The great and the good (extensive poetic licence used) of the SPL and SFL will gather at Hampden tomorrow to shuffle the deckchairs of Scottish football. For reasons which no one has, or will, explain, it will be suggested that three leagues, with 12, 12 and 18 teams, will be able to resolve the problems of our game.
There will be no consultation with fans, Uefa or neighbouring associations, and no claim will be made that this reorganisation will be able to resolve a single significant issue.
For all its limited appeal, the Scottish Football League is in rude health. On the whole clubs live within their means and in places play important roles in their communities. This is as good as it gets for the likes of Alloa, Montrose or Brechin City. They could all benefit from a higher solidarity payment from above, but this would be the case no matter what level the trickle-down was set at. Their interests would be best served by ensuring that those sending payments down the pyramid are as fat as possible.
The clubs with most to gain from substantive change are those condemned to compete for second place in the SPL. Dundee United, Aberdeen, Hibs and Hearts have been neutered in recent decades. United and Aberdeen have gone from being the two most impressive clubs in Europe at developing young talent, to clubs who cannot hold onto players long enough to put a competitive team on the field.
Scottish clubs with ample support, stadium and coaching talent have been left behind by smaller clubs in England, from Wigan to Burnley, who benefit from operating in a more lucrative commercial environment.
Hearts are trying to sell shares to raise a few million to keep themselves afloat at the moment. The club would be worth ten times as much if it was located 100 miles down the road, or structural change made it possible for it to benefit from a more valuable environment. Shares in clubs like Aberdeen, Dundee United and Hibs would also be worth many multiples of their current value.
Stephen Thompson has spoken of the financial burden Dundee United place on his family, a regionalised league structure would turn this burden into a vastly more valuable legacy. It beggars belief that Hearts, United, Aberdeen and the rest have not grasped this reality and started to make inroads.
It’s time for some radical thinking.
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Bob who?
Don’t follow leaders,watch your parking meters.
Why Celtic did not fight our corner on that charge I will never know!!!!
Green Oak Tree
….because someone at the club decided that it was expedient to do so
Meaning it suited their aims and personal objectives at that time
saltires en sevilla
Yep…Only explanation…..
saltires en sevilla
03:26 on 8 January, 2013
which were what?
Mags
I would live to see a copy ..
jude2005 is neil lennon \o/ 00:11 on 8 January, 2013
——-
Hey Jude the better half and I were talking about this tonight when we saw the video on the BBC Scotland site.
Both of us have memories of the reporting in the local papers and the picture of Moira is familiar to us. This was the first exposure we had to evil in the world being brought up in the cocoon of large close knit families.
We train young men to drop fire on people, yet their commanders won’t allow them to write **** on their airplanes because it’s obscene.
Col. Kurtz, Apocalypse Now
As for the Taxes Rangers ..give it up
That evil world has been going in for centuries..the amount of children that go missing each year from childrens Homes etc is frightening.
In = on.
Good morning CQN from a wet Clydebank
Great weeks holiday with family at Center Parcs
Back to the real world now
Keep the Faith
Hail Hail
Good morning friends from an equally wet and dark East Kilbride
Morning jobo
Heading to ek shortly … Rain …. At least its not snow :)
Briefly met Mark Bosnich at Celtic`s training session in Sydney the last time they were here.
I made a quip complimenting him on his good taste to be present at a session for a quality football team, which he took in very good part.
So much so that I got the impression he likes Tims and Celtic.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/football/a-league/central-coast-goalkeeper-mat-ryan-should-not-go-on-trial-to-rangers-says-fox-sports-mark-bosnich/story-e6frf4gl-1226548529573#.UOu9zXdT3IV
Ghuys
Not hopeful on LNS , vagaries of the law etc.
I suspect he will wriggle on the hook of loan versus salary, adopt the majority FTT view which will allow him to stop short of title stripping but allow various financial penalties.
This will be appealed to the SFA who will rule in their favour. New rules will be put in place and Aberdeen, Hearts and Celtic will be first clubs hauled up on a small technical breach, dual signature perhaps!
We just need to strive for excellence and be ready to pump them when / if the time comes.
Ah well work calls, herding cats program needed today!
Good morning CQNers,
Every day I see posts believing Lord Nimmo and his merry band will deliver a coup de grace but I’d seriously doubt they will do anything other than produce a fudged judgement that will be another workaround to appease the majority and keep the lid on the tinderbox.
Murdochbhoy
It’s pretty much incidental what LNS does now anyway, as the club is dead.
.
Who Won this Years..Ballooon Ae Escossè..?
Summa of HoatAyrBalloonsCSC
Morning all. Dark, wet and windy here (although we are promised a lot better this afternoon).
All this talk of league reconstruction strikes me as putting the ole cart before the horse. We need to start with getting rid of the utterly discreditted likes of Ogilvie and Regan; then, we need to amalgamate the different bodies (and their hangers-on) who run the game. One body run by people with known integrity, like the Chairman of Raith Rovers, should be able to sort out the likes of refereeing fraternity.
Good morning CQNrs from a dull and cloudy but still dry Saarland.
HH
Gerry
Leagues would be easy…cheats= 0-3 defeat = 3 points to opponent.
What about teams put out of cups in earlier rounds by the same cheating?
Kaye Adams should be an interesting listen this morning, a bit of catholic bashing could be on the cards, i can hear the Orcs crawling and moaning out of there caves, and it hasn’t even started.
Morning,
It would not surprise me if Butcher and Lomas state they were hounded out of Scotland by the SFA.
Should have got a job with Sevco were stirring civil unrest does not even merit a mention by the compliance officer…
SUNNI CAMLACHIE
08:56 on 8 January, 2013
Kaye Adams should be an interesting listen this morning, a bit of catholic bashing could be on the cards, i can hear the Orcs crawling and moaning out of there caves, and it hasn’t even started.
===========
Peter Kearney’s comprisons between the Black Civil Movement in America and the current plight of RC’s in Scotland was unhelpful. Total own goal.
SUNNI CAMLACHIE
08:56 on
8 January, 2013
Was the elephant in the room mentioned? Orange Order…………… that cough cough fine institution with values and belief systems similar to some groups in the Southern states of the USA
“………….Impeach McCrummoch!”
reilly 1926,
Sorry for the late reply, work duties were calling,
I think Mr Kearney has a valid point,
the reason i say this,is that i know of family and friends who have suffered at the hands of these nasty people ..
Back to work for me now.
Sorry i can’t divulge further …
Happy Celticing
Listening to the Kaye Adams programme, and somewhat underwhelmed by pretty much all contributors.
“Sectarianism” is a secular problem in Scotland now, associated with a fairly strong disposition to dislike ‘the Other’ that is common across Scotland.
There are around 5000 hate crimes prosecuted in Scotland each year, of which around 400 are directed at or reference Catholicism. In the main it is not religiously motivated or engendered. It’s rooted in crap schooling, crap parenting, crap Leadership.
The most recent report on the problem from the Church of Scotland’s Church and Society Council is worth reading when you have a spare hour – http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/9591/Sectarianism_final.pdf
It suggests, amongst other matters, that membership of the Orange Order is incompatible with the Christian message of the Church. It also rebukes the authors of a previous report from 1999 on being intrinsically ‘sectarian’ in suggesting separate schooling engenders prejudice.
Dislike or Hatred of the Other is a significant societal problem in Scotland, and anti-Catholic and anti-Irish hate crimes are subset of this, not a defining feature of it.
reilly1926
09:34 on 8 January, 2013
SUNNI CAMLACHIE
08:56 on 8 January, 2013
‘Peter Kearney’s comprisons between the Black Civil Movement in America and the current plight of RC’s in Scotland was unhelpful. Total own goal.’
Using metaphors, where you are comparing or equating ONE aspect of one issue to ONE aspect of another does leave your point open to misunderstanding and misrepresentation.
He wasn’t equating the two issues in their totality.
I would however like to know what he had to do that was so urgent and important that he had to leave the discussion ten minutes early.
Hey! It’s benefits bashing day!
Again.
Eton boys are gettin’ ready to put the boot into the proles.
Again.
2013?
When is the next issue of the magazine out? I subscribed on the 8th November for the year, just wondering when i’d get the next one?
Ernie
I don’t know why Peter had to leave the discussion, but I do know that he is a single father of five wee ones, which would challenge anyone’s scheduling.
cabbageandbacon
You don’t get “hard copies” of any of the magazines. You simply view them online.
Mort
miki67
10:14 on
The Eton boys have effectively moved the control of the nation back to where it was in the 1950’s.
They never much cares for the 60’s liberalisation.
Cheers Mort.
It’s worse than Thatcher’s 80’s, and no voices of dissent whatsoever.
Summa
BREAKING NEWS: In Spain; Ronaldo and Messi lead the race for Ballon d’or. Meanwhile in England, Suarez , Young and Bale are favourites for Fallon d’floor.