ROY MacGREGOR, the chairman of Ross County, insists he is beginning to see some signs of hope for Scottish football in the wake of PFA Scotland's warning that low wages are in danger of forcing some the country's top teams to go part-time.
Fraser Wishart, chief executive of the Players' Union, insists more and more of his members are questioning the worth of staying full-time as a result of the salaries on offer in the Premiership and has predicted a scenario in which clubs will have no say in their status should a large enough number of footballers take on alternative jobs to make ends meet.
MacGregor warned of the possibility of Premiership clubs going part-time within two or three years earlier this season and admits continuing financial issues mean that it could still happen.
However, the SPFL has managed to recruit Ladbrokes as league sponsor in a £2m-a-year deal until 2017 and MacGregor is heartened by the opportunities that could emerge should the Championship continue to grow in strength as a result of the financial distribution model brought in when the SPL and SFL merged in 2013.
"I do see light at the end of the tunnel in Scottish football," said MacGregor. "I see young players coming through because financial problems have caused youth development to work.
"In these hard times, I think we have moved to reinvent ourselves.
"I understand what Fraser is saying. It is certainly a concern that there will be less and less full-time footballers and I think we are seeing that.
"Instead of teams having 28 players in their pool, they maybe now have 20 or 21. The volume has changed and we have been guilty ourselves of offering just one-year contracts, which is not secure enough to keep people in football.
"Teams in the Premiership going part-time in future is still a possibility, but I really do think it is difficult to play part-time football at the top level. I don't think you can do that in the Premiership.
"The league, of course, has found a sponsor recently and what happened with league reconstruction was good because the Play-Offs have certainly generated interest. The right thing was done with extra finance going to the lower levels of the game.
"An extra £3m or £4m went down, which has starved the Premiership a little.
"However, we had a good Championship this season and I think that league could become so good in two or three years' time that there will be 16 or 18 teams capable of playing in the Premiership.
"There is a case to be made for moving more money down the levels, strengthening the Championship clubs and then looking at a truly competitive 16-team league in future."
MacGregor also insists that clubs must continue striving to create an attractive product that people will pay to see.
"The clubs have got to find ways to bring people back to football and raise revenues," he said. "It is entirely up to them.
"Getting more money into the game and making it more attractive will keep more players full-time.
"I think every club has a duty to entertain and it is great that we have these Play-Offs, something I have advocated even though we could have been in them.
"There will be a full house at Ibrox this week and the attendances for the matches between Rangers and Hibs were encouraging as well. Cup football works because people want to be entertained.
"Make a point of bringing that back and the revenues will go up. We are going through a difficult period, but the clubs have a responsibility."
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