NEIL DONCASTER, the chief executive of the Scottish Professional Football League, has welcomed the prospect of a safe-standing area being introduced at Celtic Park and believes that bringing back terracing would "enhance the experience" for many spectators.

The rules on standing areas in Scotland's top division were relaxed two years ago and last week Peter Lawwell, the Celtic chief executive, revealed the club was giving serious consideration to modifying its stadium to create an area for those who no longer wished to sit at games.

Doncaster, who also called for "a grown-up debate" on the sale of alcohol inside football grounds, highlighted the Bundesliga as an organisation that has thrived by responding to supporters' needs and hoped the SPFL could now follow suit. "We've been big proponents of safe standing areas within Scottish football," he said. "The rules were changed last year to allow pilot areas within the SPL, as it was then. The rules now for the SPFL allow them at all levels of the game and it's now a matter for individual clubs. If a safety certificate can be produced with the backing of a safety committee for a safe standing area, we would absolutely welcome that.

"Safe standing areas can be very effective at building atmosphere. We know that they're popular with a section of supporters and those are the sorts of initiatives which are to be encouraged. Fundamentally it's about a club being able to get a safety certificate and, where you may be converting current seated areas to safe standing areas, there may be a cost involved in doing that. So it's not necessarily easy for clubs who would like the idea of safe standing to make it happen, but we hope it will because I think it's one of the areas where we can enhance the experience for that group of fans who want to stand at Premiership games and can't do so at the moment.

"The Bundesliga is a great example of football working with fans. In Germany they do it extremely well - they have alcohol in grounds, they have safe-standing areas and a tremendous atmosphere, so it is rightly acclaimed as one of the real success stories in European football. I think having safe-standing areas is at least a part of that. As for alcohol in Scottish grounds, I think it's important that we keep an open mind about it and have a grown-up debate."

Irn-Bru, the former sponsors of the Scottish Football League, were announced yesterday as the official soft drink of the SPFL after terms were agreed on a three-year, six-figure investment. The governing body is still pursuing a title sponsor, with Doncaster taking the view that it would be commercial suicide in the long term for them to drop the price just to get someone on board in the short term.

"It's important that we take

our time to partner with the right brand and for the right value," he said. "I believe a number of leagues throughout Europe are in the same position - even the Bundesliga, which I don't believe has a title sponsor. It's important it is the right fit if you have a title sponsor and that you don't take the first deal on terms that may not be ideal.

"One of the dangers with having a fire sale and cutting the price of a sponsorship is that it tends to reset the market value. It is very difficult to rebuild that market value going forward. Sure, you can sell all

of your inventory very quickly if

you want to. But then getting the right value for it in the future then becomes incredibly more difficult.

"We have seen a number of sporting properties in recent years that have been sold for knock-down price. When the owner of

that property then wants to come back to the market and rebuild

the value, it can't do so. That's because brands are saying:

"Well, you sold it for a lot less

last year, why do you want more this year?" It's very important that you do get the right value for what you believe is a very important sporting property."

Doncaster also revealed, however, that a lack of title sponsor has not prevented the SPFL from meeting its commitment to share £18m in commercial revenue among its 42 clubs. "Prior to the [Irn-Bru] deal, we had already announced to clubs that we were on budget to provide them with what we told them they were going to get in fees this year. This deal, and any other future deals, will only add to the amount we can distribute as fees. That's immensely satisfying because there were a number of people who suspected prior to the merger [of the SFL and Scottish Premier League] that those figures weren't real, so it's great to be able to report to clubs that we are in line with those figures."

Doncaster also expressed his pleasure at Irn-Bru electing to extend its relationship with Scottish football. "We are delighted

to be partnering with a brand as respected as AG Barr and Irn Bru. They had a six-year history with the SFL so to be able to continue that relationship through the SPFL is very pleasing indeed."

Adrian Troy, Head of Marketing

at AG Barr, added: "Our experience with the SFL over the last six years has been particularly important

for us, we've been able to talk to football fans within communities and that's something the rest of our marketing activity doesn't do very well. So it's just been able to touch people locally. That's what football does very well and we were keen to keep that going."