SFA, SPFL & UEFA

Offer made for stake in Setanta

US investor Len Blavatnik is offering £20m in return for a 51% stake in the troubled Irish pay-tv channel Setanta.

Access Industries - a private company owned by Mr Blavatnik - said it had submitted a proposal but gave no further details.

Setanta has been hit by a lack of subscribers and by only winning one of the new English Premier League TV packages starting in 2010/11.

Mr Blavatnik is also involved with Top-up TV, the pay-TV channel on Freeview.

In a statement, Access Industries said: "The Access proposal is subject to a number of preconditions being met. Access believes that this proposal would secure the the future of the broadcaster for customers, football and employees."

Sources close to Setanta said that it had received an offer for the majority of the company, which the board was recommending, although it was subject to a closer look at the company's accounts.

Mr Blavatnik, who works with the former boss of BSkyB David Chance, has not been immune from the fall-out of the credit crisis.

A huge petrochemicals maker he backed, LyondellBasell, has collapsed, meaning big losses for its creditors, which include Royal Bank of Scotland.

Setanta, which shows cricket, golf and rugby union as well as football, has about 1.2 million subscribers.

But this is only about 60% of the number it needs, according to analysts, and the company is losing up to £100m a year.

Setanta needs to pay £30m that is due to the English Premier League and has already failed to pay the Scottish Premier League £3m it owes in television rights money.

On Wednesday, Setanta confirmed it had stopped taking on new customers.

The company has been holding urgent talks in an attempt to secure its future. An approach to rival broadcaster BSkyB failed, while Walt Disney-owned sports network ESPN denied speculation on Thursday that it would buy Setanta.

Under the current UK broadcast deal for the English Premier League, which lasts for one more season, BSkyB holds four packages of rights to show live matches - a total of 92 games - while Setanta has the other two packages, which cover 46 games.

However, for the TV deal starting in 2010/11 Setanta only won the rights to show one Premier League package of 23 games per season.
BBC

Mal was für die Lachmuskeln...

SFA to explain referee decisions

The Scottish Football Association is to issue statements over controversial refereeing decisions in all domestic matches from the start of next season.

An official will contact Hugh Dallas, the SFA's head of referee development, on the day of the match to explain the decision that followed an incident.

Dallas will, ideally, review available footage before issuing a statement clarifying the referee's decision.

The SFA sees this as a way of dealing with potential controversy quickly.

Its reluctance to comment on controversial decisions has been a source of frustration for club managers.

Gordon Smith, the SFA chief executive, called for more respect to be shown towards referees following an incident where Motherwell players reacted angrily towards referee Craig Thomson during a match against Hearts in February 2008.

Hearts scored after Thomson waved the action on following a knock to the head to Motherwell's David Clarkson.

Then, last May, Dundee United manager Craig Levein called for greater accountability and transparency for referees in Scotland.

Levein was unhappy about several decisions made by referee Mike McCurry in a 3-1 defeat by Rangers.

Last December, the Scottish Premier League's 12 managers agreed to refrain from speaking out about controversial refereeing decisions.

SPL chairman Lex Gold said at the time that the managers believed there was too much focus on refereeing decisions in post-match interviews.
BBC

SFA: We won't bail out SPL clubs

The SFA would be unable to offer financial assistance to any SPL clubs should Setanta fail to fulfil its TV deal, says Gordon Smith.

There are fears for the future of some SPL clubs if Setanta fails to secure enough financial backing to continue.

The broadcaster failed to pay a £3million instalment to the league on time earlier this month, resulting in the SPL board releasing cash to the clubs from their own reserves.

But the SFA would be unable to follow suit if the TV firm fails to honour their £13.5million contract for next season.

"We haven't even considered it but I would doubt we would be in a position because we have our own budgets to try and meet," said SFA chief executive Smith. "We do give money to the clubs at the end of the year but we are not in the position to fund that level of shortfall.

"We have our own broadcasting deal which we had to make to take the game forward and this is an SPL problem, although we do see it as a problem for the game in general."

Setanta had previously asked the SPL to renegotiate the £125million four-year contract due to begin at the start of the 2010-11 season.

Smith added: "I am obviously concerned about it because it is a major factor in the game these days, the deals that come in from broadcasters.

"I really do want to see this deal settled, whether it's Setanta who actually are still in there or whether there is an alternative for the SPL to get their money.

"But it's crucial to get this money, it's vital that clubs at the highest level have this level of funding.

"We have six teams in Europe this year, so you can imagine that these teams will all be competing in Europe without any budget and a lot of them can't make any spending at the moment until they know the situation.

"So I have my fingers crossed for them and I hope it works out to the benefit of the Scottish game."

Smith was speaking at the launch of a scheme to give every first-year pupil in Scotland access to organised football.

The programme, run in conjunction with the Scottish Government and the Bank of Scotland, will be extended to second and third-year pupils in the coming year.

"We want every school and every school pupil in Scotland to play football," Smith said.

"We know that playing the game makes you fitter and healthier, but we also know that pupils who take part in football are more confident and, in many cases, see their academic results improve."

TT

Breaking News
Setanta loses England Premier TV rights

Damit wird es uns in Schottland wohl auch um die Ohren fliegen.

The Scottish Premier League is holding a weekend of crisis talks amid fears of meltdown should broadcaster Setanta go into administration and the league loses its TV cash. (Daily Express)

ESPN and Sky have made rivals offers guaranteeing the Scottish Premier League between 60% and 90% of the deal agreed with Setanta. (The Herald)

RIP, SPL? Not quite

THEIR SILENCE has been worth a round of applause. Barely a peep has been heard from Rangers, Celtic or Aberdeen about the implosion of Setanta even if the three of them will have been biting their tongues. At times like this the temptation to say "I told you so" must be extremely difficult to resist.

The Old Firm and Aberdeen did tell them so, "them" being the nine other SPL clubs who voted to stay in bed with Setanta last June when Sky had made a counter offer for the rights to show live SPL football. Only those three were sufficiently worried by the risk of the Setanta offer to oppose it. Only those three had an inkling that the economic climate just wasn't right for relying on long-term cheques being promised by a small, vulnerable pay-per-view broadcaster.

Yes, Setanta were offering more money - £11 million more - but at least Sky were certain to last the course. There was no doubt that Sky could agree to a deal to 2014 and still be around to honour that commitment. Setanta are close to going down the plughole just 12 months after telling the SPL they would pay £125m. £125m? They couldn't even cough up the £3m they still owe for last season.

There aren't any winners here. Looking smarter and more perceptive than the others isn't worth a damn to Rangers, Celtic and Aberdeen. Those three are - and will be - as out-of-pocket as all the others from the disappearance of Setanta's money. Nor would it be right to portray the other nine clubs who voted in favour of Setanta - Hearts, Hibs, Dundee United, Kilmarnock, Motherwell, St Mirren, Hamilton, Falkirk and Inverness - as bumbling dimwits because of this embarrassing collapse.

The nine of them looked at Setanta and saw a company they'd had a relationship with since 2004, a company which had originally pledged £8.75m per year to the SPL and increased that to £13m per year in 2006. The nine clubs figured that Setanta had been nothing but a good thing for Scottish football from the start. They saw it as a company which deserved the benefit of the doubt. They took the view, not unreasonably, that the £11m difference between the Setanta and Sky offers last year was not something which should be lightly overlooked. Besides, how would it have looked to Setanta if it had two years left on a deal with the SPL and the league had already struck its next deal with Sky?

The Old Firm and Aberdeen saw it differently. They saw a small company paying vast sums for the rights to sports events without reaching the subscription levels they needed for their business model to work.

For someone such as Sir David Murray, the Rangers owner and chairman, there were doubts from the start. Celtic's chief executive, Peter Lawwell, had shared his initial scepticism about the length and substance of Setanta's offer at the time of that original deal in 2004. "My fear is that we end up in a Nationwide League situation," Murray told the Sunday Herald when the SPL's marriage to Setanta was confirmed five years ago. "I hope it works, because it has to. If it doesn't work that's Scottish football in a right mess. I hope I'm wrong but I have serious reservations." Murray was wrong about that first deal, but, unfortunately, he's been proved right in the end.

No doubt there will be headstones in the tabloids and "Scottish football: RIP" headlines. There will indeed be comparisons to the Nationwide League/ITV Digital scenario that Murray alluded to five years ago. That is an exaggeration. The Nationwide League struck a three-year, £315m deal with ITV Digital in 2000 only for poor subscription levels to bring the broadcaster down before £178m of that deal was paid. The problem was that many clubs had spent the money in advance, committing to transfer fees and players' contracts based on cash which never materialised. Cue debts, redundancies and clubs going into administration left, right and centre.

So far the SPL is out of pocket only in terms of the £3m most recently owed by Setanta, and even that money has been distributed to the clubs from a central, "rainy day" fund cleverly squirreled away by the league itself. As for the money due from Setanta between now and the end of the deal agreed to 2014, no SPL club has spent any of that. No-one has tied players down on hugely improved deals on the basis of a windfall to come from Setanta. That will prevent this being another ITV Digital.

If the early speculation of interest from ESPN and Sky turns out to be correct the damage will be tolerable. Renegotiations will be tense because the SPL is in a weak bargaining position. Salvaging between 60%-90% of the proposed Setanta money from ESPN or Sky, as has been speculated, would be a triumph. Some senior figures within the Scottish game hold little hope of that much being recovered from the Setanta wreckage.

What will this mean? First of all, the removal of around £500,000 each club is due from Setanta on August 1. Unless ESPN, Sky or the BBC come in with offers, or Setanta somehow stumbles on to honour some level of ongoing commitment, Scottish football is going to live an austere, hand-to-mouth existence. Several clubs going out of business? Very unlikely. The end of the SPL as we know it? Nonsense.

Clubs will simply have to cut their cloth like never before. That means smaller squads filled with poorer players paid much less than their predecessors were on, not to mention lay-offs across the board for everyone from office staff to youth coaches.

Scottish football won't die because of Setanta, it will simply be drained of a lot of talented people.

SH

Changing channels: SPL ready to line up new television deal

The SPL are preparing to pull the plug on troubled broadcaster Setanta today to secure a lucrative new television deal with either Sky or ESPN.

Scotland's top-flight have been involved in delicate negotiations for weeks in a bid to prevent their clubs going into financial meltdown as the Irish-based company hurtles towards administration.

Unless Setanta are saved at the eleventh hour, an announcement on a new deal is expected this week. Sportsmail has learned that Disney-owned ESPN are willing to pay £112.5million to conclude a four-year deal and Sky up to £87.5m.

Changing channels: The SPL are set to follow the English Premier League's lead and drop their deal with troubled pay TV broadcasters Setanta Sports

Setanta's outlay for the same period was £125m, but they are now close to collapse following the English Premier League's decision to terminate their contract with immediate effect.

Despite Sky's offer being lower than ESPN's, the Rupert Murdoch-owned company could still offer better exposure for the Scottish game.

It leaves the SPL in a similar position to last summer, when Rangers, Celtic and Aberdeen all favoured a deal with Sky during television rights negotiations, while the rest of the top 12 clubs opted to extend the Setanta contract for four years to 2010.

Friday's collapse of US tycoon Len Blavatnik's £20m rescue plan for Setanta appears to have sounded the death knell for the broadcasters, and they could go into administration as early as today.

The SPL have already had to bail out clubs to the tune of £3m after Setanta missed the final payment of last season's agreement.
Rangers

Up for grabs: Rangers title defence next season could be screened on either Sky Sports or ESPN

But the league remain confident that Setanta's demise will not trigger catastrophic effects for their cash-starved clubs.

'This Setanta crisis has been going on for weeks now and it would have been negligent for the Premier League to sit back and do nothing behind the scenes during this time,' a senior Scottish football source told Sportsmail.

'The problem is that you can't go public when you already have a deal in place with Setanta. But the truth is that talks have been ongoing with two major television companies over the past four weeks.

'We should be hearing an announcement on that within the next week. Nobody is holding out any hope for Setanta,' he said.

Bidding closes today in the auction for the 46-game package that Setanta held with the English Premier League. Sky and ESPN are expected to split them down the middle.

The same broadcasters will then compete for the rights to show live SPL matches, with no terrestrial broadcaster believed to be willing, nor able, to find the funds to screen Scottish football.

What is unclear is how Sky, if they take over the contract, would fit Scottish fixtures into an already packed schedule of football games.

Asked whether ESPN would bid for the SPL packages, spokesman Damion Potter said yesterday: 'It's a hypothetical situation as those rights are not available.'

In other news, Livingston today face slipping into administration for the second time in the club's short 14-year history if chairman Angelo Massone fails to settle a £10,000 rent payment with West Lothian Council.
DM

Klares Statement der SPL. Damit dürfte es das mit Setanta gewesen sein.

SPL Setanta statement

Setanta today notified the Scottish Premier League that it is unable to make the outstanding payment of £3 million to the SPL.

Lex Gold, Executive Chairman of the SPL, said: “Setanta has been unable to meet our extended deadline for the outstanding £3 million payment to the SPL and, in terms of the notice previously issued, our British broadcasting rights for season 2009/10 and beyond revert to us.

“We are now actively engaging in the process of selling our domestic broadcasting rights for next season and beyond."

SPL

SPL announces £23m record profit

The Scottish Premier League has reported a record-breaking profit, generating £23m for the 2007/08 season, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Following a decade of losses, action taken by clubs has resulted in eight clubs reducing debt, with two reporting no debt, and all but one breaking even.

St Mirren are the SPL's most profitable club after the sale of their former Love Street ground for £9.2m.

Celtic have the highest wage bill at £39m, a 53% wage-to-turnover ratio.

Hearts are the only club in the SPL to report a loss, despite the sale of Craig Gordon to Sunderland for £9m in January 2007, while Inverness and Falkirk operated with no debt during the same accounting period.

SPL FINANCES - KEY FACTS
Most profitable club: St Mirren with £11m
Highest wage bill: Celtic with £39m
Highest operating loss: Hearts with £3.5m
Biggest increase in net debt: Rangers up £5m

Rangers' operating figures were boosted by the sale of Alan Hutton to Tottenham Hotspur for £9m in January 2008, but the Ibrox outfit were the only club in the SPL to report an increase in net debt, up £5m on the previous season to £21.6m.

The SPL attracted slightly lower crowds during the 2007/08 season with average attendance figures down 3% from the prior season to 184,297.

Two thirds of the SPL teams experienced a decrease in attendance levels.

The increase in profit across the league was largely driven by the success of SPL clubs on the European stage, with Celtic reaching the last 16 of the Champions League and Rangers reaching the final of the Uefa Cup, where they lost to Zenit St Petersburg.

Much of the SPL's profits are derived from media rights to broadcast matches, with the television deal agreed with Setanta representing £13m per season - or close to £1m per club.

For the smaller clubs in the league, the Setanta income represents 20-30% of their operating income, however, the Irish broadcaster lost the rights to broadcast SPL matches after failing to meet a third deadline to pay £3m owed to the SPL by Monday.

The SPL chief executive Lex Gould insists that the league is actively seeking a new broadcasting partner in time for the 2009/10 season starting on 15 August.

BBC

Sky and ESPN to link up for cut price SPL TV deal

BROADCAST giants Sky and ESPN have teamed up to force the SPL into accepting a cut-price bail-out deal.

Record Sport can reveal the rival firms – who had been expected to bid against each other for the rights to screen Scotland’s top flight after the collapse of Setanta – have, in fact, joined forces to table a single “take-it-or-leave-it” offer.

But the proposal – which would see the complete package of live games divvied up between the two channels – would also force our cash-strapped clubs into accepting a whopping £40million less than they had been banking on from the original Setanta deal.

The Irish pay-per-view company had pledged to cough up £14m tocover the coming season’s SPL fixtures before a new four-year deal worth £125m kicked in next August – a total of £139m.

Record Sport understands Sky and ESPN are demanding a straight five-year contract until the summer of 2014 – but offering less than £100m for the rights.

There is little room for manoeuvre for SPL executive chairman Lex Gold who has already promised to save Scotland’s top 12 from skid row, despite the plug being pulled on Setanta’s coverage.

Gold has been left with no other credible alternative to the joint Sky-ESPN package – and with hardly any hope of talking up the price now the two rival bidders have joined forces to act as broadcast partners. Gold can’t even attempt topersuade Sky to go it alone as there are not enough available slots on their sports channels to squeeze a full SPL season into the schedules.

That is why Sky and ESPN believe a joint bid makes more sense but, by working together rather than bidding against one another,they are also driving the price down at a time when Scottish clubs are in desperate need of cash.

DR

The Scottish Premier League was last night haggling with BSkyB and ESPN over the finer details of a £100m joint broadcast deal.

An announcement could be made over the weekend that would see the financial stability of the 12-team top division being safeguarded for the next five years. (The Herald)

The Scottish Premier League is ready to accept a television deal from Sky and ESPN worth less than half the £139m they would have received from failed broadcaster Setanta. (Daily Express)

The Scottish Premier League is set to scrap its reserve league at its annual meeting on 16 July because of squad cutbacks. (Daily Record)

Chairmen and chief executives of the 12 Scottish Premier League clubs have reluctantly given the green light to a new £65m television deal with Sky Sports and ESPN. (Daily Mail)

The Sky-ESPN contract offer to the SPL is £84m less than the broadcasting deal with Setanta that was due to start in 2010. (Daily Record)

The SPL will accept the Sky-ESPN offer but is lobbying for a get-out clause after three years as it considers launching their own channel. (The Herald)

The SPL's only alternative strategy to the Sky-ESPN deal is to put the broadcasting rights out to open tender. (Daily Record)

SPL seals £65m deal with Sky and ESPN

THE Scottish Premier League have secured a new television deal with Sky and ESPN worth £65 million over three years, putting an end to attempts by Rangers and Celtic to secure broadcasting rights to the top-flight.

The SPL have signed an agreement to allow Sky and ESPN to screen 60 live Clydesdale Bank Premier League games each season across the UK and Ireland.

The deal lasts until the end of season 2011-12, although there is the option of a two-year extension provided all parties are agreeable. The chairman of the SPL, Lex Gold, said: "We are pleased that in just over three weeks we have been able to strike this deal."

Following the collapse of Setanta, Rangers and Celtic had been in talks over a proposed bid to secure the rights to SPL matches. However, that prospect disappeared with the arrival today of the new agreement with Sky and ESPN.

Setanta's previous deal was worth £125 million over four years so each club is faced with reduced budgets for the new season. Gold added: "Sky and ESPN are two of the biggest names in sport broadcasting and they will bring first-class production standards to the table.

"We are looking forward to working with both in the coming years to raise the profile of the SPL for the our clubs, fans and partners."

An SPL spokesperson conceded that Rangers and Celtic never got to the stage of bringing a firm proposal to the table. "There was no alternative proposal brought forward by the Old Firm," he said. "We needed a vote of 8-4 and while we will not go into the exact voting, there was enough to secure the approval."

Scotsman

Rangers Statement zum "TV-Deal"

Bain's TV Concern

RANGERS have questioned the value of a new £65m TV deal announced today by the SPL that gives Sky and ESPN 60 matches a season.

The contract will run until 2011/12 with the option for two more years and Ibrox chief executive Martin Bain feels it does not match the true value of Scottish football.

He said today: "Since Tuesday 7 July, when there was an indication given by the SPL member clubs that they would vote in favour of the Sky and ESPN deal, Rangers FC jointly with Celtic FC investigated the possibility of purchasing the SPL TV rights.

"In doing so, Rangers FC felt obliged to explore this avenue, not only in the best interests of our Club and its supporters, but the SPL and Scottish football as a whole.

"A bid was not able to be presented to the SPL Board this morning due to the time constraints imposed by the present bidders.

"Last year, Rangers FC along with Aberdeen FC and Celtic FC, implored upon the SPL member clubs to reconsider voting in favour of the Setanta deal, given concerns about the future viability of the company, and in failing to do so, believe that the overall value of the SPL TV rights have been destroyed.

"With the advent of Sky and ESPN now working together in a joint bid, values of potential income have halved since the Setanta deal was first signed in June 2008.

"We do not feel that the values now presented in relation to the length of term proposed by Sky and ESPN are a fair and true reflection of the value over the length of the term of the whole contract, however, Rangers FC have to abide by the majority vote this morning in favour of the Sky and ESPN contract."

Sky and ESPN will both cover 30 live Clydesdale Bank Premier League games each season and the broadcast slots will remain as Saturday lunchtimes, Sunday lunchtimes, Sunday afternoons and Monday nights.

ESPN, who also have rights to 46 English Premier League matches next season, will offer a subscription channel on the Sky platform.

Rangers FC

Uefa has denied they refused Motherwell permission to hold a minute's recognition for Paul McGrillen before Thursday's Europa League tie against Steaua Bucharest. (News of the World)

Ferguson vents anger at SFA

Barry Ferguson has launched a stinging attack on the Scottish Football Association over their handling of the 'Boozegate' affair.

Ferguson and Allan McGregor were banned from representing Scotland ever again for their behaviour while on international duty against Holland and Iceland last season.

The pair indulged in an early-hours drinking session at the team hotel in the wake of March's World Cup qualifying defeat in Amsterdam.

They then reacted to being dropped to the bench against Iceland days later by flicking V-signs at photographers.

Midfielder Ferguson, who left Rangers for Birmingham this summer, said in the Evening Times: "I was totally in the wrong with what happened at the hotel. I would never sit for a second and try to dress that up in any way or try to make a case for what went on that night with the drinking.

"If I could go back and change things, I would - of course I would. I should have gone to bed, and I should never have made the V-signs - when I see the pictures of that I feel so stupid. I looked like a daft idiot and I should have known better. But it was an error, a bad call.

"I let myself down, my family down, my country down and I let Walter Smith, Rangers and the supporters down. That's something I'll need to live with and it does still hurt me. But I made a mistake and people do that - I am a human being, not a robot and I made a costly mistake.

"The thing that rankles with me now is the way the SFA handled the entire situation - for me it was a joke. I had played for Scotland 45 times, I had captained my country for years - and they sent a fax to Murray Park saying that I would never play for my country again. It was just the same statement they put out, that was it!

"That just astonished me. The machine starts to ring, and in comes a fax from Hampden for my attention telling me that I would no longer be picked, and neither would Allan.

"The people in the room just looked at each other in total disbelief - is that how something like that should be handled?

"No-one has ever spoken to me from the Scotland set-up. Not the manager, the chief executive, a PR guy, anyone. I was driving back into Murray Park after being sent home for a few hours and I heard on the radio that the SFA were going to ban me for life.

"I was in such a whirl that I wasn't taking anything in - then a fax arrives and that was it over... no phone call, no anything. That, for me, sums the SFA up. They don't know how to handle anything properly."

TT