Dundee Invited Back To SPL

by Dugald Skene

Is the dust finally starting to settle on the Newco debacle at the club formerly known as Rangers?

Let’s not hold our breaths.

Firstly, the Scottish Football League’s vote to condemn the Newco to the Scottish third division is NOT a punishment for the new club, it is merely due process.  Any other outcome would have been a gross injustice to other teams who have fallen to the same fate, no matter how small they are in comparison to the Glasgow club.

Secondly, the SPL have yet to reveal their findings and resultant penalties (if any) on the EBT system employed at Rangers for the best part of a decade.  I’m not going to go into the system, not least because I don’t have the firmest grip on it, but to me, any club that pays 53 of its employees from a fund adopting ludicrous tax loop holes is at a fundamental level terrible business, and should be punished as such.  What those sanctions are, we will surely find out soon enough. 

That’s my two pennies worth.

So why start blogging now about an issue that has gone on for months?  Well, it’s not all about Rangers or their new identity.  Their demise has also affected a number of other Scottish clubs, both now and will no doubt continue to in ways we may not be fully aware of yet.

It was announced yesterday that Dundee Football Club have been invited to be the ones filling the void from the departed Rangers, fulfilling the role of ‘Club 12’ in the 2012/13 fixture list.  Simple, right? Not quite, not least because of the way it affects that fixture list.  With the way it has currently been set out, Dundee would be playing at home at the same time as city rivals Dundee United on 9 occasions, meaning the SPL will have to re-jig a number of the fixtures causing as few ripple effects to the timetable as possible.

Dens Park is set to host SPL fixtures again next season

I don’t disagree with the decision to admit Dundee to the league.  Their efforts on the pitch in the first division both last term and the season before, having suffered a 20 point deficit for entering administration for the second time, are testament to a real resolve at a club that has had to survive with the scarcest of resources.  Their reward of being admitted to the SPL is well deserved, in a purely footballing sense.

How much they and the rest of the SPL clubs profit in the coming season depends greatly on the TV deal that the SPL strikes with Sky and ESPN. With arguably their ‘stand out’ fixture of Celtic taking on their Glasgow neighbours (whichever guise you take them as) not on the cards for at least another 3 years (by which time the fixture may not be the rivalry many assume), many predict a huge cut in the TV money coming into the league.  SPL Chief Executive Neil Doncaster has remained tight lipped about any deal, but has implied that it will be a case of damage limitation.  Both Sky and ESPN were due to sign a £80 million five year deal, but still have a £13 million annual contract to run for the coming season which may or may not be renegotiated.

So there are still a huge number of things to come out yet about the state of the league, the numbers of clubs and fixtures within it and the money coming in.  What’s almost certain is that Dundee are coming into a league that won’t have nearly as much money as it has the last time they enjoyed premier league football.