Fever Pitch – The SPL In Crisis

What price integrity?

Summer 2012 will go down in history as the closed season when Scottish Football imploded thanks to the reckless actions of one Club. Cutting clothe, it seems, on the fortunes of others, the smaller SPL teams have found themselves in an impossible damned-if-they-do-damned-if-they-don’t scenario with no positive outcome. As for July 4th Scottish Football will never be the same again.

The Newco application from The Rangers Football Club to the SPL is to be expected, for after all Charles Green is absolutely right and entitled to do what is best for HIS club, but as emotions rise across Scotland, fans are saying more than ever, it’s not a case of doing what’s best, it’s a clear case of doing what’s right. Best for the SPL, of course, is a strong and vibrant Old Firm on which the rest of us, like ramora fish on the back of Great White Sharks, can feed, but we no longer have a strong and vibrant old firm, because, as of last week, Rangers died. There’s no pleasure, cutting through the rhetoric and football banter, in seeing an institution die in a web of indignity and humiliation, but it has happened. Not will happen, not could happen, has happened.  Rangers is an ex-club. It is no more. It’s gone to meet its maker.

As a result, the tsunami of aftershocks will resonate through football for ever. Things have changed completely and terribly. The carcass of this particular Great White is sinking slowly to the bottom of the sea, and us little ramora are still picking at its remains, but, before long, it will be gone, and we will have to find a new way to feed ourselves.

Luckily, that decision is in our hands, and what we do on the 4th of July, ironically Independence Day, will be one of the most important decisions ever made in the history of Scottish Football.

Naturally the Clubs themselves are cagey on whether or not they are or will vote for Rangers’ reanimated corpse to lurch its way back into the SPL, caught as they are in an impossible position. To vote the Newco back would see a backlash from fans from all clubs, but, perhaps, a slim chance of financial stability from Gates and TV revenue. But Voices from the East Stand’s survey suggests otherwise, in as much as everyone we asked a very simple question gave us a very straight answer –

To Celtic fans, themselves a source of huge gate revenue for Motherwell FC, equal to if not greater than Rangers – if the Motherwell board voted in favour of a Newco, would you boycott Fir Park?

The answer was fervent and adamant. In less that 12 hours 212 fans had replied to us. Only one said “no”. Many were speaking of multiple tickets, taking as they would their family or friends with them.

Joseph Casey said “Yes, MFC would not deserve my money,” 007bhoy added “Yes, and permanently at that,” to which Martin O’Donnell added “Yes, and I’d never be back”. Reckoner 1888 enforced this with “Yes, if new RFC get into the SPL after old RFC’s cheating, I won’t pay a penny to any club ever again,” and Carlos Rankin said “Yes, I will boycott any team that votes  yes.” Michael Spence makes the point – “Would Well rather lose one new club’s or ten other club’s fans, plus some Well fans?” and Michael Main says poignantly ” Actually, I’d give up on Scottish football if this isn’t dealt with properly. Would break my heart.”John D says: ” I will never be at Fir Park again and I will personally make sure no one else from the Celtic Family is.” Jim McMil15 makes a good point that – “I think I speak for a number of celts, Id pay more 4 a ticket 2 cover the fake losses from no huns rather than a newco”, which is an interesting and generous move, and, resignedly Sean O’Hara adds ” i would never been seen there, to support cheating tax evasion and let them off scot free, its not on mate”.

These messages go on and on, so from our little straw poll we reckon at least six hundred fans – who regularly go to Fir Park – would boycott the games. This is of course just the guys on Twitter, so it’s not unreasonable to think it would be considerably more. If even 1000 Celts stayed away that equates to £50,000 loss of revenue in gates alone per season for Motherwell FC.

Perhaps more worrying is the reaction of Motherwell Fans to the same question. All bar two replied that they would also boycott Fir Park if the Board voted Newco back into the SPL, and not without a lot of hearts breaking. Cool Dog says optimistically ” I vote to not let them back in , simple reason is if they get voted in then Scottish football will become a joke. The league will get stronger and eventually the clubs will improve and there will me more good Scottish boys coming through”. Bruce Jamieson makes the perfect point in: ” If 30 pieces of silver is worth more than the integrity of the club then I’ll find it very hard to support the club in the future.Thing that gets me about this Rangers debacle if the shoe was on the other foot would they give a toss about us? would they balls! ” and our old friend Wee Kaz tweets us – ” I would have to consider if I’d boycott fir park…” but…”…  I think I would boycott the well society. Why pay money to folk who don’t listen to their fans.”

For Motherwell FC fan words are God at the moment, as Chief Executive Leeann Dempster tries to drum up support for the Well Society. She has to keep fans onside, as the collapse of that particular initiative would be as devastating as anything else for the club, as it has raised in excess of £250,000 in revenue through the very fans who are now sp adamant in their condemnation of the Newco. Without the fans’ backing, there IS no Well Society.

It’s a very clear situation that, of course, we now have to look at how the Club is run and where finance comes from. As the boys at Fir Park Corner pointed out, initiatives are there to be found, and it means all Steelmen (and all supporters of all clubs) must “do their bit”. We should be having our post and pre match pints in the Club bars, organising our social events using their facilities, coming along to games when perhaps we normally wouldn’t, and, of course, in Motherwell’s case, joining the Well Society if we can at all do so. We may have to lose a big name or two, but Motherwell FC work on that principle anyway. Stuart McCall was told when he became our boss that his remit was “a good cup run and sell a player a season”. We’ve not actually done that for two, but with our budget for players already reduced by £200,000 even with our Champions League adventure, the eyes fall on Gordon Youngs relatively successful 19s to supply us with the next generation. But perhaps that’s the rub? With all clubs cutting cloth, can  perhaps losing Rangers be, in the long run, a good thing?

As clubs in the short term have to downsize and change finances, at least to some extent, then perhaps the emergence of new Scottish talent, as begun with Bosnam, will create a National Team with a bit more bite? Grass routes football in countries like Germany and Holland have produced world beating teams, rather than the Scottish model of buying in the talent, so perhaps this is the forced sea change we require?

SPL Clubs of course, are rightfully wary. Our Sky TV deal is worth millions and whilst Sky admit ‘If Rangers are not in the SPL, that would change things for us, naturally. It would leave a quality hole in Scotland’s top division. Competition would deteriorate and, in that event, we would have to renegotiate.” they also say very strongly “Sky has never, ever discussed pulling out of covering Scottish football. We have not discussed that possibility, either with the SPL or any other footballing authority. Nor has that been on the agenda for consideration within Sky, despite all the problems and difficulties being faced by Scottish football at present.” So the TV money seems to be safe for now.

Only Kilmarnock Chairman Michael Johnstone has shown publically any sympathy for Rangers, probably making enemies out of the entire SPL in the process with the bizarre statement – “You have got to be very careful not to come in too heavily with penalties and points deductions or financial penalties going forward which actually put people off investing in that club and trying to make it healthy.How many more penalties should be piled on top of a club that is trying to recover from a desperate situation and a group of people who have no part to play in the bad things that have happened in the past?” but everyone else is a little more wary. Hearts seem too to be sympathetic with director Sergejus Fedotovas, saying: “Justice is very important but lessons learned are more valuable. Rangers’ situation has shown certain problems and many clubs see punishing Rangers as the most important objective. Scottish football should not be narrow-minded and should not put all focus on the punishment, but address the roots of the problem. Some problems are personal to individual clubs but there are a lot of systematic problems that should be addressed by acting together.”

Motherwell FC ourselves have warned very strongly of the impact of losing Rangers – in our statement we claim: “Motherwell FC are in the process of arranging a forum to discuss the issue with supporters of the club. Following that meeting, the board will meet and agree the club’s position and ultimately how we will vote if the meeting takes place as planned. The ‘Newco’ issue is often portrayed as a straight choice between preserving sporting integrity and clubs accepting a reduction in gate money together with potentially a significant amount of commercial revenue. In reality it is far more complex than that. We are fully aware that an overwhelming majority of our fans and most others, who have so far expressed an opinion, are totally opposed to ‘Newco’ being allowed immediately back into the SPL.” and our Manager warns in an email to fans – “Reduce the budget and we naturally have to reduce the quality of player that we can bring to the club. A ‘lesser’ player equates to a ‘lesser’ product on the park for supporters. As much as we want to win football games, we also want and have a duty to entertain and give value for money. Our better players are being drained away from the SPL. Massively reduce what we spend and that is exacerbated even more. I think it would also have a serious implication to the people who work for the club off the park too. I’ve only been here eighteen months but even in that time, I can see for myself some of the great strides that have been made by the club and those that run it day-to-day to make it more fan-friendly, to improve communication and administration, to better community links, to improve the youth infrastructure and that can only happen with the budget we have currently. Reduce the budget to the level predicted and, unfortunately, a great deal of what you come to expect from your club on a day-to-day basis becomes very difficult to maintain.” but is adamant that: “Yes, I was a Rangers player and enjoyed my time at the club but my focus is on Motherwell FC. I would be saying the exact same thing if Celtic were in the same situation and again, I have gone on record as saying that. I just want what is best for Motherwell Football Club!”

The situation is an impossible one. Whilst trying to cling on to the corpse of Rangers the SPL clubs are in danger of missing the bigger picture. It’s easy for fans to say we much cut our cloth – and it’s easier for a team like Celtic who don’t rely on a 30% income from other clubs to be brave about it – but we’re not the ones keeping people in jobs and paying mortgages with those wages. However, as I keep saying, it’s not us, or you, who has done this, it’s Rangers, and, despite what we all might want, it’s already happened. This is no different than if the Old Firm had gone to England.

Scottish Football has changed, and so has how it’s run. We as a smaller club cannot now be reliant on the bigger ones. We have to control our own finances. Luckily, right now, Motherwell do. With over £500, 000 profit last season, £250,000+ from the Well Society (and rising) and Champions League football, we are in as strong a position as we could be to ride this storm. And ride it we must. If we vote the Newco in, we will suffer severe boycotts and sanctions from other clubs, most noticeably Celtic, and our own support will reduce in protest. If we show integrity, dignity and honour, we will gain support, and the SPL will pull together.

We really only have one choice, don’t we?

Forever Claret and Amber

Ed

VFTES

It’s time to make a stand