they vote to accept the New Deal.

 

They must make it a condition of acceptance that Neil Doncaster no longer has a role to play and that he will depart the Scottish scene forthwith.

 

For Doncaster â?? along with Scottish Football Association chief executive Stuart Regan and their puppet master Peter Lawwell â?? are the bad guys here. Not David Longmuir.

 

Think about it!

[Max Rebo's Big Blue Nose 0]

Why wait until the scrapping of the SPL? Get rid of him now