The decision by both Rangers and Celtic to vote against the new SPL TV channel has thrown the other 10 teams in turmoil. The Old Firm, greedy as ever, want to start their own channel and to Hell with the other 10 also rans. Of course if they go ahead with their mad plans the others might get a small hand out from the big guys if they feature in any game against them.
In a way the other 10 teams have only themselves to blame. A set up that means it only needs one team to vote against any proposal was always going to be a dangerous political game to play. Most organisations are quite happy with a two thirds majority to carry through important change to their rules. This SPL rule that every single team must vote unanimously was the daftest thing they ever decided on. Ten out of Twelve votes should be enough to carry any proposal, and seems democratic enough to me.
Now it has come back to haunt them. Unless the Old Firm re-think their position the SPL as we know it could die within two seasons.
There will be money coming in for the teams who participated under the Sky licence this season. But unless the SPL channel goes ahead we have the choice of trying to re-negotiate with Sky or having no income at all at the end of next season.
Few teams outside the Old Firm can possibly exist on gate money alone and if the TV revenue evaporates I fear for both Dundee clubs future. Motherwell, Dunfermline, Hearts, Hibs, Dundee, United, Partick if they come up, Livvy, Aberdeen, Kilmarnock will all be denied TV money at the end of next season.
The result would be catastrophic. Clubs already deep in debt and I fear most of the 10 mentioned are probably well in the red, will have to sell off their best players to the highest bidders. Think about it. English teams will try to take advantage of this, cash strapped themselves because of the collapse of the ITV channel, and try to buy quality players on the cheap. And our clubs will be forced to accept these bargain basement deals because they'll be skint.
The nightmare scenario could be that the likes of the Dundee and Edinburgh teams having to merge in order to survive, Aberdeen having to sell off their promising young players at undercut prices and clubs like Motherwell and Killie, well, they could face complete annihilation.
Greed for a bigger share of the cake is the driving spirit behind the Old Firm disregard for the others. When the Daily Record said as much a week ago it was plain that even their own diehard media supporters realised what was on the cards if they voted against the SPL channel.
The English league have made it quite clear the Old Firm are not wanted down south. So all they have left is the league they play in now. By making the other teams poorer and even less able to put up more than the feeble challenge they make now, they are biting off the hand that feeds them. Yet they moan pathetically that the others don't give them a better game.
In my opinion, the 10 SPL teams should form a breakaway league and expel the Old Firm from entering it. Then they'll be cut off from competitive football and perhaps be brought to their senses. I admire Craig Levein for his comments that we would be better off without them, that fans of the other 10 teams would come out in larger numbers if they thought there was a slight chance of winning the league again.
It needs bold, brave Chairman, willing to sacrifice the gate money from the Old Firm games in the interests of the future of our game. If the Old Firm went to the wall, would anyone really mourn them after this example of greed and complete disregard for anyone else.
Of course, this could be a ploy to pressurise other teams to vote them a larger smack of the TV income. They'd be perfectly happy if they got 90% and the others fed off the scraps from their table.
Come on, the TEN, stand up to them and make your fans proud, and give us hope that one day we might be able to challenge on equal footing with each other, without the parasites feeding off us. Let's stick together, we're all in this, stand up to the Old Firm and send them packing. The panic and reverberations of despair would be heard from here to Rome and Holland where their true hearts lie.