SPL Chief backs calls to change the appeals process

SPL Chief Executive Neil Doncaster has thrown his weight behind calls to change disciplinary matters in Scottish football and specifically the controversial appeals process.

Last week saw some verbal sparring between John Reid and Gordon Smith as the simmering row between Celtic and the SFA rumbled on.

Celtic have gone public twice this season with their concerns about displinary matters. In October they asked for clarity on the criteria used to bring matters to the attention of the Review Panel and then criticised the appeals process that saw their appeal against a red card for Scott Brown being decided by the match referee, Dougie McDonald.

Detecting the widespread desire to alter the disciplinary system, Doncaster has used his SPL blog to state the case for reform.

"We need an open and transparent appeals system – one that is entirely independent of those making the decisions in the first place," the SPL Chief claims.

"I have huge sympathy for any referee who makes an honest and genuine mistake while the eyes of several hundred thousand critical viewers look on. But by insisting that the referee is part of the appeals process, we make his job even tougher than it already is."

Doncaster appears keen to avoid getting bogged down in the past with long standing grievances and presents an impressive enthusiasm to move things forward without point-scoring.

Whether that sort of attitude has a place in Scottish football remains to be seen with most observors despairing at the slow pace of change and unwillingness to take on fresh approaches.

Stressing the need to remove the match referee from any appeal Doncaster highlights FIFA legislation which allows decisions to reviewed without the referees involvement, in summary he adds: "Because FIFA’s own disciplinary committee is able to do these things in relation to a FIFA match, any other football association around the World can do the same for matches under its own jurisdiction. Hence the reason why the English FA do not force referees to review their own mistakes."

Looking for a solution rather than the cause of the current unrest Doncaster says: "Let’s admit that referees have a tough job and sometimes need help to make the best decisions. Let’s not have an appeals system in place that relies on referees admitting their mistakes.

"In this way we will prevent compounding a genuine error on the field of play with another, this time avoidable error, which adds points or suspensions to an innocent player’s disciplinary record."

Neil Doncaster's SPL blog

SPL Chief Doncaster rejects summer football

SPL Chief Executive Neil Doncaster has opened up the annual debate about summer football.

With tonight's match at Kilmarnock a victim of pavement conditions and under 40,000 turning up to watch the home match with Hamilton the merits of summer football are worth discussing.

In itself 'summer football' is a bit of a misnomer, avoiding winter football would probably be a more appropriate term.

The prospect of summer football is as far away as ever according to Doncaster but it is encouraging to see that the SPL are actively looking at ways of improving the game.

In summary the SPL Chief believes that tradition mixed with the demands of European competitions and international commitments make it impossible for anything other than tweaking the current August-May schedule.

Doncaster said: “Football is a game where tradition and custom are extremely powerful influencers. Just try persuading supporters to change their favoured pre-match routine.

“For generations supporters have got used to a diet of winter football, culminating in a season finale in the spring.

“Certainly, if we were to experiment with summer football, we would have a job to change people’s habits. But, if summer football proved not to be a hit with the paying public, we would then undoubtedly lose supporters during the process of changing back.

“Breaking habits is difficult. But trying to reverse the change when those habits have been broken is a risky business.”
The complications and demands of Uefa and Fifa are equally problematic as Doncaster explained.

He added: “UEFA’s rules forbidding top leagues from scheduling domestic fixture cards against Champions League or Europa League matches and FIFA’s rules over call-up periods for international fixtures and tournaments create intense fixture congestion.

“And all this makes the task of fitting all of our domestic football into the current season challenging enough already.”

'Summer football' would inevitably clash with the World Cup and European Championships leaving clubs to fulfill fixtures without international players or shuffling the schedule around to avoid the high profile competition.

A summer season this year could see Celtic without upto half a dozen players with Scott McDonald, Georgios Samaras, Chris Killen, Landry N'Guemo, Ki Sung Yeung and Glenn Loovens all aiming to be involved in South Africa.

Creating a break in the season for the World Cup or European Championships is a complete no-no as Doncaster explained: “ It is unrealistic to schedule a domestic league head-to-head against either tournament – which would mean that every two years summer football would involve starting in say, February, stopping in May, re-starting in August and then finishing in December.

“Such a prospect is totally unattractive, not least of all because it would mean the climax to our domestic season taking place during the depths of winter.”

It looks like a case of better the devil you know with the season running along traditional lines despite the current glut of postponements.

Personally a three or four week break from the Saturday before Christmas would make most sense as recent attendances and the virtual wipe out of the SFL card last weekend highlighted.

It would mean the loss of so-called traditional new year derby matches but resuming with a card including Celtic-Rangers and Hearts-Hibs late in January followed by the Scottish Cup would certainly retain supporter interest.

If that allowed Celtic to jet off to Japan, South Korea or wherever then that is the clubs decision, other clubs are capable of doing as they please.

Football clubs survive a freeze on cash-flow from May to August, if they are viable businesses they should be able to cope with a three or four week break when attendances are traditionally at their lowest.

Neil Doncaster's SPL blog