GORDON STRACHAN has called for a ‘radical’ rethink of the ‘grey’ Scottish game once the country emerges from the coronavirus crisis.
The former Scotland manager insists the reconstruction plans currently being floated do not go far enough if football north of the border is to enjoy a bright future.
The 63-year-old is convinced some lower-league clubs will have to be sacrificed if they do not prove willing to show ambition.
And he is adamant that only by improving the ‘product’ will enough money be attracted to elevate the game on the world stage.
The former Celtic and Middlesbrough boss acknowledges that temporary measures have to be put in place to ensure Scottish football survives the global health emergency.
But he is urging the power-brokers to accept that a total shake-up is required if the SPFL is not to die a slow death.
Insisting reconstruction has to improve the finances, the product and player development, he said: "You’ve got this opportunity and it’s time to reflect on what’s been going on for 40 years and where we want to go.
“Maybe not do the real radical stuff just now, but put something in place that allows you to go really radical when we know where we are, rather than panic at this time.
“We sort something out for the next year or 18 months and then we have a real look at it.
“We have an opportunity to really think outside the box at this time.
“You shouldn’t make daft devisions in a crisis time, you’ve got to see the crisis out and then say, ‘what do you want?’.
“You have to give a good product and if you think a good product is watching two teams in the bottom half of the Scottish Premiership playing on a plastic pitch you’re kidding yourself, absolutely kidding yourself.
“Do we really want to go back to the football we’ve been watching or the platform its being played on? Where, on a Sunday, you’ve got Man United versus Tottenham, ooh, brilliant, Derby versus Leeds, ooh, is that Livingston versus Ross County I’m watching?
“There has to be a rethink on what product you’re showing the rest of the world.
“When the product’s better you’ll get more sponsors, you’ll get people coming into the game and investing.
“If you have more derby games, then we can say to the sponsors ‘look what you’re getting’ and they’ll sponsor these big games, but they’re not going to sponsor games that nobody is interested in.
“If there’s only 200 people turning up to a game why is the rest of the world wanting to tune in?”
Strachan, who is technical director at Championship side Dundee, believes too many clubs are happy to muddle by and benefit from being in the SPFL without contributing to the greater good of the Scottish game.
And he reckons there has to be a divide between the professional clubs and the part-timers.
He added to the BBC: “I think there’s a level for everybody, and that means your level of ability and your financial turnover, your average gates.
“It has a level and the clubs have a level but it’s not professional level, where we all get together and we’re all going in the one direction and we all add money to it, employ more people and get a better product.
“Instead of going, ‘I’m paying my players 80 quid a week here, that’s fine for us, we’re doing alright here and we’re getting 250 people’. Brilliant! What’s that doing for football round the world?
“Let’s show stadiums that are full, let’s build up the game with crowds and noise and colour.
“I don’t want a grey thing appearing on my telly on a Sunday and we’re quite happy with that grey thing on a Saturday and a Sunday.
“The world doesn’t want that, but we’re scared to say, ‘we need to change this, in a big way’.
“We’ll just tweak it with a two here or a four there, do this or that, but nothing really happens.
"All that happens is Celtic and Rangers get stronger and stronger and stronger. That’s what happens.
“Would it not be better that we are a generation that actually changed something? Rather than two up, three up, actually change something.
“If you have a try for 10 years and the league’s not any better then at least we’ve tried something.
“I’d love to be able to say, ‘we changed it for the better’, rather than just going round and round in circles.”
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