Could Celtic and Rangers join a cross-border super league? The prospect is exciting – but risky

HAMPDEN PARK, GLASGOW — The joke is that being English is why Neil Doncaster has survived a decade running the Scottish Premiership. As an outsider, it is easier to manage different factions at a tumultuous time for Scottish football.

“Change is the only constant in any walk of life,” Doncaster tells i in his office at Hampden Park. As chief executive of the Scottish Premiership since 2009 – and chief executive of the newly created SPFL, overseeing the Premiership and the three tiers below, since 2013 – Doncaster has overseen an age in which the landscape of Scottish club football has been altered profoundly.

There has been the unwanted backdrop of Scottish teams struggling in Europe: the Scottish Premiership, rated the 16th strongest league in Europe by Uefa when Doncaster took over, is now only 20th. Rangers have gone into liquidation and been reborn; a play-off to decide the last Premiership berth has been added. Most intriguingly, the IRN-BRU Cup, the cup competition for Scottish sides outside the top flight, has been reformed to include teams from England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, thereby becoming the first trans-national domestic cup competition in Europe. More than the reform of a low-key competition, the real significance is to signal the onset of an age in which Scottish clubs play more cross-nation football.

Counterbalance to big five domination

“Getting that approved by Uefa, given these wider discussions that are taking place elsewhere in Europe – I think leaves us well positioned for any future changes,” Doncaster says. The allure of cross-border competitions is as a potential counterbalance the growing domination of the big five leagues.

“I believe that Uefa in particular are more and more open-minded about the idea of cross-border competition, that’s partly as a way of ensuring that you have some semblance of competitive balance and that the big five leagues aren’t stretching away from the rest forever and ever. So perhaps a combination of leagues to create cross-border leagues might enable the small and medium size leagues to better compete. That’s the theory.”

While Doncaster suggests that cross-nation leagues may eventually be possible, he views them as “slightly further away than some say,” and does not envisage new leagues being launched before the end of the Premiership’s new broadcasting deal, which runs to 2025. Before then, more cross-border football at lower levels seem likely. “It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise if we end up experimenting further, perhaps with some sort of youth league in the first instance.”

The risks

There are two possible paths for Scottish cross-border football. The first, mooted periodically in the last 15 years, is for an Atlantic league, involving teams from any of Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. The second is for a British Isles league – easier geographically although, with the imbalance between the English league and the rest, less plausible. “Our geography means that we have to be open-minded to what cross-border competition might look like for us in the future.”

Doncaster has regular dialogue with other similarly sized leagues about what the future may entail. A few years ago, talks of an Atlantic league involving Scotland, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden playing post-season matches against each other was progressing until the Netherlands pulled out, following some impressive performances from their clubs in European football.

For all the intrigue of a cross-nation league – a gateway to greater relevance and a higher standard of players at leading Scottish clubs, perhaps – Doncaster cautions about the risks too. “The tradition in all countries is a domestic league and the interaction of home and away supporters is very important. By making travel more difficult for your away supporters the risk is that you reduce the atmosphere within the stadia.” And the relentless fixture calendar is such that even the notion of a British League Cup – “such a concept would be very exciting” – has been stillborn.

Winner-takes-all

The Scottish Premiership’s challenges are better understood not in isolation but as in keeping with those of mid-sized sports leagues. Globalisation has created a winner-takes-all sporting world, with a higher proportion of cash flowing to the most popular leagues, leaving a lower share for everyone else to fight over.

“You look at the big picture, there are very few of the small and medium size leagues that are making much headway against the Big Five. So you can’t turn back the tide – being King Canute is not a successful strategy.

“The challenges are generally related to finance, and ultimately those are the club’s challenges because they are competing for the best players from around the world with other clubs and other leagues thatmay have more resources,” Doncaster says. “They’re also trying to keep their better players at a time when some of those wealthier clubs elsewhere – particularly down south – are able to wave a very attractive playing contract under their nose.”

Carrying out the will of members

Doncaster quotes Ian Watmore’s famous aphorism when he was FA chief executive, that he was neither chief nor executive. The SPFL have a tiny staff – just 14 – and is fundamentally an organ of the clubs. Doncaster’s role is to keep them together and negotiate commercial contracts on their behalf.

“In most Footsie 250 or Footsie 100 companies the CEO has a very, very large degree of discretion and power and control. In associations and leagues the reality is you are a membership organisation and you are there to carry out the will of your members.”

And so there are significant changes Doncaster has been unable to push through, like streamlining the top division from 12 sides to 10.

“Were we able to move to a 10 team league, that would make the Ladbrokes Premiership even more competitive than it is at the moment. It’s about being best playing best, week in, week out. However it’s very difficult to go down from 12 to 10 teams; you need two clubs that are willing to make the big sacrifice for the greater good.”

Growing gap

The paradox of Doncaster’s time is that while the value of broadcasting contracts has risen consistently, the relative gap with the big five leagues has actually increased. “What you can do is focus on what you do best, and Scottish football does passion, drama, and excitement in the stadium,” he says. As such, Doncaster sees “protecting that crucial live stadium audience” as working hand-in-hand with the league’s broadcast partners.

Ahead of a period that could be even more turbulent than his first decade, Doncaster’s essential challenge will remain the same: to balance the competing forces of tradition and modernity, and chart a path for the Scottish Premiership to stand out.

“We’ve changed enormously in the past decade, and we have to and will remain open-minded to further change,” he reflects. “We’re looking forward very much to the next decade.”