Doncaster issues challenge to fans
General Sport - Leaders Sport Summit 2012 - Stamford Bridge - 11/10/12 (From left to right) Karen Espelund, Executive Committee Member of UEFA, Neil Doncaster, chief Executive Officer of the Scottish Premier league and Heather Rabbatts, Non-Executive Director of The FA during a talk called "Governance: Are you serious?" Mandatory Credit: Action Images / Paul Childs Livepic
Neil Doncaster has promised to sit down with Supporter Groups to explain why clubs from Ibrox get treated differently to all other clubs.
It remains to be seen if the SPFL Chief will meet up for recorded meetings with the Scottish Football Supporters Association, the Celtic shareholders behind Resolution 12 or representatives of the Scottish Football Monitor.
Doncaster was unusually hesitant yesterday in media interviews with his usual confidence posted missing.
With the threat of a Judicial Review hanging over his head the man that led Norwich to League One in 2009 knows that the clouds are gathering with his credibility for a similar job elsewhere shot to pieces.
As Resolution 12 has proven supporters know their stuff. While Doncaster may try bamboozling the type of fan that calls the Daily Record hotline or Super Scoreboard meeting up with those that have pieced the jigsaw together is another matter.
“Rod Mackenzie [SPFL lawyer] and I are happy to meet with supporter groups who have concerns,” Doncaster told the state broadcaster.
“There is a great deal of misunderstanding about what has happened here.”
There certainly is Neil, there certainly is.
Ahead of any meeting with supporters perhaps the SPFL chief could explain the following:
a) The failure to publish the Five Way Agreement of 2012 in which he signed up for on behalf of the SPL
b) When the SPL set up the Nimmo Smith enquiry it was to review contracts from July 1998. Why when the report came back did it start from November 2000 neatly avoiding the Discount Option Schemes that the club had admitted guilt for involving Tore Andre Flo and Ronald de Boer.
c) At the time of the Nimmo Smith enquiry the club had admitted their guilt in five ‘EBT’ cases including Nacho Novo and Dado Prso. Nimmo Smith’s entire report was based on EBTs being legal and available to other clubs. That was clearly not the case.
Ladbrokes, Betfred, Mitre and Irn-Bru are the major sponsors of Ralph Topping, Neil and friends at the SPFL.