Examination of Witness (Question Numbers
561-585)
Stewart Regan
29 March 2011
Chair: Good morning. For the final part
of our session, can I welcome Stewart Regan, the chief executive
of the Scottish Football Association and also thank you for your
patience in waiting to get to this point. It seems appropriate
to ask Jim Sheridan to begin.
Q561 Jim Sheridan: Thanks
for coming along, Stewart. I think that it is well recognised
that this Select Committee inquiry has principally focused on
the English League and the Premier League, but it does touch on
very important issues relative to Scotland in terms of governance,
ownership, the role of supporters et cetera, so we felt it was
important that we get a Scottish perspective on just exactly how
the game is being played in Scotland. We had the former First
Minister, Henry McLeish, down some weeks ago and you know Henry
has produced a report. Could you give us an analysis or a perception
of how you feel about Henry's report?
Stewart Regan:
Henry carried out a report in two parts focusing on five key areas.
Those areas were performance, facilities, regional structures,
governance and league competitions. There were 103 recommendations
in all. The board have considered them. We've prioritised them
and we are implementing two key areas as we speak, one relating
to governance and one relating to performance.
From a governance perspective, the proposal is primarily
to reduce the main board from eleven down to seven; to make it
less of a representative board and more of a strategic board,
focusing on strategy finance in major game decisions and sitting
below the main board to split the game into two, effectively a
professional game board and a non-professional game board. That
would allow both sides of the game to effectively have delegated
powers from the main board which would allow them to run the game
and involve the expertise in the areas of the game that best suits
the individuals involved.
We had a series of recommendations about Council
and the Council, from a structural point of view and a constitutional
point of view, does not have any voting powers within the Scottish
FA. However, we listened and heard Henry's recommendations as
far as how Council could be used, and our proposal is to create
Council into almost a House of Lords model for inclusion of football
writers, supporters, referees associations, players, managers,
disabled, and women's game and so on, so we have a much more all-embracing,
inclusive view of football in Scotland. That will allow us to
have a debating forum that would give us a voice from the total
Scottish football landscape and decide whether that voice, particularly
if it is positive, requires issues to be converted into policy.
Two weeks ago, the board approved our governance proposals. They
are being converted into resolutions as we speak and will go before
our AGM in Scotland on 7 June.
Q562 Jim Sheridan:
Did I hear that they are talking about reducing the board from
eleven to seven? How will you achieve that? What are the criteria
for that?
Stewart Regan:
At the moment, the board consists of representatives from the
game rather than elected individuals, so we have a number of individuals
around the board table who are there because of their involvement
or expertise in particular side of the game, whether it is schools,
football or youth football. Our view is that a main board needs
to be competence-based and able to deal with strategic and financial
matters.
The main board will involve the senior officials
of the Scottish FA. The terminology for these in Scotland is "president",
and then there is a first and second vice president. They are
people who effectively come through Scottish Football, through
the Council; they have held senior positions in the game, either
at club level or association level. There would be the Chief Executive,
i.e. myself. There will be four automatic places on the board.
There would then be one seat for the professional game board and
one seat for the non-professional game board. Those two individuals
would be elected by their respective boards, and then one independent
non-executive director, whom would be selected based on competence
criteria, i.e. if we feel we need a legal input, we would appoint
a legal individual; it may be HR; it may be strategy. That depends
on the competence of the board at the time we need to make that
decision.
In four years' time, we will remove, subject to our
member clubs' agreement at the AGM, the second vice president
position and replace that with a second independent non-executive
director, thus making the board much more in tune with normal
blue chip companies and normal corporate codes of governance.
Q563 Jim Sheridan:
Apart from the two elected people, will the rest of the board
be appointed?
Stewart Regan:
That is correct.
Q564 Jim Sheridan:
One of the recommendations that Henry McLeish suggested was the
reintegration of the Premier League and the Football League. Would
you agree with that?
Stewart Regan:
I think that is a matter for the Premier League and the Football
League in terms of what the structure looks like. We have discussed
the matter and we feel that having one league to deal with in
Scotland makes much sense. Scotland is a country of only 5 million
people; it is the same size as Yorkshire, where I was chief executive
previously at Yorkshire County Cricket Club. With 5 million people
and all the professional football clubs that exist, it is very
complex and complicated in terms of getting things done. It would
be much simpler to have one league, and equally, from a performance
point of view, the relationship between the governing body and
the league, we feel, would be much smoother and progress could
be much swifter.
Q565 Jim Sheridan:
Are you also aware of the discussions that are going on about
the size of the league?
Stewart Regan:
That is correct.
Q566 Jim Sheridan:
Certainly, if newspaper reports are to be believed and various
surveys have been carried out, the supporting fans really do not
want a 10-team league but the authorities seem intent on imposing
a 10-team league. Is that the case?
Stewart Regan:
I think the league reconstruction, as I said before, is a matter
for the leagues themselves. They are in discussion as we speak.
It is not as simple as simply looking at one stakeholder view,
i.e. the fans' view, if you like. We have certainly, from what
I gather, taken fans' views into account, but the principle of
a 10-team league is built on the long-term survival of Scottish
football.
In comparison to football in England, there is not
the same amount of money flowing through the game and, as you
know, football in Scotland is dominated by Celtic and Rangers,
particularly in the Premier League, just in terms of fan base
and resources. Money needs to flow down through the game so that
the landing is softened if a team is relegated from the Premier
League to the First Division, because the drop in income is potentially
cataclysmic for a club that falls out of the Premier League. Therefore,
the intention is to try to provide some funding that can flow
down through the game from the Premier League into the First Division,
and in order to do that, you need to create that income from somewhere.
The proposal is on the table to reduce the size of the Premier
League from 12 teams down to 10, which would create two shares
of income that could be divided across the Football League and
thus have a much more attractive First Division in Scotland.
There are also performance criteria to be put in
place. Following Henry McLeish's report, we have recently commissioned
a performance strategy using Alistair Gray from a company called
Renaissance, who have done a lot of work with sport right across
the world and right across a number of different sports. The performance
strategy is built on four guiding principles. One is to create
10,000 hours of contact time with the ball for younger league
players coming up through the system, which actually links to
the provision of sport in schools, which we probably will not
have time to get into, but it is something we feel particularly
strongly about at the Scottish FA. The second principle is around
providing "best versus best": the opportunity for the
best players to play against the best players. The third principle
is around coaching, and the fourth is around something called
The New Scotland Way, which is our performance system and the
infrastructure that we put in place.
I was interested earlier to hear one of the comments
about preventing foreign players coming in and dominating the
national team. In Scotland, we are also concerned about that,
and we are looking at putting in place performance-related fee
permits for our clubs to incentivise them to actually play young
Scottish-qualified players in the first team, to actually bring
them through and provide the "best versus best" opportunities.
So, to address your question as far as the restructure of the
League, yes, on the face of it, it does mean a reduction in the
number of teams, but both from a financial and a performance point
of view, we believe it is absolutely the right thing to do. Clearly,
there are differences of opinion even within our own board, but
it is one of those matters that are very subjective. People either
agree with it or they do not, but when you look at it from different
perspectives, there is a lot of common sense to the proposal.
Jim Sheridan: So finance
has been the dominant factor, then, in making the decision or
the proposals.
Stewart Regan:
No, that is not what I said. What I said was that finance and
performance have been looked at. Performance, and in particular
the development of Scottish-qualified, home-grown talent, is a
key criteria. If you look at recent articles from Craig Levein,
the national team manager, you will see that he personally is
very supportive of that restructure because it gives the young
players the chance to play against the best players in a very
much stronger 10-team, top tier of football in Scotland.
Q567 Jim Sheridan:
If it goes to a 10-team Premier League, how many times will Celtic
and Rangers play each other?
Stewart Regan:
That is clearly for the Scottish Premier League to decide. This
season already they are playing each other seven times because
of the nature of the cups that they have been drawn against each
other and the progress that they have made. The number of times
Celtic and Rangers play each other is actually a key factor in
the broadcasting contract in Scotland. Obviously, any structure
that is put forward has to look at that particular clash as a
key contributor. I don't know where that will end up, but it will
certainly feature strongly in any proposal.
Q568 Jim Sheridan:
Have there been any discussions about, putting Cup games aside,
how many times in the league Celtic and Rangers will play?
Stewart Regan:
Yes, there will have been discussions. As I said, it is the League—
Q569 Jim Sheridan:
Do you have any idea how many times it will be?
Stewart Regan:
I could not say off hand, because I have not been involved in
the detail of fixture planning. What would need to be discussed,
particularly with the Leagues themselves, is any fixture scheduling
that they have put in place.
Jim Sheridan: There is
a distinct danger there of becoming repetitive and boring, and
the end result will be that fans will not come and watch it.
Stewart Regan:
I think, if you talk to the fans of Celtic and Rangers, they would
probably disagree. They are the biggest-attended matches in Scotland;
they are the matches that grab the public interest and television
interest around the world. When Celtic and Rangers play fans of
other Scottish Premier League clubs and also in Cup matches against
Scottish Football League clubs, they are particularly attractive
and generate revenue for the clubs and provide economic impact
for the local communities where the teams play.
Q570 Jim Sheridan:
Henry also suggested the regionalisation of the lower leagues.
How do you think that will work out? How will it help the lower
leagues?
Stewart Regan:
It has been discussed with the Scottish Football League. The principle
really comes down to looking at whether or not a pyramid system
can be put into Scotland. At the moment, at the bottom of the
Football League, there is no opportunity for any team to come
up from amateur football or non-professional football into the
Football League. If you look at the performance strategy, which
provides the opportunity for clubs to play against the very best
clubs, we feel at the Scottish FA that there needs to be an incentive
for clubs that want to invest in their infrastructure and want
to develop their standards to aspire to become professional and,
therefore, we feel that the door needs to be opened up for clubs
to come through the ranks.
However, because of the size of Scotland, to create
another division and have clubs travelling from Wick or Elgin
right the way down to Dumfries or Berwick just doesn't make commercial
sense, so there are a number of options, one of which is regionalisation.
When you look at it purely from a financial or commercial perspective,
there is a lot of sense in it. The clubs themselves, however,
see that as potentially challenging what they have currently,
which is to be part of the national League, to be a national,
professional team, and any suggesting of regionalising is met
with the view that it would be a step backwards. That one is still
very much a work in progress. That one, again, is for the Scottish
Football League at look at the way forward.
Q571 Jim Sheridan:
In terms of the revenue from, particularly, television, how will
that flow down to the lower League clubs?
Stewart Regan:
There are two aspects, really. There is the television revenue
that comes in through the Leagues themselves, and the Leagues
make a distribution to their clubs based on a particular formula.
Obviously, that would be something for you to discuss with the
Leagues, if you feel it appropriate. I can only talk for the television
deal for the Scottish FA.
We provide a number of distributions based on things
like the Scottish Cup, based on a distribution award at the end
of every year to clubs, and what we are looking at doing as part
of the governance review is refocusing how we reward money. What
we are keen to do is reward clubs for delivering behaviours or
initiatives that are going to contribute to the achievement of
our strategy. We want to move from being seen as a grant-giving
governing body to a body that actually measures outcomes, and
measures outcomes that contribute to the strategy, particularly
the performance strategy and the participation strategy, which
are the two key pillars that we are working on. We are looking
at the sort of outcomes that we can reward, for example, playing
young Scottish-qualified players in the first team, developing
a number of coaches in order to provide the necessary coaching
support for young kids, and also to encourage participation, which
means having a volunteer strategy and having an officials and
coaches strategy. At the moment, we are probably not as good as
we could be or should be in how we distribute the money, but we
have recognised that and we are looking to change how we reward
clubs in the future.
Q572 Jim Sheridan:
Regardless of the attractions of the Old Firm, there is no way
they are going to compete financially with Manchester United or
Liverpool, et cetera, so given the limited resources in terms
of Scottish football, do you think that salary capping would be
an appropriate way to go forward?
Stewart Regan:
I think it is an interesting debate, and it is one that I was
involved in when I was at the Football League. I think you have
to look at the market in which clubs play. If you are in the top
tier of football, you actually view yourself as playing on a world
market, and if you have restrictions imposed upon you, you then
see yourself as being unable to compete at the highest levels.
To put a cap on a team, which then has to compete against the
Barcelonas, Real Madrids and Inter Milans, which do not have caps,
it is potentially restrictive, and that is why I think that at
the top end of football, it is not something that is easy to achieve.
However, at the lower ends of the game, I do feel that it is possible,
and certainly, I was part of the team that looked at implementing
this in the Football League, particularly in League One and League
Two, when I was on the management team at the Football League
then. I think it depends on which team you are talking about and
how you view the market in which you compete.
Q573 Jim Sheridan:
Obviously, there is a competitive imbalance in the Scottish game,
and it is very predictable. It is either Rangers or Celtic, or
Celtic or Rangers that is going to win the League. Does that affect
the game in Scotland?
Stewart Regan:
I think that has been in place for many, many years and I would
argue that, if you look at most categories of business, you will
find a consolidation taking place to two or three major players
in every category, whether it is petrol stations, banks or supermarkets.
Football is no different. It is consolidation down to a small
number of big brands that have the global power and presence in
order to dominate their particular market. I think what is really
healthy in England is how the Premier League has seen a widening
at the top now to maybe four or five clubs, and I think it is
important for Scottish football that we seek ways of making the
top tier more competitive. Certainly, Hearts this season have
given the top two a good run for their money and it would be very
healthy for the game to see stronger clubs. That is why I think
the reconstruction of the League and the distribution of income
could help that and potentially develop stronger teams for the
future.
Q574 Jim Sheridan:
There were expectations upon your good self, when you were appointed,
that you would try to change things so that there would not be
this predictability and there would be some sort of effect of
competition, but you seem to be suggesting is that it has been
like that for years, so we need to keep it that way.
Stewart Regan:
No, I think you missed the point. I think what I said was that
it is not a good thing for the game, but Rome wasn't built in
a day. I have been in the post for six months. That has been in
place for 100 years. I think it will take a little longer than
this financial year for me to change it. What we are looking at
doing is putting in place initiatives to provide income flowing
down through the game so that we can have stronger teams at the
top end of the Premier League.
Q575 Jim Sheridan:
Can I ask you just to consider the current financial regulations?
This morning, you will know that Rangers are now effectively being
run by the bank, and there are all sorts of speculation about
who should own the club or who is buying the club and so forth.
Do you have any views on these things and how the financial regulation
should be operating in Scotland?
Stewart Regan:
It is not for me to comment on Rangers' individual circumstances.
That is a matter for the club and the Scottish Premier League.
We at the Scottish FA have no direct involvement in the day-to-day
running and the day-to-day financial matters. We are very keen
to make sure that we have a strong League or Leagues and that
we have clubs that can survive financially, and anything we can
do to help that, we would support. The idea of things like fit
and proper persons tests is something that we have within our
current articles. We have introduced club licensing and we audit
all clubs regularly to make sure that we feel that they are being
run efficiently and effectively and have standards in place that
satisfy supporters, the league and the association.
In terms of other financial regulations, there is
nothing at the moment that I am aware of that we are doing or
putting in place to change it. It is working reasonably well at
the moment. There are always things we could do differently and
better, but at the moment, there are no immediate plans to change
that.
Q576 Jim Sheridan:
Do you think that there should be a role for the FA in terms of
looking at clubs' finances, or scrutinising them or monitoring
them?
Stewart Regan:
The Scottish FA is the ultimate governing body in Scotland and
we have almost an overarching responsibility to protect the long
term good of the game so, yes, I think that we should take an
interest in these matters, but we have delegated responsibility
on a day-to-day basis to the leagues to effectively run their
own business, and we would only get involved if there were a major
appeal or a major issue. For example, we became involved when
Dundee recently went into administration and were in financial
difficulties, so we are the ultimate right of appeal, but the
day-to-day matters are handled by the leagues themselves because
they are the bodies of which the clubs are members.
Q577 Damian Collins:
I was going to ask about Dundee. It seems a good point to follow
up on in terms of questioning. Is Dundee symptomatic of a bigger
problem in the Scottish game of clubs simply living beyond their
means?
Stewart Regan:
I think there is an issue with rising levels of debt in Scotland
and across the game generally. I think my colleague from the FA
down here, Alex Horne, made the point earlier that there is only
a small number of clubs making a profit. In Scotland, we have
exactly the same issue. The way that clubs tend to deal with it
in Scotland is to try to operate to a much tighter budget. What
you have to understand is that in Scotland, the financial numbers
that you are talking about are substantially less. Even at the
top end of the game, the clubs are not getting anywhere near the
money that clubs in England get, and that is largely because of
the size of the television deals.
We have some very good examples in Scotland where
clubs run to a tight budget, where they have salary controls in
place, and where they operate within a budget and stick to that.
We have other examples where clubs come in and potentially spend
more money than they should be spending, particularly on things
like player wages, but I do not think Scotland is unique in that.
If you look across the world of football, and perhaps other sports
as well—cricket, as an example from where I was before,
is facing a similar issue—and as television money flows
into the game, there is a desire to have more of it and to chase
the dream and potentially get into European and world competitions.
I think you are always going to have that, and it comes down to
governance. It comes down to having good management and strong
leadership on the boards, so I think there is a problem in Scotland
at certain club levels, but it is no different to anywhere else
and we are trying to encourage clubs to live within their means.
Q578 Damian Collins:
Just taking what happened with Dundee, do you think there should
be a review of the audit? You said that you audit the clubs. Do
you think that the criteria that the clubs are audited against
should be reviewed in light of the problems that Dundee has had?
Stewart Regan:
It is a difficult one, because at what point do you step in and
decide that there is a problem? Clubs can change their performance
and shape very quickly if a new director or a new chairman or
whatever comes in and has a different policy. You can move from
operating within your means to operating outside your means very
quickly and it is at what point you step in. We have to differentiate
the rules of the league bodies from the rules of the governing
body that effectively is running the game, as opposed to the league,
which is overseeing the performance and the management of the
clubs. Our view is that it is the league's responsibility to police
and manage their own clubs, and there are numerous ways of doing
that, whether it is fit and proper persons tests, salary caps
and effectively taking a much keener interest in things like profit-loss
accounts and logging audited accounts at the end of the year.
The governing body, the Scottish FA, effectively sits over the
top of all of those, and we would only get involved at the last
resort.
Q579 Damian Collins:
Just to follow, lastly, Jim's questions about Celtic and Rangers,
do you think, at the other end of the scale, that Celtic and Rangers
struggle to compete consistently at the high level in competitions
like the Champions League because there is not enough money for
them to draw from the Scottish Premier League?
Stewart Regan:
I think if you asked the clubs, fans and a number of the stakeholders
in Scotland, they would probably agree with the comment that the
gap is widening between the top end of the Scottish Premier League
and the top end of the English Premier League, but again, that
is happening all across Europe in particular, simply because down
in England they have a very good television deal that has been
expertly negotiated and money has come into the game. They have
created a very strong brand and they have grown it around the
world, so naturally that money has come in and clubs have taken
advantage of that and built their own club brands.
In Scotland, we have not had that luxury. We have
a much smaller League with fewer clubs competing at the top end,
so I do feel the gap has widened. That said, particularly the
Old Firm have competed very well in the competitions that they
have participated in, and clearly, this season, Rangers have made
progress in the Europa League until recently, despite having limited
resources.
Q580 Damian Collins:
To adapt a question I asked Martin O'Neill last week, do you think
you will ever see a club like Aberdeen winning major European
honours again?
Stewart Regan:
That is a difficult one, because I do not have a crystal ball
and I would not like to predict or otherwise. I think the challenge
is much greater now for a club, particularly a club that has not
won anything recently and does not have the resources or the infrastructure
to risk up through the ranks, but I think football is about being
able to offer the opportunity to live that dream and the opportunity
to go from, as I said, parkland to professional stadium, which
is why we think the pyramid system is important. We have to open
up football and have a pathway that goes right the way through
so that clubs can aspire to be successful. If you had a club like
Aberdeen or Kilmarnock or whatever that is taken over by a Roman
Abramovich character, then who knows where that club may get to
in the future? We have seen what has happened to the success of
the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea in England in recent
times, when they have had huge investments and financial backing.
That could happen in Scotland, and it would be great for the game
if it did.
Q581 Dr Coffey:
Just turning away from football for a while, and going on your
previous experience as chief executive of York Country Cricket
Club, are there any good examples of governance that the SFA and
FA could learn from the ECB, whether that is actual governance
in decision-making or youth development?
Stewart Regan:
Absolutely, and we are already starting to see examples of that
with some of the initiatives we are putting in place in Scotland.
A great example of that is the principle of performance-related
fee payments, as I referred to earlier. This is something that
the England and Wales Cricket Board have been pushing now for
several years, and that is setting out a series of criteria that
are important to the game of cricket in England and Wales, asking
clubs to either opt in or opt out of delivering those criteria.
If you opt in and deliver them, you get paid. If you don't deliver
them, you don't get paid, and it is almost creating incentives
rather than punishments.
On how we manage the handout of cash and the distribution
of cash through the game, I for one am in favour of distributing
it based on the achievement of performance targets. One good example
of that, as I said before, is playing Scottish-qualified players
in club first teams to give them first-team opportunities rather
than signing foreigners or journeyman players that can come in
and perhaps do a job for a short period of time. I think that
makes opportunities open for all clubs to benefit and not a just
a small number of clubs at the top end of the game.
I also think that cricket has managed the independent
non-executive director route very well. The England and Wales
Cricket Board has a strong diversity agenda. They have representation
on the main board from a number of minority groups, and I feel
that is something we can learn from and something that we would
like to develop over time in Scotland.
Q582 Jim Sheridan:
In the short period of time that you have been there, you have
probably seen the poison of sectarianism in the Scottish game
and, to be fair to both clubs, they have tried their hardest—and
in some ways, succeeded in trying—to end sectarianism, but
that poison, that sickness, is still there. It would be one half
of the city supporting the SFA and the other half supporting the
city against the SFA. How do you see things developing in the
future? What is your relationship, for instance, with the Scottish
Premier League these days?
Stewart Regan:
My relationship with the Premier League is excellent and, having
listened to the debate this morning, what is interesting is that
there is a very strong relationship and a willingness to work
together between the Scottish Premier League, the Scottish Football
League and my own body, the Scottish Football Association. I think
Henry McLeish's report, in many ways, has acted as a catalyst
for change and we are all working together to put the various
changes through this year.
You are right; there are some challenges in Scotland
that are pretty unique and I think I have faced most of them in
my first six months. The whole sectarian issue is one that reared
its head again over the last couple of weeks. Tomorrow we are
actually meeting with the Old Firm, the police and members of
the Scottish Government to discuss what can be done. It is pretty
unique to the west of Scotland, although I know the issue is wider
than that. It cannot rely on one body to address it; I think it
needs a whole concerted effort on behalf of everybody and I think
it requires the need to start at school level and look at education.
Going back to this lady's point about learning from other sports,
the other thing that cricket did really well was the link with
bodies like health and education and government to use sport to
address a number of key issues. On sectarianism, racism in football
and some of those kinds of areas, I am really keen to look at
what we can do in Scotland, but it is a big issue. It is one that
has been around, again, for 100 years or more, and we are not
going to solve it overnight, I don't think.
Q583 Jim Sheridan:
Yes, I think most people accept that. During this inquiry, we
have emphasised the importance of grassroots football, and you
mentioned schools as well. For me, there is nothing more exciting,
from a schoolboy's or schoolgirl's perspective, than playing football
at their national stadium, whether it is at school level or amateur
level. Yet, the SFA—I think it is the SFA—for some
reason have refused permission for the Scottish schools to play
their cup final there, and likewise for the Scottish Amateur League.
Could you explain why that is the case?
Stewart Regan:
Absolutely: the decision was taken by the Hampden Park Stadium
Board, which I sit on. What many of you will not realise is that
Hampden Park is also the home for Queen's Park Football Club,
and they play on it and play a full season of fixtures there.
In addition to that, we stage cup finals, cup semi-finals, international
matches, and we also have a series of concerts there during the
course of the year.
We take criticism regularly on the condition of the
pitch because of the amount of fixtures and amount of use that
the pitch is getting. Equally, the Hampden Park board has commercial
targets that it has to achieve in order to operate as a profit-making
body, so the board decided that playing a match for a few hundred
people in a 56,000-capacity stadium was not viable any longer
both from a usage and financial point of view. That decision was
relayed to both the Scottish schools and the Scottish amateurs,
and alternative dates were sought for this year, the last year,
to try to offer support and find alternative venues, but the decisions
have been communicated and we are still in dialogue with both
bodies on that.
Q584 Jim Sheridan:
Correct me if I am wrong, but grassroots football is not there
for viability. It is there to encourage people to participate
in the game. And while you make provisions for international games,
cup finals and professional games—and taxpayers' money has
been used to build Hampden in the first place—here the people
at the bottom of the pile are saying, "We would like an opportunity
to play at our national stadium two games: schoolboys and Scottish
amateurs", and they are the only ones who have been punished
while the professional game put their money in there and get their
own way.
Stewart Regan:
I do not think it is about punishing anybody. As I said before,
it is about looking at what goes on at Hampden Park and how many
fixtures are actually playing there during the course of a season
with a club team using it as their home ground. That is very different
to a national stadium like Wembley or a stadium like the Millennium
Stadium where there is no club team playing there week in, week
out. We have to look at the quality of the surface, which is key
for the professional competitions and the international team.
We have offered to support the schools and amateurs by trying
to find alternative routes, but if I were a schoolboy footballer
coming through, I would be really excited about playing at any
professional stadium, irrespective of the national stadium. The
chance to play at a major ground is equally attractive, and that
is why we feel that there are viable alternatives to playing at
a stadium that is getting an awful lot of hammering from people
using the pitch.
Jim Sheridan: Just for
the record, the last time I was in Wembley was watching the Scottish
v. England schoolboys international, played at Wembley, so I would
hope you would reconsider your position.
Q585 Chair: I
think that is probably all we have for you, so I would like to
thank you very much for coming.
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