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HEARTS owner Ann Budge promised this weekend to “formally challenge” the SPFL in any decision that results in the Tynecastle club being relegated from the Ladbrokes Premier League after the rebuilding of the league was abandoned.
With the board given the power to call the top flight after a controversial resolution last month and the prospect of the 2019/20 season being completed in the park dwindling day by day, it looks like the Scottish football civil war could soon enter the court
So does Neil Doncaster trust that the SPFL is on safe legal ground? Why do you think the reconstruction was rejected? Are you sure your besieged organization can survive this period of conflict unscathed? Have the hostilities taken its toll on both him and his associates?
Doncaster spoke to the media this weekend ahead of an EGM, called by Hearts, Rangers and Stranraer, in which the 42 member clubs will decide whether to conduct an independent investigation into the handling of the resolution. Here is the second part of his interview.
Is your legal advice on resolution and sound drop?
ND: “We have had literally hundreds of pages of legal advice on this subject. It is a problem that will affect every league in Europe and if you look at the situation in Europe, you will see exactly the same problems that we have had to face.
“In France they have done more or less the same as us and have drawn a line below their leagues by points per game.” A club that is being relegated before all games are played, Amiens, has also spoken about legal action. You will see this unfold across Europe.
“The interesting thing is that no one, at all, has devised a viable alternative plan for the situation in which the game is in general, a situation in which the Covid-19 crisis hit in mid-March and games can” Do not gamble in Scotland.
“We have government restrictions until June 10 at least. In those circumstances, where you can’t complete the league in the lower leagues, what do you do then? No one has come up with any viable and practical alternatives to the resolution presented by the SPFL board.” .
Was the commitment to consider rebuilding and expanding the Premier League cynical from the start? Was it included only for clubs to vote “yes”?
ND: “I don’t think so. I wasn’t on the call on Friday, but I was told that the view was relatively favorable to rebuilding the league. But there was an opinion that it wasn’t appropriate at the moment and that the game should focus on other problems, mainly, over and over again, to get money back in the safest way possible.
“I don’t think there is widespread opposition to rebuilding the league in the way that it was suggested, but I was told there was an opinion on Friday that this was not the time.”
“We should not underestimate the sheer amount of work that Ann Budge and Les Gray did to try to push for a Premier League, rebuilding the league and the work done by their group.”
“I don’t think they have done anything more than put their hearts and souls into a renewed effort to get people together. People have taken up positions in rebuilding across the leagues, but I think there was a real push to try It works. I don’t think anyone can criticize Ann and Les’ efforts to try to make it work. ”
Budge said the failure of the reconstruction talks was due to the Sky deal and questioned his ability to renegotiate. That suggests that we have a fragile relationship with Sky. We make?
ND: “It is not really for me to comment on that. I think we have a very good relationship with Sky. We are about to establish an exclusive partnership with them. A league of 16 teams would have created many challenges. It would have meant just once at home. , once in all probability, that would have devalued the contract, a 14-team Premier League would not have had that effect.
“Any change in format would have to be approved by the streaming partner, but I would not say that the relationship with Sky is not as good as one would hope it could enter into a new exclusive partnership this summer.”
Would it be a risk to reopen the contract for a rebuilt league?
ND: “When you look at a 16 or 18 team format, once at home and again away, that probably would have led to a renegotiation. You would expect that. But a 14-team Premier League isn’t really much different than a 12-team format in the way it works. Who knows what the view would have been?
“We are clear as to where we are heading next season, but I think there is an open mind, as far as I can determine, among most clubs about what reconstruction will look like in the future.”
Brora Rangers wants a tiebreaker with Brechin City to preserve the pyramid system. Can that be revisited?
ND: “No. Similarly, a line was drawn in Ladbrokes Championship, League One and League Two seasons and in all play-off competitions.
“This is not particular or specific to the pyramid play-off. All playoffs in Scotland have been reduced because there simply is no possibility of playing these games. We have a Covid-19 crisis that has forced us to draw a line throughout the season. We know that football is unlikely to return soon.
“There is an adherence to the principles of the pyramid, as there is an adherence to the principles of promotion and relegation throughout the league. But there will be no play-offs for the same reason that there are no play-offs in any league. ”
On a personal level, how do you find all this?
ND: “I think anyone who tells you that being in the eye of this storm feels comfortable would not tell the truth. It is uncomfortable, it is difficult. But you must remain fully focused on the work you must do.
“The key problem is that it is a distraction from what daily work should be. That is doing its best to get fans in stadiums and start games as soon as it can safely happen.
“We are in Scotland spending much more time in internal struggles than facing the future, facing the government and medical advisers and planning the resumption of the games.
“These distractions are not welcome, unnecessary and time consuming. That applies to me and all my staff, and you know how under-staffed we are. We’re just spending an incredible amount of time doing things that aren’t taking the game forward.
“We resign the staff. Indeed, we have a senior team of four or five people trying to deal with all the problems that we have to face while trying to defend the attacks that have been made. ”
Will the SPFL board elections arrive in six weeks?
ND: “The AGM date may have to change to July.”
The people who are on the board right now or are they thinking about standing, looking at what’s going on and thinking “I really don’t need this”?
ND: “That’s one of the problems we are with now. You have so many hard-working professional people who spend their time without reward doing the best for the 42 clubs and are only facing a barrage of criticism.
“They are disrupting their evenings and weekends by having to take conference calls and read lengthy legal documents. I am very sorry that the board directors have to do this. It is a thankless task at best.
“All the credit to them is that they support and work for the benefit of the 42. It is a difficult time for everyone in society as well as Scottish football.” But I do think it is particularly unfair to board members who give up their time without reward. ”
How do we heal this fracture?
ND: “I think one of the key problems we face is that no games are played. Games are not the focus and as soon as football resumes, old rivalries will resume and sooner we will be talking about real issues again. in the field. Once that happens, I think things will start to heal what have been quite open wounds.
“But it is vital that people come together and give the board the space to be able to chart a course through these very choppy waters created by Covid-19 and plan a way back to normal.”
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