Neil Doncaster (born 1970) is an association football executive. He was appointed as chief executive of the Scottish Professional Football League in July 2012, having previously held the same position at the Scottish Premier League from 2009 to 2012 at Norwich City F.C. from 2001 to 2009.

Profile

Born in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, Doncaster graduated from the University of Bristol in 1992, qualified as a solicitor and worked for four years for Burges Salmon, solicitors. In 2008, he obtained an MBA from the University of East Anglia. While at Norwich City, he was a director of FL Interactive Limited, the subsidiary of

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

responsible for official club websites, and EventGuard Limited, a security company.

Career in football

Doncaster joined Norwich City in November 1997 as company secretary and solicitor, and two years later he was promoted to head of operations before taking up the role of chief executive in 2001. During his time at Norwich, he took an active role in English football. From 2006, he was a director of

. In July 2008, he was elected to The Football Association board as one of two representatives of

. As Chief executive of Norwich City, Doncaster oversaw their promotion to the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

for the 2004–05 season. However, after the team's relegation from The Championship to League One in May 2009, he stepped down from his position, along with chairman Roger Munby. In the following months, he also left his positions on the boards of The Football Association and

. On 7 July 2009, Doncaster was appointed Chief Executive of the Scottish Premier League. During his time at the SPL, Doncaster presided over the crisis that saw Rangers F.C. go into liquidation while restructuring the league. Those efforts were concluded in 2013, as the Scottish Premier League and the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4&nbs ...

were merged into a single league for all 42 professional clubs. The Scottish Professional Football League was created on a one club, one vote basis, with a pyramid structure, allowing non-league clubs to compete for entry to the professional leagues, and a redistribution of wealth in favour of the second tier. It also saw the return of play-offs between teams in the top two divisions, the Scottish Premiership and the

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association footb ...

. On 3 July 2013, it was confirmed that Doncaster had beaten David Longmuir to the position of chief executive of the newly formed Scottish Professional Football League. In the same year, Doncaster was elected to the board of the European Professional Football Leagues. In the summer of 2015, Doncaster confirmed that the British bookmaker Ladbrokes would be the new sponsor of all Scottish Professional Football League competitions, the first sponsor of the top tier of Scottish football since Clydesdale Bank's deal ran out in 2013. Ladbrokes' deal, believed to be worth £2m per year over two years, is said to be "the biggest ever of its kind in Scottish football". In 2018, Doncaster secured sponsorship and broadcasting deals for the Scottish Professional Football League, announcing in January that Ladbrokes would be extending its title sponsorship until 2020, and in November making deals with Sky Sports, Premier Sports and the BBC, which he hailed as "a major increase on our current contracts" and "the largest ever injection of broadcast investment since the SPL was founded over 20 years ago". In March 2018, Doncaster joined the board of the Scottish Football Association, making him the first person to have sat on the boards of both the English FA and the Scottish FA. Doncaster served on

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

's Legal Committee between 2018 and 2020 and was appointed as a member of UEFA's Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body in June 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doncaster, Neil 1970 births Living people Alumni of the University of Bristol Alumni of the University of East Anglia Chief executives in the sports industry Directors of football clubs in England Directors of football clubs in Scotland Lawyers from Devon Norwich City F.C. non-playing staff Scottish Premier League Scottish Professional Football League