Chief Executive Blog - Strategic Plan

Neil Doncaster's Blog – Strategic Plan

The creation of a Strategic Plan for Scottish football has been long in the making.  A process that started in early 2010 has resulted in a draft plan that will be tabled at the next general meeting of all 12 SPL clubs, on 18th April.  So will that meeting see a plan approved by all 12 clubs?  Or will the process of creating a coherent plan for the whole of Scottish professional football take a little longer to come to fruition?

This blog attempts to set out where we are with the process of pulling together a Strategic Plan to take the game forward.

The issues
Much of the debate in the Press and on the message boards has centred on the league structure.  But this is just one aspect of the draft plan.  Building on the work of the SFA and Henry McLeish, the plan has five key aims:

• Supporters:  to create an exciting, dynamic league that delivers entertaining football for fans
• Performance:  to address the declining UEFA and FIFA coefficients
• Player development:  to ensure a more effective production line of players for the Scotland national team and to address the ‘development gap’ between the under19s and the first team
• Structural:  to create the best league structure for Scottish professional football at all levels of the game
• Commercial and financial:  to increase interest in and excitement surrounding the game, to maximise the money coming into the game and to address the financial gap between the bottom of the SPL and the top of the SFL

The Strategic Plan is about improving the long term health of the game in Scotland, for the benefit of all 42 professional clubs and all supporters.  It is not about looking after the elite clubs to the exclusion of all others.

Process
The process of putting together a Strategic Plan has been led by the SPL Board (which, over the last two years has included directors from Aberdeen, Celtic, Hibernian, Motherwell, Rangers and St Mirren).  But it has also involved a huge amount of other consultation.  In addition to many formal and informal discussions with all 12 SPL clubs, we have met with and listened to SPL managers, supporter groups from all 12 SPL clubs, Supporters Direct and all 30 SFL clubs.  The 12 SPL clubs discussed the plan collectively at all-club meetings in January and February and will next do so again on April 18th.

Recommendations
The plan covers over 100 pages.  To try and do justice to the plan within a few hundred words is therefore difficult.  But the key recommendations of the plan are these:

Overall structure of Scottish football
• Work with the SFA and with clubs at the bottom of the SFL to deliver a consensus solution to the current impasse on creating a pyramid structure within Scottish football
• Introduce a new system of permitted, one-off, short-term derogation from stadia criteria and other membership criteria set by the SPL

Overall league structure
• Merge the SPL with the SFL by inviting all 30 members of the SFL to become members of a new, 42-club league on the following basis:

o the existing four divisions become the responsibility of one enlarged league (referred to below as the ‘Premier League’, the ‘Championship’, ‘League One’ and ‘League Two’) as part of a future pyramid incorporating the South of Scotland League, the East of Scotland League, the Highland League and the Juniors

o the net revenues available for distribution from the newly enlarged league be split in the ratio 80 : 15 : 5 between Premier League : Championship : League One & League Two combined.  On current revenues, this would result in £3.7million being given to the clubs outwith the Clydesdale Bank Premier League – more than double that at present.  It would also mean that the club at the top of the second tier would receive around £500,000 in league distributions, against less than a sixth of that at present

League format
• Move to a 10-team format for the Premier League and 12 teams within the Championship
• Create an extra potential relegation place in the Premier League (and therefore an extra potential promotion place in the Championship) through the creation of play-offs between the top two divisions
• Mirror the German and Spanish leagues by allowing six under-23 Premier League ‘Colt’ teams to play in League Two
• Create a more even distribution mechanism within the Premier League, by redistributing money away from the top two positions in the league and reallocating it to the other eight clubs

Youth development
• Adopt a new ‘player pathway’, with a new Elite tier within the SFA Youth Initiative being created to ensure that the ‘best play the best’ and the SFA rewarding clubs for youth development based on results
• Oblige all Premier League and Championship clubs to be part of the SFA Youth Initiative at either Elite or Performance levels
• Scrap the current under-21 rule from the SPL’s senior competition
• Lobby the SFA to pay Scottish clubs for each Scottish player away on international duty

Calendar
• Start the league season earlier than at present
• Include a two-weekend post-New Year winter break

League organisation
• Replace one of the current four SPL club-representative directors on the Board with one representative from a club below the Premier League, whose remit it would be to represent the interests of all clubs outwith the Premier League
• Appoint two independent non-executive directors in order to create an eight-man Board comprising four club representatives and four independent directors (including the independent chairman and chief executive)
• Create an Operational Board with an equal number of Premier League and non-Premier League club representatives

Concerns
Most commentators understand that by moving to a larger top league, we would be doing nothing to bridge the financial gap between the top two divisions – indeed it might even exacerbate the situation.  It would also cost Scottish football many millions of pounds if we adopted any league system that led to clubs playing each other just once at home and once away each season.

One of the key concerns that has been expressed publicly over the plans for a 10-team top league is that football would become very negative.  But this is not borne out by the facts: between 1997 and 2000, when a 10-team set up was last used, the proportion of matches that were drawn was on average 27% - the same as last season within a 12-team format.

Relegation from the Clydesdale Bank Premier League currently spells financial Armageddon for the 12th-placed club each season.  Undoubtedly the move to a 10-team Premier League and the possibility of the 8th placed team being relegated via the play-offs will add to the nervousness of club directors.  But it will also create far more drama and excitement for supporters, both at the bottom of the Premier League and at the top of the Championship.  And, when combined with the larger distributions to the Championship and bigger parachute payments for relegated clubs, should ensure that there is a far better chance of relegated clubs not having to lay off swathes of staff upon dropping down a division.

The plan would undoubtedly lead to much greater financial stability for Premier League clubs. Financially though, the big winners from the plan are those clubs within the second tier – as the plan attempts to bridge the huge financial gap that currently exists between the top two divisions.

Summary
The plan before clubs is one that looks after all 42 SPL and SFL clubs – and not just the elite.  By moving to a flatter distribution of income within the Clydesdale Bank Premier League and by doubling the money given to SFL clubs, the plan addresses the financial gap between clubs.  By moving to an earlier season start date, we give ourselves the best possible chance of bringing more fans through the turnstiles and attracting greater interest from the broadcasters – as well as giving our teams in Europe the best possible chance to progress, and reducing fixture congestion.  By focussing on the development of young players through the Colt team system, we should ensure that the Scotland manager has more and better players to choose from in future.  By bringing the SPL and SFL together, we establish a more efficient and effective administration.  By adopting a pyramid for Scottish football, we would create an incentive for the most ambitious clubs within the Highland League, East of Scotland and South of Scotland Leagues and the Juniors to progress.

However, any meaningful progress can only be achieved if 11 out of the 12 Premier Clubs approve a package of change.  The SPL Board has worked alongside Scotland’s clubs and supporter bodies to put a plan together that will take the whole of Scottish professional football forward.  Now it’s time for the clubs to decide on what they want.

The meeting on 18th April will enable all 12 top tier clubs to set out their vision of change.  When we surveyed 15,000 supporters last year, just 2% favoured sticking with the current 12-team set-up.  Hardly anyone sees the status quo as a viable proposition.  But for us to move beyond the status quo will require everyone involved in Scottish football to move beyond narrow, short term self-interest and to embrace a better future for the whole of professional football in this country.  To do that, we need 11 clubs to agree on a way forward.

The SPL clubs will meet on 18th April to discuss the plan for the fourth time, and I do hope that we see clubs moving towards a consensus as to a coherent vision for the game in Scotland and get closer to the stage where a formal vote can be taken.  The status quo is not an option.

Neil Doncaster
Chief Executive, Scottish Premier League