St Henry's Day

The wait is almost over. Henry McLeish will deliver the first part of his much anticipated report into the state of the Scottish football. Let's just hope he's not made a muddle.

I remain unconvinced. The leaked sections suggest he's looking for major investment. That might be needed but is it practical? Unless he's got The Great Soprendo on board I can't see where he's going to conjure the money from.

Nor have I ever been convinced that McLeish is the man to see the task through. We needed a dynamic report, a forensic analysis delivered by somebody with the charisma to insist on change. But there was nobody available so we turned to Hank.

The killer problem: Who the hell is going to implement the change? It's unlikely to be the dinosaurs at the SFA under the interim stewardship of George For Peat's Sake.

So watching with a sceptical but keen interest today.

And the need for change, the demand for some kind of major overhaul, continues to grow.

The BBC reported yesterday:

More than 1,300 fans from across 31 trusts in Scotland told the Supporters Direct survey that they want the league structure to be overhauled.

And 83% of those surveyed said teams should play each other twice a season.

"Fans feel disenchanted and disempowered by the current set-up," said Supporters Direct's James Proctor.

Of those who took part in the online survey, 13% said they would prefer sides to play each other three times a season and 4% said they were happy with the status quo.

Five out of every six fans, the three-week survey found, would prefer a pyramid league structure with promotion and relegation below the Scottish Football League.

And 90% would also like to see a streamlined administration with one body organising and running the professional game.

In addition, 91% of respondents felt that fans were powerless to influence decisions and would like to see greater fan involvement in the running of the game.

We're doing a lot of shouting. Is anybody listening?

Supporters Direct Scotland don't seem to have much more information on the survey at the moment but their site is here.