The SFA and SPFL have been called to a summit at Holyrood this week to discuss the future of Scottish football.
Scotland’s Sports Minister Maree Todd will host a panel discussion on Wednesday, with the issue of independent scrutiny of the national sport high on the agenda.
The UK government has revived plans for a new football regulator in England, promising to reintroduce the Football Governance Bill.
The King’s Speech confirmed plans for an independent football regulator south of the border to ensure greater sustainability in the game and strengthen protections for fans.
Now supporters’ groups, led by former first minister Henry McLeish, believe Scottish football also needs some form of regulation after concerns were raised about the corporate governance and running of clubs such as Livingston, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Edinburgh City and Dumbarton.
SPFL and SFA to attend Holyrood summit on Scottish football governance
Chief executive Ian Maxwell will represent the SFA at Holyrood this week
Scottish Sports Minister Maree Todd to host Holyrood summit
SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell and his SPFL counterpart Neil Doncaster will address the government roundtable, while Hampden’s governing bodies oppose the idea of external regulation despite cross-party support in the Scottish parliament.
Maxwell addressed the issue during Holyrood’s health, social care and sport committee meeting in December, pointing out significant differences between the game in Scotland and England and claiming the game north of the border had been “robust” in dealing with financial issues.
Since then, however, Inverness and Edinburgh City have faced serious financial problems and the Scottish Football Supporters’ Association (SFSA) argues that accepting the need for independent scrutiny is the first step towards achieving transparency and accountability and protecting the game as a whole.
Researcher and author Simon Barrow, co-founder of the SFSA in 2015 and co-author of the Rebuilding Scottish Football in 2023 report, said: “For Scottish football to progress, build trust with paying public and attract the resources it needs, transparency and accountability are vital. That must mean a significant and measurable degree of independent scrutiny.
‘This could take a number of forms, from an independent stakeholder council within the SFA-SPFL structure to an external control panel dealing specifically with governance, finance and conduct. An ombudsman would be another possible avenue.
Scottish football governance will be in focus at Holyrood this week
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‘A formal regulator, as is being done in England, would be the final stop on this path. If those who run the game in Scotland do not want it, they must agree on another way forward.
‘But the principle of independent scrutiny as a positive, constructive and confidence-building way forward should surely be beyond question for a public interest industry like our national game, which also receives public money and a huge amount of it directly from the public itself.
‘There has been recent progress in appointing a governance officer at Hampden. This is a move in the right direction, but without fully independent oversight it will become another way of allowing the football authorities to correct their own misdeeds. The time for that has passed.
‘Scottish football has had its share of serious problems in recent years. Everyone knows that. But if the argument is that ‘everything is fine now’, why should anyone argue against the idea of this being independently confirmed? What better way could there be to restore much-needed confidence among the paying public and potential investors?’