FOOTBALL managers in the Scottish Premier League who refuse to speak to the media could face being punished by the league’s administrators.
Reports Ewing Grahame in today’s Daily Telegraph, managers are not contractually obliged to speak to the media before or after a match – something the relatively new chief executive of the SPL, Neil Doncaster, appears to want changed.
He quotes the SPL’s director of marketing and communication, Greig Mailer: “At the moment what we have are media guidelines for our members but it’s possible that they could be turned into rules, with rigidly applied sanctions for those who don’t comply with them.”
Writes Grahame: “Motherwell [FC]’s Jim Gannon refused to speak to broadcast or written media after his team’s dire display in the 2-0 defeat by Hibernian at Easter Road on Saturday and compounded that by refusing to allow his players to be interviewed.
“Gannon was similarly unwilling to be interviewed before or after Motherwell’s last away match (the 2-2 draw at Hamiltonon Nov 7) while Celtic were also guilty of negligence when they declined to hold a pre-match conference for their fixture at Falkirk last month.”
