It was only in February this year that the proposed Russia-Ukraine joint league first reached the stage of formal meetings between clubs to discuss the viability but tonight a showcase tournament between top clubs from each country gets underway tonight. It is hoped the formal joint league will start this time next year when the top nine teams from each country will form the Unified First League.
Despite discouragement from Fifa, Uefa have insisted only that proper procedures are followed to give their ascent to the league. Gazprom, the Russian energy giant and Uefa Champions League sponsor, has underwritten the project with a commitment of 1 billion euros per annum.
As we know, in football, money talks, and the Russian and Ukrainian clubs, together with their national associations and Uefa, have been talked happy to make change possible.
In order to become competitive with their rivals in the west while meeting Uefa Financial Fair Play rules, Russian and Ukrainian clubs need to increase income, which the Unified First League would go a long way towards. Uefa president, Michel Platini, has long accepted that regionalisation was a viable way forward for domestic leagues, while former powers in smaller leagues have become disenfranchised from the game’s top table.
What does it mean for us?
Well, we don’t have a Gazprom, not yet, anyway, but once Gazprom’s financial and political muscle establishes the principle of regionalisation, that principle is available to all. Former Yugoslavia countries are already in talks, while Scandinavian countries have already had a few abortive attempts at (underfunded) regional cup competitions.
The British region.
Welsh football has managed to retain its national identity, provide an infrastructure for provincial and community clubs, while federating with the FA in England to allow their larger (sic) clubs to find their competitive level.
The model is already established for Scottish football, which has realised living with one (or two for that matter) massive club which completely invalidates their league competition as a ‘competition’ is no longer the best way to order their affairs.
Financial recklessness caused the collapse of one club a year ago while the recklessness of a Lithuanian bank has put another in jeopardy. A handful of other top-flight clubs now realise their financial commitments, not to mention sporting objectives, are no longer viable, with or without the crumbs from the table thrown in their direction when TV cameras and a few thousand fans arrive a few times per season.
Federate with England, just as the Welsh did. It will bring ‘competition’ back to our competitions, put thousands of everyone’s gates and provide access to viable commercial contracts.
Why are our leagues and Association not speaking to the English about this right now? The Football League in England is every bit as much a basket case as Scottish football right now, they also need to change the structural model and, unlike the equally lunatic (English) Premier League, appear to be self-aware in this respect.
Go talk to the Welsh FA, Cardiff City, Swansea, Wrexham or New Saints FC (!) and ask them what organising their game along the lines of the Scottish model would do to them.
Scottish football must federate or it will die. As such, if we stand on the precipice of crisis, let’s make it a good one. It’s the only thing which will get things moving.
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The zeitgeist, is that still around?
dbbia,
Your darn tootin :oD)))
roy croppie 12:11:
Lazy journalism at its best.
Kayal33 12:19:
Exactly, Doyle will be on the reserve list as I’ve said only if all else fails. As you say I would only expect another Striker if either Hooper or Stokes leaves.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Zeitgeist, did they no run a circus or something like that
canamalar1
12:19 on 28 June, 2013
‘ernie…,
That’s your opinion and your welcome to it, I disagree with them being useless, and I think they are a beautiful representation of modern industrial art.’
#########
Then confine them to an art gallery, don’t have despoiling the entire Scottish countryside.
###############
Dontbrattbakkinanger
12:22 on 28 June, 2013
The RSPB are hopelessly compromised on windfarms. I know a number of people who have left or refuse to join the organisation because of their stance.
Ernie..,
Again opinion, wonder how many stupid birds have flown into the angel of the north
” We are a Green company , the Green stands for money ”
Jeffrey Skilling / Enron.
CANAMALAR
Maybe we should ban windows too?
http://imgur.com/BeNx7
canamalar1
12:30 on 28 June, 2013
‘Ernie..,
Again opinion, wonder how many stupid birds have flown into the angel of the north’
I’m not sure that the word stupid is an appropriate description of birds that are killed by flying into man made structures.
Petec, I remember when radio Clyde was launched. Tiger tim was the man. I don’t know if he was a real Tim:-). I assume the jimmy you refer to was Sanderson? When he left the planet, unbiased west coast Scottish football journalism left with him and we went into the one station for the hun period that we’re still in now.
************************************************************
Tiger Tim is my cousin and his real name is the same as mine, yes he is a real Tim.
Hx2
Ernie..,
There’s a big white thing I must be able to fly through it, species heading for extinction
McGrory1888
Give him my best wishes when next you see him.
About the only decent DJ Clyde ever had
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
12:34 on 28 June, 2013
‘CANAMALAR
Maybe we should ban windows too?
http://imgur.com/BeNx7‘
That bird will have survived. Hence there’s no photo of a dead owl.
It’s a bit like the difference between walking into a parked car and being hit by a car doing 40mph.
I mean its no like they are camouflaged for crying out loud.
Ernie…,
That bird will have survived. Hence there’s no photo of a dead owl.
It’s a bit like the difference between walking into a parked car and being hit by a car doing 40mph.
In both cases no looking where you are going your going to come a cropper eventually
Wind farms ——-
The Sicilian Mafia love wind farms . . Big bucks from Brussels , Easy money. .
canamalar1
12:37 on 28 June, 2013
‘Ernie..,
There’s a big white thing I must be able to fly through it, species heading for extinction’
Animals perceive the world differently to us.
We can do things they can’t.
And they can do things we can’t.
We can’t even work out how they can do the things they can.
Ernie.., neither can they
ERNIE
They tend not to survive when they fly onto wire fences.
As an example.
CANAMALAR is correct-they either evolve or they don’t.
I’m no fan of turbines(!) but protection of birds is a spurious reason to stop them spreading.
I preferred your economic argument.
Anyone else think that they (again ) got it wrong down at ipox when at the last boardroom meeting it was decided that they needed a new Coach.
Now dont get me wrong here , i am glad they changed the bus as opposed to the world champion steakbake gobbler.
Ffs!
Here we go again – Kevin Doyle for Celtic!
No!
No disrespect to the ghuy, but he is not what we need.
Would end up with splinters on his erse from sitting on the bench for an entire season – or ’til January before being dispatched to some backwater down south on loan.
HH!!
The Krispy Kreme goodies have arrived
DOH
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
12:43 on 28 June, 2013
It’s a valid, not a spurious argument, albeit not a determining one.
The determining argument is the loss of visual amenity.
BMCUW,
His and dbbia’s economic and engineering arguments are bang on the money, I’ve harped on here for as long as I can remember when on thi subject of renewables the only way to go is geothermal, the big problem for everyone involved in the energy producing world is it would produce cheap energy and that is not why they are in the game.
Iceland have mastered it and now provide some of the cheapest energy in the world with the bonus that they are making a fortune exporting the technology.
During the 50s & 60s the UK tried experimenting with it then realised cheap energy was not in fact a good thing as it would kill off the arguments for nuclear power.
Ernie..,
Being a city dweller I’m not too fussed about country folks demands for a beautiful unspoiled view, IMO f*** em
Happily the white throated needle tailed swift is far from endangered; but other birds are not so lucky.
Even if they killed no birds at all then windfarms are not justifiable in terms of their ability to create energy.
They are a foul , money raking scam worthy of the lowest Sevconian cunning
Ernie- Malarkey posted the RSPB view last night; their is a map which shows the areas they feel are most sensitive to environmental impact; if you overlaid the areas of maximum windfarm density they would probably overlap.
THey probably feel they have been painted into a corner over this.
The Spirit of Arthur Lee 12:49:
Where you manage to get them?
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Tallybhoy- do we know how Kevin D. feels about wind farms?
THE HARDEST JOB IN WORLD FOOTBALL.
The Celtic board trying to appease every miniscule whim of so called Die hards.
HH
I hope the ole Celtic board don’t apply to put a turbine in the-much waited for-Celtic Triangle…the debate on here could get nuclear!
dbbia,
You economic and engineering arguments are right, I’ll go with that.
Bringing in aesthetics and wee chookie birdies means nothing.
I do remember another decent argument you made once which IMO was probably one of the best, low frequency noise can be very damaging to us.
I bet the knuckle-draggers were fair disappointed, when they got someone to read for them , the story behind the headline, RANGERS NEW COACH ARRIVES AT……. (canny even mention the name of that shit-hole!)
Barrel-scraping at it’s best!
Watch out for next weeks exclusive, ALLY TO BRING MORE CUPS TO………. (shit-hole),……… and read about the canteen!
HH
New twitter news feed from the SPFL.
Pretty much first meaningful tweet is….
…Rangers fans, get your season tickets
with a hyperlink to the relevant Sevco website page.
Dumbfounded
VOGUEPUNTER
I think they can ignore MICKYBHOY-if he doesn’t turn up,he can’t complain about either his free pie or his seat not being warm enough.
Plus,had I known that rearranging two games was all it took,I’d have petitioned the board myself…..
@Dontbrattbakkinanger
12:25 on
28 June, 2013
The zeitgeist, is that still around?
————————————————————————-
Still on you-tube DBBIA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3Ya5qiiW6k
Dontbrattbakkinanger- Kevin D? is that the guitarist from Wings?
Or is it The Eagles?
birdsofafeathercsc
This is good news for champions of openness and fighters against bent journalism.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23098284
Very bad news for the defendants, particularly the high profile ones like Rebekkah Brooks and Andy Coulson.
Their , no doubt very expensive, legal advice wil have been’ keep this case away from a jury of 12 random ordinary Joes at all costs, they will hate you and see you done, no danger’.
Not since Richard got off with mistakenly leaving his local ASDA with a trolley full of drink for Judy has a ‘celeb’ gotten a sympathetic hearing form a jury.
Good.
Round 1 to the forces of good, methinks.
Dontbrattbakkinanger
12:54 on 28 June, 2013
The RSPB’s problem is that they have over 1 million members, most of whom live in cities, who have to be kept sweet.
Hence their position on windfarms and hence the reason they don’t mention domestic cats.