CALUM CROWE: When the really big issues come up, like clubs in financial crisis, Neil Doncaster is absolutely nowhere to be seen

If Barry Hearn was calling the shots in Scottish football, Neil Doncaster would have been handed his P45 and marched out the front door of Hampden a long time ago.

Back in 2014, at a time when the newly-formed Scottish Premiership had been without a title sponsor for 18 months, Hearn delivered a scathing verdict on the SPFL and its chief executive.

Speaking at an SFA convention, the grandmaster of sports promotion, said: ‘If you worked for me [and couldn’t find a sponsor], you’d be sacked.

‘You have so much good in Scottish football, so many positive things, but you don’t sell yourself. You don’t do enough for yourselves. I’m seeing too much self-pity.’

Hearn is always well worth listening to when it comes to issues of sports marketing and governance. This is a man who once flogged bottles of aftershave emblazoned with pictures of snooker players and helped Chas and Dave to a top-10 hit in the charts.

Luckily for Doncaster, he didn’t work for Hearn, especially when the very same thing occurred just a few years later.

Between 2020-21, and for the second time under Doncaster’s reign as chief executive, the SPFL failed to attract a title sponsor.

When a new partner was eventually found, Doncaster and the SPFL made such an almighty mess of the deal with used car company cinch that they probably wished it had never happened in the first place.

Having warned the SPFL of the pitfalls from the outset, Rangers successfully fought a legal case which determined that they were under no obligation to use cinch branding due to a pre-existing agreement with the car company owned by then Ibrox chairman Douglas Park.

Left with serious egg on their face, the SPFL were forced to issue an apology and pay out a six-figure sum in damages after Rangers had taken them to court.

Holding a break clause in the contract, cinch subsequently terminated their sponsorship after just three years of what was supposed to be a five-year agreement.

The fact that one of the biggest clubs in the country didn’t have to use their branding and logos? Well, one can only imagine what role that played in their decision to walk away.

These are just some of the most high-profile instances of Doncaster’s ineptitude, but the full list of failures is extensive since he first took office as chief executive of the old SPL in 2009.

And that’s why there will be countless supporters across Scotland who will have looked at Doncaster’s comments on league reconstruction this week and felt their blood starting to boil.

In an interview with Nutmeg Magazine, Doncaster said: ‘One of the problems we have in this debate is that what fans say they want is not the same as what fans will pay for a ticket to go to.’

The crux of Doncaster’s point was that, while fans might claim they want a bigger top-flight with more teams, it’s a smaller league which drives interest and revenue.

He wasn’t wrong when he said there is no silver bullet when it comes to league reconstruction. Speak to 10 different people and you could quite easily have 10 different proposals on what it should look like.

But for the chief executive of the SPFL, a man whose litany of failures should be a source of embarrassment, to be so dismissive and claim that fans don’t really know what they want?

It was patronising. Fans don’t need to be lectured like that. Certainly not from a guy whom a lot of football fans view as a puppet for certain clubs within the SPFL.

When news came through on Tuesday afternoon that any notion of making changes to the top flight had keen kiboshed, you wondered what the point had been in the first place.

Why was the issue even being mentioned again when conflict and disagreements between member clubs made it clear that Premiership reconstruction was never going to get off the ground?

These plans will never, ever end up in anything but total failure until changes are made to the 11-1 voting setup required for such proposals. It’s a pointless exercise.

Some of what Doncaster said recently didn’t really add up. He claimed the SPFL fixture calendar is on the verge of being ‘unmanageable’ due to UEFA expanding their European competitions.

But teams in the Scottish Premiership play the same number of matches (38) as teams in the English Premier League.

English teams also invariably advance further in these UEFA competitions, meaning they have to play more matches.

For context, Arsenal’s Champions League semi-final with Paris Saint-Germain last night was their 53rd game of the season in all competitions.

Celtic have played 52 matches so far this season and reached the Champions League knockout rounds. Rangers have played 54 and reached the Europa League quarter-finals.

Hearts have played 47 games, which took in a Europa Conference League campaign. Aberdeen and Hibs have played 45 and 42 matches respectively.

So it’s not really true to say that the schedule is ‘unmanageable’. Stretched? Yeah, probably. But the expansion of UEFA competitions isn’t really the issue here. That’s a cop-out.

It was also misleading for the SPFL’s chief operating officer Calum Beattie to state that fixture congestion played a part in last season’s Dens Park pitch fiasco between Dundee and Rangers.

The reason that game had to be called off and pushed back umpteen times was due to the fact Dundee couldn’t get their affairs in order and couldn’t get their pitch in a playable state.

That the match was only just played in time prior to the split had absolutely nothing to do with fixture congestion.

The congestion was merely a by-product of Dundee neglecting their pitch. It is important not to conflate the two issues.

Prior to rearing its head again a few weeks ago, the topic of league reconstruction was last discussed in April 2020 when the pandemic set in.

In a survey of 3,250 members, the Scottish Football Supporters’ Association found that 84 per cent wanted an end to the current format of teams playing each other four times a year in the Premiership.

That would mean an expanded league and a reduction in the number of Old Firm matches. Perish the thought.

Doncaster continues to champion the Sky TV deal – which has long had the Old Firm match as its crown jewel – and it remains one of the last straws he is clutching. In his view, anything that endangers that is to be opposed.

A smaller league guarantees four Old Firm games per season. Four golden eggs to sell to the broadcasters.

But why was he even voicing his opinion on this at a time when talks about any potential reconstruction remain ongoing?

As he is invariably quick to point out, it is his job to govern, not to rule. The SPFL is what the clubs want it to be. The clubs hold the power, not Doncaster.

When he starts trying to sway the argument one way or another, you can understand why some fans feel irritated.

It’s really not his job to be trying to shape the argument one way or another. As a chief executive with a remit to govern rather than impose any rules, he should maintain a neutral stance.

Why? Because he is the head of the organisation. He is the chief executive of the SPFL – and not all the member clubs within the SPFL agree on what reconstruction should look like.

He sits at the head of the table. It’s his job to facilitate debate, not to actively participate in the debate.

The Speaker of the House of Commons doesn’t warn MPs about the pitfalls of a new policy. Nor should Doncaster seek to champion any move to a smaller league.

Remunerated to the tune of £453,000 per year, he is handsomely paid for what he does.

However, when the really big issues comes up, like clubs in financial crisis, like potential sanctions against pyrotechnics and yobbish supporters, like clubs being ordered to pay damages to victims of sexual abuse, he plays hide and seek.

Absolutely nowhere to be seen, he does the old Homer Simpson thing of disappearing backwards into a hedge.

Doncaster survived an SPFL governance review last year, which came on the back of his botched handling of the dispute between Rangers and cinch.

Rangers have essentially been at war with him since their 2012 meltdown. The Ibrox club feel he should have been removed from office long ago.

Along with Aberdeen, Livingston, Motherwell, St Johnstone and St Mirren, Rangers were one of six clubs who expressed ‘serious concerns’ about Doncaster’s governance and the independence of the review.

So, even though the the issue of reconstruction has been brought back to the table, the size of the league is really only a small part of the problem.

What should cause greater concern for clubs in the SPFL is that the guy sitting at the top of the table really isn’t fit for office. His governance has long been shown to be incompetent.

Barry Hearn called Doncaster out for what he was back in 2014. An empty jersey. A man who brings no real value or leadership to the table.

As the SPFL’s top man lectures fans on the rights and wrongs of league reconstruction, those words feel as true now as they did 11 years ago.