Gordon Smith: What’s the price of sorting out Ladbrokes mess?

IT’S a safe bet the week’s events involving Ladbrokes are going to have repercussions.

For the SPFL’s sponsors to find themselves embroiled in a public row with the manager of the club currently second in the Premiership table does no one any favours.

When the League announced the deal said to be worth £4m over two years in a blaze of publicity in the summer, clearly this was not what they were expecting.

The anger of Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes at having preparations for Friday night’s Ross County disrupted by stories that betting had been suspended on him being the next manager to leave a top-flight club was palpable.

The fact the gamble had, apparently, been in response to rumours on social mediawill not have helped.

That Ladbrokes themselves announced 24 hours later McInnes was their Manager of the Month for September merely compounded the embarrassment.

I believe the bosses of the bookmaker will have realised that somewhere along the line a big mistake has been made.

They will or at the very least should be taking steps to make sure more sensitivity is shown in future.

Betting is their business but at the same time the role of title sponsor of the SPFL carries responsibilities.

This is not the first time this season the firm has courted controversy.

Its August 22 release that betting on Gary Locke in the “Sack Race” had been suspended came out almost immediately after Kilmarnock’s defeat by Ross County.

Another, following Celtic struggles, was titled “Bye, Bye Deila.”

And, most provocatively of all for the League sponsors, they quoted prices on either of the Old Firm winning the ENGLISH Premier League in future years on the back of comments made in interview by Celtic majority shareholder, Dermot Desmond.

SPFL Chief Executive Neil Doncaster has, so far, mirrored Ladbrokes spokespersons in dismissing the criticism.

I am pretty sure, though, that will no longer be the case.

He will know his stance, namely that it is up to Ladbrokes how they conduct their business, will need to be balanced by the wishes of the clubs.

Counsel will be sought. For that he should look no further than to his opposite number at the SFA, Stewart Regan.

I say that because the SFA’s Scottish Cup sponsorship deal with William Hill has operated successfully for several years now.

The secret is setting reasonable parameters within which everyone can operate happily.

This doesn’t appear to have been done in the case of the SPFL, and it’s a situation that needs to get sorted out.

Doncaster did well to bring in the money in the first place, given these are testing times for our clubs, especially with so much TV money swilling around on the south side of Hadrian’s Wall.

I know from personal experience during my time as SFA Chief Executive how difficult it can be both to attract and to hold on to sponsors.

For that reason, I don’t see the Ladbrokes furore costing Doncaster his job.

But, as I said earlier, there will be repercussions.