HENRY McLeish, the former first minister and one-time East Fife full back, is coming to visit us in Aberdeen as part of his review of Scottish football.
I know that one of the topics up for discussion will be a proposed move to summer football.
I do not know for certain if we should switch our season – but I want to find out.
But I do not want to make the decision and I don’t want Henry McLeish to make the decision either.
A proper, scientific audit is needed, whether it is by McLeish or Deloitte. We should pay someone serious money to do it and I think the Government should be involved in deciding the future of the game in this country.
Football plays such an important part of life in this country, both economically and socially. I think the powers that be have a responsibility to support it.
If the investigation is to be carried out properly, it has to focus on a plan for the long-term success of the game.
It has to examine how to improve attendances, television revenues, the prospect of success in European competition and the national team.
Would we be able to qualify for the World Cup and the European championship?
It might be a good idea to look at what has happened to the game in places like Scandinavia, Russia and Ireland and to find out what impact the switch has had.
If the conclusion then is that we should be playing summer football, then I would support it – and it would not surprise me if that was the outcome.
Other parts of Europe get government help. The stadium I played in when at Hamburg was a municipal one and the clubs across the continent are given a lot of help.
Football is a force for good and I think governments are obliged to support any reviews.
If a switch were to mean a 90% drop in television revenues, then I think some compromise would be needed. But let’s not just base this on opinions. Let’s look at it scientifically and do it right.
Moving the season, or introducing a winter break, is not always the answer. The Germans had a winter shutdown when I was there. The last match before the break was a European game against Inter Milan. It was December 10, 1984. The league closed until February 1 and the snow came on January 27.
It was the heaviest snow on record and we had games called off for three weeks.
It doesn’t always work, but I, for one, cannot see any argument against summer football.
The crowd for the Hamilton versus Celtic game a couple of weeks ago was 4,500. I think we could maintain our gates.
Imagine if we had our young players, with six weeks off school, coming in for full-time training for five days a week.
Imagine the technical work we could do with full-time training without having to worry about darkness or blizzards.
The technical progress we could make with these players would be massive. And it would also give us the chance to work more with them in terms of influencing their lifestyle choices.