Scottish football’s governing bodies "have started to seriously examine the prospect of a summer season running from March to November as an alternative to the current August to May calendar," according to Douglas Alexander of the SUNDAY TIMES. It is "partly a response to Scottish clubs increasingly facing key European games in July before their domestic campaigns start and also to supporters, who expressed a preference for it in a recent survey." The poll, published by Supporters Direct Scotland, found that 61% of 3,000 fans "believed changing to a summer season would benefit the game." Scottish FA President Campbell Ogilvie revealed after the association’s annual meeting in Edinburgh last week that discussions with the Scottish Professional Football League and other bodies on the issue "are already under way." Ogilvie: “It’s one we’ve been working on. It’s one of the areas we should be taking to the top of our agenda.” Next season’s Champions League final will take place in Berlin on June 6, with Scotland’s Euro 2016 qualifier against the Republic of Ireland following a week later. Champions League qualifiers then start in mid-July for the Scottish champions, "meaning a pause of only a month in a year without a major international championship." Ogilvie believes that this "increasing encroachment" of the European football season into the summer months "could see a similar evolution of the Scottish one." Ogilvie: "Things evolve and the seasons eat into each other. We’ve reached a stage in Scottish football when we really need to seriously sit down and look at the fixtures. We aren’t just talking about it. We are actually sitting down and looking at what the options are and what we can bring in." A summer season "would take Scottish football out of sync with England and could therefore potentially lead to a better broadcast deal for its impoverished clubs." Ogilvie, however, insisted that the discussions "were being driven by football rather than financial incentives." Ogilvie: "We have to work out what’s best for football first" (SUNDAY TIMES, 6/22). In Edinburgh, Moira Gordon reported with only one year of his presidency remaining, Ogilvie conceded that things "are unlikely to move quickly enough for him to be able to leave it as his legacy but he will do everything he can to advance the cause." Ogilvie: "We are getting there but you are trying to change traditions" (SCOTSMAN, 6/22).
