CELTIC chief executive Peter Lawwell last night called on Roy MacGregor to listen to the more experienced SPL chairmen who are to vote in favour of league reconstruction tomorrow.
The Ross County chairman will determine whether the proposed 12-12-18 package will get the 11 out of 12 votes needed for it to be carried when the top-flight clubs meet at Hampden. Only St Mirren's Stewart Gilmour will definitely vote against the package but MacGregor has major reservations and has yet to reveal which way he will go. He likes some aspects of the proposal and dislikes others. Yesterday MacGregor urged "compromise" in comments which encouraged the "yes" camp.
Lawwell acknowledged MacGregor was in an "awful" position because Ross County's fans had said they do not support the proposals, but he insisted the club, in its first year in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League, should heed the advice of those chairmen who have been in the top division for years.
"Stewart Gilmour has been very direct and clear on his views," said Lawwell. "I don't know exactly where Roy and Ross County stand. They are open to persuasion as they haven't made their position clear. Hopefully they will come with us. At the moment there would be 10 firm 'yes' votes, one 'no' and one 'undecided'.
"What I would be saying to Roy is that, with the greatest of respect, they are new to the SPL and the other 10 clubs have been round the block many, many times, been in it for long enough and been part of reconstruction and strategy talks for three years. We have the cuts and bruises. Maybe he should listen. It's fine being new and fresh and they've done fantastically well, but is that going to be his position in two, three or four years' time once he has experienced it all?
"It's not a threat, he's in an awful position, which is really unfortunate. It's not an ultimatum, it's just trying to get him to understand what we know and he has no reason to know because it's new to him.
"The fans don't know the full picture. And I think there were 130 [Ross County] fans at that meeting Roy held that night and they were against it. Sometimes you have got to take their views on board, which is vitally important, as we do. But at some point you have got to make the call yourself about what is best. And not just for yourself but for the game as a whole."
Lawwell said he expects debate to continue in the SPL boardroom tomorrow, up until the actual vote, and said he would try to speak to MacGregor. "If that's what it takes, yes. He's a great guy. He's got a great club and done a brilliant job. He's got the highest respect and I respect his right to vote.
"We've never been as close in terms of reaching agreement. We think it's right for the game. It's not perfect, but it's the best available. If it doesn't happen then the flip side is it stays the same. That, to me, is not palatable."
Lawwell claimed the proposed structure, in which the top two divisions of 12 split into three of eight after 22 games, would generate new broadcasting and sponsorship income. Without that, he said, £2 million could be lost to the Scottish game each year.
Bemoaning the stagnation of the status quo, he revealed Celtic have distributed 32,000 renewal forms to their adult season-ticket holders and fewer than 10,000 had responded so far. Lawwell criticised Gilmour for changing his voting position after all 12 clubs had unanimously supported the proposal in January.
"I'd question the reasons why clubs would want to vote against this. Everyone has the right to vote against, but I don't get it. The reasons I have been given so far have been so varied, so inconsistent - you can only speculate. The 11-1 [voting requirement] has never been raised at any meeting I've been at but he was saying on the radio that's the main reason. The 11-1 is a red herring, it's a total smokescreen."
If SPL clubs vote in favour the Scottish League clubs will vote on the proposals at a meeting on Friday.
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