St Johnstone are among a group of six Scottish Premiership clubs who have raised “serious concerns” over an SPFL report.
Saints, Aberdeen, Motherwell, Livingston, Rangers and St Mirren have sent a joint letter to the executive of the League’s governing body.
That letter raises a number of issues surrounding a draft report into an independent review of the SPFL’s operations.
It was commissioned in July after chairman Murdoch MacLennan apologised to Rangers as a dispute over sponsorship was concluded.
Courier Sport understands Saints are worried that each of the clubs in the top flight – and the SPFL as a whole – haven’t been treated in the same way during the draft report process.
The joint statement read: “The clubs hold serious concerns regarding the report’s independence, transparency and the overall governance of the SPFL.
“The letter seeks full clarity on numerous issues so that the clubs, as shareholders of the SPFL, can determine if further action is necessary.
“In conjunction with a draft report being made available to the SPFL Board, SPFL Chairman Murdoch McLennan hastily released a statement that did not reflect the full findings of the report.
“Additionally, the statement was issued without the approval or knowledge of members of the SPFL Board or SPFL member clubs.
“The SPFL Board is to meet at a future date to discuss the draft report’s contents, making it highly inappropriate for the SPFL Chairman to have made any public comment ahead of that meeting.”
The statement continued: “Regarding the report itself, the clubs and others are deeply concerned about its independence, given that the SPFL Executive received the first draft of the report and made changes to it prior to sending it to SPFL Board members.
“Of the 42 member clubs, only one had the opportunity to input into the report’s investigation, outside of current or previous SPFL Board members.
“Despite several requests from the clubs, the report has yet to be released to any of the member clubs despite the clubs footing the bill for its creation.
“The handling of the Independent Governance report has brought the clubs governance concerns to a head, and it is now incumbent on the SPFL Board and Executive, for the sake of trust in those running our game, to provide clarity over these clear and deeply troubling concerns as a matter of urgency.”
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