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Pressure On Sevco Increases As SPFL New Board Still Has A “Sporting Integrity” Majority

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Today the SPFL has elected its new board, and in spite of the obvious hopes of a few people some weeks ago, it continues to have a profoundly anti-Sevco taint to it, which should be worth thinking about as we go into the new season, and one where the Ibrox club’s financial situation will more and more become a factor.

Let’s look back; the SPL voted 10-2 in favour of refusing Sevco’s entry to that league four years ago. That was a major victory for Scottish football. In the interim, the league bodies were combined into one. This offered a possibility that Sevco could claw their way back up the power structure, building alliances as they went. That now looks forlorn.

If we consider the possibility of another administration event at Ibrox, what could we expect the current SPFL board to do about that?

To answer that question it’s worth looking at  who’s on the board, and what the respective clubs did last time.

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First is Peter Lawwell. He replaces fellow Celt Eric Riley.

It’s inconceivable that he would cast any vote which gave a free ride to the Ibrox operation, whether in administration or in a case where the club swirled down the plughole. Rangers III would not get an automatic place in the league via Celtic’s vote. We opposed it last time, very publicly.

There is not a chance in Hell that we’ve changed our views on that one iota.

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Next is Leeann Dempster, of Hibs, who would be my standout choice to replace Lawwell when he finally realises he’s got no further contribution to make to Celtic.

She and her club are highly unlikely to take a positive view on Sevco’s survival; that’s putting it mildly.

If it was in her power to save them, I’d be writing another obituary.

Hibs voted no last time, quite vocally and this summer hasn’t exactly mended fences.

Having just hired Neil Lennon, having defeated Sevco in the now notorious cup final and having been on the receiving end of vicious vitriol from the Ibrox boardroom in the aftermath, especially that directed against the chairman, Rob Petrie, I would suggest it’s unthinkable that Hibs would look kindly on any sort of bailout should one become necessary, as it well might.

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Ann Budge of Hearts is on the board.

She is a welcome addition, although I disagree with her profoundly on wanting to introduce Strict Liability.

She clearly wants to wipe sectarianism away in the sport, and she has not been shy about laying into her own supporters to that end. I find it impossible to imagine her looking kindly on Sevco at this moment, especially when one considers the reckless behaviour of Stewart Robertson in defending sectarian singing and the cup final pitch invasion by his own fans. She will have viewed that with the deepest disgust and that view is likely to persist at Hearts long into the future.

They were the first club in the country to publicly condemn Rangers for their years of bad behaviour and the first to say they would vote against Sevco’s inclusion in the SPL. That was under Romanov; I’ve seen nothing to indicate that this view (although perhaps not so harshly expressed) doesn’t still prevail at Tynecastle today.

When one looks at how they handled their own flirtation with death, and the measured, careful way they responded to the challenges of administration, you can see how it’s hard to conclude that they wouldn’t be happy supporting anything that compromised sporting integrity.

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Ian Maxwell of Partick Thistle has been elected to the board.

Their position in 2012 was to deny Sevco entry to the First Division.

They made it plain that this was an issue about sporting integrity and they acted accordingly.

There’s nothing to suggest that they see things differently this time around. Furthermore, they are one of the clubs who complained bitterly about the fixture list “stitch up” earlier in the season, only to have Mark Warburton effectively tell them to shut it. This, so I’ve been told, is one of the (many) reasons their club ended up profoundly opposed to any scenario where Stewart Robertson might sit on the SPFL board.

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Raith Rovers’ Eric Drysdale also gets a seat, and no-one has to explore the various reasons why his club will never vote for a scenario which grants Sevco special status and immunity from its own financial misdemeanours; it was the late Turnbull Hutton, of their own parish, who spoke for the whole of our game when he called the SFA’s efforts at a scummy backroom deal “corrupt” and from that moment on he was seen as leading the challenge to it.

His club suffered an attempted fire-bombing and limitless harassment as a consequence, but they never wavered one iota and continues to fight for sporting integrity.

That will not change.

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Karyn McCluskey is there on a non-executive basis. She’s been there for the last year, coming from outside football, and her CV and personal qualities are absolutely unimpeachable; she represents a number of welfare organisations and is the director of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit.

Her post does not come with a vote and she fulfils it on a voluntary, unpaid basis.

She works especially with youth development.

The game is lucky to have her perspective.

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All this is not to say that there aren’t voices on the board who’d be in favour of giving a helping hand to the club run by a convicted tax cheat, and who’s penchant for transparency and secrecy makes it all but impossible to judge the size of the hole they are sitting in ….

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Brechin City chairman Ken Ferguson is also on the board.

He, and his club, have the distinction of being the first side Sevco played in its history, having agreed to the granting of the ridiculous “SFA temporary license” in order for them to do so. That could be excused as a matter born of financial considerations; his team wanted their share of the League Cup gate.

What’s harder to explain away is his club’s vote on the Newco; they wanted to give them a pass into SFL 1, the motion that was roundly defeated when it came to the vote.

Ken Ferguson, in short, voted for the dodgy deal.

I see nothing to suggest he wouldn’t do so this time.

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The other members of the board are Ralph Topping and Neil Doncaster.

It barely goes without saying that both of them would vote for a deal that “protected commercial interests” even if the consequence of it was that sporting integrity suffered for that. Doncaster is a wholehearted supporter of the Survival Lie (as clarified by UEFA) and the Victim Myth.

Topping worked for William Hill before joining up with the SPFL, and he was at the SFA before that; a pure establishment figure, he is a leading suspect in establishing a motive for The Guardian choosing not to run the CQN Resolution 12 ad in that newspaper.

The idea that they were spooked by a threat that Hills or the SFA itself might withdraw advertising cannot be discounted.

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All of this is profoundly important. In the aftermath of what happened to Rangers, the SFL and the SPL merged and one of their first “decisions” was to remove the responsibility for deciding on what to do with a Newco from the clubs and to put it in the hands of the board.

There, it was hoped, they could assure that the “right decision” was made should this situation or one like it ever arise.

Sevco is unlikely to survive the season without external funding, even based on the current projections which do not include unforeseen expenditure such as, say, replacing roofs or being sued by shirt manufacturers or sponsors.

With that in mind, it’s important to keep an eye on the politics. If another crash comes (as looks increasingly likely) the voting numbers are going to be important. Based on a reading of the land at the current time, the vote would go in favour of sporting integrity by a narrow 5-3 majority.

Save this article. It might be important later.

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