Promotion could be 'crippling' for Brora Rangers
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IT was a ticker-tape Saturday for Sutherland football last weekend as Brora Rangers were crowned champions of the Highland League and Golspie Sutherland won the North Caledonian League title.
If Brora beat Rothes on 18th April, both will be unbeaten in their respective leagues all season.
But as Brora fans and management celebrated at Dudgeon Park after beating Keith 2-0, the high-fives may have been hitting thin air.
Their back-to-back titles could result in a headache for their accountants — and the break-up of the team.
The club’s success means they face the possibility of being promoted to the Scottish football league’s bottom division, League Two, and a financial nightmare could follow.
This is the first season in which the Scottish Professional Football League has introduced the pyramid play-offs, whereby the winners of the Highland League play the Lowland League champions (Edinburgh City) over two legs. The victors will then go on to meet the team which ends up bottom of League Two, currently Montrose who are 12 points adrift.
The prize if either of the non-SPFL clubs win that contest will be promotion to League Two.
But both Brora Rangers’ chairman John Young and major sponsor Ben Mackay have lukewarm reactions to that scenario.
Mr Mackay told the NT: “I have not held back over the past few days on pointing out what the implications would be if we got through to League Two.
“The cost of travelling to somewhere like Berwick Rangers could be crippling. The travel costs would be bad enough but on top of that if it is a midweek game, we would have to cover things such as our players’ work wages.
“They are all part-time and have other jobs. If we had a fixture against Berwick, for instance, on a Tuesday night, we would need to stay overnight and recompense the lads for any loss of work wages for being away for two days. And that’s if their employers are good enough to allow them time off.
“I know it would work equally for Berwick coming up to us, but seven out of the 10 League Two teams are in the south.”
Asked if there may be a call for having a north/south split in the leagues, Mr Mackay replied: “It has been talked about, with a split somewhere around Dundee and Stirling and there is support for it, but the football league are not very good at debating anything.”
He continued: “We will just have to go with it and do our very best to make sure we have the opportunity to play in League Two. We would never throw a game. We will make sure we keep our integrity intact. I have to say, though, that I have never gone into a game before not looking forward to it I am this time.
“If we do win through, then we’ll have to see where it takes us.”
Mr Young said: “We will just have to do our best. I have to admit that when the pyramid play-offs were first discussed two years ago I was all for it because I never thought it would be Brora Rangers in this position.
“But there will be problems. If it was weekend games only then we would probably be OK, but midweek matches will leave us struggling.
“Many players join Highland league clubs from SPFL clubs because they didn’t have to travel so much, so there may be a problem with players leaving. I have been at Brora for a long time and watched this present squad being built up to what it is today — I don’t want to see that team broken up.
“Financially I have been told it could cost between £16,000-£17,000 per season just for travelling and to Berwick it would be £1200 for a bus. We would find that difficult to maintain. I remember the days when we were scraping around for funds and I don’t want to go back there again.”
Mr Young reiterated Mr Mackay’s promise that Brora Rangers are determined to win their play-off games.
He said: “I think people are assuming we won’t try in our games against Edinburgh City, but in fact it has made us more determined than ever.”
n Brora Rangers will travel to Edinburgh City’s Meadowbank Stadium on April 25th for the first leg of the play-offs. The return game at Dudgeon Park will take place a week later, on May 2nd.
