Duncan Fraser CA has spent a career between football’s competing realities: the emotion of the terraces and the discipline of the balance sheet. A former Aberdeen FC Chief Executive, he helped steer the club through significant debt, while operating across the Scottish FA and Premiership and going on to roles within Uefa in strategy and governance roles at the sport’s operational core. That dual perspective continues to define his outlook.

It also underpins a personal stance that sets him apart: he will not attend the upcoming World Cup, citing objections to ticket pricing and what he sees as a wider erosion of the match-going experience. For Duncan, football without spectators is a contradiction in terms. He invokes former Scotland and Celtic manager Jock Stein: “Football is nothing without fans.”

That belief still shapes his view of the modern game. “I’ve elected not to attend the World Cup, either in an official capacity or as a supporter,” he says. “I object strongly to the pricing mechanisms. I think supporters have been treated abysmally. Football without spectators doesn’t work.”

Indeed, prices for the tournament, which is spread across the US, Canada and Mexico, have been eye-watering, with most tickets starting at $1,120 (£823). Even President Trump has said he “wouldn’t pay it either”. Duncan notes governing bodies are beginning to respond: “Uefa have already said they won’t use that pricing model for Euro 2028, which is absolutely the right decision.”

As a Uefa delegate, Duncan works on match-day operations across elite fixtures. “Every competitive game has a Uefa delegate present. Their role is to be Uefa’s representative on the ground, to act as the eyes and ears, ensuring everything runs properly between clubs and officials.” He adds, “If anything goes wrong you take appropriate action.”

He believes the major beneficiaries from this summer’s World Cup across England and Scotland will be the hospitality trade, specifically pubs and bars: “I think it would be fair to look upon this as a second Christmas for our hospitality sector. The economic upsides for Scotland as a nation are considerable from that perspective.”

He adds that while clubs will benefit if they have players there, and the national association will see some return, “from a competing nation perspective it’s not nearly as much as people think”. By the time costs relating to the competition are covered, approximately one third of the income they receive will be reinvested back into the Scottish game through the SFA. The benefits to the game are what it means to the people, something politicians are quick to latch onto.”

Duncan’s understanding of football finance is rooted in his time at Aberdeen. “When I arrived, the club had significant debt, as did almost every club in Scotland, other than Celtic who had addressed theirs,” he says. “The priority was stabilisation. That meant getting the wage-to-turnover ratio significantly down by growing turnover and ensuring players’ contracts were appropriate for a club our size.

“We were able to deliver a constant break-even position for several years. Having shown that without the debt we had a sustainable model, we worked with the bank and major shareholders to address the debt which had peaked at £15.3m. It required trust and an 18-month negotiation period to finally achieve an outcome that made the club debt free without having to take the drastic steps other clubs had to. My role was to stabilise the financial position, acting as an intermediary between the major shareholders and the banks.”

For Duncan, finance and performance are inseparable. “Stability off the pitch supports performance on it.” His approach to management was clear. “Set a budget, support managers, but don’t interfere in football decisions.” 

Across roles in club management, governance and match operations, he returns to the same point: football only functions when supporters remain central. For him, everything else – finance, governance, competition – depends on it. Football, he argues, only makes sense when the fans are invested. 

All Scotland football fans remember the moment Scott McTominay’s overhead kick hit the net. That goal against Denmark, in a crucial World Cup qualifier in November 2025, went viral and has since been immortalised in a portrait at the National Galleries in Edinburgh and a mural near Barclays Hampden.

Rucelle Soutar CA, the Scottish FA’s Chief Operating Officer, was in the stadium that night. “It was honestly sensational. The swings of the game; them equalising, us scoring again… and then that final goal – it was just the best feeling in the world. Everybody was so happy. The next day my phone was blowing up, and you could see the whole nation just rejoicing. It was amazing.”

Beyond the immediate reaction, attention turns to the financial implications of qualification. Estimates have suggested a significant uplift, though the net impact is more constrained. “The original figure was about $10.5m in total, qualification and preparation money,” says Rucelle. “We still have to cover our own costs, and the US is extremely expensive. Charter flights, base camps, accommodation, staff – it’s a very costly operation. [Qualification] will make a difference to profit, but not to the extent people might think.”

The commercial impact extends beyond central distributions, particularly in sponsorship and merchandise. “Shirt sales spike when we qualify and we benefit from sponsor bonuses,” she says. “There’s more revenue, but it’s also about momentum. Our commercial director was very busy the next day. People want to be part of success.” 

Hampden’s summer schedule includes concerts at different ends of the cultural spectrum and a senior presence is still required at home. “I am going to the Morocco game but we still have the day job running Hampden – we’ve got Take That and Metallica coming.”

Alongside infrastructure and participation, she highlights structural pressures domestically. “Attendance is absolutely critical,” says Rucelle. “Scottish football is far more dependent on gate receipts than England, which has larger broadcast and sponsorship revenues. The broadcast market is also more constrained; there is less money and more competition. The women’s game, in particular, needs higher attendance to grow.” 

Looking ahead to Euro 2028, she adds: “My role is mostly oversight. We have a dedicated team led by our Head of Special Projects. I support delivery, help de-conflict issues, and [make myself] available for incident command if needed. It’s about making sure we hit milestones and everything runs smoothly.” 

On investment priorities, she points to facilities as the central focus. “Through our Pitching In campaign we’re aiming to raise £50m for pitches, changing facilities and infrastructure. It’s about making football more inclusive and accessible, particularly for girls and women. Participation is growing rapidly, we want to double the number of female players over the next decade, but we need places for them to play.” 

On the demands of senior roles in football administration, she suggests the balance between success and scrutiny is something worth understanding for anyone entering the field. “Tough days are when you have to make decisions that not everybody agrees with. You can make one decision and half the people are happy and half aren’t. A good day is qualifying for a tournament.” Who could disagree with that? 

Some of the biggest moments that define a football club often don’t happen on the pitch. They happen in board meetings, in financial negotiations, in the quiet work of people most supporters will never know.

Charles Barnett CA, Chair of the SPFL Trust charity, was Interim Financial Officer at Celtic in the early 1990s. He was an important figure in helping to steer the club through financial difficulties. It came out of that period on a much stronger footing. He has fond memories working with its then Chief Executive and majority shareholder, Fergus McCann, one of the most influential figures in the club’s modern history.

“Very early on in my career I had the good fortune to meet Fergus McCann,” he says. “I met him in 1992 and helped him through to 1994 to do what he did at Celtic. I became the Interim Finance Director there for six months.

“Fergus was very direct and didn’t suffer fools gladly. What stood out was his five-year business plan. In more than 30 years, I’ve rarely seen a client follow a plan from start to finish, but he did. He knew he needed to rebuild the stadium, build a season ticket base and rebuild the team. And he executed it.”

Charles underlines the importance of keeping passion for the club at arm’s length – advice he would pass on to anyone entering the game. “I decided for my own reasons that it wasn’t a career for me and went back into professional practice,” he says. “I maintained an interest in football throughout my career, working with many clubs north and south of the border.”

That experience eventually led him to the charitable side of the game. He had already served as Treasurer with the SPFL Trust before becoming Chair in December last year. “Our incumbent Chair decided not to seek reappointment,” he says. “I looked around the table and found myself asking who might take it on, and ended up looking at myself. I loved my time as Treasurer, have a really strong understanding of their mission and believe my extensive governance experience can add significant value to the charity.

“My ambitions are to strengthen the charity, use the World Cup to widen our reach, and strengthen the message about football as a force for good.”

Charles believes CAs bring a skillset often lacking in football and charities. “A CA brings a background in finance, governance and ethics,” he says. “The finance side is twofold: financial reporting, but also budgeting and scenario planning. Charities often operate on short timelines of certainty and income streams aren’t guaranteed. Funders can pull support at relatively short notice, so being able to plan for that is critical. Governance is equally important, ensuring assets are managed conservatively and appropriately.”

Charles sees the upcoming World Cup as a chance to extend that work beyond Scotland. “This is fantastic for Scottish football. It raises awareness across football, and communities see the bounce from that.

“One of our key programmes, Football Fans in Training, uses football to help people live healthier lives. We’ve already exported that to Europe and are now looking to take it to North America, which would provide recurring revenue through licence fees.” He adds that the “attention on the national team will reverberate through the leagues and into communities”.

That reach is already visible in the work of the SPFL Trust. “Football can be seen as something that brings out the worst in fans, but we want to show where it can do more good,” he says. “Football Fans in Training has had over 14,000 participants, who have collectively lost more than 36,000 kg, but it also speaks to something simpler: football’s ability to reach people who might otherwise be left out entirely.”

Tom Warwick CA has a job on his hands. As Business & Finance Director at UK & Ireland 2028, the body responsible for delivering Uefa Euro 2028 across the five host football associations (Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland), he’s charged with ensuring the quadrennial competition is a success.

As political and social divisions deepen across Britain and Ireland, he believes football can still create rare moments of shared experience. He points to the atmosphere around London’s 2012 Olympic Games. “Everyone remembers where they were on Super Saturday and everyone talked to each other on the Tube travelling around London,” says Tom.

The 2012 Games were his first experience of working on a major sporting event in the role of Finance Business Partner. Now he is helping oversee a tournament that will bring major international football back to the host nations. “This is more than just 51 football matches,” he says. “We want to build belonging, boost pride and promote positive behaviour across all levels of football.”

Tom has spent nearly a decade working on major tournaments at the FA, including Uefa Women’s Euro 2022 and the successful Euro 2028 bid. He was part of the small transition team that established UK & Ireland 2028 in 2025. “There were less than eight of us there to set the company up,” he says. “Now it’s about delivering the tournament and achieving what we set out to do. There are five host associations and five government partners. That can be challenging.” 

In Scotland, attention is already turning to what the tournament might mean beyond elite football. Tom points to facilities investment and grassroots participation as areas where major tournaments can accelerate change. “There might be differences between our host associations on the pitch,” he says, “but everyone wants inclusion and to make football more accessible.” 

He cites the Women’s Euro 2022 as evidence of broader participation following major tournaments. “The summer of 2022 was more than just a football tournament,” he says. “There are now millions of women and girls playing football as a result.” 

This is a change that many of us have lived through. We discuss our daughters becoming deeply invested in the game at local level, a conversation we might not have had a decade ago. “All three of my daughters now play,” says Tom. “The number of girls playing is equal to boys near where I am – that’s the most pleasing thing.”

For supporters, Euro 2028 is being positioned as one of the most accessible tournaments in recent memory. More than three million tickets will be made available, with over 40% in the lowest price categories. Uefa, unlike Fifa, will not use dynamic pricing, and an official resale platform will allow tickets to be exchanged only at face value. “We really want this to be a tournament for the fans,” Tom says. Those with disabilities will be able to access the lowest ticket category, with complimentary companion tickets also available. He adds that the aim is to make Euro 2028 “the most accessible and inclusive Euros in history”.

Organisers estimate the tournament could generate £3.6bn in socioeconomic benefit in the UK and Ireland between 2028 and 2031. Governments across the host nations are contributing to delivery, expecting long-term returns well after the final match is played. But Tom says success cannot be defined purely in economic terms: “We want there to be a legacy from this that means both football and society are left in a better place.”