While everyone was basking in the glow of Scotland’s victory over the Republic of Ireland last weekend, it could be said that things were looking up for the SFA. They even received attention from the doyen (and not at all pleased with himself) journalist Henry Winter which would have you believe everything was rosy in Scottish football.
Well allow me to be that fly in the ointment. And no, I’m not going to point out the madness of the first Scotland-England match in a generation in Glasgow not being a sell-out. Instead allow me to delve into the recesses of League 2, where there’s a potential crisis looming.
This is the first season that the basement division of Scottish football will see relegation. For decades, League 2 (or the old Second Division or Division 3 however you want to call it) was a closed shop.
For years no matter how poor the team at the foot of the table was, they had the guarantee of playing in the same division the following season. This would be welcome for the clubs, but it could make the overall league rather stale.
At the end of the season, the team finished 10th will face the winner of a play-off between the champions of the Highland League and the Lowland League title holders.
So far so good? Well not quite.
Currently sitting top of the Highland League with two games in hand is last year’s champions Brora Rangers. Brora are one of the biggest spenders in the Highland League with a squad that currently boasts former Premiership stalwarts such as Ross Tokley, Grant Munro and Stuart Kettlewell.
If Brora win the league and then go onto defeat the Lowland League champs and then beat the bottom side in League 2 they should be playing SPFL football next season right?
Not quite. Back in July, Brora’s main backer Ben MacKay said “What we have decided as a football club and as a committee is if that eventuality happens then it will be the supporters of Brora Rangers that will decide what league we play in, not the committee or the Scottish league for that matter.”
Does this not strike you as utter nonsense? Either you are in the pyramid or you’re not. No halfway houses. Either you want to play a part in Scottish football and all that entails or you don’t.
What I don’t understand is how we’ve got to this situation: we’re six months out from playoffs, we’ve got clubs who can take part in a playoff that they don’t want to win. No one hands back a winning lottery ticket but that’s exactly what Ben MacKay is wanting to do.
It’s unfair for other Highland League clubs who most definitely want to be League 2 clubs; it’s unfair for Lowland League clubs who all want to be League 2 clubs and for League 2 clubs it’s going to be a hard sell getting fans to attend a playoff game where your opponents might or might not be arsed with winning the tie.
Some clarity from the SFA would be most welcome if we’re going to avoid a farce and this great concept is mired in controversy at birth.
Great strides have been made in recent years in Scottish football governance. We cannot, we must not, return to the days when one club can dictate terms to the SFA.
Scottish football must be run for the benefit of all the clubs, not one.
True Brocher - November 25, 2014 at 9:24 am
I watch Highland League football week after week and the league is good enough without this pyramid set-up. Wish the top brass had told the SFA thanks but no thanks. This is one great league without anything else.
Lawrie Spence - November 25, 2014 at 11:48 am
I’m not sure what the fuss is here.
If Brora don’t want to join the SPFL, then that’s fine as long as they say so in advance – so that the winners of the Lowland League progress straight to a playoff with the team at the bottom of SPFL2.
In the English pyramid system, teams decline, or are denied, promotion all the time, for example if their grounds aren’t up to scratch.
The SFA have plenty of more important things to worry about than this.
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