It was all a silly misunderstanding, you see. At least, that is what the SPFL statement released last Friday evening, in response to a letter of dissent issued by six Premiership clubs against the governing body’s executive, would have had you believe.

If you are not clued up on the latest civil war engulfing Scottish football, allow me to give you a quick crash course.

Having lost the so-called ‘cinch dispute’ with Rangers last year, the SPFL hierarchy were forced (and I do mean forced, kicking and screaming) to issue an apology to the Ibrox club and agree to an Independent Governance Review.

SPFL chairman Murdoch MacLennan, to give him a little credit, at least put his name to that. But a statement he released painting the audit which was subsequently carried out by Henderson Loggie favourably – and some would contend, assessing it hugely selectively – has prompted a revolt.

READ MORE: Concerned clubs demand answers on SPFL governance report

To this day, the full report has only been seen by the auditors and by the SPFL executive. Even the SPFL board, though briefed upon certain aspects of report, have yet to see it in its entirety.

So, in a nutshell, the way that the review into corporate governance at the SPFL has been handled by their executive has illustrated perfectly why there are huge worries about their corporate governance.

To cut a long story short (which I am trying to do, believe it or not), Aberdeen, Livingston, Motherwell, St Johnstone, St Mirren and Rangers put their names to a letter last week demanding to see the full report and raising a number of concerns with the drip-fed dissemination of its findings.

On Friday evening, the SPFL eventually responded with a statement of their own, saying that the letter released by the rebellious clubs contained a number of ‘factual inaccuracies’ (in trademark style, there was no elaboration on what they might be), which had since been addressed with those clubs. The implication being that the waters had been calmed and the complainants had been tucked safely back into their box.

Except, that wasn’t quite the end of it, after all. Yesterday, the SPFL’s seditious six released another statement, inviting both chairman MacLennan and chief executive Neil Doncaster to a meeting with their shareholders later this month to discuss the concerns around the Independent Governance Review ‘in the interests of transparency and governance’. Which could be interpreted as business speak for 'square go'.

And therein lies the rub. The SPFL, you might think, could easily have avoided this latest imbroglio by simply allowing its member clubs to have full access to the report’s findings. What are they hiding, is the obvious question, if they have nothing to hide?

But now, even if they do perform a U-turn and hand the report over, and supposing there is nothing contained within it that would lead to repercussions for either chairman of chief executive, the way they have handled this affair now has half of the clubs in the Premiership publicly declaring their distrust in the SPFL executive.

Even if MacLennan and Doncaster feel that those misgivings are misguided, the very fact that so many stakeholders – some of whom even sit on the SPFL board - are now questioning their leadership cannot in any way be construed as being good for the game. How does Scottish football progress when there is so little faith in those who are supposed to be driving it forward?

It will be interesting to see if MacLennan and Doncaster do indeed accept the invitation to attend this meeting – from a perception point of view, how could they not? – and what shakes out of it. But no matter what does, it is unlikely to be something that will unite these six clubs behind MacLennan and Doncaster once again.

When storms brew up around the SPFL, as they do with depressing regularity, if not usually with the severity of this current one, we are told in no uncertain terms that the SPFL is the clubs. That the governing body and their leadership are there to carry out the will of their members.

Well, six of the 12 Premiership clubs - and Stenhousemuir too, let’s not forget – have publicly placed on record their dissatisfaction with how the league is being run. It wouldn’t take a forensic audit to deduce that their ultimate will is a change in leadership at the top of the SPFL.

READ MORE: Inside SPFL governance row as 'filtered' report alarms clubs

I understand that some of the clubs who did not ultimately put their names to the letter last week nevertheless hold misgivings about how this saga has been handled, and may be close to jumping the dyke.

If even a couple of them do so, and tilt the balance of Premiership dissenters with their heads above the parapet into the majority, then MacLennan and Doncaster will obviously have a harder time staving off this latest attack on their competency.

Even if they manage to stave this one off though, how long will it be before the next? Is this the future we are resigned to? Every minute spent firefighting and attempting to preserve their positions is time that isn’t being spent on formulating a plan for how they can move Scottish football forward.

It may be true that the two-year notice period they would have to settle to remove Doncaster would be expensive for the clubs, but how costly will it be for the game going forward if there is so little confidence in those who are supposed to be leading it?