BARRY HEARN could have packed out the Hampden auditorium for his performance which had the crowd in stitches at yesterday’s inaugural SFA convention.
Then again Britain’s leading sports impresario could sell tickets for just about anything and that’s why he can’t understand why Scottish football isn’t promoting itself more.
Hearn took centre stage for about an hour and a series of one-liners had those in attendance in fits of laughter. But his message to those running the game in this country was deadly serious. It was maybe just as well SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster had left the room during the speech. Had he stayed he may well have been hiding under his chair.
No league sponsor? A disgrace! Failing to challenge the 34-year alcohol ban? Ridiculous!
Hearn didn’t hold back – describing those running the game as “lazy and set in their ways” – but afterwards said: “I didn’t get paid to speak at Hampden because I didn’t want paid.
“That gave me the freedom to say exactly what I thought because I don’t know anybody.
“You get to a certain age where you can’t be bothered to mess about. You’ve got to be honest. If I made a mistake or upset anyone then I’m ever so sorry ... but f*** it!”
The 66-year-old, who founded and owns promotions company Matchroom Sport, started at the very top when it came to his list of targets and insists a change of leadership is what is needed with falling attendances the result of failing to sell the game.
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Hearn, who pointed out he has more Twitter followers than the SPFL, said: “Sometimes organisations get into that mode of, ‘Oh, that’s how it is’. They are totally lazy and set in their ways.
“I am seeing too much self-pity. That’s what the world thinks of Scottish football and that should be the most worrying aspect. Be proud of yourself. Don’t be a secret. If you don’t believe in yourself how can other people believe in you?
“In my view you have done nowhere near enough, the fact you have a Scottish Premiership without a sponsor.
“Do you know how long you’d work for Barry Hearn if that was the case? You’d be sacked because that’s not a performance I’m looking for. If that’s systematic of the whole system then what other opportunities are out there. I know there’s a chicken and egg. I don’t have all the answers. Today’s about clues.
“Someone needs to be big enough to say we are making decisions on what is good for the sport. You don’t get popular but you need to have that type of attitude, that benevolent despot, that says to the giants of Scottish football: ‘There is a bigger picture here, let’s make this cake bigger.
“You’ve got to grow. You’ve got to be positive. You have been in the shadow of the English Premier League and you have almost given up. Your image is not good because it is a defeatist image, completely alien to what Gordon Strachan is preaching on the pitch.
“The blazers are not doing the job properly. It is very well looking at a beautiful petal but if the roots are damaged you don’t see a beautiful petal for much longer. You can’t sell your product if you talk your product down. Attendances are falling across Scottish football. You are not doing your job properly.
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“You need something dramatic like ‘attendances are going great’, ‘commercial is this’ or ‘Abu Dhabi Bank is sponsoring the SPFL’. The fact the league doesn’t have a sponsor says everything you need to know so you better get it right. If you don’t it doesn’t matter to me because I won’t be back to talk again.
“I certainly won’t be up for the leadership. What I’ve said isn’t rocket science. It’s just common sense. And if they don’t take on the wider picture you’re stuck with what you are.
“Listen, I’ll carry on selling 11,000 for a night of darts at the Hydro and your attendances will be 1250 people or whatever.
“I’m a visitor so I’m cheating a bit but the world is changing and there are so many more opportunities that you might not be aware of. How can a little company like mine turn over the same amount as the SPFL? And how can we make millions and millions of pounds of profit and you’re doing your b*******.”
Hearn, with almost 40 years of experience in snooker, boxing and darts, called for the sale of alcohol at football stadia in Scotland to return.
He said: “I know football is different and there are complications. But things like the alcohol ban. How on earth have you put up with that over the years. It’s obscene. It’s actually insulting for people who go to a football match.
“And don’t say, ‘I served a beer and there was trouble’ because it’s your job to make sure there is no trouble. People will be people. But the customer experience is all part and parcel of why your gates are dropping.
“It’s not just the level of football. Two donkeys make a great race. You don’t have to be the best in the world to be entertaining. Sometimes you get stuck up your own backside with this blazer mentality. I can’t stand blazers. Everything comes down to money and clubs are starving.
“You can only talk about it and then it’s up to them. If people don’t act then they get what they deserve. This isn’t a charity. I won’t go home and worry about Scottish football. It’s straightforward to change this if you’ve got the mindest to do it.
“The first thing you need to do is acknowledge you have a problem then you are some way to solving that problem. But don’t start believing you’re something you’re not. I’ve always known the level I work at.
“As my wife constantly reminds me ‘you’re just a working-class yobbo’ and I say ‘I ain’t done too badly for a working-class yobbo’.
“But I’ve got a basic understanding of how to exploit things to their maximum and most of it is just hard work. I can’t believe you don’t have representations at TV festivals around the world. People don’t know you exist.”
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