One of the most prominent supporters’ groups in Scottish football has accused the SPFL of ignorance and self-interest around the topic of league reconstruction.
The issue has been back on the table over recent weeks, with the SPFL’s Competitions Working Group currently weighing up all available options.
The findings of their report are expected to be fed back to clubs this week, with a reduced 10-team top flight being championed by some as the best option.
For any reconstruction to be given the green light, it would require 11 of the 12 top-flight clubs to give their blessing.
It would also need 75 per cent of all Premiership and Championship clubs combined, as well as 75 per cent support from all 42 SPFL clubs overall.
In an interview with Nutmeg Magazine, SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster claimed that fans essentially don’t really know what they want.
Neil Doncaster, the SPFL chief executive, has appeared to back a smaller top flight
Doncaster claims bigger leagues lead to more meaningless and mediocre matches
Doncaster said: ‘One of the problems we have in this debate is that what fans say they want is not the same as what fans will pay for a ticket to go to.
‘What we know drives bigger attendances is tense, competitive, meaningful, exciting, dramatic matches where there’s something to play for.
‘You get those with smaller leagues, not bigger leagues. So, the bigger the league you have, the more meaningless matches it creates.
‘We’ve had in this country very big leagues. Not in recent memory, but if you talk to folk who do have memory of those times, they will tell you that towards the end of the season, there was absolutely nothing to play for. You know, lots of mid-table, mediocre matches.
‘Look, the reality is that there’s no such thing as a perfect format. The only truism is that people always believe that whatever you have at any moment in time, there’s something better out there.
‘What there is in reality is a series of compromises that give you the best possible format at any point in time.’
But Doncaster’s comments were given short shrift by the chief executive of the Scottish Football Supporters’ Association.
In a stinging rebuke, Stuart Murphy criticised the lack of meaningful engagement with fans about any proposed league reconstruction.
‘The thorny subject of league reconstruction has never really been off the table since the last reconstruction and continues to rage on,’ Murphy told Mail Sport.
‘The SFSA understands that discussions are currently underway within the SPFL looking at options for change, but, disappointingly, fans representation is conspicuous by its absence.
‘Why any organisation or business would consider altering their product or service offer without consulting its customers makes no sense to us as an organisation.
‘Scottish football fans ensure that the SPFL is the best supported (per capita) in Europe, so surely we deserve and are entitled to a voice in these deliberations?
‘Consistently, our research shows that overwhelmingly supporters find the current system of playing each other four times mundane.
‘Further down the leagues there needs to be more incentives for clubs to progress and the current system does not allow that.
‘This has been the case for some time now. Change is long overdue. But self-interest will undoubtedly prevail with the 11-1 voting system being the mechanism that prevents meaningful change.
‘The SFSA will however continue to lobby the football authorities and work together for the changes as detailed in the “Rebuilding Scottish Football — A Fan-led Review of the Game in Scotland” paper.’
