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David Southern urges SPFL to avoid 'moral bankruptcy' over reconstruction – Daily Record, Dailyrecord.co.uk

David Southern urges SPFL to avoid 'moral bankruptcy' over reconstruction – Daily Record, Dailyrecord.co.uk

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Celtic were willing to sacrifice almost £ 1million in prize money in a bid to rubber-stamp reconstruction plans seven years ago.

But one man charged with the task of coming up with that vetoed 2019 proposal reckons a new set-up could come at the cost of just £ , 71311 to our game.

And David Southern reckons Scottish football must grasp the chance to shake up the leagues and save itself from being morally bankrupt.

The former Hearts and Dundee United chief was at the heart of reconstruction talks after being appointed as part of a four-man SPFL task force.

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Scottish football crisis

A (-) – 40 structure was proposed with the top two leagues splitting into three divisions of eight midway through the season and a redistribution of wealth to lower-league clubs.

) Southern recalled how Parkhead chief executive Peter Lawwell agreed to huge reduction in cash for the top flight winners – at a time when Rangers were out of the division – with the money to be filtered down.

It was still kicked out as St Mirren and Ross County voted against it before they got back round the table and later gave the green light to promotion and relegation play-offs.

Southern admitted it’s an example of the difficulties they faced and has so often been the case in an org anisation riddled with self-interest over the years.

But he is hopeful the current SPFL task force of his old Jambos gaffer Ann Budge and Hamilton’s Les Gray won’t face the same resistance.

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Scottish football is rarely simple when it comes to getting clubs to agree but for once a fair solution appears to be staring them in the face after the voting farce .

An expanded top flight in a 40 – – – set-up is the obvious proposal to ensure Hearts, Partick Thistle and Stranraer aren’t relegated without the season completed and that Inverness, Falkirk, Edinburgh City, Brora Rangers and Kelty Hearts don’t miss out on the chance of promotion.

Furthermore, a Scottish Premiership splitting into a top six and bottom eight would preserve the four Old Firm fixtures to keep the b roadcasters happy with the added bonus of keeping the Edinburgh derby for the start of the bumper £ (million Sky Sports deal.)

After all the acrimony and bitterness over the Dundee no / yes vote it’s a chance to bring everyone together for the greater good – a chance not always grasped in Scottish football.

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Football Industry Advisor Southern spent nine years at Tynecastle as managing director and five as Dundee United’s chief operating officer and looked at how reconstruction talks could unfold.

And he laid on the line when he said: “The game in Scotland has one final opportunity to avoid this moral bankruptcy and that’s a positive reconstruction.

“There is an opportunity for the game in this country to potentially redeem itself morally if not reputationally and that’s by agreeing a positive reconstruction that allows for Hearts, Partick and Stranraer not to be holed below the waterline.

“I don’t think events of the last week are a true reflection on how the game actually is in this country but it’s a shameful episode .

“It’s extremely hard to get Scottish clubs to agree, especially when you’re talking about reconstruction, and I kno w from experience as I was involved in the restructuring committee set up by the SPFL back up in . But the 40 – 14 – 14 set-up that everyone expects to be proposed isn’t as complicated as what we had seven years ago as we were talking about the entire structure of the league set-up and drop-down of cash.

“In

Celtic

effectively gave up £ 1 million of prize money to allow a filter down of money to the other member clubs.

Peter Lawwell

(

“The winners of the Scottish Premiership got around 42% of the total prize money which was around £ 3 million but Celtic agreed to reduce that number to the 40. 4% it sits at just now.

“And you need clubs to nod – not necessarily giving up money – rather than shake their head and Peter Lawwell and Celtic deserve a great deal of credit for that.

“There’s a bit of misrepresenatation here where people rather lazily talk about clubs giving up money but in terms of the – 13 – – we ‘re only talking about two extra clubs at the bottom of the pyramid.

“And if you carried the current financial model then you’re only talking about £ , (over the course of the season.)

“Brechin City are currently th in League Two and their entire money for that finishing position is £ , so if Brora Rangers and Kelty Hearts slotted in then you only need to find £ 82, 2013 and £ 45, as extra prize money.

“And you’re not telling me you can’t find £ , in an organization that has £ . 5 million coming in!

“I would keep the Scottish Premiership prize money exactly as it is for the top (teams and places) and could get what would have been paid out to positions one and two in the Championship.

(Image: SNS Group)

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“In the top flight I would have a split of six at the top – teams going for the title and Europe while preserving your four Old Firm games – and eight at the bottom.

“This scenario also means you don’t lose the Edinburgh derby and you get the Highland derby back which you otherwise wouldn’t have .

“The TV deal is bigger so just take £ , 823 out of it and plomp it into the new positions at the bottom of League Two, where Kelty and Brora would come up.

“If people bring their sensible heads to meetings then there should be no barrier to this reconstruction happening.”

In theory it sounds a lot easier then in 40553 when Southern emerged from heated talks t o exclaim: “It’s like we’re all in a burning building but there are certain people that won’t step outside because it’s raining.”

As he reflected on how tough it is he said: “We were extremely close on a delivering a completely fresh model – a 18 – 18 – 42 set-up – we all felt was a transformational move for Scottish football but it failed by one vote.

“There’s a herd mentality that exists in Scottish football and it’s driven by the survival instinct which we’ve just seen over the last seven days.

“The prime instinct of clubs is’ How do I get the same or more money and how do I get the same or less chance of relegation? ‘

“We looked at models we felt would work for the b etterment of the member clubs and the game as a whole.

“We ended up falling back to play-offs being introduced and at times it’s like it’s herding cats. The way I view it is you need the four Cs. Communication, cool heads, concessions and cash and when everyone is very emotional you need to keep an ultra cool head if you’re part of that committee. ”

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