ian1964 10,372 Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 Michael Gannon: If the cowards running Scottish football had more faith in the game we might have got a decent TV deal MICHAEL looks at the SPFL TV deal and how Scottish rugby is raking in three times as much cash because the men running it showed a bit of gumption. AT LEAST we can’t accuse the SPFL of not thinking outside the box. You have to admit, paying TV firms to show our games is a pretty novel idea. Pathetic? Probably. Embarrassing? Definitely. Necessary? Maybe. To them. How the heck did we get to this? The SPFL don’t negotiate TV deals. They go in with a begging bowl and say ‘thank you sir’ and don’t dare ask for more. Beggars can’t be choosers. The latest revelations that the game’s administrators pledged £750,000 in cashback for costs in screening Rangers games in the lower divisions and to make up for shortfalls in viewer figures shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. Cast your minds back to the summer of 2012. SPL chairmen were running around with their hair on fire. If only they’d a bit more faith in their clubs and their fans. It’s not SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster fault. It’s cowardly chairmen that have led us down the road to ruin. We got here because for too long these guys were happy to hitch their wagons to the Old Firm. They pretty much held their hands up to broadcasters and told them our game was honking apart from the big two. They let Celtic and Rangers hog the limelight while they sat in the dark happily scavenging on the scraps. Rather than talking up their clubs, packaging and punting their own products, they were content to hoover up the change that fell down the back of the Old Firm couch. So when half of the Glasgow duopoly toppled no wonder they hit the panic button. If you sell off the league on the back of one fixture what happens when that game goes down the tube? How the heck do you negotiate when those running the game were telling everyone we were going to hell in a handcart if Rangers weren’t in the top flight? No wonder Sky and BT Sport were only willing to chuck us £15m-a-year sweetie money and only if we bent over backwards like a circus contortionist. The TV execs must have walked out the room giggling. The sheer fear of having no TV deal at all meant Scottish clubs had no hand to fold. They were not walking in to a high stakes game of poker – they were staggering into a soup kitchen and were grateful for any slops served up. Never mind the value of our product, just deal us in and we’ll be on our way like serfs bowing to their masters. Never mind the fact our viewing figures are on a par with rugby’s Aviva Premiership and they get nearly three times as much per year. Those rugger chaps get £42m a year and their top games – like ours – get 200k watching while they average under 70k for run-of-the-mill clashes – just like us. Unfortunately our clubs ignore the stats that show 200,000 will watch Rangers v Albion Rovers or 225,000 will tune in to Hearts v Hibs. They focus on the flip side. They point to Aberdeen and Motherwell on the final day of the season only drawing 30,000. But what chance have we got when Scottish games are buried away in the scheduling and go up against glamorous clashes from south of the border? There’s not much hope for Partick Thistle v Hibs when Man City and Liverpool are on the other channel. But there is a market for our game. We just need to go out and sell it rather than leave it outside the pawn shop. The club chairmen said they had to listen to their fans when it came to saying no to letting Rangers restart in the top flight. Yet they had absolutely no faith in their own supporters when it came to attending games or watching on the box. They should wince at the scenes of the last two seasons when fans have galvanised to prove there is more to life beyond Celtic and Rangers. It’s too late now. Two years ago they agreed to tread water until Rangers recovered but in doing so they continued their long-term policy of selling their clubs down the river, along with the rest of Scottish football. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/opinion/sport/michael-gannon-cowards-running-scottish-3586142 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERRAB 3,252 Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 When the 10 SPL chairmen chose to vote Rangers out the SPL there was a price to be paid for that. Now they're paying that price. A paltry TV deal in comparison to other TV deals. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy steel 0 Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 I dunno who Michael Gannon is, but if that's the next generation of sports writing in this country we're in for more decades of drivel. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buster. 4,808 Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 Tbh I can see the logic behind what Doncaster is saying. However where the governing authorities (SFA very much included) failed the game was prior to the re-negotiation of the contract as per the open letter of ND. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERRAB 3,252 Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 Tbh I can see the logic behind what Doncaster is saying. However where the governing authorities (SFA very much included) failed the game was prior to the re-negotiation of the contract as per the open letter of ND. they tried the 'tough guy' approach 10 years ago when Roger Mitchell was the joke figure running the SPL. SKY told them to take it or leave it and they made this laughable attempt to set up their own TV channel. It failed and they went back to SKY to be told the offer was off the table so they went to the BBC and got a deal worth peanuts - about £4m p.a as I recall 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buster. 4,808 Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 they tried the 'tough guy' approach 10 years ago when Roger Mitchell was the joke figure running the SPL. SKY told them to take it or leave it and they made this laughable attempt to set up their own TV channel. It failed and they went back to SKY to be told the offer was off the table so they went to the BBC and got a deal worth peanuts - about £4m p.a as I recall The mis-management by the governing bodies has IMO gone way beyond TV deals. This has left them in a weaker position for whatever commercial deals they seek or contracts to (re-)negotiate. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,372 Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 The SPFL fail to follow their own rules as TV cashback farce rumbles on. NEIL DONCASTER revealed in an open letter in Record Sport how the SPFL had to cough up for the cost of screening Rangers games, but their own rule book states it should have been the club's responsibility. NEIL DONCASTER was left red-faced last night after discovering the SPFL’s own rule book contradicts the terms of his controversial TV cashback deal. The under-fire chief has revealed in an open letter in Record Sport he had to cough up to broadcasters for the cost of screening Rangers games in the lower leagues. Doncaster had to hand back up to £750,000 to TV companies threatening to rip up the £15million per year deal following the collapse of the Ibrox club. The sweetener was fine under the SPL banner. But it’s been revealed the new SPFL rulebook put the responsibility with host clubs not TV companies. It states: “Each club shall provide a suitable gantry or gantries for use by TV cameras and any other moving picture cameras.” The SPFL have not applied the letter of the law as it was a leftover from old SPL guidelines and shouldn’t apply to lower divisions. Doncaster admits the deal to keep TV companies on board was for the greater good of the game. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/spfl-fail-follow-rules-tv-3592379 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilledbear 16 Posted May 23, 2014 Author Share Posted May 23, 2014 I have come to the stage where I don't really care that much. Scottish football are where they deserve to be through no ones fault but their own. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERRAB 3,252 Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 Rangers are effectively subsidising Scottish Football via this TV deal and the subsidy junkies can't appreciate that 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buster. 4,808 Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 Rangers are effectively subsidising Scottish Football via this TV deal and the subsidy junkies can't appreciate that It's obvious that Rangers and Celtic have been the main drivers of revenue for the Scottish game over a number of years. More especially back when gate money was shared for League games. IMO it wasn't surprising that after Rangers lost their SPL share, there would be a 'cost' to pay within an existing contract (to keep it in place) that budgeted for the coverage of Rangers (including 4 OF games). 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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