ian1964 10,761 Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 Scottish Football League clubs will on Wednesday vote on a proposed merger with the Scottish Premier League. The support of 22 clubs is required for the motion to be approved and an initial show of hands at last month's AGM reflected only 16 in favour. If the merger does not go ahead, the 10 Division One sides may create a second tier under the auspices of the SPL. Revised financial distribution and more end-of-season play-offs are also part of the proposal to be voted on. Scottish Football Association chief executive Stewart Regan described the gathering of Division One, Two and Three clubs as "probably the biggest day we have had in the last 12 months since we had the fall-out of the Rangers matter last summer". "Reconstruction will always be an issue," he added. "Across Uefa, 25% of top-tier leagues have had changes within the last eight years, so you can see that you never stand still. You always look for continuous improvement. "What is important for us is to get a single league body, a fairer distribution of income, play-offs introduced to get some excitement and to put in the parachute payments and pyramid system that will drive the game forward. "The vote is massive for Scottish football because, if approved, it will allow us to take the game forward." Various attempts over the past few seasons to bring all 42 senior clubs under the one banner have proved unsuccessful and Wednesday's vote is almost certainly the last chance to achieve a merger in time for season 2013-14. However, a new 22-club set-up of two divisions known as the Scottish Professional Football League and involving the current SPL and First Division One sides could be brought about quickly if the motion fails. Either way, Scottish football would begin the new season with four divisions - a top flight of 12 and three leagues of 10. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22864944 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,761 Posted June 12, 2013 Author Share Posted June 12, 2013 SFA chief Stewart Regan has pleaded with SFL clubs for a summer of peace. The 30 SFL clubs vote on league reconstruction at Hampden today and Regan is optimistic they will back the plan for change. An informal poll at the SFL’s AGM last month went against the merger. The signs are that many clubs have since changed their minds and the plan is likely to get the 22-7 majority required. Regan, speaking after yesterday’s SFA AGM, said: “I am more optimistic than I’ve been at any other time in the last six months. “I think we’re in a much brighter place. “There’s been a lot of work done and lot of concessions made between the leagues. “We’re now at the 11th hour. The clock is ticking towards the start of the new season and decisions have to be made. “If we wait any longer there won’t be change for all 42 clubs. “It’s not about divisiveness or break-aways — we’ve had too much of that. “It’s about doing what’s right and the closer we get, the more I’m starting to pick up the vibe that clubs are seeing the sense in that. “I think we’re all tired of the falling out, the acrimony and the debate on non-footballing matters. “The last thing we need is another summer of it. “Scotland seems to thrive on acrimony and bitterness within football but we’ve got to get away from that.” New East Fife owner Lee Murray feels that way and says his club will now back the plan. Stirling Albion operations director Stuart Brown said: “We’ve concluded the club has no option but to vote in favour.” Plans for a new Lowland League were unanimously agreed at the AGM but the pyramid structure won’t begin until the end of season 2014-15. Read more: http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/4964873/Regan-begs-SFL-clubs-to-give-us-peace.html#ixzz2Vz6sKjck 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie 8,651 Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 Interesting to see The Sun omit any comment from clubs opposed to the proposals. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilledbear 16 Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 Interesting to see The Sun omit any comment from clubs opposed to the proposals. What is disappointing but completely predictable, in League reconstruction and the whole Rangers saga, is the media reporting. Very few report both sides of the story and even then it's facts and figures, no insightful or intelligent opinion pieces. The vast majority of the media are skewed in one direction and never give their readers or viewers the whole story. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Berliner 3,803 Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 It beggars belief that it all looks like these naughty little clubs hold the SPL and SFA to ransom, can't see that what is being done is for the "good of the game". And had not the Annan chairman raised the real points in the Scotsman, hardly anyone would know what apparently really happens. SFA chief Stewart Regan has pleaded with SFL clubs for a summer of peace. That's a right smack in the face of those who did nothing wrong here. The SPL goes to the wall and has debts galore, they are responsible for the trouble that has blighted Scottish football since early last season ... and they walk away as the good guys? Maybe this is not appropriate, but this very much reminds me of people singing pro-British songs getting sentenced, while those singing IRA-bile walk away scotch-free. I also find it utterly astonishing that these SFL1 clubs essentially try to bully the rest into accepting the deal as it stands with their thread of walking away ... with the open (and IMHO illegal) acceptance of the SPL and SFA. The SFL should stand firm here and if it all comes to fore, set up their system beyond this SPFL, restructure the regional leagues below them, make their own deals with the media and reap the rewards of the blue pound for at least another season. And, BTW, they should also ask UEFA about their primary right to European places as well. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,761 Posted June 12, 2013 Author Share Posted June 12, 2013 Scottish Football League clubs will on Wednesday vote on a proposed merger with the Scottish Premier League. The support of 22 clubs is required for the motion to be approved and an initial show of hands at last month's AGM reflected only 16 in favour. If the merger does not go ahead, the 10 Division One sides may create a second tier under the auspices of the SPL. Revised financial distribution and more end-of-season play-offs are also part of the proposal to be voted on. Scottish Football Association chief executive Stewart Regan described the gathering of Division One, Two and Three clubs as "probably the biggest day we have had in the last 12 months since we had the fall-out of the Rangers matter last summer". "Reconstruction will always be an issue," he added. "Across Uefa, 25% of top-tier leagues have had changes within the last eight years, so you can see that you never stand still. You always look for continuous improvement. "What is important for us is to get a single league body, a fairer distribution of income, play-offs introduced to get some excitement and to put in the parachute payments and pyramid system that will drive the game forward. "The vote is massive for Scottish football because, if approved, it will allow us to take the game forward." Various attempts over the past few seasons to bring all 42 senior clubs under the one banner have proved unsuccessful and Wednesday's vote is almost certainly the last chance to achieve a merger in time for season 2013-14. However, a new 22-club set-up of two divisions known as the Scottish Professional Football League and involving the current SPL and First Division One sides could be brought about quickly if the motion fails. Either way, Scottish football would begin the new season with four divisions - a top flight of 12 and three leagues of 10. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22864944 Is that another threat?,take it or leave it! 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,761 Posted June 12, 2013 Author Share Posted June 12, 2013 Even more pressure being applied: GORDON STRACHAN was supposed to dignify the remainder of a World Cup qualification campaign that was already in tatters before he’d even arrived at Hampden. And the Scotland boss did just that by guiding his side to a win over Croatia in Zagreb last Friday night. Yesterday afternoon the SFA’s chief executive claimed Strachan and his players might also have created the feelgood factor that rewrites Scottish football history by merging the SFL and the SPL after a meeting this morning. Regan sat on the plane carrying the official party back from a trip to Croatia that was doom laden on departure and detected an entirely different atmosphere on touchdown. And now he’s willing to declare himself as more optimistic than at any time over the last six months that warring factions can be brought together in the spirit of unity and harmony that has been fostered with the help of a single Robert Snodgrass goal. A year ago the chief executive was bogged down in the fall-out from Rangers’ removal to the Third Division after a summer of division and acrimony. Now his mood has been lightened. He said: “Everyone in the game is tired of turmoil. The last thing we need is any more falling out or acrimony. “The First Division clubs could go to the SPL and a breakaway could occur unless there’s a positive outcome to the SFL meeting to discuss merging with the SPL. “But I’m picking up on a vibe that people are willing to make concessions because they know the clock’s ticking. “And if the right outcome isn’t achieved at the SFL’s extraordinary general meeting then the radical changes we need to make for the start of next season won’t be able to go through. “What happened at the game against Croatia has given everyone the impetus to dot the i’s and cross the t’s so far as re-organisation is concerned. “Scottish football can sometimes give the impression that it thrives on acrimony and we need to get away from that image. “A breakaway of First Division clubs might be legal but does it create the right landscape for progress within the game? “The SFA supports the five principles of a single league body – fairer financial distribution, the introduction of play-offs, parachute payments and a pyramid system. “We’ve worked on delivering those for the last two-and-a-half years and the Lowland League gives us a key component of the pyramid structure.” Regan’s words were echoed by SFA president Campbell Ogilvie, who said; “The unanimous approval of a Lowland League is a major step forward for league reconstruction. “We need to create opportunities for those clubs currently outwith the senior set-up to aspire to emulate the success of Inverness Caley Thistle and Ross County on a meritocracy. “The SFL clubs will vote on the proposals for reconstruction and it’s my wish we can all move forward this summer and work towards creating a more exciting and vibrant product.” The establishment of a Scottish Lowland League, comprised of sides from the South and East of the country as well as some junior clubs, was unanimously approved of at the SFA’s annual general meeting yesterday. It will initially comprise 10 clubs, rising to 16 in the fullness of time, and start in August. But the idea, a recommendation made by former First Minister Henry McLeish in his commissioned review of Scottish football, will be stillborn unless the SFL clubs agree to a merger with the big boys in the SPL. Regan insists the result that nobody expected in Zagreb will have the power to fix minds on achieving a positive result at today’s SFL EGM. He said: “I think back to what Scottish football was like last June when we were in the midst of all that was going on around Rangers and I believe we’re in a much brighter place today. “The feelgood factor the national team created in Croatia has lifted spirits everywhere. “Bitterness and negativity only colours the judgment in a negative way. It puts a rain cloud above everyone’s head and stops them from focusing on the future. “I felt a real buzz coming back on the Scotland plane from Zagreb.” The sarcastic response to that statement might have been to say that the reason for the afterglow was the fact that Regan was changing planes on arrival in Glasgow and heading directly to Dublin to join his son’s stag party. But the chief executive was genuinely being optimistic and should be praised for that, considering the flak he got for once saying that if Rangers went down to the Third Division it would lead to “Armageddon” within Scottish football. Regan’s crystal ball might have been found to be faulty so far as that gloomy prediction was concerned. It has to be hoped that yesterday he showed powers of clairvoyance when he predicted a satisfactory outcome to today’s meeting to end 123 years of SFL history and see them merged with the SPL. But Regan has a vision and it’s based in France. He said: “The formation of a Lowland League creates a pathway for a club to go, like Auxerre, from a public park to the Champions League. “We want to help clubs to better themselves and the Lowland League gives them a great platform to do that.” And if it happens, Strachan and Snodgrass will both be able to take a bow in peace somewhere. RHecord 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aweebluesoandso 290 Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 The SFL clubs were only given partial due diligence disclosure yesterday, very little time to digest the contents. Also where there is gaps in the disclosure like the SKY tv contract they have merely added SPL high level personsonal endorsements. What an cop out and cheek to expect chairmen to vote on the say so of the people who stand to gain the most from the takeover of the SFL. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gunslinger 3,366 Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 is anyone else a bit bored of all this and just doesn't care what they decide. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilledbear 16 Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 is anyone else a bit bored of all this and just doesn't care what they decide. Getting that way as well, in the long run Rangers could be in the Glasgow Junior League and I would still Support the 'Gers. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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