As reported by Vital Rangers already, the current dispute between the club and the SPFL is unlikely to be going down well with league sponsors Cinch, however, it would appear that they aren’t the only ones who are unhappy about the saga.
In case you have missed it, the latest disagreement surrounds Rangers refusal to display the SPFL’s record breaking partner’s name on their shirts, advertising boards and around Ibrox, believing that it conflicts with contracts that they already have in place – as revealed by Stewart Robertson, quite clearly in an open letter. A matter now in the hands of the SFA, don’t hold your breath on any neutrality.
The governing body doesn’t appear to have much of a leg to stand on and with the details revealed by our managing director not helping Neil Doncaster’s case, The 4th Official – with 41,000 Twitter followers – has revealed on their Patreon blog that the SPFL’s CEO is likely to be facing some tough questions from member clubs:
“I had a talk with someone working at a club below the Premiership level (obviously the name shall not be revealed by me), and he was confident that Doncaster will have a lot to answer. First, why did the SPFL go ahead with the cinch deal without getting a resolution with Rangers? Second, why will an outside agency be paid a commission of around £508,000 of this £8m (over 5 years) deal when there are executives in the SPFL tasked with this job? Why is Doncaster being paid around £400k then?
“If cinch pulls out of this deal (as would be their right), could they sue the SPFL for not giving them the full facts before signing the dotted lines?
“Another layer of uncertainty plagues the SPFL and it is difficult to see how Doncaster survives two scandals in the space of two years.”
The fact that Doncaster is still in a job when he has failed to attract a sponsor on more than one occasion beggars belief, that he then finally manages to get one for which he assumed full credit, only for Rangers to reveal that it was a third party that got it over the line raises serious questions about his competence.
Is the SPFL executive fit for purpose?
Yes
No
When you consider that Sweden’s title sponsor Unibet paid $200million for a 12-year contract compared to our £8m five-year deal, it gives another indication that we just aren’t selling our game properly at all – something that Rangers have raise on more than on occasion.
The CEO’s primary role is to attract investment into Scottish football, not to pay others to do it for him, anyone could do that, and for a lot less than £400k a year, once, during a pandemic is forgivable but it’s clear to see that Doncaster is holding the game back in Scotland rather than contributing to it’s improvement, this is a battle he surely won’t win.