'I offered £100m revamp deal to SPFL, they rejected it without a thought'
Keith Wyness has exclusively revealed to Football Insider that his offer of a £100million investment deal was rejected "without debate" by the SPFL back in 2022.
The former Aberdeen chief executive offered the sum to the governing body in exchange for a small share in the league's media rights, akin to La Liga's deal with CVC back in 2021.
Wyness outlined that his £100m investment was intended to be shared around the 12 top-flight clubs, with a view to being spent on improving infrastructure.
He also intended for a percentage of the money to be spent on transfers, with a view to raising the standard of the division across the board.
Wyness had hoped that the deal could have been a springboard to help the league improve in standard, but instead, he felt that his proposal was disregarded without proper consideration.
This comes after a week that saw some damaging results for Scottish clubs in European qualifying, with fresh questions being raised about the future of the league.
Keith Wyness explains rejected SPFL proposal
Aberdeen's former chief Wyness - who served as CEO at Pittodrie between 2000 and 2004 and now runs a consultancy business advising elite clubs - believes that the SPFL have got to change their ways and try to get more help to their clubs.
Rangers, Hibernian and Motherwell were all knocked out of Europe before the league stages last week, while Celtic missed out on Champions League qualification, despite leading their two-legged tie by four goals at one stage.
Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider's Inside Track podcast, Wyness explained why he couldn't believe how quickly his proposal was cast aside.
"I wonder if it's time to reappraise Scottish football in total," he said.
"In 2022, I proposed to the SPFL that I had £100m that we were going to give them to divide amongst the clubs. In the same model as CVC had done with the Spanish La Liga in return for a share of the media rights.
"There would have been a chance for those Scottish clubs to reinvest mainly in improved infrastructure, but also a percentage going into player spending as well to try and improve the league overall. That offer was rejected without even any real debate, and I still to this day don't understand why.
"They've got to change the focus because right now, it's not working, and people have got to understand that, and it's when you've got the big gorilla of the Premier League next door to you, you've got to be realistic and make some changes about what's going on.
"The £100m was an amazing offer at the time, but that's the short-sighted nature of the SPFL, and I'm afraid it's all coming home to roost now. I care about Scottish football, but it's got to change because, as it is, it's going that only going one way."
European exits 'a complete disaster'
Former Manchester City financial advisor Stefan Borson told Football Insider last week that the latest round of European results are a "complete disaster" for Scotland's UEFA coefficient.
Not only are the clubs set to miss out on lucrative revenue opportunities due to their failure to qualify, but it will also have a detrimental effect on their future chances.
Borson made it clear that the coefficient is now a "big problem" for Scottish Premiership clubs, given that they have already lost their automatic qualifying spots for the league phase.
The football finance expert warned that things are now set to become even harder, which will see the Premiership fall further behind Europe's leading leagues.