On Off The Ball, Radio Scotland now. Stuart and Tam trying to get him to pay into Bayview

That dick should be banned from Bayview. He'd happily see East Fife out the leagues playing Celtic and Hearts under-19 teams.

Henry McLeish: We have only got two years to save Scottish football

Jul 14 2012 By Henry McLeish


henry mcleish Image 2

THE decision to put Rangers in Division Three may not please everyone but at least it looks like they have a home – unless something dramatic happens in the next few days.

This has to be good for football because a decision had to be taken.

We have to move on from this situation. Time is running out for football to put its own house in order.

Two years ago, the game was obsessed with sectarianism to the exclusion of other more important considerations. The season ended has been totally obsessed with six months of the Rangers crisis.

Despite all of that, significant and serious problems remain at the heart of the game.

I believe that football is on trial. Many people who want to see the game do well are losing patience and that is why it is absolutely vital that the whole of the game moves on.

There is no doubt the seismic and disgraceful events at Ibrox sent shock waves through Scottish football.

It has left the game bitterly divided about the fate of that club and has created great anger, emotions and extreme positions on either side. A lot of energy and a lot of time have been lost.

Meanwhile, we find ourselves 18 months on from my recommendations about the professional game still having made little or no progress. That has to end.

The other consideration is this.

We are two weeks away from the start of the season, two months away from the most important World Cup qualifier in a generation and, in my view, two years away at maximum from the deadline to save the game in Scotland.

My main concern is a complete refocusing of all our energies to obtaining a secure stable and sustainable financial structure to the game.

Secondly, let’s use the shock of the Rangers catastrophe to move forward

Part of that has to be to clear up the corrosive, cynical and hostile atmosphere around the game.

That is one of the reasons people looking on don’t like what they see.

We have 12 recommendations to reunify the game, provide competitive football, bring together the league associations and improve the product on the pitch. As I said, we now have to make progress on this.

On the financial side, people have got to realise that the fan base is shrinking.

We are not attracting young people, families or women. Up to four million watch SPL and SFL but that base is fragile.

We have also to recognise that lots of fans are suffering from austerity and have less money to spend.

The danger is that money from the turnstiles will go down in the immediate future.

The broadcast deal is not secure and we have to hope that will be sorted soon. The game is under pressure and unless we find radical ways to secure finance it does not bode well.

We have to try to get over this complete lack of trust and discipline, confidence and respect that permeates the game.

We have to realise that the game is bigger than individual clubs. Scots want success at every level but mainly at international level. There is a bigger prize at stake.

I love the game with a passion, I want excitement, I want us to dwell on sentiment but I want us to be ambitious for winning in the future.

The responsibility is no one’s but ours. There are no excuses, no scapegoats, no one to blame. The public are looking on and seeing us not in control of the game and asking why.

I applaud and support the fans for making the their voice heard loud and clear on the Rangers issue.

They were right to raise the credibility and ethics of the game.

I now want to see a bigger role for the fans. They should have been more involved and now they have an opportunity to join in making a bigger and better game.

The fan base has really come of age in a bitter period of Scottish football history.

Football is on trial and we should put behind us where Rangers should or should not have been.

We face enormous challenges. The clock is ticking and time is running out.

Blueprint for game

Henry McLeish's recommendations from the 2009 review commissioned by the SFA included:

A two-tier top flight with ten teams in each division and the return of a winter break.

Merging of the SPL and the return of a winter break.

Earlier start to the season and the regionalisation of the lower leagues.

Does he no sit doon tae pee,and does he no have monthly thingies,in fact is he no a fanny.