Andy’s Sting In The Tale (26/07/24) “None of it is Rocket Science” – Scottish Football Supporters Association – SFSA

Date: 26th July 2024

(Photo:@Homesoffootball)

The countdown to two things that will affect football in Scotland is set in place but you wouldn’t know about it from our red tops.
No matter, because there is a deep seated movement at hand that may hit a bump or two but it won’t go away. And it will in time bring changes for the better, either directly or indirectly but probably a mix of both.
We know from the King’s Speech that the Westminster Government will develop and introduce an Independent Regulator into English football because football down there in its constant rush for more and more cash at the top has forgotten where it has come from and its communities and core stakeholders, the fans.
Our game in Scotland suffers to a greater or lesser extent from the very same issues and indeed our SFA has issued the same parallel self-denials as those by the English FA to all who will listen.

So The SFSA, that’s us, as a union of fans could see what was happening over the border, foresaw the usual reaction from the 6^th floor and we did what any switched-on organisation would do when facing a serious crisis.
We  went on a fact find, a deep dig into anything and everything to do with our game.
‘Facts are chiels’ and all that.

So to do that we asked the audience, that’s the collective you, and listened and captured what everyone said.

Our discussions were wide-ranging on all aspects of the game and included fans from all clubs and leagues, footballers, ex footballers, managers, ex managers, sports pundits, journalists, basically anyone and everyone.
No one was excluded because we believe ‘Football is everyone’s business’.
The SFA and SPFL were invited but we got no response or direct contribution because maybe they think everything is just fine.
“Nothing to see here, move along now”.
We expected that.
However as a result of 18 months of research we have on record hundreds of hours of open discussion featuring honest thoughts from well-known football insiders  and ordinary folk too.
I think watching some of it would sometimes be very uncomfortable viewing for those who run our game but while it’s easy to castigate the blazers, that approach won’t get us anywhere.

The reality is we need to work together for the right future even if that means that both the SFA and SPFL have to cross the Rubicon of accepting one very basic tenet.

The tenet that says they have to welcome change.

So where are we?

With strong cross-party support at Holyrood and in Westminster we collectively decided to learn from the past and instead to concentrate on the positive things that will stop the long term rot and to bring in the right changes.
They were put into a document/paper and shared with Holyrood in a planned debate.
It was more a show of support than a debate.
Ben MacPherson, MSP, sponsored the presentation and Maree Todd, Sports Minister, amongst other health responsibilities chaired the meeting.
It was clear that MSP’s are united for change.
Ben’s meeting has now led to a follow up round-tabled meeting at St Andrews House on the 7^th August.
I hope it is an honest and open meeting.
I say that because I don’t think we’re there yet knowing that Scottish football has long demonstrated a severe inability to change for the better from within.
This is because it is constrained and riven by self-interest and ongoing power retention by the main players.
Self-interest is a cancer that needs to be constantly called out.
That alone would be a good start.

And yes you can argue that in Scotland we have recently got lucky in terms of International results and the resultant un-budgeted cash windfalls with Steve Clarke.
But it is a fact that our conveyor belt of talent is not what he or future managers need because of generations of under investment.
I don’t know anyone who is able to see huge grounds for optimism on our horizons.

Ask yourself.

How would Steve’s team have performed in Germany if after the teacher’s strikes in the early 80s the SFA had spotted the talent conveyor-belt problem, stepped in, and somehow found a solution.
What if we still had proper school’s football the length and breadth of the country?
Walter Smith, Craig Brown, Andy Smith Steve Clarke and others think we’d have done better. (From our research I can say people inside the game like Steve care deeply and should be part of the discussions and the solution).

And all in the open too!

All it takes to start the changes is honest and open dialogue between the right people around a big enough table with the absence of the usual tribalism and self-protection.

Disturbingly our research and digging found real collective concern about where we are headed if nothing changes.
100% of those who took part in our survey see the need for substantial change and what is effectively a reset.
All think we are in a decline that will just get worse

It was also deeply humbling to hear the thoughts and to smell the passion from football people like the late Craig Brown, Walter Smith, and also Pat Nevin and many, many others.
Because we are all ordinary fans and we all really care about the future.

So our fan-led review became a huge but effectively very simple project with willingly given input from a cast of thousands and the amazing unifier we discovered was an understanding of how self-interest has become way too dominant.

At the end of today’s Sting after my Albums of the week I have listed the 15 conclusions and also the 22 linked recommendations we published and the full report is on our web site.

As a wee taster here are Conclusions 13 – 15.

13 Change the game’s culture from short-termism and narrow self-interest to seeing the bigger picture.

14 Achieve a root and branch reform of the governance of the game, with a remodelled SFA and a democratic means of working for the SPFL.

15 Work with Scottish Government and with other sports to create one of the healthiest and fittest nations in the world.

Next week I’ll pre-empt the St Andrews House Roundtable and tell you why to make the meeting work and not just ‘tick boxes’ we need to adopt a particular Company Song.

If anyone can guess it I’ll  buy you an Ardbeg.

Andy’s Sting in the Tale

1. A Drawn Out Process That Was and Still Is Plain Wrong
2. A Song, A Match and Chaos
3. Cash Strapped and a Bad League
4. Closed Doors in Hungary
5. Is It Sustainable?

1. The Doomsday Coefficients

Last night Killie and St Mirren were playing in pre European tournaments.
There were over 70 fixtures in the 3 European Leagues.
The fix was in years ago.
Qualifying for ‘Europe’ only means qualifying for the ‘Europe Qualifiers’ because the big clubs in the big countries want the real ‘Europe’ and  most of all the real tv riches.
The wee guys like us got collectively stitched up and now are simply warm-up acts to the big countries who have grown richer collectively at our combined expense.

I’ve never heard or read about the SFA fighting against this nonsense on behalf of our clubs who have all lost out to the coefficient protectionism by the big countries.

Collectively the tv audience of all the minnows is bigger than the big 5.
Why are we not organising for real change?
Here’s a couple of simple rules that have been shafted.

If you qualify for Europe it means you are in Europe proper, not a qualifier for a qualifying qualifier.
And Champions League should be for Champions.

2. That Post ‘Copa America’ Singalong

The victorious Argentina team sang a song last week that was said the be racist about French Africans and African French players.
Argentine midfield idiot, Enzo Fernandez live-streamed it on social media and less than a week later they faced a team with French born Moroccans and angry fans.

The threat of trouble kicked-off when the Argentinian Anthem was vigorously booed.

The score was 2-1 for Morocco with 16 minutes of stoppage time added and played when Argentina ‘equalised’ in the very last minute of the added time.
Morocco fans revolted, stuff was thrown, flares set off, chaos for 90 minutes of a game, match ‘suspension’, crowd sent home and then VAR declared the goal offside.

Players then returned for 3 minutes in front of an empty stadium.

Social media spreads like wildfire and Argentina are marked as racists in the host country.
This will happen again.

3. Loans and Punts

It’s that time of year again when we get constant transfer talk filling the back pages.
Our transfer ins and outs is small beer despite how our journos try to hype it.
Our lack of transfer clout shows just how you can see how low our teams have fallen in international pecking orders and how impecunious all but one of our clubs are. A total lack of anything other than loan deals. Hyped but the reality is the loans are mostly for the second level of youngsters who have to leave the real big clubs.
Also you notice how few of our home grown players are being the source of attention of those same bigger clubs.
It’s been a long and slow fall and reinforces what we all know.
Scottish football needs to change from the bottom up and focus more on developing and playing home grown talent.
We’ve lost our Mojo.

Our league has to become more attractive and it is moribund.

4.  Sport and Football

We recently saw the Israeli Women’s team play Scotland behind closed doors at Hampden with vocal protests outside and one particular goalpost incident.
This week we heard that Belgium’s home men’s game against Israel will be in Debrecen in Hungary on September 6^th behind closed doors.
1608 Kilometres from Brussels and fans not welcome.

And this week already in Paris the Israeli Men’s team were subject to crowd protests and the Israeli National Anthem was loudly booed amidst huge security.

5. Break Even or Bust?

Thanks to Derek for his questions following the Scottish Women’s victory over Serbia in front of too few spectators to pay the bills and expenses.
He raises the issue that the whole women’s game has to become commercial and doesn’t think it currently delivers enough.

“Andy, I love watching women’s matches but do the numbers add up?
Are my club, Aberdeen, breaking-even or actively funding a loss making part of the club?
You were right in your Sting in the Tale today to point out that the SFA failed to fill the ground for the Firhill international and the WSPFL are also failing to fill the grounds for league matches.
But sooner or later money in must balance with money out and it doesn’t take a CA to tell us that at £300 per hour.
Are our men’s clubs currently subsidising our women’s game?”

I think they are Derek.
I think that is also a good thing short term but we need the SPFL/SFA to sell our women’s game much more ambitiously.

That’s it from me again this week.

Enjoy the Amazon Firestick League Cup this weekend and good luck to Killie and St Mirren next week.

Feedback and wee stories always welcome.

Andy’s Album(s) of the week

Go For Broke: Ian Matthews / In Search of Amelia Earhart : Plainsong, AKA Ian Matthews

Back in the day I was in The Other Record Shop in Union Street, Aberdeen with an hour to kill and a McDermott’s fiver burning a hole in my pocket.
I loved that Record Shop and had got to know some of the staff including Billy, who also played in midfield for Chattan Rovers and was a bloody nuisance to play against on those tight public parks. Anyway he pointed me to the bargain rail.
Here’s an album you’ll love. It’s playing in the shop right now.

And if you don’t like it and take it back, still mint for a part exchange, but you won’t.
The Album was ’ Go For Broke’ by Ian Matthews and it was on sale for £1.49.
I knew little about Matthews apart from his wonderful cover of Joni Mitchell’s ‘Woodstock’ so it was an easy-ish sell at the price and it was soon winging it’s way to Hillhead in the iconic ‘Other Record Shop’ bags with the wee draw handles.
I didn’t know what to expect when it landed on my Marconiphone turntable.
The album was a mix of covers and self-penned all soft, upbeat, rock/countryish and with Matthews wonderful voice.
Perfect muzak that wasn’t muzak  at all. And once I’d played it a few times it was like being in a warm bath.
Ideal background music for doing nothing and great when there was a task at hand too.
And better than that it led to another conversation with Billy the next time I was in the shop and I asked him about Ian Matthews.
Long story short, Billy was a convert too and pointed me to ‘In Search of Amelia Earhart’, by Matthews short lived band, Plainsong.
‘Go For Broke’ was and is very good but ‘In Search of Amelia Earhart’ was, and is, exceptional.
‘Raider’ and ‘Louise’ are up there with any of the Gram Parsons inspired early country rock that was evolving at the time.
So two great albums that you probably have never heard about or heard.

Both worth a listen.

2 Appendices

SFSA Fan Led Review Research Conclusions

IN PRINCIPLE, SCOTTISH FOOTBALL NEEDS TO DO 15 THINGS BRING ABOUT SYSTEMIC CHANGE:

01 Improve the product, build the brand, and better market itself in order to attract more income.

02 Increase the level of competition between all clubs, and in particular the Premiership.

03 Produce better quality players by nurturing youth development, with a fully funded Scotland-wide youth and elite strategy.

04 Develop a fairer distribution of resources.

05 Nurture the whole game from grassroots to elite levels for both sexes.

06 Maintain a full pyramid system in which every club can find its level.

07 Be accessible and welcoming to everyone, especially those who can least afford it, with a particular emphasis on tackling inequalities as a barrier to participation.

08 Improve the player and fan experience by improving the game’s infrastructure.

09 Recognise fans as the lifeblood of the game and a key source of revenue.

10 Ensure fans can have an ownership stake and a strong voice in how their clubs are run.

11 Ensure the longer-term vision for the women’s game is seen as a priority.

12 Ensure that fans have a strong input into how the game is structured and governed.

13 Change the game’s culture from short-termism and narrow self-interest to seeing the bigger picture.

14 Achieve a root and branch reform of the governance of the game, with a remodelled SFA and a democratic means of working for the SPFL.

15 Work with Scottish Government and with other sports to create one of the healthiest and fittest nations in the world.

SFSA FAN LED REVIEW RECOMMENDATIONS:

01 A new Independent Regulator for Scottish Football should work with the football authorities in order to effect change.

02 Following the proposed plan in England, it would be wise to liaise and collaborate closely with the regulator there concerning financial sustainability for the professional game. 16

03 The Independent Regulator for Scottish Football should oversee financial regulation in football. There are several options for doing this which our initial research has identified.

04 Drawing on lessons from the new Independent Regulator for English Football, new owners’ and directors’ tests for clubs should be established by replacing the existing procedures and ensuring that only good “potential custodians” and qualified directors can run these vital assets. It is important to ensure that no cross-border loopholes exist.

05 Scottish football needs a new approach to corporate governance to support a long-term sustainable future for the game, with a truly independent Scottish Football Association released from the conflicts of interest that restrict its current modus operandi. It is imperative that the Independent Regulator acts to develop a board structure which allows the game to attract appropriate external expertise onto the SFA Board.

06 Business moves forward at significant pace, and football is still coming to terms with concept of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) which has been developed in other sectors some 20 years or more. There is a huge opportunity here for Scottish football to embrace the most recent innovations by being one of the first sporting bodies to facilitate the development of a comprehensive Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategy. Investors are increasingly applying these non-financial factors as part of their analysis process, in order to identify material risks and growth opportunities. If the Scottish game is looking for a route to attract new investment, this will be the key to securing the right type of sponsorship and commercial opportunities.

07 The Independent Regulator should be charged with the development of an Annual Football Review, gathering information and performance data from all the component parts of the game in its capacity as an oversight authority. This Annual Review will be part of the ESG strategy and will be the starting point for delivering openness and transparency to the game, as well as providing a marketing tool for appropriate sponsors.

08 As uniquely important stakeholders, supporters, players, coaches /managers and referees should be properly consulted by the SFA and SPFL in taking key decisions.

09 There needs to be recruitment of a suitably qualified and experienced board level Marketing Director, charged with increasing audience participation and driving external revenues. We are pleased to see steps have now been taken to implement this.

10 The retention of the football pyramid and fair distribution of resources is vital to the long-term health of Scottish football. The Premiership should guarantee its support to the pyramid and make proportionate contributions to further support football development at all levels.

11 The antiquated and undemocratic process of ‘procession to office’ of the President of the SFA should be removed and replaced with a fair voting structure whereby both clubs and season ticket holders can vote for nominated candidates from both inside and outside football. Continued… 17

12 It is critical that women’s football should be treated with parity and given its own dedicated review.

13 As an urgent matter, the welfare of players exiting the game needs to be better handled – particularly at a young age. There is a need to improve the way children and young people are treated. This is a matter of some concern to the Children’s Commissioner in Scotland at the present time. As an example the signing of players aged nine and releasing them two years later is damaging to the children and to schools and grassroots football too.

14 A Football Futures Fund should be created, to enable a small percentage of revenue from Scottish cup finals and Scotland international matches to be invested in the fund annually, like the much-heralded Norwegian Oil Fund model. This is about the revenue generated by fans, and it will therefore need to be a managed fund (by a reliable investment house) which generates annual returns.

15 The SFSA is keen to work with the Independent Regulator, the SFA, and the SPFL to develop an annual sustainability index of Scottish football clubs.

16 Evaluation of club licensing protocol processes should be reviewed, to see where some of these other appropriate considerations can be woven into their requirements.

17 There should be a Coaching Performance Review, whereby all C License (and above) coaches are monitored and evaluated every two years. Consideration should be given to a traffic light system, so that poor performers can be demoted or held in abeyance until performance improvements are met.

18 An annual review of the financial health of the game, developed from the previous Fraser of Allander Institute reports, should be commissioned and the results shared publicly.

19 A Fans Charter should be developed by the SFSA, working with the SPFL, and it should be ensured that this becomes part of SFA club licensing criteria.

20 There should be a regular review of the club licensing plan, to ensure that it is open, transparent, and aligned to wider football objectives.

21 The SFA should develop an alignment plan with all the other key stakeholders in the game, including the SYFA, the SJFA, the SAFA and the Scottish Schools FA, ensuring that the whole game ties into the new national vision for football.

22 Fans contribute over 50% of the revenue to our game. This should be recognised not just though having input on decision making but through the support for maintaining the national fans association. A small percentage from the money football generates should be attributed to the national football supporters’ association, allowing for the growth of a sustainable democratic fans voice, as has been in operation in England for many years, enabling the independent Football Supporters Association there to be supported by the FA and the Premier League through a fans’ fund.

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