Leggat - SKY And SPL In TV Deal Cover Up

[ian1964 10,461]

SOONER or later the truth will emerge regarding the so-called new Scottish Premier League deal with Sky.

 

And until it does I would counsel caution to the rest of Scottish football. Caution about signing up to any new Peter Lawwell-Neil Doncaster led blueprint for the future. For they could well be signing their own death warrant.

 

I know of a number of reporters who have come up with excuse after excuse for not doing their jobs when I have asked them what they know about any new Sky deal. They shrug their shoulders and move on to less contentious ground.

 

One journalist, though, has pursued the tale and has made repeated calls to Sky to try and pin them down. He wants to know if there has been any new contract signed. What it is worth? How long it is for? And how dependent it is on Rangers returning to the top flight in double quick time.

 

Since he posed these questions the answer from Sky has been a big fat zero. No reply!

 

David Longmuir, the chief executive of the Scottish Football League is another who cannot get a sight of this so called contract which Peter Lawwell and Neil Doncaster told us they conjured out of thin air last summer.

 

Though we only knew about Lawwellâ??s involvement in the Sky talks thanks to them being spotted together en route to London. Just donâ??t expect the Record â?? now Lawwell and Celticâ??s business partner â?? to lift the lid on whatâ??s going on. Itâ??s not what Peter Lawwell wants and the rocking Record gives every impression of marching only to Lawwell and Celticâ??s drumbeat.

 

Maybe one of the Recordâ??s most senior and best paid sports writers, David McCarthy will unearth the facts of the Sky contract. If there is one. But only if Sky call a press conference and hand the story to him on a plate. For McCarthy, by his own admission in a shocking Record column, revealed that his preferred way to get a story is to shuffle up to press conference, recorder at the ready, and take dictation. As opposed to unearthing tales.

 

Of course I am well aware of how secret the whole Sky shenanigans are. Why, even Sky News business guru Jeff Randall canâ??t uncover the truth of the matter.

 

Commercial confidentiality, we are told. Bunkum and balderdash, more like.

 

If Celtic chief executive and SFA and SPL powerbroker, Peter Lawwell has nothing to hide, why is he hiding what the situation with Sky is? If Lawwellâ??s lapdog, SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster has nothing to hide, why is he hiding what the situation with Sky is?

 

And if Skyâ??s Sports managing director Barney Francis has nothing to hide, why is he hiding what the situation between the broadcaster and Scottish football is?

 

It certainly is not the way I would have expected his predecessor as Sky Sports head honcho, my old pal and boss, Vic Wakeling, to have behaved.

 

It looks as though Sky, Lawwell, Celtic and Doncaster have plenty to hide from the rest Scottish football and only the Scottish Football Leagueâ??s David Longmuir is pushing for answers.

 

Maybe the time has come for Longmuir to go public with his fears for the future, a future in which there is no clarity regarding any Sky deal with the SPL. My advice to him would be, just donâ??t expect any help in getting the story out from the Daily Record. Big earner David McCarthy will probably be too busy being spoon fed at some press conference or other.

 

It is all very curious and Scottish football fans are being ill served by a press which has become so compliant to Peter Lawwellâ??s wishes that newspapers are reluctant to shake the tree in order that they can see what comes loose.

 

Remember, the deal Lawwell and Doncaster said they had to broker for this season was one which was already in place as the last year of the current Sky contract. Where they had to do some fast talking was to convince Sky to continue showing meaningless matches from an SPL made meaningless by the bigoted bloodlust which exiled Rangers from the top flight.

 

The very fact that talks had to take place showed that Sky were not willing to pay the full final instalment, with Lawwell and Doncaster obviously forced into taking whatever crumbs Sky offered. The cash for this year was a lot less than it would have been had the bigots in the SPL not been so hateful and vindictive towards Rangers.

 

The idea that, last summer, Sky would sign up to any new three, four or five year deal, kicking in next season, before they could examine viewing figures for the Rangerless SPL during this campaign, is beyond belief. And those viewing figures, as I have frequently revealed, are very low.

 

No organisation which is cash driven and hardened in the way of business would go down the route of handing over big bucks for a product which few are interested in and Sky Sports is most certain a cash driven organisation, full of hard headed business people.

 

It is likely that no Sky Sports deal is in place beyond the current campaign. Or if there is a draft of one in existence, it is so full of escape clauses, so riddled with ifs, buts and maybes, that Peter Lawwell and Neil Doncaster and refusing to show it to the rest of Scottish football.

 

While the Daily Recordâ??s David McCarthy sits on his thumbs waiting to be spoon fed some pap.

[djbroxybear 0]

Why was Lawwell with Doncaster in london part of the negotiation's, i didn't think Lawwell was on the SPL Board ?

[ian1964 10,461]

I can't believe the club chairmen haven't seen this deal in detail?,have any of them even asked to see it?

[Frankie 8,186]

Excellent points from Leggo today.

 

The lack of specific attention on the SPL's sponsorship deals is quite eye-opening.

[Juancornetto 1]

Why was Lawwell with Doncaster in london part of the negotiation's, i didn't think Lawwell was on the SPL Board ?

 

Slanty eyes is on the Professional Game Board, which is a kind of commercial focus group for the SFA and SPL.

 

The Sky deal and the Longmuir questions make the hack pack extremely nervous it seems....almost as if they have a brief to ignore the real important stuff and to distract attention by printing stories of non-boycott's and sectarianism. I feel an article coming on.

[GovanAllan 0]

Nobodies talking because its a crap deal, we know it and they know it.

[aweebluesoandso 290]

"Show us the Sky contract" the SFL clubs should be shouting that from the rooftops. If they don't show the supposed contract before reconstruction, then Rangers should simply demand to see it or demand reconstruction is put on hold.

[GovanAllan 0]

Maybe we should get John Brown on the steps of Hampden, he was good at shouting to see things.

[Zappa 0]

RANGERRAB on Gersnet here has constantly been questioning the existence (or at least the value of it if one is on the table) of a new deal beyond this season. At times it might have seemed a little repetitive, but he had very good reason to keep mentioning it!!

[Zappa 0]

The Sky deal and the Longmuir questions make the hack pack extremely nervous it seems....almost as if they have a brief to ignore the real important stuff and to distract attention by printing stories of non-boycott's and sectarianism. I feel an article coming on.

 

I think you're spot on!

 

Look forward to the article!