Kilmarnock manager Kenny Shiels is looking for the Scottish Government to lend a hand to help Scottish football in their hour of financial need. Shiels would like to see a subsidy to meet half the costs of admission to increase crowds. Something radical needs to be done as the separate plans put forward by the SPL and SFL for the way ahead are doomed to failure. Without some flexibility on both sides, and Scottish football is not known for such a thing, there is unlikely to be a consensus reached any time soon. Shiels put his own thoughts out there to stimulate debate. He said: "Cut the cost of admission by half. If it is £24 to get in then make it £12. If that doesn't get twice as many supporters in then the government should have to subsidise the shortfall. I think the government owes football. People are drifting away because they can't afford it and it has to be addressed. You can't say the product is not good, I defy anyone to say that there is not entertainment being provided. Football is the industry in Scotland and it has to be given subsidy if it is having problems. It is contentious but it is for the greater good of Scotland. It is part of the heritage and culture so to improve Scotland and the lives of all the people, that is what has to be done, after all that is what a government is for." The Northern Irishman would like to see the presiding body, the SFA, take action to either arbitrate between the bodies or take over as a single ruling body. He said: "I think that it will be difficult to arrive at a conclusion until we have one body. I don't think three associations work. There are too many people jockeying for position. If you have one governing body - with support from the actual government - it would lend itself to a good system. That would encourage people at the top to do what's best for football. It is human nature to do what is best for yourself and then what's best for football. That is not a criticism, that is just human nature." Turning to more pressing matters, Shiels will be without Liam Kelly for tomorrow's game with St Johnstone - and possibly for three months - because of a shoulder ligament injury. The midfielder, who won his first Scotland cap in the friendly against Luxembourg last week, was set to have a scan on Thursday. Speaking yesterday, Shiels said: "We have just got Paul Heffernan, Cammy Bell and James Fowler back and now we have lost Liam which is a bit of a blow. There is some ligament damage to his shoulder after falling on the training ground in an accident. I don't know the exact terminology but if he has torn the ligament or ruptured them, it could be three months, but it could be six weeks. We are hoping to find out in the next 48 hours."
Source: ScottishFitba
Source: FOOTYMAD
