Dundee United owner Mark Ogren insists he and four other top-flight clubs aren’t looking for a larger slice of the pie – but to make it bigger so everyone in Scottish football can benefit.
United have joined Aberdeen, Hibs, Hearts and Dundee in commissioning an independent Review into how football can look to grow and maximise its revenues.
Deloitte has started the process and it is likely to be at least six months before those findings are made public.
Ogren said: “I don’t think anyone who is involved or will be talked to in this review will say they want a bigger piece of the pie.
“That is not the intention. What we want to do is grow the pie. When we analysed things it wasn’t just for Dundee United but for the whole of Scottish football.
“There are a lot more opportunities for Scottish football than are being realised at this point. There are a lot of opportunities that should be looked at and instead of looking at one avenue we decided to look holistically at Scottish football.
“We decided to pay for an independent review to look at where we could improve things.
“How can we bring more money into Scottish football because that is ultimately going to help improve everything and drive up levels from the academies, to the clubs up to the Scottish national teams?”
Ogren has also dismissed suggestions and speculation there are any hidden agendas.
He said: “We commissioned the study but there are no pre-conditions. There aren’t things there we want you to find or expect you to find.
“There has also been some talk of preset agendas. That is not the case. Deloitte would never have taken on the report unless it was truly independent.”
Ogren also knows Scottish football needs to unite if it wants to become stronger.
He added: “ Dundee are our bitter rivals on the pitch but it doesn’t mean we can’t get on away from the matches.
“I like Tim [Keyes] and John [Nelms] a lot but I want to beat their team badly. There should be rivalries but after the games we should all be working together for the benefit of our own clubs and Scottish football.”
