Scottish football’s purse has long languished in the shadow of its counterpart south of the Border, so it is refreshing to see a growing business state its intent to increase investment in SPFL clubs.
Over the last 20 years, while multi-billion pound global deals are signed by the English Premier League, the Scottish equivalent has been a handful of change.
The return of Rangers, Hearts and Hibs to the top flight should give Scottish football wider appeal, and with TV audiences already on the up, perhaps there is a chance that McEwan Fraser Legal’s commitment to the game in Scotland could persuade others to follow suit.
Perhaps more interestingly, a statement of intent of this nature is unusual in the legal world. Traditional legal partnerships are more likely to be found sponsoring a touring Shakespeare production than something with the mainstream appeal of football.
For McEwan Fraser, and Aberdein Considine, itself involved in football sponsorship, which are also focused on the property market, visibility at grounds and on television is invaluable.
Ken McEwan, founder of the law firm, admits that the commitment to football is a labour of love, but he is quick to add that it is also a “hard-headed business decision”.
And that’s the crux of the announcement that McEwan Fraser Legal aims to strike deals with more Scottish clubs than any other business: it does not do so to benefit football first and foremost, but because it has identified that the Scottish game has returned to a point where it is beneficial to the business to be associated with it.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here