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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That scummy gang of ne’erdowells managed to get a namecheck on The Ballon D’Or awards show, because braindead (well, she looks it…) Amy McDonald was miming thereon as the ‘musical’ act/intermission, and was introduced by Gullit as “…. a massive Glasgow *******
fan!”
Will they no just die and gie us aw peace?
Why, oh why, were they allowed to slither into the 4th. tier ahead of much more deserving candidates.
Praecepta,
I have had a look at viewing figures on a number of occasions.
The two key drivers are –
1 ) whatever way you cut it , more people per capita watch more football in Scotland than just about any other civilised country. Whilst the product may not be the best, it is a relatively low cost investment for satellite broadcasters , particularly vs. the cost of alternative TV fillers e.g. Blockbuster movies
2) the key factor in viewing figures is scheduling and channel. Typically, ESPN games , and those on Sky 3 and Sky 4 , get significantly less than games on Sky 1 …no matter who the competitors are. It will be interesting to see the figures when they come out for last week’s Embra Derby , on Sky 1 , with a decent schedule time and little football competition. When the numbers come out , it will be interesting to contrast with the same game on a lunchtime sky 3 , and an attractive game on Sky 1 .
Finally , finally , the satellite companies are in this to make cash . if they pay less for broadcasting, then they can have less viewers and still make more cash ?
@SkySportsPeo: Sky Sports understands #Celtic are leading the chase for #Leeds United’s highly-rated defender Tom Lees http://t.co/ZZB26tOu #LUFC
Play
The FIFA awards are even cheesier than The Oscars, an that’s goin’ some.
I just want to see if Messi gets the B.d’O. for a record 4th. time.
Keep switching to Euronews which has more info on N.I. than our own useless msm.
Kenny Miller – makes no comment
Turin
I attended Napoli v Bordeaux pre-season friendly in the summer. Had to show my passport when getting the ticket with my name and passport number being printed onto the ticket. Home end tickets. Had to show passport at police check and the ticket and passport were verified for entry.
No idea if this is widespread/standard practice in Italy. Outside of the bureacracy, there was no problem in either buying the ticket or gaining entry on these documents.
HH
Messi!
Lionel Messi, Great footballer yes, but you’d never see Cristiano Ronaldo in a suit like that.
Snapshot of oily Ronaldo curling his lip sneeringly as Messi namechecks him. Bad loser.
pmsl!
Miki67,
He done the same at the UEFA awards :o)
Messi’s parting words: “and next year I promise to go one better and score against Fraser Forster.”
bournesouprecipe
Ooooh you are naughty……
•-:¦:-•** -:¦:- sparkleghirl :¦:-.•**• -:¦:-•
Ha Ha, I was just going to say that suit is freaking hideous…as for the bow tie!!
Ronaldo will always be in Messi’s shadow :)
Hail Hail
•-:¦:-•** -:¦:- sparkleghirl :¦:-.•**• -:¦:-•
18:59 on 7 January, 2013
Lionel Messi, Great footballer yes, but you’d never see Cristiano Ronaldo in a suit like that.
>>>>
Ronaldo’s was even worse. Lounge lizard gone wrong.
: > )
Question
Why will 3 leagues rather than 4 make any difference to Scottish football given that the resources available are unlikely to change, the physical resources for development are unlikely to change and the coaching is unlikely to change?
HH
sparkleghirl
Is there an award for the record attendance at a wake
Sevco v Stirling Albion
hail hail
Ally McCoist demands to know the names of the people who didn’t vote for Lee McCulloch.
And as for Cheltenham v Everton……nah. Pointless exercise in timewasting. At least I think that’s who’s playing…..begins with a ‘c’ and and an ‘e’ anyway…..
Back to the rubber room……
Row Z
Nobody seems to have thought of that. They seem to assume that a different size league will mean Michael Higdon will start playing like Jimmy Johnstone.
mncelt
Looks to me like the property owners built a platform in the tree and the eagle built it’s nest on the platform. I am on the east coast and though we do have a lot of birds of prey, I see a lot at the beach, I can’t say that I have seen a bald eagle over this way. A lot of Ospreys over on the west coast also, fishing is better for them over there. I was fishing one time over there and had a Lady Fish on and down swoops an Osprey and takes my fish, thankfully it dropped the fish as the hook was still in it and I was running out of line.
starry
Sepp Blatter falls off stage
Come back Celtic…..please…..I’m bored. I’m the chairman of the bored.
Yawn
zzzzzz..
Check out the stadium valuation
Kilmarnock chairman Michael Johnston emphasised onfield success as the club announced a reduction in profits in their annual results.
The club reported a trading profit of £11,384 for the year ending 31 May 2012 down from the previous year’s £186,597.
And, with an increase in the club’s debt, Johnston steered away from commenting on the club’s balance sheet.
“What a wonderful year of football we’ve all enjoyed since I prepared last year’s chairman’s statement,” he said.
However, despite the success of winning the Scottish Communities League Cup in March 2012, the net debt of the club rose by £83,000 to £9.84m.
Turnover for the year was £7.4m, an increase of almost £300,000 on last year.
But, player and staff costs were just over £3.5m, similar to the figure spent in the last four years.
An interim revaluation of the stadium at Rugby Park was also carried out during the year and that figure is revealed as £11.3m.
Johnston, in his statement to shareholders, also complimented manager Kenny Shiels and the players on a successful year.
“Kenny’s mantra in the dressing room in the build-up to the final was “believe to achieve” and it clearly struck a chord with our entire squad and backroom staff,” he said.
“If the year ahead holds the same level of sporting enjoyment and success, we’re all in for a wonderful treat.”
Clashcitybhoy
Have caught your posts previously – thanks.
It’s their crass inability to deliver the most basic football info that astounds me!
BSR that’s very good! So quick there was nothing he or anyone else could do about it
Sepp Blatter….lives up to his name.
Dublinbhoy
You are right about the buzzards, I used to work out at PGA National and one week there was a fish kill due to some pollution or something and there were hundreds of buzzards around the lakes and the size of some of them was frightening, but they did a good job of cleaning up the fish.
Grant Shapp, a.k.a. Michael Green (?!) , notorious internet scam artist and conman, and, oh yes, Tory Party chairthingy, on Ch4 news talking Tory tripe like we’re all supposed to respect cretins like him.
Brass neck, red neck, doesn’t even cover these twats…..they need rope around their necks.
Enriching themselves at taxpayers expense, as food banks fail to cope with demand.
UK 2013
bournesouprecipe
There’s something very un-Celtic about what I’m about to say, I almost fell off my seat laughing at that!!
I met him once at Zurich airport with his two bodyguards he was less than impressed that his ex was hanging out with such a long haired arty Tim like me!!
Reconstruction only makes sense for small clubs if you can take costs out of the game. A country the size of Scotland cannot afford 3 administrative authorities.
Introducing playoffs for promotion / relegation to the SPL doesn’t need reconstruction-neither will reconstruction change the basic product on the field
Teuchter ár lá
HOLY MOLEY………..I’d better watch out I am only 5’4″ and 120lbs………???
Reading back re. Juve’s caniptions to sign Drogba, strengthen their squad at all costs, any cost…..sounds like they’re runnin’ scared tae me.
Lookin’ forward to the twelfth…
….that doesn’t sound quite right…..
weeman67
A good example of nature recycling its waste!
I thought you were only here for a holiday and didn’t realise you lived here. Have you been down to the S Florida CSC in Ft Lauderdale? A good bunch of blokes but I haven’t been there for a couple of years. If you fancy going to watch a game with them let me know. I’d be happy to go up and collect you and bring you back home after the game.
Hail Hail
There was something funny about Messi’s trousers as well, They looked kind of too shiny and had what looked like a ribbon thing down the seams.
I guess I’m just not with it any more.
Fair play to wee Messi. Remarkable footballer, and a rather nice fellow by most accounts.
Surprised at the snide comments from some on here re Ronaldo. Sure, he’s a profoundly conceited manchild, but the chap is also a remarkable player, it’s just his luck to be playing in the same era as Lio.
128 goals in 119 games for Real, including 29 in 34 Champions League games.
100 caps for Portugal at age 27, with 37 goals.
And he won the Ballon D’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year in 2008, having won the Champions League with Man Utd earlier that year.
Of course, if he ever comes up against Fraser Forster, he’ll struggle too. Can’t hold that against him.
Mind you, he wasn’t able to penetrate the indefatigable defence of Telfer, Balde, McManus and Naylor not so long ago. and who can blame him. One of the Telfmeister’s better games that one.
Could someone please post a link from you tube of the celtic spartak penalty shoot out in 08. At 3:53 to 3:59 I am willing to put my house on that the wee burd looking v. nervous with a tic scarf on is the same wee bint who mimed her way through a song at FIFA awards earlier. Excuse my techno-phobia :0)
HH.
Kilbowie Kvetch….
I Demand Satisfaction….
I Challenge You To Duel By Zimmer Sticks….
On Glasgow Green At Dawn….
Name Your ‘Seconds’…..
And Your Undertaker….
Per Ardua Ad Astra….
….any further update on the decrepit roof at Asbestox????