So Farewell SPL + SFL! Long Live SPFL! Record-Breaking Amounts of PR Guff Expected!

The Scottish Premier League is no more. Equally the Scottish Football League has gone. Both have been replaced by the super, new, improved Scottish Professional Football League!

Or have they …

(For that, see my next post!)

I feel though that the passing (apparently) of these famous and historic names should be marked, by referring to the following extracts from the SPL website.

It is fair to say that the power of the combined SPFL to create meaningless PR guff and tosh has increased exponentially as a result of the changes!

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Mr Regan’s Email of 23/6 – Smoking Gun? Should He Step Down? Will He Try the Sevco Rescue Again?

In which I have a look at the masterplan disclosed in Mr Regan’s email on 23^rd June, and wonder if the SPL teams were happy to refuse to vote Rangers FC into the SPL, because they were fully aware of the plan and had been assured by Messrs Regan, Doncaster and Longmuir that an SFL1 solution was in the bag.

Maybe a reporter could ask the SPL chairmen arriving at Hampden today for the AGM what they knew, and when, about the Regan plan?

Rod Petrie of Hibs definitely knew, as he was part of it. Did his Board know and when?

What about Mr Gilmour of St Mirren? Had he received the nod that SFL1 was all but delivered, thus explaining his anxiety, and similarly that of Inverness CT, when the SFL vote went in favour of SFL3?

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Alex Thomson of Channel 4 has been the main UK journalist to have taken an interest in, and reported on, the farrago at Ibrox. As the weeks and months have passed, the story has grown from involving merely Rangers to include concerns about the governance of Scottish football in general. As a result there has been considerable focus on the actions of Neil Doncaster of the SPL and Stewart Regan of the SFA.

Mr Thomson and Channel 4 have obtained an e-mails sent by Mr Regan on 23^rd June. I have copied it below with my comments in bold. I would recommend following this link to read Mr Thomson’s piece in full too, as well as reading my thoughts below, of course!

Will the SFA Approve Transfer of Rangers’ Membership to Sevco Scotland Ltd?

In which I look at what Sevco Scotland still have to do to get their team actually out onto a playing field. The main issue now is the SFA membership transfer.

However, there are various issues which suggest that this might not be a formality, and indeed that it ought not to be.

I look at what the status of the existing membership, held by Rangers Football Club PLC (In administration) is, and whether, with the new “fit and proper person” rules, it can actually be transferred to Sevco at all!

Can it be transferred whilst the various disciplinary matters are still to be determined? Should it be?

Why has there been such a delay by the SFA in dealing with this and the re-establishment of the Appellate Tribunal?

And finally, what has this picture got to do with the leadership shown by the SFA and SPL?

Mike the Chicken – rumoured to be on the short list to be the next SFA Chief Executive

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The SFL Teams Reject Gerrymandering and Send Rangers FC to Play in SFL3

The official statement from the SFL today.

The SFL Clubs signal their decision regarding Sevco Scotland’s application

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Why, Even With Yes Vote, SFL Board Can’t (But Will) Put Sevco into SFL1

In which I look at the blatant tactics of three men to assist a party which is a member of no football organisation in Scotland, and which is not asking for the “help“ it is getting. I suggest that Clyde FC get it, again, spot on, and I wonder how the fact that we have a secret ballot today could affect the outcome.

I also point out that, logically, the SFL Board cannot be in position, standing the terms of the restructuring ideas mentioned, to have reached the agreement which the resolution needs them to have reached to admit “Rangers” to SFL1. Though that will not stop them, I am sure.

Finally, if the SFL teams stick to their guns, it would be appropriate for Messrs Doncaster, Regan and Longmuir to resign today. (But they won’t).

Today’s meeting of the 30 Scottish Football League Chairmen to discuss league reconstruction proposals might be the most significant in Scottish football since the SPL was created in 1998 and possibly since the teams agreed to move from the two-league structure with the adoption of the Premier Division in 1975.

The teams are being asked to consider the following proposals for League reconstruction (with thanks to STV):-