9 Jul 2012

Will there be a Hampden vote on Friday 13th?

Will there not? Will there be a meeting even? Nothing is certain. My sources inside the Scottish Football League reckon that the voting for Division 3 is pretty much around the 50-50 mark right now. But any amount of events across coming days can alter that and probably will.

On the question of a vote being by-passed, positions only seem to be hardening. A key senior source from the Scottish Premier League called me first thing this morning, after my weekend blogs. Asking for anonymity this person said the idea that there would be no vote is “inconceivable”.

At any rate, expect motions on the day to re-draw the infamous section two of the David Longmuir letter which states that the SFL board may simply bypass a vote from the clubs and shoe-horn “Rangers” into Division 1. Meanwhile, expect all kinds of jockeying around the language and its intent as the days pass to Friday.

At least one club chairman was taken aback the possibility of members’ reserve power in the SFL rulebook which states:

“25.1 The Members may, by resolution duly passed at a general meeting of the Members, direct the Board to take, or refrain from taking, specified action.”

That is, the members don’t need to be browbeaten by the likes of David Longmuir and his pro-Division 1 board when they can take control of the board’s action themselves – in theory.

And the board? Well, anybody concerned might wish to contact the following people:

President Jim Ballantyne (he of the “Rangers” chares you will recall); Vice-President Ewen Cameron, Chief Executive David Longmuir, Livingston Chairman Gordon McDougall, Brechin’s Kenny Ferguson, Malky Mackay from Queen’s Park, Dunfermline’s Jim Leishman, Arbroath’s Ann McKeown and Dumbarton’s Gilbert Lawrie.

I am told that as things stand, this board favours “Rangers” entering Division 1 by a large majority.

Members’ chairmen, however, are much more divided, as said, and would do well to consider under which regulation can the SFL bypass the usual procedure of inviting applications to fill a vacancy and electing the successful applicant by ballot. Equally, how can the SFL admit a company as an associate member and “agree to permit” a club that cannot provide audited accounts for the previous three years to play in the SFL?

The lack of accounts in terms of the rules should bar “Rangers” from SFA membership and thus entry to the SFL – but as we have seen, things like the rulebook are up for grabs just now.

This morning, my senior SPL source couldn’t set out just how the Premier League gets to the £16m going out of the game if it is Division 3. He said this was because of contractual confidentiality but:

“…The sponsors will wear Division 1 but Division 3 absolutely does not work for them.”

Pity it is, then, that the forebears of Mr Doncaster and Mr Regan allowed themselves to be led into a TV deal which sells Scottish football so badly short in the first place. It’s miserly compared to deals across Europe. The deal relies far too much for competition’s sake upon the Old Firm games than is comfortable, many think.

Much the same could be said , of course, for shoe-horning “Rangers ” into Division 1 against the wishes of “Rangers”, Ally McCoist personally, most “Rangers” fans, and most Scottish football fans – hell, almost every living Scots man, woman, child, dog, domestic tortoise outside Hampden Park and the newsrooms of some Glasgow tabloids.

It will be interesting to see if any mass fan protest materialises at Hampden Park on Friday. In a world where officials seem to look desperately for leadership and momentum in this argument, such action might well make a difference. There is already much talk of it, but will it all be hot air in the end?

We know from statements issued by a number of club chairmen in advance of last week’s SPL vote at which “Rangers” were uninvited into the top-flight, that fan protest in various forms has been a really important part of this debate and instrumental in shaping the thinking of key people.

Oh yes – Uefa and Fifa. Still waiting to hear what they think about all this. I hope to have something by Friday.

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