Tonight I’m off to watch Celtic take on Hamilton Accies to extend their lead at the top of the table to six points. Here’s what’s going to happen: either we’ll win, and I’ll go home thinking about 5-in-a-row, or we’ll drop points at home to Accies, again, and there will be a joyless walk along London Road. There would be no compensation whatsoever in the latter, no matter how bravely Accies defend their 18 yard line. The former will provide limited joy, as despite previous results, I’ve already anticipated a positive outcome.
Hamilton Academical are a remarkably successful community football club. They are a fraction the size of Dunfermline, St Mirren or Hibs, who languish in the lower leagues, not to mention Dundee United, but no matter how admirable, they are not box office material.
The prospect of league reconstruction – creating a 14 or 16 team top flight, bringing in clubs unable to match Accies on the field, at the cost of games against top 12 teams, is enormously unattractive and unwelcome.
We abandoned an 18 team top flight in favour of a top 10 in 1975 because we are a tiny country who cannot support more than 10 competitive teams (or even that many). Football fans turned up in huge numbers for games against genuinely top clubs, but attendances against semi-professional clubs were as lousy as you would expect them to be.
My first objection against the last reconstruction was use of the word “Professional”. The SPFL includes professional, semi-professional and amateur clubs. The four division league was tarted up as something it’s not. We can, at best, support two leagues of genuinely professional clubs, with two leagues of semi-professional clubs below them.
A professional group of 20 clubs, separated into two divisions, should be created, with only marginal drops in commercial income distribution as you go down the gradient. Semi-professional clubs should acknowledge that status and organise their game accordingly. Set participation criteria, objectives, partnering and commercial plans to suit their needs. They should be free to formally partner with professional clubs, share resources, including expertise and youth development objectives.
There should not be automatic promotion and relegation between the professional and semi-professional leagues. At most, there should be a one up, one down, play-off. This would give teams who drop quickly, like St Mirren, a floor from which they can bounce off, instead of having to take unplanned or worse, un-budgeted, action mid-season to remain in tier two.
I love the prospect of a Scottish Cup game at East Kilbride, but that anticipation required the immediacy of the Cup. No sport survives by creating more mismatches games than it already has.
But this is Scottish football, so I suppose we should expect the worst from Hampden this afternoon.
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TGM
Will need to dig out my steel toe cap Doc Martins fae the 80’s. :)
GreenPinata
Paul67 kidnapped TD67, tied him to a chair in a log cabin in the Outer Hebrides.
But TD67 escaped:)
HH
Awe Naw, are you sure you’re not mistaken. The £6.5m loan came from Hong Kong rather than Singapore according to everything I’ve read. I can’t remember the names of the two dodgy characters who provided it. Maybe others can help.
Greenpinata
I was in the sin bin :(
Some negative joker on here called quonno has long been telling folk that there is a lot of knuckle-crunching and goat-abusing to be done.
TTT…
Genuine answer…we could have made it a lot harder for them.
We could have pursued why they jumped clubs into the third division, why are they are allowed to participate in Scottish football whilst insolvent, of which we all know.
A thief running their club, a SIR David Murray that we pay taxes for to cover his mis-management.
Should I go on! HH
BSR………..And! ……as my earliest recollection of watching Celtic was a wee ginger head running about.(PT)…..and amazed at all the wee weans collecting ginger bottles as well as the fellas selling rolls on spam…..(before the spearmint chewing gum)..hence the user name
Philbhoy….Unlike yourself I’m fit and well……The bold Ryan attending tonight with his Mum……..also a ST Holder……
Welcome back TD…..now behave yourself….
Paddy T
The Green Man
A done a runner :))
Am I the only one surprised at the remarks of the Judge in thon trial? Is he at liberty to play with the freedom of any person? Can any of our legal eagles straighten me out on this?
Bye CQN
TOSB
Yeah I could be as wrong as the guys that wrote the text that you read
HH
Sunderland Reported Injuries
Thu 14th Jan 16 – Steven Fletcher ( knock ) return date unknown.
DD
Hopefully…next season, a massive sinkhole will open up, and they will all be sucked down into hell, the whole lot of them, even their mascot.
I will be watching on TV,,,,Cheering:)
Could happen:)
HH
Paddy Turner
A was set up :)
The Green Man
Sounds logical to me.
HH.
Paddy T
Before everybody logs off again.
My older brother told me about those spam rolls
HH
Some talk that Fletcher will get his contract paid off by Sunderland.
TGM
Rapture! :)
TD67
Yellow card, and then a suspension.
Change yer studs:)
HH
Aw feck Tony D’s back :))
Welcome back TD.
HH
BSR
They carted them about in cardboard boxes….al a carte
Paddy T
seriously ..:Any sign of Paddy Gallacher from the Channel Islands!!!!…miss his routine
The Green Man
Training with the under 18s for a week, and on smoke flare watch :))
PT
He was on last night. Welcome return of the Paddys. :)
DIXIEDEANS
CHEERS MATE.
SIPSINE
AND HELLO TI YOU TOO :))
DD
You can just imagine it in Hell.
Satan: You have pulled a right few strokes recently, how the feck do you get away with it.
Dave King: Ah joost telt them it wisnae me, nuthin tae dae wi it….nae borra ma man.
Satan: So, you think you can feck that Celtic mob up
Dave King: Aye, nae borra….some of our lads are infiltrating their board as we speak.
Satan: Brilliant, keep up the good work Dave….and btw,…We arra peepul.
Again, could happen:)
HH
TD67
Did your pal Hebcelt help you escape? :)
bournesouprecipe on 19th January 2016 3:04 pm
Imagine where we’d be on that list if we played with 2 up front.
Hehehe here comes the judge.
http://videocelts.com/2016/01/blogs/latest-news/judge-smith-takes-centre-stage-in-king-v-ashley-case#ozgZyquJlMkaz1Cz.97
Aw naw.
One of the Tonys is back!!
If the other one returns I’ll no be happy :D
HH
DELANEYS DUNKY on 19TH JANUARY 2016 3:43 PM
He was the turn key :))
weeminger
Ha – Like what Watford do.
Haw TD
I think Paul should have put you in Div 3 and made you work your way back up………. that would huv learnt ye (-;
lionroars67 on 19th January 2016 3:01 pm
Farcical. Where will it end? There’s probably less trouble and less injuries/violence at a football match than at any other large gathering. Just wait ’til they come for the offensive sweetie paper rustlers.
http://www.insidefutbol.com/2016/01/19/molde-reject-bid-from-start-for-celtic-target-kristoffer-ajer/264970/
Judge Peter Smith knew that MA was playing games when his legal team did not call KIng to the stand to have him cross examined when he supposedly wanted him to go to jail he dismissed the application to commit King to prison and there was no final ruling on the issue of breaching the injunction. He was sore with both Ashley and King. Ashley for wanting jail and King for speaking out as if he had won the breaching of the injunction case.
Today SD dropped the 200k damages claim due to Ashley still playing games which has upset Judge Peter Smith but the breaching of the injunction trials is still going ahead.
Anyone think that SD will be able to show a drastic drop in sales after the Jim White Interview ?
Will SD have any evidence of customers threatening his business ? written ? coordinated ?
Long way to go bhoys
HH
JERRY CORNELIOUS
He tried that, but I pulled my ace card, and called Fraser Wishart :))