ST JOHNSTONE chairman Steve Brown said last night that Scottish football has been selling itself short for too long.
Admitting clubs had been victims of a financial own-goal, Brown broke ground to back SPFL chairman Ralph Topping’s claims that the BBC was “short-changing” Scottish football.
And he expects the football authorities to play hard-ball when television deals are negotiated next time around.
Brown said: “Ralph was 100 per cent right in what he said, albeit we agreed to it.
“The league signed the contract and that’s where it all went wrong because it’s very difficult to negotiate up the way when you have agreed to something at a level. We have been weak.
“We have allowed it to go from a higher point and have made decisions giving ourselves less and less money. As an organisation, we haven’t been that clever. If you look at the coverage the BBC gets and compare it to other contracts, they’re paying peanuts.
“There is a contrast in distribution within the UK, the licence fee is basically a tax and it should be spread more proportionately.
“We have been trampled over the top of for a long time.
“If that means a contract is perhaps put in jeopardy ... if that’s what it’s going to take so be it.”
Brown said it was time to talk up Scottish football.
“Look at our game last Friday night with Celtic – we had 23 attempts at goal. Even though the game ended up 0-0, people were raving about how good it was.
“We need to talk ourselves up more and focus on the good things,” he said.
“Scottish football is exciting. We have a bottom six where one team goes down and another into a play off.
“So going into the final few weeks of the season, you have five teams looking over their shoulder.
“Crowds are the big problem because we’ve all tried to get the fans back through the gates and for a variety of reasons it has been really difficult.”
Brown also called on the Scottish Government to show their support for the national game.
He said: “We need more help from the Government because this is the national game.
“I don’t think just handing out money is the right way because history tells you people will just use it for wages.
“But stadiums and facilities are a problem in this country so maybe a fund to help that would be a good idea,” he mused.
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