SPFL double standards? Hearts attack and silence over Sevco
Perhaps the Hearts chief should have refused to pay an SPFL fine, announced a £2.5m going concern issue in the club accounts or issued a threat to their fellow members?
Budge’s questioning was met with an incredibly detailed statement to STV, a more detailed statement than the SPFL issued for the launch of the League Cup with no indication of when the final will be played.
Amid the statement the un-named SPFL person claimed: “Specifically, three officials at Heart of Midlothian FC as well as two from Motherwell FC received emails at 2pm, and again at 4pm, on Monday 7 December 2015, seven and a half hours ahead of the announcement being made public.
“Furthermore it’s worth noting that both Heart of Midlothian and Motherwell approved the BT broadcasting deal by written resolution at a meeting of the Premiership clubs on 10 September 2015, which made specific reference to the Group Stage for the League Cup (with the exception of the bonus point, which was debated and approved by the Competitions Working Group and the SPFL Board).
“This subject was widely trailed at general meetings where both Heart of Midlothian and Motherwell were present, over the past year.
“Consultation with member clubs on a possible new format for the Scottish League Cup began as early as 21 October 2014 when, during a general meeting of all 42 clubs at Hampden, we announced that this topic would be explored by a competitions working group made up from representatives of member clubs, including Motherwell. Heart of Midlothian and Motherwell were both represented at this meeting.
“At subsequent general meetings held on both 19 January 2015 and 23 April 2015, each attended by Heart of Midlothian and Motherwell, all 42 clubs were again fully consulted on the considerations and recommendations of the working group, including a possible new July group stage format and potential broadcaster interest in this.”
Displaying a new level of accountability and transparency the SPFL may wish to publish the Five Way Agreement of 2012 which Neil Doncaster signed upto.
While they are there they can also explain to 11 Championship clubs the licensing criteria that allows one club to continue to take part in the competition after having a £2.5m going concern warning published in their accounts four months into the season.
As a final act of transparency they could also call in South African based criminal Dave King to explain his comments on November 12 of: “It is extraordinary that representatives of other Scottish clubs – who admit the damage done to Scottish football by Rangers’ removal from the Premier League – should even wish to re-engage with this issue. It is time those individuals, who represent other clubs, recognise their legal and fiduciary responsibilities to their own clubs and shareholders rather than submit to the uninformed ramblings of a few outspoken fans to whom attacking Rangers is more important than the well being of their own clubs.”
“This is a misguided attempt (that will ultimately fail) to rewrite history and defeat Rangers off the park when their teams could not do so on the park at the time. The history of many other clubs would have to be rewritten if this illogical argument was to be consistently applied.
“Having reviewed documentation that has become available to me I believe that Rangers was harshly and, in some instances, unfairly treated in the period leading up to demotion from the Premier League. However, that is now history and I have publicly stated, with the full support of the recently installed board, that we wish to put the past behind us and move on in partnership with all clubs throughout Scotland to improve and restore the image and quality of Scottish football as a whole. This will be to the benefit of all clubs.”
Having body-swered Mr King I suspect that the SPFL may have backed the wrong horse attacking Budge, if it came to a popularity contest among football fans between the Hearts chief and Doncaster the outcome would be overwhelming.