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Clubs must focus on current proposal - Neil Doncaster


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By Jane Lewis BBC Scotland

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Neil Doncaster is refusing to consider any alternative to the raft of restructuring plans to be voted on by clubs on 15 April.

 

The Scottish Premier League's chief executive insists clubs should not be swayed by talk of alternative proposals to those agreed on 8 January.

 

He told BBC Scotland: "It is vital that we do not get distracted from the task in hand.

 

"It is very easy to start chipping away at a deal."

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â??I see huge benefits, particularly to the First Division clubs who are crying out for the money, in making it happen this summerâ?

 

Neil Doncaster SPL chief executive

 

Newspaper reports on Friday suggested some Scottish Football League clubs might not approve the proposals in time for next season, leaving the prospect of some clubs being invited to join an SPL2.

 

But as far as Doncaster is concerned, the proposal for a 12-12-18 set-up, with changes to governance and income distribution, is deliverable in time for next season, which begins on 3 August.

 

"Making predictions about anything in football is a difficult thing to do," he told BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound.

 

"We agreed a deal on 8 January - myself, David Longmuir and Stewart Regan - that would deliver so many of things that we want to see in the game.

 

"It would deliver playoffs, a fairer distribution of income, a pyramid system so that ambitious clubs can come through, and a single league body."

 

And on the issue of holding the changes back for another year, Doncaster added: "I am surprised that, the deal having been agreed in principle, people should now be thinking about delaying it.

 

"I don't see what the benefits of a delay are at all.

 

"I see huge benefits, particularly to the First Division clubs who are crying out for the money, in making it happen this summer.

 

"We see the situation at Dunfermline. You cannot run full-time professional football on the sorts of money that are able to be distributed to SFL1 at the moment.

 

"We believe that the top league is only as strong as the division under it.

 

"We need to get as much money as we can into that second tier so that the likes of Dunfermline, Hamilton, Thistle, Morton can all run a full-time professional outfit."

 

Doncaster said he attended an SFL meeting on Thursday to hear the concerns of clubs under that body but he would not be drawn on the prospect on a scenario where SPL clubs vote in favour of the plans while SFL clubs do not back it in sufficient numbers.

 

He said: "Speculation like that is unhelpful. It is far more important that we devote as much energy as we can to implementing the deal that we agreed in January.

 

"Fundamentally this is a package of measures. No-one will like everything within it but it's a package which delivers so many of the things that we want.

 

"So many times when we have been on the verge of progress, if you delay you lose the moment and it doesn't come back.

 

"There is a plan A and that is what we have to focus on. There is no 'undue haste', as has been termed by some people, to make this happen but there is a real urgency to do it."

 

Asked if he thought the proposal would be approved, he replied: "We'll have to wait and see. We have a formal vote on 15 April and we'll see what emerges from that.

 

"The documents have come out, the clubs got them on Sunday. For the first time the clubs will vote on something concrete. Everything up until that date is a discussion and a vote in principle."

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SPL's Neil Doncaster says change can only happen this summer

 

League reconstruction must take place this summer, says Scottish Premier League chief executive Neil Doncaster.

 

It comes in response to the suggestion any revamp could be put back a year.

 

"It's not acceptable to start saying 'well, let's just push it back a year because we can'," Doncaster said.

 

"The deal agreed back in January was about a package of measures and one of those measures was implementation this summer. I think we should focus on delivery of the deal for this summer."

 

SPL clubs are due to vote on the proposed 12-12-18 set-up on 15 April.

 

And Doncaster believes if it does not get the green light, then plans for any league reconstruction whatsoever could be shelved.

 

"What I expect to happen is that the 12 SPL clubs will meet on 15 April at 10:00 GMT and they will decide whether they wish to see the package of measures go forward or not," he said.

 

"If 11 clubs put their hand in the air and say 'yes', then it's in the court of the Scottish Football League to decide.

 

"If less than 11 [sPL] clubs are in favour, the game's a bogey and that's that."

 

Were 11 SPL clubs to give 12-12-18 the thumbs up on 15 April, the SFL clubs would convene later that week and vote on whether they supported it.

 

It would require three quarters of the SFL clubs to support the idea for the whole plan to be sealed.

 

Doncaster rejected the idea that it is too tight a timescale to make changes in time for the new season beginning on 3 August.

 

Rather, he wants those involved to appreciate the benefits the 12-12-18 system will bring.

 

"We need to go forward to 15 April with confidence, with enthusiasm, with momentum and try to deliver something which is going to deliver so many things that everyone wants, and I include supporters within that," Doncaster said.

 

"Otherwise we don't get the play-offs, we don't get the single league, we don't get the pyramid and we don't get much more money going to the First Division clubs.

 

"All of those things, which I think we would unanimously agree are the way forward, are delivered as part of these proposals."

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21985299

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Predictable response from Doncaster.

 

Why break the rules to rush through the introduction of new ones?

 

If the 1st Division clubs are in such dire need of finance right now why not just give them the extra money this season on the basis of the proposed changes being put in place for the season after next?

 

Where's the money coming from? I doubt that TV money and sponsorship is dependent upon reconstruction unless it somehow involves fast tracking us so what's the difference?

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Somebody please put this man on a one way ticket to the north pole. Let him run the local football up there.

 

Now that Rangers have wrapped up the Div 3 title I expect something to be pushed through as there is now no danger of Rangers being in a play off spot which is what they were probably waiting for. They can screw the play off sides in Div 3 and 2 for their own pocket.

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The main thing is that no-one bar Doncaster and his chosen few know where the money is coming from. Has it been revealed to the SFL chaps by now? Has it been voted through by the SPL chairmen e.g. of Motherwell and ICT, who are bound to give twice as much away as the champions and the team in third spot? Where do they get this money from in the first place? A near (AFAIK) bankrupt SPL? Some moonbeamish tv deal? Many questions to be answered by a guy who gives one ridiculous ultimatum after the other.

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Quote: There is no 'undue haste', as has been termed by some people, to make this happen but there is a real urgency to do it."

So - there's no undue haste but there is a real urgency.

This should be in an Airplane movie script.

Wish he'd bugger off back to whatever planet he came from.

Am I allowed to say that about aliens?

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