Handed the job of turbo charging SPFL takings to £50 million inside four years, Neil Doncaster has a cunning plan. A commercial wheeze likely to hit the bullseye faster than Jocky Wilson after six pints and a whisky chaser.
“We’ve got a new range of Neil Doncaster-themed dartboards coming out soon,” jokes the Teflon Don of Scottish football. “We think they could sell very, very well…”
Inside every gag lurks a nugget of truth. During his tenure as chief executive of the Scottish Professional Football League, the Englishman has survived more assassination attempts than Fidel Castro, seeing off more dastardly plots than the Road Runner scooting off into the distance after another brush with Wile E Coyote.
The premature suspension of season 2019/20 during the Covid pandemic provoked a Rangers dossier calling for his suspension, legal action from Hearts and Partick Thistle, accusations of bullying, coercion and dubious corporate governance and repeated demands for an independent investigation into how the league handled things.
Relations fractured, the Ibrox club earned an apology and compensation following the conclusion of a lengthy dispute over a sponsorship agreement between the SPFL and cinch.
Tensions flared again last year when Rangers, Aberdeen, Livingston, Motherwell, St Johnstone and St Mirren joined forces to express “serious concerns” over the autonomy of an independent review into the league’s core functions.
However hard they try – and some have tried very hard indeed – the booing and hissing aimed at Scottish football’s in-house panto villain does no lasting damage. After 16 years in office, he’s still there, slapping on the greasepaint, driving the punters in the cheap seats to distraction.
“I think you have to recognise that the game in Scotland is absolutely integral to what Scottish society is all about,” reflects the £453,000-a-year chief. “People really, really care about Scottish football. And it’s not the case in other parts of the world.
“We have other sports and other pastimes here. But ultimately it’s all about football and hand in hand with that passion goes the fact that because people care, they want to express their views to you. Wherever I go, people are keen to express their views.
“And for the most part, they do so very openly, very honestly, very appropriately, responsibly and with a sense of humour. And, you know, it took me a short while to adapt to that sense of humour, that directness…”
This is a preview of Stephen McGowan’s full article, published in Issue 36 of Nutmeg.
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