Rangers face punters fury over Sky TV and SPFL dilemma as with trouble hanging over Ibrox - Hotline

It might be Champions League week but most of the Hotline attention was on the proposed Sky deal and whether the SPFL should be accepting it.

Willie Mercer, Dumfries, certainly doesn't think so. He emailed: "Why on Earth does the SPFL think it has got a great deal on offer from Sky TV? Looking at bare numbers of the current contract of £25million for 48 games, to increase the offer to £30m for 60 games, by simple maths is less per game on the new deal.

"Football is not an industry where economies of scale will offset or justify accepting a reduction in income per game. Also to accept this offer for a five year period would, in real terms result in a net reduction in income for the clubs year on year. Reduced income per game each year on a fixed £30m per year deal whilst incurring and absorbing increased costs year on year for the 5 years.

"Allowing for inflationary cost increases incurred over the 5 years by the clubs and achieving the same value per game shown, the SPFL should not be considering anything less than a deal which calculates to a total value of £160m over the 5 years.

"While this in itself would only represent a no ground lost deal for the clubs it is better than the offer the SPFL have been asking clubs to sign up to."

Rangers, of course, have not signed up and Jimmy Mac, from Glasgow, has no doubt that their dispute with the SPFL over cinch is behind it.

He said: "It's plain to everyone except the anti Rangers mob that SPFL chairman Murdoch MacLennan is the instigator against Rangers with the cinch deal. Neil Doncaster is MacLennan's puppet and does what he's told - only fools cannot see through MacLennan.

"The SPFL (aka MacLennan) was out of order over the original cinch deal. They were informed