NOT a few people would have scratched their heads when the Scottish Professional Football League announced on Tuesday that Murdoch MacLennan would be the new chairman of their board.
The Kicker suspects the reaction would have been ‘Murdoch who?’ in more than one club boardroom and certainly that would have been the words with which many fans would have greeted the appointment, unless they follow the backroom goings-on of our major media companies where MacLennan has spent most of his life, gaining the reputation of an astute but ruthless operator.
MacLennan has chopped jobs and cut costs many times, yet it was he who in 2010 took the brave decision to modernise the Telegraph and vastly increase its digital footprint, so that last year the Group made £57 million profits for its owners, the Barclay brothers.
This may surprise readers, but The Kicker is going to say that for once the SPFL may well have made a very good appointment.
The former managing director of the Daily Record and Sunday Mail is now 68 and has forgotten more about newspapers than most people will ever know.
He is a past master at sponsorship and media deals, and the SPFL badly needs help in those directions. He is also used to tough negotiations, certainly in the past when he had plenty of meetings with the trade unions at various newspaper companies.
By sheer chance, The Kicker knows a friend of his who says that MacLennan is one of the most fair-minded people he knows – tough, yes, but fair.
Ralph Topping will stand down as chair on August 1 when MacLennan will take over. Topping could do MacLennan a big favour and have the SPFL decide its attitude to the Rangers Big Tax Case brouhaha before the changeover happens.
As predicted, the clamour is growing for Rangers to be stripped of the titles they won when operating the infamous EBT tax avoidance system.
The Supine Farcical Association have already washed their hands of the whole thing. But the SPFL as successor body to the SPL says it will consider the case again.
Don’t forget, it was the SPL who set up the Nimmo Smith Commission to look into the issues surrounding EBTs which at that time were still being treated as legitimate, and that’s what Lord Nimmo Smith stated as being the reason why Rangers gained no competitive advantage, ie: they didn’t cheat. Now we know the EBTs weren’t legitimate.
There’s a simple way to solve the issue. Topping should phone up Lord Nimmo Smith to ask him if he wants to re-form the Commission and look at the issue again in light of the UK Supreme Court’s decision.
If the judge says yes, all of Scottish football including the SFA, and the clubs and their fans, should accept the Commission’s decisions.
If his Lordship says no, Murdoch MacLennan has an unfortunate task ahead – does he continue reviewing the issue and annoy Rangers or drop the matter and irritate just about every other club in Scotland?
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