Seòmar agus comataidhean

My last question is slightly different.

You answered some questions from Dr Allan on closures. You will appreciate that all that is happening is a great distraction from the work of the organisation. This is a slightly smaller example—and I will get the pronunciation wrong—but I have had raised with me the case of the Knocknagael stone, a Pictish carving that is more than 1,000 years old that it is alleged is not being looked after properly. A colleague of mine has written to Highland Council about it; the stone is under its care although it is your responsibility. No action has been taken in months.

Is there a concern that some of the bread-and-butter, day-to-day things—I know that these are not your responsibility—that HES is there to do, which are to protect our heritage, are not being done because there is so much going on in other parts of the organisation? Is the organisation fit for purpose in doing that primary job of protecting Scotland’s heritage?

Thanks, Ian. I will leave it there.

I have a couple of quick questions and I may come back on some specifics a bit later, if that is all right. I do not want to get too involved in individuals’ situations, but will you give us an update on the current chief executive’s situation and their future—or not—in the organisation?

I do not want to go over the same points again, but as somebody who watches quite a lot of football, one of the great frustrations is the point that George Adam makes, first about the standard of production, but also about the fact that, nowadays if you want to follow particular clubs you need to have almost 18 different subscriptions. That is a great frustration for a lot of people. First, do you think that that model will change? What seems to happen is that a new entrant comes into the broadcasting arena, bids high to get sports—whether it is the Scotland games or whatever it happens to be—shows them and then, because they have the subscribers, moves on and somebody else comes in. Is that likely to continue?

I am torn on this next question. I watched the Scottish cup final in a pub—as people will know, Aberdeen won—and there is a huge camaraderie from that but it is also vital for our hospitality sector. However, I am also conscious that that excludes a huge number of people. What do you think the impact of having free-to-air games is on the next generation? If Scotland is on free-to-air television and the team is also successful, what impact does that have on the take-up of the sport, participation and that kind of thing? I will leave it there for now and let you answer.

So, there is a bit of good news but the worry is that we might not be able to take advantage of it.

My last question is around the commercial relationships. How have those changed? I am thinking, obviously, about sponsorship as well as other commercial relationships that the SFA has. What is the picture now in terms of proving that those are successful and is that getting more difficult?

You talk about younger people. Last night, there may well have been people reading notes for this morning’s committee and watching games at the same time—it is not just young people who get distracted by such things.

I want to go on to what the alternatives are and what the impacts will be. There was one game last night on Sky and there were a lot of games on the club channels, such as Killie TV, Celtic TV and the like. Do you see an opportunity further down the line for the clubs? Do you get a share of that revenue if the game is shown on a club television channel?

It was a great frustration when we had the Olympics and even the Commonwealth Games. I always felt that we did not build on that legacy. I have been involved in sports clubs and even their national bodies—this is not necessarily football but other sports—do not take advantage of the huge coverage and success of those events and build on it.

On your point about how you take things forward and build on events, are you looking at other potential revenue streams? Are there other ways that you could, if not plug the gap, at least do things? I am sure that you are looking at them anyway because you are always looking, but what other areas are you are investigating? I appreciate that there is a limit on what you are able to do around the broadcast side if UEFA does the contracts and given the fact that the league is a different organisation.

I would be very impressed if you were aware of it. The concern is that there is so much going on that perhaps attention may not be on some of the day-to-day operations.

I have just a few more questions. I would like to go back to the chief executive. Sir Mark, or perhaps Andrew Davis, are you aware of any actions that have had to be taken to accommodate Katerina Brown coming back, albeit just to sign off or work on the accounts?

It was quite widely reported in the media that Katerina Brown posted on LinkedIn:

“Sometimes we need a wee reminder ... the story depends on who is telling it”.

What role will Katerina Brown play or is she playing in any changes within the organisation and any investigations, inquiries and so on?