So what do you do with a “dead parrot” (© Turnbull Hutton)? Well, as anyone familiar with the Monty Python sketch (and if that doesn’t include you, go watch) will tell you, you need to admit that the parrot is, technically an ex-…
As soon as you have widespread acceptance of this fact, your problems appear far less intimidating
When I say “you”, I don’t really mean you, unless you are one of the 11 chairmen or controllers of a Scottish Premier League club. In fact, we can probably narrow it down a bit more. As far as Ross County are concerned, this is a boom time! Their Highland neighbours will cope with whatever tomorrow brings, St Mirren and Motherwell are both morphing into community-owned-and-run clubs, infused with the kind of endeavour that got the sport of the ground a century ago.
The people who need to accept that the parrot is dead are in charge of Celtic, Aberdeen, Dundee United, Hearts, Hibs, St Johnstone and Kilmarnock.
Once this conclusion is reached, and before we dive off into new league structures, we should really pause and ask the important question, what do we want from our football?
I haven’t really heard much about this question in recent months, so here’s my ideas:
The solutions to our problems has to benefit the entire game, not just Celtic and/or Newco. It has to offer a real and substantial future for Dundee United, Aberdeen, Hibs, Hearts and all the others who have been economically disenfranchised in recent decades.
SPL clubs have been good at developing young talent in recent years but most of them are swimming against the tide. Dundee United lost Paul Dixon to Huddersfield Town last week while Aberdeen have spent most of this year contorting to hold 19-year-old Fraser Fyvie when there are around 80 clubs a few hundred miles away with higher wage budgets.
If these clubs emerge from the changes as paupers, unable to develop and retain talent in the face of Huddersfield Town, we have failed.
I want to see competitive football played in front of full stadiums. Uncompetitive football in front of low crowds is another failure.
I want to see our top clubs compete in Europe, which is different than just participating in Europe. Again, any plan which cannot deliver this is not good enough and should be rejected.
There are people across Scotland willing all of us who support SPL clubs to fail. Collectively, you, me, Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen, United and other fans need to use the unique momentum for change to ensure our clubs become unrecognisably successful.
There are others in positions of power within our game who are dis-incentivised to think grand enough to deliver what fans actually want when they buy their season tickets or pitch-up to see their team.
For the past decade or more Celtic and Rangers have tried to shoehorn themselves into the English Premier League. This would have been good enough for both of them but there was little consideration given to other Scottish clubs.
If we are to invoke structural change in our game, we need to allow everyone in the league to fulfil their potential. We need to stop clubs from the lower leagues in England plucking the best talent from teams who previously competed in European finals.
The solution is simple and achievable. Scotland is not big enough to support competitive top-flight football where its clubs can develop and retain talent, but it has a league with many well-run clubs, who are more than able to match the resources of the likes of Wigan Athletic.
Our game should be reorganised along the following lines:
We retain our national team and Association. We retain the Scottish Cup and Scottish Football League, funded by an improved solidarity payment. We admit we cannot support top-flight football and ask to fold the SPL into the bottom of the English League structure.
In time we will all find our level. Celtic will rise to the top but there is no reason for half of the SPL to achieve the same as Wigan Athletic. The smaller SPL clubs will double or treble their income, no matter what heights they scale in the English system. Scottish Football League clubs will be able to achieve meritocratic advancement through the system. We will all flourish.
This is plan is deliverable. It would benefit the entire game. Our clubs would be able to retain talent as effectively as they did in the 1980s. Football would be competitive as each club would find and compete at its level, stadiums would fill and commercial income rocket. The giants of our game would be giants of Europe.
Instead of contemplating insolvency or social unrest, let’s agree on what we want from our sport and, with the cross-club grassroots movement we have, set about getting there.
It sure beats managing decline while others say, ‘told you so’.
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I firmly believe that Green will walk if SevCo are put into Div 3 hence Doncaster + Reagan’s panic about next weeks vote
That is what happens when you make promises you can’t keep eh Stewart + Neil?
sannabhoy on 5 July, 2012 at 20:00 said:
Agreed. I’d pay a fiver as well. I don’t pay for SKY but I would pay for an SPL TV without sevco.
BB
looks like he’s playin in a CL qualy tonight, in any case
http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/fall-of-a-dynasty-heralded-reign-of-youth.18063097
Ten Men Won The League on 5 July, 2012 at 20:06 said:
”Glad to see FIFA approving goal line technology despite the buffoon that is Platini trying his hardest to stop it becoming reality”
A retrograde and divisive move.
The more I think about this the more I like it. We would have to give up our European places but we could be the first and only Champions of Europe to hail hail from Scotland.
off oot tae fitba wi the local rfc fans
minutes silence afore the gemm
:)
timbhoy in spain on 5 July, 2012 at 20:02 said:
Pity you’re not here tonight, we would be having a great time, we would be celebrating our natural Tim genealogy and of course the death of der hun.
Now playing the new song about the huns from the Clash, great band, Police and Thieves.
Time Celtic worked with the other 10 SPL clubs [maybe not killie ;-)] to offer “Away” Season Tickets at a discount to the pay per game tickets that would still be available.
It is also time for the other clubs to rethink their allocation of tickets to Celtic fans. Make it a win-win situation [at least commercially].
Yeh wish I was there just for a day or 2.
The old Fox had a good Irish Celtic crowd 6 the music was brilliant even way back then.there´s a good Irish Club about 10 minutes away from you but it´ll be quiet (if open) tonight.
Hail Hail.
Auld Neil Lennon heid on 5 July, 2012 at 19:51 said:
Re Sky most interesting. How however does anyone co-ordinate verifying actual figures and most importantly getting commitment to exercise the power the knowledge brings?
What have Sky got to lose from the paying Scottish football fan?
http://annualreview2011.sky.com/
Sky had 10.5M TV customers at end of 2011
They make an average of £539 per customer per year from these
Let us assume from demographics that 10% of Sly customers are based in Scotland
Total revenues from Scottish customers = 1.05M*539 = £566
Assuming 50% of customers take Sky Sports/ESPN = £283M
The £16M per year that Sky pay the SPL looks very good value for money – if the SPL had any decent negotiators they would be able to point to the current activism of Scottish footbal fans and extract a much BETTER deal regardless of where Sevco are playing
VertWolf
The trouble our league finds itself in just now with thanks going to vale of leven rangers,in my opinion,is a blessing in disguise.
We are now able to confront the problems that our chairmen and game leaders,have been sweeping under the carpet for more than a decade; all in the name of self-preservation.
I think this is the perfect quote to sum up the S.P.L at this precise moment in time- ‘This Is Not The End,It is Just The Beginning’
~ Neil Lennon
What Scottish football needs to move on and with luck;shine once more on the European stage!
1.Doncaster,Regan,Ogilvie,Longmuir all to get their P45’s
2.The construction of at least a 16 team Premier League ,with 2 automatic relegation spots and 1 for a play-off.
3.The S.F.L having 2 leagues and also the construction of a conference type league for relegation and promotion to/and from the bottom S.F.L league.
4.Bring back the U’21/reserve league games.
5.Start a footballing Academy [instead of putting the whole responsibility on the clubs].
6.Coherent dialogue in the form of monthly meetings between S.P.L rulers,club delegates and trusted members of the top leagues footballing trusts[to build and maintain relationships and discuss any problems]-;
“Without fans who pay at the turnstile, football is nothing. Sometimes we are inclined to forget that.The only chance of bringing them into stadiums is if they are entertained by what happens on the football field.”
~Jock Stein
With regards to the English Leagues there is no way a Scottish team will ever be allowed anywhere near them.With every boom period comes the inevitable bust [just look at the financial meltdown of Leeds F.C from Champions League to English Championship]
The E.P.L clubs are enjoying a very productive boom,although,it is now mostly superficial.With only Russian billionaire owned Chelski,and middle east owned black gold rich Manchester City being the only exceptions.
If you look closely behind the scenes,there is massive debt.It is only the cash cow named Sky T.V that is stopping complete meltdown,for the WHOLE of English football.
It is already happening in the lower leagues,and it wont be long until it reaches-*cough* ‘the best league *cough* in the world’ *cough*.All those clubs have been spending massive amounts of cash,and in the near future they will pay the consequences!!!
Hail Hail fellow hoops
My personal opinion about this is not before time, but if I was English instead of being, married to one, I would be wondering why it took a decision in favour of England to be the driving force for this legislation?
Sally interview – bizarre is the only word I can come up with.
If they’re in the SPL in a year’s time, corrupt won’t even begin to describe things.
Please note the non-use of the word, “back”.
Markus Henriksen does seem to have a bit of skill and swagger…and a bit of physicality at 6’1″….dreadful choice of soundtrack though..
Markus Henriksen-Goals And Skills
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18728312
Good to see Stan again. All the best for a full recovery
Sevco 1690 will not be going anywhere apart from oblivion, their intended fan base is nothing like ours as we will support our club financially even when times are bad! If they were such great fans old Minty would not have had to resort to years of financial impropriety to steal the trophies they did.
The Battered Bunnet on 5 July, 2012 at 18:20 said:
absolutely spot on sir. the stenhousemuir statement is the detail and transparency we need. No wonder they will vote sevco into SFL1!!! they dont actually have a choice due to the critical nature to their business model of 50k. But more importantly the absolute lack of any sort of analysis on alternatives by the SFA!
2 things jump out.
Campbell Ogilvie has ultimate responsibility, he MUST resign now before even more damage is done to protect Sevco and the farcical Zombie RFC
TV deals, we MUST firstly terminate the Sky contract as they are deciding which teams cant be relegated and thus manipulating sporting integrity. All scottish football supporters MUST terminate their Sky subscriptions! We must then seek alternatives as you suggest. The SFA must take the financial hit and cover lost TV revenue until a new deal is done, they have been 100% complicit in this mess so must take fiscal responsibility.
Any Celtic News?
Now is the time for CELTIC to broker a fair and equitable deal for all SPL clubs. We must encourage our support and that of all other SPL clubs ( even the Ayrshire Hun) to turn out in droves for every game. I dream of increased attendances for all SPL clubs . Let’s all SPL supporters send a message to the deceased Hun that they are not wanted or needed. On the subject of joining the English league at the lowest level, sorry , but no way. We must now stay and be the leading player as a force for good in the Scottish game.
I for one will never forget and will be forever grateful to our SPL counterparts for their good work in ridding our league of the tyrannical practices of the Hun.
When Scottish football is safe, vibrant and him free we can then join a league that a club of our stature deserves.
The Spirit of Arthur Lee
Any Celtic News?
Aye 1/50 to win the league, is that the EPL? :-))
The Spirit of Arthur Lee on 5 July, 2012 at 20:30 said:
Has that question broken the blog? :-)
Sorry that meant to say hun free not him free
Its a funny old game…. Indeed
I used to post on here a hundred times a day now i troll rangers media .. Laughing my green and whyte sox off at their posts
What has become of me ;)
The responses from Sky helpdesk employees is interesting to some extent but what is really needed imo is a senior executive from Sky to make a definitive statement on where they stand.
If not offered,it should be asked of them by someone like AT.
We would then be clear on whether D and R are telling the truth
A few random thoughts.
We keep talking of Sky but according to the Stenhousemuir statement Sky contribute only £10m pa whilst ESPN contribute £5m With ESPN losing the EPL rights do they intend to close in the UK and if not how will they fill the gap in their schedules?
How does the money paid by the Satellite Co’s compare with the budget allocated By the BBC for Sports Coverage in England and Scotland. How do the two compare with each other. Anyone know?
the people who stand at the top of scottish football are not interested in anything other than a quick buck, thats why we take sh&te t.v deals. it seems they just want the money from t.v they dont want to do the hard work. sky seem to take a hell of a lot out for acting as the middle man is how i see it. spl wants t.v money, but does not have the balls to do it themselves so they take the risk away and get sky to do it, in return reducing any financial risks to the spl, but as a consequence selling themselves way short because the bidders (sky) know the spl have no balls, for what is worth i think scottish t.v would see a threefold increase from t.v revenue within three years if it when alone and advertised as scotlans premier football channel, with every penny going into the game.
it seem we have a lot of suits but few true businessmen, am i wrong?
I’m a long way off from catching up with all the posts but I’m enjoying what I’ve read so far. Great article by Paul who is an innovator. Agree there might be difficulties faced in bringing it to fruition but it is this type of ‘out of the box’ think that’s needed to take the game forward. The usual suspects in administrative positions at the top of the game in Scotland are bringing nothing to the table by their negative doomsday message and their failure to think beyond a world without Rangers. They don’t seem to be able to take on board that Scottish football supporters don’t want Rangers in their old form with all the grief associated with them. It is time to move on and there is a will to succeed amongst the supporters of the other teams. More and more realise that sacrifices will have to be made and that there is a need to help others in a weaker position whenever we can in whatever small way we can.
I’ve been thinking back to when the problem started, when it all started to go wrong. Imho, we can look at the mid 1980s to find our answer. The first half of the 80s saw Scottish football as a quite strong entity. 3 teams were fighting each other each season for the trophies – Aberdeen, Celtic and Dundee United. Two of these teams were successful in Europe – Aberdeen and Dundee United. Both teams between them reached two European Cup Finals with the Dons winning the Cup Winners Cup and United had an excellent run in the European Cup and were defeated 3-2 on aggregate in the semi final by Roma. Celtic were a very good domestic team who would have done better if we had added two players to our squad. All three teams had pools comprised mainly of Scottish players with some Irish, English and the occasional overseas player.
It all went pear shaped when the Rangers revolution came to pass. Souness started to sign top names from England and then from abroad. All other clubs had to follow suit to the detriment of what was a successful league with good competitive teams who were a force in Europe.
The questions I wish to pose to the ‘out of the box’ thinkers on CQN – and I am in awe of many of you and there are loads – are
Can we get back to that position?
Is it in our interests to get back to that position?
Do Celtic need to concentrate even more on developing our own talent rather than spending to bring in experienced players from abroad? Remember we have an outstanding development squad at the moment.
Is our current business plan of buying young talent with potential from all over the world and selling at a higher price in the long term interests of a competitive Scottish League (which might lead to us being more competitive in Europe)?
Am I talking mince after the best part of a bottle of Pinot Grigio?
Hail! Hail!
Why does everyone continually talk about Sevco going into sfl1 or sfl3? Why is that the vote that will be taking place next week? Other clubs would bite your hand off for the chance to go into sfl3. Why is it assumed that Sevco should leapfrog those clubs and go to the front of the queue?
Am I talking Pinot Grigio after the best part of a pound of mince?
itsabouttim,
I have been puzzled by that too. Surely other teams have already applied to join Div3; so,presumably they are before the dead lot in the queue?
Emerald Bee
There is not much joined up thinking, if this is not followed through then Regan and the SFA will be a collision course with the rest of the world. Celtic will be on the warpath, all smaller clubs done out of a cup ditto…… the SFA would be best advised to get the investigations out the way quickly, as the FTT and liquidation will be brutal.
Some of the stuff recently will be swatted away, as being mis-quoted, out of context etc. still lack of leadership is shocking.
Another thought occurred to me today. Remember RFC’s, Head of Security, Lawrence McIntyre (I think – where he now?)? He was the guy who made a submission to Jack McConnell’s government on Sectarianism that Catholic schools were to blame for sectarianism in Scotland.
Isn’t karma wonderful? Catholic schools have never operated a policy based on sectarianism and pupils of all creeds and none attended the schools I taught in. None of them were ever taught bigotry or to exclude someone because they didn’t come from a Catholic background or go to a Catholic school. The very opposite in fact – caring, sharing, tolerance for the beliefs of others and valuing the beliefs of others.
Lawrence McIntyre, can you hear me?
Rangers FC lies a mouldering in the grave but Catholic schools go marching on. You tried to put us out of business but you ended up out of business yourselves. Perhaps you should have left well alone.
Paddy Gallagher on 5 July, 2012 at 20:55 said:
Am I talking Pinot Grigio after the best part of a pound of mince?
…………………………………………….
Hi Paddy how are you doing?
I’m hanging on to sobriety by my fingernails – don’t think it’s working though!
Don’t Listen….to Dungcaster, Renegin’, or wee Davie Longmuir….Listen to your Heart
Latest statement from SFA says that OAPs will have to hand back their bus passes unless Sevco allowed into SFL1
Sadies
great post
wasn’t he the chap who referred to a smashed coach window as ‘frosted’ or ‘had frosting’?
they always got the people they deserved.
u
God Bless wee Olivia Downie