Sports mogul Barry Hearn has blasted Scottish football chiefs for the way the game is being promoted and managed.

He was speaking at the inaugural SFA Convention at Hampden, which was aimed at finding ways to improve the image and standard of our national sport.

The SPFL have yet to find sponsors for any of the four divisions or the League Cup, and Hearn is not impressed by the job being done by football's powerbrokers.

He said: "In my view you have done nowhere near enough. You have been in the shadow of the English Premier League and have almost given up.

"Your image is not good because it is a defeatist image, completely alien to what Gordon Strachan is preaching on the pitch.

"The blazers are not doing the job properly. It is very well looking at a beautiful petal, but if the roots are damaged you don't see a beautiful petal for much longer.

"There are lots of reasons [for this]. One of the reasons is they have not got enough money so it is a chicken and egg situation. But you can't sell your product if you talk your product down."

Hearn - a former chairman of Leyton Orient -revolutionised snooker and darts, while son Eddie is a heavyweight in boxing promotion through Matchroom Sport.

The Englishman says the ban on drinking in Scottish grounds should be lifted to improve matchday for fans.

He said: "People go to pubs, have a drink then come into the ground.

"It's not fair competition and it's bad business for football clubs, they are not being allowed to give a good customer experience."

And SFA chief executive Stewart Regan admitted Hearn had given him food for thought.

He said: "We know we have to get better and market ourselves more effectively, and that is what we will try to do.

"There were some good ideas coming out, like how to market season tickets and how do we get to our fans through the use of social media.

"We have to take these ideas away and turn them into action plans."