Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack has called for a review and rebranding of Scottish football.
It has been a summer of infighting and consternation among the SPFL’s member clubs with the decision to relegate clubs after ending the four leagues early ending up in court and eventually before the SFA for arbitration.
While Hearts, Partick Thistle and Stranraer wait for their fate to be decided at Hampden Cormack believes it is time for root and branch review and reshaping of the game in Scotland.
He said: “We have to focus on Scottish football. What do we want to be? What is our vision? I don’t know what the vision is. We don’t have a branding strategy.
“We should be looking at ‘how can we generate £40 million a year at the centre, as opposed to £25 million?’
“If we’ve got the right strategy and philosophy in place – it might be community orientated – we’ll find more James Andersons. And I may even be prepared with my foundation to do something centrally if we’ve got a real plan and a strategy.
“To do that, we will need to put in a review, a proper, constructive review of Scottish football.
“Other chairman I know, know there are people out there who would be empathetic – if not highly supportive – of our game.
“If we had a vision and a branding strategy around healthy living, our communities and doing the right thing then, absolutely, I think we can bring more benefactors in.
“But when you have what we’ve had in the last few months it’s challenging.”
The Scottish Premiership campaign is set to get underway on Saturday and while the historic rivalries will ensue the Aberdeen chairman believes a collective effort is required to generate more income for the game in this country.
He said: “Aberdeen, Celtic, Rangers are all run by business people. Clubs have commercial people. The cup is half full. How can we generate more? Let’s try things. At the centre, we’ve got an administration centre that is not run like a real company that would have a vision, a branding strategy, to generate more income.
“I think the cup is half full. But we’re going to need to come together as a league to decide who we want to be when we grow up. We need to be part of the fabric of our community.
“For too many years we’ve taken fans for granted. I feel it’s my job at Aberdeen to put a smile on the faces of my fellow Aberdonians.
“There are too many people think ‘the fans exist to keep them in high office’. We’ve got to change that attitude.”
Cormack is clearly keen to bring about change whether it is drastic overhaul or a modernisation of the SPFL but do not expect him to be sitting on the SPFL board anytime soon.
He said: “Did I think about running for the SPFL board? No, they’d fire me within two months.
“As a group of clubs, when we get together on our own, it’s really healthy and the conversation is good about how we go forward.
“All the chairmen think we need to be a much more commercially orientated organisation to drive revenues.
“Rather than fighting over £25 million as it is now, the scraps that are there – if we put another half a million in to drive commercial, will we cover it? Will we bring in £2 million? Or five million?
“There is a desire among the Premiership clubs to drive it forward from a commercial perspective and I find that healthy.
“What we need to do now is take that through Peter Lawwell, Steve Brown and Les Gray as our representatives.
“We have to hold them accountable to drive this agenda as we go forward.”