By David Sharp BBC Sport Online

Scottish Premier League chief executive Roger Mitchell's resignation is, according to some sceptics, unlikely to effect the running of the organisation he helped at birth.

Indeed, despite Livingston chairman Dominic Keane's call for the SPL to break the bank to secure the services of departing FA chief Adam Crozier, the word in the corridors of Hampden is that Mitchell may not be replaced.

Again, those who questioned the controversial SPL chief's rollercoaster four-year tenure at the top, will see this as a fitting epitaph to the man.

Mitchell quits SPL

Mitchell was involved with the SPL at its formation in 1998 and has overseen a series of changes in Scotland's top league, not all of which have been welcomed.

The winter break was introduced during his first season at the helm and proved to be a success, with the idea confirmed for the following season.

But Mitchell was instrumental in forcing clubs to bring their stadia up to a seating capacity of 10,000, a rule that caused several clubs to suffer financial hardship.

In May 2000 Falkirk were told they could not participate in a play-off against bottom SPL side Aberdeen, despite finishing third in the First Division.

Mitchell's ideas for the SPL had a mixed reception

They were denied the opportunity of promotion to the top flight because their Brockville home did not meet the SPL requirements that Mitchell had laid down.

The following season he instigated the idea to split the SPL into two sections for the first time.

This meant the top-six teams and the bottom-six teams were separated for the remaining five games in a bid to keep the excitement levels up towards the end of the campaign.

Mitchell was also an advocate of the under-21 league and the ruling that all Premier League teams should have at least two under-21 players in their squads for SPL games.

Perhaps the most ill-considered contentions of the outspoken chief's reign came when, two months before they were promoted from the First Division, he suggested that: "if anyone thinks the Partick Thistle team of today could hold their own in the SPL, then they have been smoking dope."

TV hell

However, the final straw for Mitchell was the failure to get his brainchild, SPL Television, off the ground in January and deal successfully with the new contract for Sky Television.

Mitchell become increasingly frustrated with the warring factions inside the league, especially the Old Firm who blocked his plans for a subscription-based channel.

Celtic and Rangers took advantage of the controversial 11-1 voting system and refused to back the proposals during a meeting in April, leaving the remaining 10 clubs with an uncertain financial future.

Mitchell had already rejected a new Sky TV deal in December 2001 to embark on this ambitious project

Mitchell had an uneasy tenure in Scotland

He was convinced that the venture would attract enough subscribers to make the projected revenue more than the satellite broadcaster's deal.

But the need to harness more than a third of the entire number of satellite subscribers in Scotland appeared unfeasible.

And in the end, with Sky out of the picture, the SPL were left with a deal with BBC Scotland and Setanta, worth a third of the original satellite company's offer.

This all led to the 10 non-Old Firm clubs handing in a letter of resignation to the SPL and beginning a two-year notice period.

And the 10 rebel clubs' dispute with the two Glasgow giants rumbles on to this day.

They recently dismissed the Old Firm's proposals for reform, which again centred around changing the voting structure away from the existing 11-1 majority and redistributing media income.

Prior to taking up his post at the SPL, Roger Mitchell worked in the recording industry in Italy and, among other things, helped to promote the Spice Girls.

Now, after four years of dealing with John Yorkston, Chris Robinson and, perhaps especially, the Old Firm, even the prospect of subduing a tantrum from Ginger Spice must seem like bliss.