Congratulations to SPL chief executive, Neil Doncaster, who delivered a remarkable increase in the league’s TV deal with Sky and ESPN; £80m for five years until 2017. The one concession he had to trade, was the possibility that he had to subjugate the link between sporting meritocracy and the commercial imperative.
When news of the deal broke yesterday a Rangers fan was quick to suggest that Sky and ESPN would not have bid on such terms if they had any doubt Rangers would survive in the league, however, later details emerged to prove the exact opposite. The entire deal is dependent on a clause assuring Celtic play Rangers four times each season. If Rangers were eliminated from the league, or even if they failed to earn enough points after an administration penalty to finish in the top six after 33 games, the TV deal becomes invalid.
While this clause was crucial in Doncaster getting his deal it does nothing for the sporting integrity of the competition. It has been five years since Rangers finished outside the top two in the league but if they go into administration, or worse, a fire sale of assets and a point deduction is likely.
The league has now introduced a contractual ceiling on whatever penalty would be applied to a financially deviant club, irrespective of the offense. Doncaster will now also set off to find a sponsor to replace Clydesdale Bank, promising the TV exposure his deal with Sky and ESPN provides. By extension, not only will TV income be dependent on four Celtic-Rangers games per season, so too will league sponsorship income.
Can you imagine the goings-on if Rangers enter next season in administration, with a 10-point deduction and a skeleton squad? Beating Rangers, making it less likely for them to reach the top six, could cost each team in the league millions. Clubs have a clear incentive to ensure Rangers are in no danger of finishing outside the top six.
Neil Doncaster, who is likely to be financially incentivised to deliver TV money, is a member of the SPL board who would decide whether or not to admit a prepack company into the league in the event of an existing club failure. His partiality would be compromised by this deal, so too would other board members from clubs without the liquidity to cope without TV or sponsor income.
While TV broadcasters have a clear financial incentive to lobby for whatever it takes to keep Rangers buoyant, the financial incentives will touch everyone with their snout in the trough, and that includes non-TV media and referees.
This is a dreadful deal as it inserts a clause which compromises the sporting integrity of the competition. Can you imagine giving the team talk to a club, safe from relegation, about to face a Rangers team needing a win on game 33? What about the referee who makes a mistake in Rangers favour, late in the season, under similar circumstances? How would Sky, ESPN and others frame the debate in the event of Rangers going into administration?
I can understand why Sky and ESPN want clause, but the rest of us might as well chuck it.
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The Pantaloon Duck says:
22 November, 2011 at 11:18
He is free. Our favourite price!
LB
THE EXILED TIM says:
22 November, 2011 at 11:16
You could be right. That euro license issue if true sets a precident for how far the SFA/SPL are prepared to go to allow them to keep playing. I’ve seen several letters on the timternet where people have written to UEFA and the SFA but i have not seen any reponse which explains their shamless actions.
I think NL’s belated weekend comments on Bolo Zenden, sadly confirmed speculation that we wouldn’t pay him the type of money he was looking for, despite perhaps ‘passing his trial’. Neil said yes, – Peter said no?
Personally I didn’t see the attraction.
StratosphericWageRises CSC
The Pantaloon Duck says:
22 November, 2011 at 11:18
My worry is that this will mean we will be selling Matthews, we have 2 other right backs (Wilson and Cha) and despite one of them being out injured i’m not sure we need another one.
When ah were a lad,etc.
Everyone said the game was simple,and so it is.
Beat the other eleven players on the pitch.
So why are Celtic being faces with
Being regularly kicked off the park,with impunity.
Being booked,or worse,for looking at an opponent the wrong way.
A player’s heavily-pregnant missus being attacked by a mob when she is alone in the house
Another player and his dad attacked in the street
Numerous disgusting attacks on our manager and others,egged on by the meeja,culminating in a serious physical on Neil. Which thankfully didn’t happen,according to the jury.
An aforesaid meeja which continuously attacks us.
And lies about us.
Has watched a bunch of cheats on-and-off-the park steal titles from us.
Aided by the mos corrupt refereeing system ever known.
And now this.
FFS
I am hearing Celtic and Rangers were drawn out together in the practice for todays draw.
The SFA missed out by one team of giving the poor wee Rangers another cash bonanza.
Shame
LB
I have to say I am gobsmacked at the arrogance of some Celtic fans, who assume that it is the huns who would have to finish in the bottom six.
The huns have left Us in their dust trail the last three years, romping to the last 3 titles. Additionally this year, they have left Us for dead, and are walking away with the title despite having the aforementioned ‘skeleton squad’. The thought of them finishing in the bottom 6, even with a 10 point gap is utterly laughable. their performances over the last 4 years are vastly superior to ours, even allowing for the refereeing fiasco.
On thing though – this TV deal is hardly a golden handcuffs for celtic…. our Cut is likely to go up from less than 2m, to just over 2m – in line with the 24% increase doncaster has negotiated. the fact that our increased revenue is approximately in line with a home friendly game, should tell the board that we can:
a – continue to explore the possibility of playing in another league, as we are forfeiting nothing (in terms of income) by leaving the SPL.
b – now have the ability to effectively bankrupt Scottish football, as were Celtic to pull out of the SPL, the TV deal would be invalid.
LiviBhoy says:
22 November, 2011 at 11:19
LB, moving the tie to Ibrox not allowed in current rules. Arbroath could move the tie to any other stadia than Ibrox.
Celtic_First says:
22 November, 2011 at 11:17
It was not John Reid and Peter Lawwell that rid the game of those leeches, others more familiar deserve much more credit. They – good Celtic supporters as opposed commercial pawns – they have my trust and my gratitude.
clanmilartim- I discussed Lustig with a few Rosenborg fans, he is highly regarded- “an offensive player” was the term used, but prone to do some daft things now and again. Perfect for us then.
His departure to a bigger league was inevitable.
Peterhead manager Jim McInally is often seen hanging around the Gazebo on matchdays.
Kitalba
I don’t underestimate for a second the role the support played. You are right to bring that up.
goldstar10 says:
22 November, 2011 at 11:26
So a drop in replacement for Cha then.
LuxCelt
They haven’t ‘romped’ the last three titles. They won two of them on the last day and on both occasions we let ourselves down in the run-in with poor results. They only ‘romped’ the Tony Mowbray season, winning it by six points.
greenjedi 1057
That wouldnae last one weekend never mind free wi my suggestions!
Just back from walking the dog and after reading Paul67’s excellent analysis on this con tract think I need another walk to calm down!
The game is indeed a bogey.
A league that requires the cheat to survive for its own survival is not worth supporting.
Away bhoycott anyone?
Top of the morning to you all from a beautiful sunny day in the Kingdom of Fife.
The SPL’s £80 million deal would seem to suggest that the clubs who voted on this (including Celtic) were aware of the ramifications of the deal which has as a prerequisite the 4 Old Firm games.
When Rangers’ chairman is talking about administration as a distinct possibility—even a probability—then the clubs would have to take account of this factor and they could not have allowed a deal that would have penalised them financially. For some/many, this would mean sharing Rangers’ fate.
Turkeys do not vote for Christmas, but there are at least two other, major, considerations that the clubs probably have not been thought through with this “Cheats’ Charter”, that would allow Rangers to stay in the Premier League–no matter what.
When the bean-counters did their sums did they consider the possibility of an away games boycott by Celtic fans and the revenue loss this would entail? Would this loss be greater than their Sky gain?
Did they also consider that the Celtic-half of the Old Firm is only a money-spinner when those supporting the bhoys turn up in their droves. And the actions of the Celtic Board in going along with the “Cheats’ Charter” might mean that the faithful Celtic fans might just have had enough and might not be there in numbers? The Celtic fans are not fools to do the bidding of their board at any price.
Uefa will also have a say, but at the end of the day our fans have the whip hand in this. IMHO of course.
clanmalirtim- Pretty much so, bud.
Ach I take that back, Cha has been doing OK since THAT goal.
Celtic_First says:
22 November, 2011 at 11:17
I wish I had your optimism.
I would imagine that any newco would be more rabid that the old hun, they could not blame themselfs for the prediciment they are in and Timmy would be their obvious choice.
Anything less would be a bonus imo.
As for the sfa and the referees, unless there is complete accountability and transparency we will still be beholding to referees who have the hun at heart, I applaud Auldheid for what he and others are doing and the fight should not be abandoned,
but the fact they are having to fight for a level playing field says it all really.
I will reserve any judgement on a level playing field, unless we get a system like they have in Poland where every game is disected by the TV media, and wrong refereeing decisions are are rewarded with demotion.
It’s not hard to be honest.
Paul67 et al
I suppose it would be too much to expect Rangers supporters to try and get their heads round the Declaration of Arbroath while they are up there!
And so it goes. Some posters have made up their minds. Others want to wait and see.
I like the fact some want to wait and see. I’m sure those same people wanted to wait and see when the last shirt sponsorship deal came up. Our board knew our feelings. They knew full well no-one wanted Guilt by Association with Rangers, and for a measly few extra quid they utterly ignored our wishes.
Let’s take Celtic out of this for a moment though, hard as that is. Let’s just look at this without doing so through the eyes of our own club.
Doncaster and the clubs, like Celtic over the sponsorship deal, have, at a time when the fans are starting to utterly lose interest in the “product”, purely and simply have over-rode the wishes of those fans. The supporters, up and down the country, are broadly in favour of league reconstruction which ends this “playing teams four times” nonsense, and that’s what it is, pure nonsense.
Their wishes, their views, have been totally run over. Doncaster and his people have elevated television to a position of ultimate authority in the game. Not only does it dictate when games are played, but now it has a veto over league reconstruction and even on the teams which can finish in the top six.
As I said last night, when we’ve been relegated to no more status than that of customers, valued ONLY for our money, then the one weapon we have left is to withold that money. For a few measly quid in the present day, these people would see the national sport stagnate. The disastrously bad quality of the playing environment in which we operate has been assured for the next ten or more years. The game here WILL continue to go backwards. Fans will desert in droves. Clubs WILL go to the wall.
Neil Doncaster has signed the death warrant of the Scottish game. The fans no longer matter. It’s official. And when the fans no longer matter, what incentive is there for them to attend to watch a bent league race fought out by the same two teams each year?
It’s all over. I say again what I did last night. I will NEVER AGAIN pay to watch an SPL fixture. If TV is our God, then that’s where I’ll view them. The idea of giving money, a single penny, to these teams, to continue this farce …. I have better ways to spend it.
Celtic_First says:
22 November, 2011 at 11:26
I was acknowledging two intrepid supporters in particular, who, with the support of the global family, drove the stake into the heart of the beast.
Unfortunately… one stake is not enough.
When does the Tennents deal run out anyone ?
Just wondering where, the next act of betrayal will come from ?
Hail! Hail!
Not posted in a long time but I can’t get this tune out of my head. Here’s my contribution for a song for young Victor
VictorWanyama,
He’s gunna find ya, He’s gunna get ya, He’s gunna eat ya,
There on the out skirts of his kingdom
So keep your head down
Victor-Victor-Wanyama!
Hail Hail!
Is there any chance the SFA would punish Rangers according to transparent published criteria and proportional to the years of tax avoidance/evasion which they could be found guilty of ? I just want a statement to be made to them that you should follow the same rules as everybody else, not a fudge and whatever happens to us , I’ll still support celtic, the truth is we won’t be what we were for a long time to come anyway.
clanmalirtim
I honestly don’t think the will is there to expose them, that’s what hurts more than anything else.
Did Dr John not say they had info that would rock scottish football to it’s knees, or was he really saying we are up to their knees………
Barrach Obampot says:
22 November, 2011 at 11:29
Just back from walking the dog and after reading Paul67′s excellent analysis on this con tract think I need another walk to calm down!
The game is indeed a bogey.
A league that requires the cheat to survive for its own survival is not worth supporting.
Away bhoycott anyone?
share
……………………
If it comes to pass, I think most people will be bhoycotting all the games, HOME and away!
There’s a good article to write entitled:
“Would You Do Business With This Company?”
I just can’t be arsed writing it.
Big Nan, how’s it going?
Absolutely, why should Celtic fans continue spending their hard earned cash at clubs who’s only instinct is survival with no concern for sporting integrity?
Off topic, the deleted COPFS data should still be held by the Scottish Police Services Authority apparently. I’ve asked my MSP to contact them for it.
The Exiled Tim
If it was us, lots of people on here would be saying: “Newco won’t get a penny from me. That’s not my club.”
I might be one of them.
Times are tough. Football can swallow up a substantial amount of family budgets. We cannot help the ties that bind us to the club we love and we make whatever sacrifices we can.
However, should someone come along and say, ‘know how you gave money and support to Celtic, well, we’re now called Newco, can we still have your money and support?’ those sacrifices would become much harder to make and much harder to justify indoors.
This must be a factor for Rangers people too. I feel strongly that we should put across the message that the Newco club (a guy on RTC this morning suggested calling them the Govan Dodgers) will not really be Rangers. It will be good for us and good for Scotland to move on.
The new TV contract may be identical to previous contracts in that ESPN / Sky want 4 Celtic – Rangers games to broadcast but to say that nothing has changed is surely missing the point.
Previously you could put your mortgage on Celtic and Rangers finishing in the top six thus guaranteeing the four games. Given an even playing field – and assuming – dangerous I know that Rangers enter administration, take a hefty point deduction (something between 10 and 25), have to sell on players thereby reducing the quality of their squad and compromising their ability to compete for top honours, then the place is the top six is not a foregone conclusion. It follows that the scenarios outlined in Paul’s article could well become a reality and teams and referees find themselves in positions in which difficult decisions will be taken – personal and sporting integrity not withstanding.
It is an outrageous position to be in and an outrageous contract.
What next? Oh, I know. Maybe Rangers will go into administration. Maybe they will be relegated to Div 3. Why not include a clause that in such a scenario Celtic are contracted to finish in a relegation spot immediately. Given that Rangers will get promotion to Div 2 then we’d have the 4 derby games the following season in Div 2. That’s only one season without playing them. Hold the back page!! I forgot about the two cup competitions. A wee Celtic / Rangers mid November in the CIS Cup – that’s one. Good. A maybe Scottish Cup semi in March could be arranged. Better still – a final at the end of the season. Just to remind us what we’re missing.
To cover the missing derby games we could – hmmmmmm. Let’s think outside the box. Yes! We could play Rangers in America ……wait a minute!
James Forrest is Lennon says:
22 November, 2011 at 11:34
James, people will have a very big choice to make – a lifestyle and emotional change. It is perfectly sensible to see if the reporting of this new deal is accurate or not with regards to the top 6 finish etc.
I want to hear from the club before I make my renewal/otherwise decision.
Off oot.
Apathy reigns.
May God Bless ‘Every’ Celtic Fan
Serenity
Just scrolled back to read your work again. Brilliant!
James Forrest is Lennon says:
22 November, 2011 at 11:34
Nobody here knows the wording of this much reported clause. If it’s as you and many believe I’m right with you.
If, as I suspect it is, it is merely stating that SKY get to broadcast our derby games and not ESPN. I’ll carry on as normal.
As I’ve postulated elsewhere any other suggestion is unworkable. You don’t know until halfway through the season whether any team is likely to finish outside the top 6. SKY can’t change a whole season’s deal at the halfway point, so it would only apply to the last few fixtures in that season (ie nto a massive drop in income for other clubs) or in the following season via negotiation. Negotiations which could collapse allowing another broadcaster access to all four derby games again, why SKY wouldn’t allow. Status quo would be maintained.
As this is turning into a complete farce shouldn’t the league be renamed the Scottish Pantomime League?
James Forrest is Lennon 22 November, 2011 at 11:34:
You can’t see what the TV deal means for us the fans?
It means that us the supporters of Celtic have all the power.
Even if the board go behind our backs or refuse to take action against this carve up we can destroy the league.
Worst case scenario unfolds and then we can make Celtic finish below 6th in the league, even get relegated.
35,000 fans on the pitch every home game preventing the game from kicking off.
We lose then everybody loses. Hunnish but we’ve been pushed too far.
Bye bye Scottish football.
Just heard Doncaster on Talksport. he must have been asked 5 or 6 times….so that mean them and Celtic will always be in SPL.
Each and every time he danced his way around it. Not once did he say yes; equally he did not say no.
So I think a lot of jumping to conclusions on comments above which may not be wholly correct.
If Celtic sign up to allow them back in of they enter administration I am packing it up.
Good article Paul
Do these guys in charge not realise that unless their is root and branch change in the way the game is run then the game is a bogey?
I posted this on RTC and I think it brings out a key issue for the game’s survival.
Barcabhoy 3:33
The 3 conditions for ensuring the future probity of Rangers AND Scottish football viz;
Specific rigorous Licencing procedures.
Rigorous fit and proper ownership rules
Making refereeing a service based on performance measured by the customer (the SPL) and not the provider (the SFA/refs)
Are known at Celtic. The form needs thrashing out but the principles have been noted.
Exclusion from UEFA money is a punishment that also deters the inclination of Rangers to overstretch and that is important.
But (and there is ae a But) no measures will have the same healing effect than if Rangers themself confessed to making mistakes and showed some contrition over them.
I see no sign of this from Rangers,their support or the media. What I see is the use of “rules” to make something that is ethically/morally wrong, not wrong. Scrupulous and literal as opposed to going beyond the rules and looking at the underpinning ethic.
An indication that ethics were playing a part would be Rangers themselves giving up the titles from 2000 to date, not having that kind of punishment (which although unlikely would remove the feeling amongst the Celtic support at least that the burglar was still keeping the swag) forced on them, but accepting the judgement of reasonable men that they had in fact done wrong, would imho be a game changer.
It would be an ethical act of sacrifice and rehabilitation to rescue Rangers and Scottish football from the past.