Tosh sees big positives in amalgamation and summer football

Former Dons midfielder Steve Tosh hopes Scottish football can finally get back to putting itself in a good light.

The past few months have seen its image tarnished by off-field squabbles – some still to be resolved – and more discussion has been centred on boardrooms and court rooms than football pitches.

However, with the Premiership set to begin on August 1, it gives the whole game an opportunity to refresh and get back to what it is good at.

Tosh does hope though that some changes are prompted by the shutdown. An unpopular one would be the amalgamation of some clubs, reducing the number of teams in the SPFL, but one that is kicked around frequently is the move to a summer schedule.

The big bonus of that would be not competing against the top two tiers in England for TV time, which will be given a dry run in a couple of weeks when the English season ends and the Scottish one begins.

Tosh said: “I’ve spoken probably for the last 15 years that there’s two things that could help Scottish football. Amalgamation, which proves to be very difficult because people want to keep their own identities, but Covid-19 might change that.

“A couple of clubs joining together might be more fruitful than two clubs going to the wall. Amalgamation would lessen the amount of clubs in the league.

“If we went to summer football and weren’t competing against the English Premier League and Championship for television rights, we’d be in a far better place. We’d have a far better audience.

“We’re going to be lucky with the English Premier League finishing in a couple of weeks’ time, we’re going to be in a place where we’re not competing against them.

“When we’ve not got that up against us, I’m hoping the product can be looked upon in a far greater light.

“It may mean the Scottish games are what everybody’s sitting and watching. Hopefully the guys produce a good standard to make sure people want to watch.

“Getting started in August would take the focus off the administrative side of things and to do the talking on the pitch.”