Neil Doncaster has blamed his long running feud with Rangers on a determination to ‘settle old scores’ - after cutting them out of the vote to secure a new £150m TV deal.
In a no holds barred Q&A with Record Sport, SPFL chief Doncaster today reveals that 41 of Scotland’s 42 professional clubs backed his proposal to isolate the Ibrox club after they threatened to torpedo the new £30m a season package with Sky Sports.
The SPFL’s own rule book had to be ripped up to allow the 11 other top flight clubs to push the deal through without Rangers’ approval. And Doncaster confirmed that Rangers were willing to agree to the new seven year broadcast tie-up - on the condition they received an apology and a cash pay out from the league governing body over an ongoing dispute with title sponsors cinch. He said: "Yes, it is the case."
Asked if he felt the simmering bad relations between himself and the Ibrox boardroom had become ‘personal and toxic’ Doncaster responded: “I’m not sure whether it’s personal or not but I was struck by a comment about ‘settling old scores’. I don’t know what the motivation is but my focus remains on serving all 42 clubs.”
After winning the title in 2021, Rangers vice chairman John Bennett spoke of being driven by a need to settle scores following the club’s financial collapse of 2012.
He said at the time: “I know what was done to my club. Rangers are part of your family and this member of my family was hurting and being hurt. I turn it to anybody else and if a really loved member of your family is suffering to that extent at the hands of people you have got to change the people and stop the hurt. And restore that club. We are going to right our club. And that is all that matters to me in this whole thing - righting this club on the pitch and off the pitch."
Bennett’s views were backed by former director John Gilligan who pointed a finger of blame directly at the SFA and SPFL for not doing enough to protect the club from disaster.
Rangers managing director Stewart Robertson also aimed fire at Doncaster last week when he accused the CEO of selling the Scottish game on the cheap by failing to fully explore the market before agreeing on a record breaking deal with current broadcasters Sky.
But Doncaster strongly refuted the validity of Robertson’s claims saying: “That’s way wide of the mark and it belies the facts.”
When asked what he intends to do to resolve a situation which has been simmering since the SPFL’s decision to hand the title to Celtic after the onset of the pandemic in 2020, Doncaster insisted he is looking after the best interests of every club in the country.
He said: ”What we need to do is focus on what we’re here to do - serve all 42 clubs without fear or favour - and we do that. The 42 clubs, almost unanimously, have backed the process we’ve put in place. To have 41 out of 42 clubs backing the rule change to deliver this deal is unusual in the extreme.”
The new Sky deal, which has been extended to 2029, will see more top flight games shown live - with clubs also allowed to screen up to six home games a season to fans on their inhouse pay-per-view channels. As part of the agreement the SWPL will also be screened live for the first time across the UK.
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