Long goodbye signals demise of the SFL

THE break-up of the Scottish Football League was effectively sealed yesterday after 116 years of organising competitive football in Scotland when the Scottish Premier League invited ten more teams to join an elite two-tier top flight.

The historic move will mean the SFL has lost half its members over a ten-year period. Evidence that the SFL's role in Scottish football was being reduced to that of a bit-part player initially arrived with news of the breakaway of 12 SPL clubs in 1997. Yesterday's events will likely lead to a further and perhaps ultimate de-powering of the SFL, founded in a Glasgow hotel in 1890.

Early indications are that the plans will succeed, with the main questions being "how" and "when". The breakaway clubs want to join the SPL clubs next season, but they require a two-thirds majority of fellow members of the SFL to agree to that departure - or face serving a two-year notice period.

The SFL is left with a rump of 20 Scottish clubs after the statement from the SPL yesterday that paved the way for ten more SFL clubs to seek a bigger share of the revenue in Scottish football. The SPL would remain in its current form, with a 12-team structure, while the lower tier would consist of ten clubs.

The present one-up, one-down system from the SPL will be retained. The ninth-placed team in the new SPL 2 league will be required to play-off against a side missing out on automatic promotion from the surviving SFL league below.

Hamilton, Livingston, Clyde and Dundee were the prime movers behind the scheme to leave a league which is currently without a sponsor.

A two-thirds majority vote would be needed to carry the proposal, which is projected to come into being in time for the 2008-2009 season.

It is expected that the SPL clubs will now try to renegotiate the annual compensation payment of £1.5 million that is currently paid to the SFL in perpetuity as part of the original breakaway of the top ten clubs in 1998. The League Cup - run by the SFL - is also under threat, with the expanded SPL proposing to introduce a new cup competition for its 22 members. Sponsors CIS Insurance are committed to back the tournament for another two full seasons.

SPL chairman Lex Gold yesterday suggested that the tournament might be a casualty of the restructuring, with its value already having been questioned by some top-flight clubs.

"This would have to be for discussion," said Gold. "We agreed with the SFL when we set up that our clubs would continue to play in the Scottish Football League Cup. But now having a cup competition of our own we may have to review things."

Regionalisation of the lower leagues is also on the agenda for discussion in the future, along with the creation of a pyramid system below what is presently the SFL Third Division. But these issues were perhaps meant to deflect from the self-interest which motivates the latest shake-up in Scottish football, one which leaves teams such as Forfar Athletic facing another fight simply to survive.

Gold sought to present the proposal as the SPL clubs doing Scottish football a favour but Dundee chief executive Dave MacKinnon acknowledged that without it the Dens Park side would be playing part-time football within two years.

"I have absolutely no doubt about that," he said. "People say it's just us looking after ourselves but ultimately you have to survive as a club. If your ambition is to play at the top level then it's hard to do that if you have gone part-time. I understand why the lower level clubs look upon this with disdain. But I would hope within time we will have a competitive top two tiers with teams who want to play at that level, and another two divisions where teams who have found their level can exist in a competitive environment."

Gold enthused about the successes of the SPL since its inception at the start of the 1998-99 season. He hoped its growing influence would help improve the standard of football in Scotland.

"Things have gone very well [for the SPL] after a difficult period four years ago," he said. "Generally our clubs are very happy with life at the top and there was an initial desire to leave things alone. But there is a general feeling at the top level of Scottish football that the division below needs strengthened.

"The aim was genuinely to strengthen the top of Scottish football. Our clubs have most in common with those clubs in the top tier of the SFL. That is not to say they don't appreciate the contribution of clubs elsewhere. They are good clubs who have their place in the community. We hope this might be a catalyst for change in Scottish football as a whole in terms of some of the proposals we have put forward, including a pyramid structure and the regionalisation leagues."

Many clubs in what will remain the two SFL leagues perceive the new two-tier top flight system to be a closed shop. Although two clubs could make the jump from the SFL to the SPL2, providing one wins a play-off, there is a minimum criteria for entry to the new second division.

Grounds must have at least 3,000 seats, with no standing permitted at all. There is mandatory participation in both reserve and under-19 leagues, as well as approved youth programmes.

"If it goes through it could be the death-knell," said Forfar chairman David McGregor. "We are all struggling as it is. If the League Cup doesn't survive in its present form then that will be another blow. Although we got knocked out in the first round this season it was still worth £11,000 to us."

There seems little doubt the proposed changes will be forced through, although SFL secretary Peter Donald last night said there was still some distance to go before Scottish football becomes an 'elite' top tier of 12 clubs, with ten more in the division below - exactly what we have today. Donald dismissed the timeframe suggested by Gold, who pinpointed season 2008-09 as the start date for this restructured top flight.

"They talk about a 2008-2009 commencement date, but our rules would suggest that 2009-2010 would be the earliest it could be possible."

The SPL has written to the SFL and the Scottish Football Association this week to inform the governing bodies of their intention.

A statement issued yesterday said: "At the general meeting of the SPL today, member clubs decided to take a step towards inviting ten further clubs from the SFL to join a restructured new top flight consisting of 22 clubs playing in two divisions; a top division of 12 and a second division of ten from season 2008-2009."

Donald expressed surprise at the SPL's decision to break news of the proposed reconstruction to the SFL just minutes before going public with the announcement.

A letter was hand delivered to the SFL at noon yesterday, just as a management committee meeting was due to convene. The stage-managed nature of the announcement left little time for the SFL or Scottish Football Association to formulate a response.

A spokesman for the SFA simply confirmed notice had been received of the SPL's intentions, although a statement at this time would be "premature".

Taken from the Scotsman