Mark Hateley: Neil Doncaster and Stewart Regan.............

[ian1964 10,625]

............. are two of the biggest problems in Scottish football

 

 

SCOTTISH football is in crisis and the SPL and SFA chiefs are not the men with the solution.

 

 

 

NEIL DONCASTER and Stewart Regan.

 

Two of my English countrymen who have come up here and donâ??t have a clue about Scottish football.

 

And two of my countrymen who this morning should not be in power at the SPL and SFA.

 

For fear of stating the obvious, Scottish football has massive problems.

 

The reasons for this are widespread but it has been proven this week Doncaster and Regan, Iâ??m afraid, are not up to the jobs of sorting it out.

 

Take Doncaster first. The whole sorry mess of the SPL vote meeting at Hampden on Monday was a shambles.

 

When the reconstruction plan was put on the table a couple of months ago, my automatic reaction back then was it wouldnâ??t get through.

 

The catastrophic circumstances of people catcalling on the steps of the National Stadium saying there was nowhere else to go defied belief. I would have thought that, if you had an intelligent set of people behind the scenes, you would have a Plan A and Plan B.

 

This date was known for a long time and so was the prospect an 11-1 majority was in doubt.

 

Having just one plan at their disposal for all of this time and not having worked on something as a back-up is beyond me. It find it impossible to comprehend.

 

It was assumed the so-called big clubs would get around the table and browbeat doubters into accepting the proposal with no other outcome considered.

 

St Mirren and Ross County made their stance for whatever reason. Itâ??s their rightful decision but we have known for a while that was a possibility. Who are others to question their motives?

 

The point is it was always on the cards and Iâ??m in still in shock that no one had prepared for that outcome.

 

You have to ask yourself how that has been allowed to happen. At the SPL, chief executive Doncaster is a man of no power. He claims he serves the football clubs and does what they want but thatâ??s a cop-out.

 

The man at the head should be a leader. Yes, heâ??s there to serve the clubs but that also means having ideas, pushing the agendas, driving things forward, making things happen.

 

You need to be a strong person who can win over people and get ideas across.

 

Doncaster strikes me as someone who is just happy to be pointed around by the clubs and having no real input of his own.

 

As for Regan, the SFA have sat there doing what during this time? I understand he was unable to just charge in and get involved because, as he points out rightly, this was a situation for the leagues to sort out.

 

But knowing there was a good chance of them not being able to do so, Regan and the SFA should have been working on a Plan B in the background.

 

Be proactive. Especially knowing there was disgruntlement within the clubs.

 

It should have been on him to have something else organised in the event that, as transpired, the reconstruction wasnâ??t agreed.

 

The SFA came out on Wednesday night saying they were now prepared to get involved. That statement should have included the blueprint for a new plan. Something from the SFA for the clubs to get their teeth into immediately having suspected in advance the majority vote among the SPL was not going to come.

 

To be fair, if Doncaster and Regan left this morning and the biggest and best league fixer in the whole of world football took charge, heâ??d identify the problem right away.

 

What would be his first stipulation before heâ??d come to Scotland to get sponsorship and revive the game? Get Rangers back into the top flight.

 

Listen, before I go any further and people accuse me of bias, Iâ??d like to say what Rangers did was bad.

 

They were in the wrong and deserved to be punished. Even as my old club, I know fine well they deserve to be where they are and should spend the next two years fighting their way back.

 

But people are being asked to look at the bigger picture so consider this. Last weekend Record Sport spoke to Francisco Roca, the head of La Liga.

 

He was asked if he could envisage his league flourishing without either Barcelona or Real Madrid. He said it was unthinkable. And he was right.

 

Outside of these borders what is Scottish football? Itâ??s the Old Firm.

 

What attracts sponsors like the Clydesdale Bank or Sky? The Old Firm.

 

Spain canâ??t flourish without one of the big two. Do you know how much Spanish clubs owe the taxman? 900m euros. Atletico Madrid have 160m.

 

They keep wiping Realâ??s debt. I think itâ??s been three or four times under their current management. Why? Because the whole La Liga structure would implode without Barca or Real.

 

In the same way you canâ??t revive Scottish football without Celtic and Rangers together. The SPL is the jewel in the crown and in any form of reconstruction they must get their two big clubs back in tandem.

 

Rangers were in the wrong and by rights should be forced to get back under their own steam. But Scottish football needs a blank canvas right now to drag it back into the light.

 

And, with a blank canvas, you can do what you like.

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/mark-hateley-neil-doncaster-stewart-1840656

[der Berliner 3,564]

Listen, before I go any further and people accuse me of bias, I’d like to say what Rangers did was bad.

 

They were in the wrong and deserved to be punished. Even as my old club, I know fine well they deserve to be where they are and should spend the next two years fighting their way back.

 

Mark, just to let you know: Rangers ... are the victims of Murray's and Lloyds' ill management, the criminal that is Craig Whyte, HMRC's long-running and apparently ill-adviced EBT chase, and Scottish football's inability to help the club it needs most. People may say that "they did wrong", but they should also go on and tell the facts. Else we end up with half-truths again, half-truths that grew and grow arms and legs in this fair country.

[ian1964 10,625]

It's really annoying and very disappointing to hear ex players talk like that,there is enough Rangers haters around without him adding to it. He is correct though regarding Dungcaster & Rhegan