St Johnstone have been a managerial proving ground in recent seasons. Owen Coyle did a great deal of good work without achieving promotion to the SPL, but his two years there managed to sufficiently impress Burnley that they tempted him south. The people of Burnley were probably as surprised as the rest of us when Own led them to the FA Premier League but five months into the season he jumped ship to Bolton Wanderers.
Coyle kept Bolton up in 2010 and again in 2011 but they slipped from the league last summer. Poor form in the Championship soon turned sentiment against the manger and he was relieved of his duties in October.
Derek McInnes followed Coyle at St Johnstone and brought them into the SPL in his first full season but 15 months ago, after being touted for several jobs in England, he left for Bristol City, who, bottom of the Championship, sacked him today.
Steve Lomas is St Johnstone’s current manager and the latest to impress clubs south of the border offering larger pay-packets. He would be foolish to accept a job from a struggling club who have sacked their manager mid-season. As we have said several times before, managers receive a great deal of credit or blame but the success of a football club is infinitely more dependent on the entire structure of the club.
St Johnstone’s structure is just fine. The same is true of Inverness, where Terry Butcher decided to stay this week, as well as Ross County and Motherwell. The city clubs, Aberdeen, Hibs, Hearts, Dundee United and Dundee all churn through seasons as compulsive underachievers. If they were able to do something about this fact our league would be the envy of most.
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Only takes 12mins for the Man Utd fans to begin their sick chants
Man u v Liverpool
15 min
what a bore
think the right thing for scottish football, at this time, is to make changes that try to improve a range of things including the distribution of income within scotland.
the spl was put in place to ensure there were lots of old firm games for t.v and for clubs, which increased income initially but damaged the level of competition and paying supporters due to too many games against the same teams, to much predictability about the outcome of the league before it starts and general boredem.
we accept shite t.v contracts from sky etc… because our clubs dont have the balls to set up their own t.v. channel/ internet feeds and always look for quick fixes. we may not have the best product in the world but i’ll tell you what we sure know how the make a bad situation worse.
by the way regionalisation to increase competition in football is all good and well but ask yourself what does that actually mean for a club like celtic, so we get to pay even more money to players to compete at a higher level etc etc… while we leave other clubs behind to struggle in poverty, not for me
i dont want celtic to leave scottish football, i much prefer the idea of having an:
unbrella european league structure involving clubs from smaller nations:
qualify through 20 game domestic league
commences in january after qualification is known.
20 game domestic league decides european places for the next season
european league winners crowned champs of unbrella european league
remaining european place(s) and domestic/ local champions decided after january
retain scottish identity, support domestic football in scotland, increase income throughout the leagues, potential for all teams to participate and ake money, increase income, retain participation in european football structure, retain involvement in european football
RVP…1-0..7/2… Akin to a gift
Man u score a very Celticesque goal.
Man Utd just have far more quality in key areas than Liverpool
Only Suarez + Gerrard would get into this current Man Utd side
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BAfj3hpCAAEF0aW.jpg:large
One things for sure
Welbeck ain’t no striker
Tom English: ‘Green would rather create the myth of Rangers being persecuted than admit that the SFA backed them’
Rangers chief executive Charles Green likes nothing more than playing to the gallery at Ibrox. Picture: PA
By Tom English
Published on Sunday 13 January 2013 01:22
CHARLES Green made a great play on Friday of Rangers being invited to the annual conference of Europe’s top clubs, to be held in Qatar next month.
Quite right, too. Their acceptance at the top table was another kick to the solar plexus of those who endlessly bang on about the death of Rangers and the rise of Sevco in their stead. Obviously, the European Club Association does not agree that Rangers as we knew them are dead. That is to say that its members – the Milan giants, the Manchester clubs, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Dortmund and every other major footballing institution on the continent – recognise that Rangers have their history and their trophies and deserve to be part of a conversation. No wonder Green cooed with satisfaction.
Green being Green, he went further than cooing. He practically fluffed his plumage and used the ECA’s endorsement as a way to attack Rangers’ critics at home. “I went out last year to the conference to introduce myself and let them know where Rangers were going and trying to get to,” said Green. “We received a letter in December from the European Clubs Association and in that letter they stated that they agreed that Rangers today is the same Rangers and that was very refreshing to read.”
There is a reason why they got that letter, but we will come back to that.
“The importance of this is the comparison to what happens in Scotland where we are not invited to any meetings, we can’t vote and we are not allowed to do anything,” continued Green.
“However, the European clubs are saying: ‘Come out to Qatar, we’ll pay your air fares, we’ll pay your hotel bills and we want you to be part of it all because we recognise Rangers are one of the biggest clubs in Europe. We understand you can’t play in Europe at the moment but we still want you to be part of it all’. In Scotland, we are nobody and we are nothing. Tell me where the madness lies.”
OK, let’s do precisely that. Green either does not know or has chosen not to mention one salient point about the ECA’s invitation to Qatar and the point is this – the invitation was only extended to Rangers after the ECA contacted the SFA looking for guidance on their status. Last August, Michele Centenaro of the ECA contacted the SFA and asked for an appraisal of the Rangers situation and whether they could be deemed the same Rangers as before or a new company unworthy of acknowledgment from the ECA. The SFA’s response was unambiguous. Different corporate entity but same Rangers, same history, same honours accrued over 140 years. Without the SFA’s support, you’d have to believe that Rangers would be nowhere near Qatar. Not that Green has acknowledged that fact. It doesn’t fit with the agenda. He’d much rather create the myth of Rangers being persecuted than admit the SFA had backed them.
“In Scotland, we are nobody and we are nothing.” Great line but it is bogus. “Where does the madness lie?” Where indeed, Charles?
The world according to Green is a funny old place: a world that sees Manchester United in support of their entry into the Premier League when they are not; a world that has Barcelona and Real Madrid in favour of their admittance to La Liga when the very notion would be deemed trippy in the Nou Camp and the Bernabeu; a world where Rangers were going to hook up with the Dallas Cowboys, but haven’t; a world where Rangers were going to sign a lucrative kit sponsorship with Adidas, but haven’t; a world of 500 million Rangers fans worldwide and a potential £100 million in digital revenues alone.
Green is an entertainer, no question. A hard man to ignore. His idea of communication appears to be shout, shout and shout again.
Another myth was sold to the Rangers fans last week. It is the portrayal of their club being locked out of the debate on league reconstruction. Unwanted, unloved and ignored. It’s a take on things that the fans are only too willing to embrace, not surprisingly.
Green has pushed this line as further proof that the game is out to get them and, in the early part of last week, he sounded convincing.
His line is: “Here we are, the biggest club in the country, and nobody wants to talk to us.” Woe is Charles. Is it true, though? They’ve not been consulted? Really? The SFL haven’t met them and talked to them on the phone many, many times? They haven’t been asked for their thoughts? They haven’t been kept up to date? They’ve been shut out? David Longmuir might disagree with that version of events.
Far from locking Rangers out of the conversation, he’s got Green on speed dial. It hardly paints a picture of the SFL and Rangers being strangers, now does it?
The league reconstruction debate will rage on a while. The three governing bodies and all clubs, seemingly bar one, are weighing things up, aware of the inherent weaknesses in the 12-12-18 format but balancing them against the strengths, which are undeniable.
“It’s paramount now that clubs have discussions with their fans,” says Stewart Regan.
“It’s not perfect. You can pick holes in it. We can all do that but it delivers some things. We can either sit around for another year and do nothing but argue or we can say this is the best place we can get to right now. We’ll have one league with one board so, in the future, there is no them and us. One board can review the structure down the line. Has it worked? What do we like? What don’t we like? Should we change it? It’s as good as we’re going to get. Fans have in their minds a view of a league that they want and because that is not being put forward there is a feeling that they have been let down. It’s incumbent on league bodies and clubs to go out there now and say: ‘We know where you are coming from and here are the answers to your questions’.”
Rangers are not having it but their gripes are overblown.
League reconstruction does not slow their return to the SPL. Everything else is just noise and smacks of protest for the sake of protest. On their website during the week they said their attitude was all about “tolerance” and “sanity” and then a few days later Green threw the toys out of the pram with talk of exiting Scottish football. “The quicker we can leave the better”. On Friday he was talking about using sex discrimination law to sue UEFA.
Of course you will, Charles. Of course you will. Good luck in Qatar. You’ll be rubbing shoulders with some giants. But, for heaven’s sake, don’t ever admit that it was the SFA who helped make it happen.
Sweep, sweep.
PF Ayr and South of Tunis
Thanks for your comments. For the avoidance of doubt, I am not questioning here the whys and wherefores of Green’s TUPE argument, although I agree with you it’s patently ill-conceived.
It’s more that every time he mentions TUPE, he is admitting a change of employer, which according to UEFA can only mean a change of club.
Wonder if any Liverpool fans have charted the demise of their club. There must be a crucial moment, manager or monetary spend that started the rot.
I always thought Hodgson was a massive mistake and with the greatest respect to Konchesky, the writing was on the wall.
Dalglish’s return and spend was crass and ill advised.
Thoughts?
U
PFayr 13:44
I sincerely hope that you are correct.
Only two words in your post which raise my concerns ,IF and IMPARTIALLY.
Bearing in mind we are talking about Scotland !
HH.
All this stuff about employees rights and transferring over .. And over.
Charlie is confused .. He simply misread the wording … TUBE .
Easy mistook to moke
I try to get into this ‘Super Sunday’ carry on. I want to be interested in it. It would be agreat way to spend Sunday afternoon if it captured my imagination.
But see when you’re just not bothered who wins? It’s nigh on impossible.
Even a bet on Man Utd at just better than evens is failing to make me care very much.
I’d rather watch Celtic’s youngsters – at least I’d have a genuine emotional response to the ebb and flow of the game and the outcome.
CurmudgeonlyBhoy
ulysses mcghee
A club in decline,have been for year’s.
Infinitely more interesting than ‘Super Sunday’; I bought my Juve ticket (and St Mirren semi) today.
Feel better for it.
SwanseaBhoy
Praecepta
That’s one of the most innovative ideas I’ve read on the subject. Very impressed.
Essentially, Scottish Football collectively underwrites the risk that the promising young player might not develop into the valuable International class 25 year old. In the event that he does, the Fund benefits from a share of the proceeds of a sale of the player, while the nation gets: 1) More top class young Scottish players staying longer in the top Scottish League, enhancing its level of quality; 2) International class footballers for the national team.
The more players in the scheme, the greater the hedge against failure. The applicant club sets out the wage they are able to offer, and the Fund makes up the balance in wages that persuades the player to stay for a further 4 years. Let’s say the typical club offer is £2000 per week, and the typical fund contribution is £4000 per week.
Let’s say every qualifying club gets 1 player supported each year which is about right for a very good YD system, and it’s a 3 year cycle. (to return the Fund’s investment the player requires to be traded before the contract expires, hence 4 year contracts and 3 year cycle).
You’re looking at, in any one year, around 30 players on the scheme, requiring 30 x £4000 x 52 = £6.25 Million by end of year 3. As players are sold, a slice of the fee goes back to the Fund in some proportion to the wages that were supported.
Pump priming finance then becomes the biggest issue, but £6M is not a great deal in the grand scheme of things. As the system develops over time, the fund becomes self supporting.
This segues with an idea I had a while back for a Scottish Football Endowment. In short, every ticket to every senior game in Scotland carries a £1 youth levy. The levy would qualify for gift aid, adding 28% to the sum raised.
Based upon the average attendances last season, it’s some £3,200,000 from the SPL alone, with a further £600K from the SFL clubs. Add in the cup competitions, about 12 European ties and say 6 Scotland international games, and you’re looking at about another million on top. That’s about £5 Million a year from the fans. Gift Aid brings it up to… £6.4M.
There’s your Youth Fund primed in year 1!
Match funding from Govt together with commercial partnerships/sponsorships would be available also. It is conceivable that in excess of £15M per year could be raised via this route, more than SPL and SFL clubs combined spent on Youth Development last year.
£15M gets you 2 Regional Football Centres, or 30 floodlit 3G pitches – in year 1!
It gets you 100 full time, qualified coaches.
AND It gets you 30 top youth players supported through your Development Pot.
In essence, with that kind of cash, you have the scope to run 2 National Academies on the scale of Manchester United’s of Barcelona’s, while keeping the most promisng kids in the Scottish Game for a further 3 years.
Heck, what are we waiting for?
Poor game in big showdown of best league in the world:)
Liverpools movement non existent and Joe Allen is a perfect example of over rated league.
15 million for a poorer version of Ki
Sterling looks like a wee boy today
Gerrard is well past his sell by date.
Football is becoming less and less of an entertainment business .
tbb/praecepta,
Good idea, need to be some safe guards though, number to players a team can register :oD)))
I could see a team having 20 out the 30 with a smattering of 30 year old prospects :o)
The corruption needs to be addressed before good ideas can be implemented properly
A wee ticket appeal…
My brothers up next weekend and would like to come to the match with me.
Im in 106…. Anyone got a spare going for the hearts game.
Im on holiday from 8th feb for three weeks so miss the dundee utd and dundee games so my seats available for those matches
Kevin McAuley @kevmac582
@STVGrant @DanielOConnel18 Newco had “temp m’ship”, while Oldco held “full m’ship” (at same time), Oldco dead = Newco Assoc M’ship #Facts
Juve on ESPN
Because it’s a slow day on here i have taken a headline from another site, and i will add a little bit onto the end. Feel free to finish it off.
p.s Steak bake is already taken!!!
Lennon leaves Marbella for elite managers summit …….McMoist leaves Ibrox for?
Fan a tic
Re Allen ..I was thinking ok player but not really offering anything special …£15m …hhmmmm
If one would pay £15m for Allen ..how much for Big Vic .?
I commented on this last week re standing areas in football stadii – it already exists in most epl games – just look behind both goals. Even though it’s against the safety certificate.
It’s time to bring it back officially
Pfayr
Also if Sturridge is 12 million then Hooper should be at least 15 to 20
On Sammi’s euro performances he must be worth a few bob, hope he stays
TBB
Thanks – your figures show that there would be some merit in such a scheme.
Question is – would any of the ‘Brains Trust’ at Hampden consider some radical thinking outside the box?
:-)
How come English knows what the SFA said about the huns and their history?
Did someone at the SFA tell him?
And were Celtic aware of the SFA’s view when they published the annual roundup of news referring to the last ever Glasgow derby?
McCoist leaves Ibrox for a paper and a packet of chewits.
praecepta
We have ways of making them talk! :¬)
Issue is how to handle the complexity of Bosman as the supported player comes towards the end of contract. There needs to be some imperative on the club to sell at a given point in time, but this ignores the fact that the kid might object.
Needs a bit more thought, but it remains the best idea I’ve seen in donkeys’ years.
Ernie
He’s got an interview with Regan on one page discussing the curious behaviour of Charles Green, and an article that includes new material from Ogilvie on another.
Of course ‘someone at the SFA’ told him.
U
I hope sally didnt head to the local papershop for his newspaper and chewits… Cos his bills still not been paid from 2011 /12
Emirates cordoned off due to suspect package/bomb alert, apparently. According to Twitter.
Breaking news… Police have announced a suspect device identified in a car park at the emirates stadium.
With chuckles threatening all and sundry regards admission to the epl … He might be a suspect (device )
McCoist leaves Ibrox forty pounds heavier.
fan-a-tic
14:43 on
13 January, 2013
Pfayr
Also if Sturridge is 12 million then Hooper should be at least 15 to 20
—————————————
Your not serious are you? Sturridge is a much better player than Hooper,in fact in view of his (GH)reluctance to commit himself to the Club,he should not be on the trip where NL is preparing his team to play Juventus and progress,not to provide a platform for an uncommitted player.
Sign up,or transfer now.
Gary Hooper is and will be a better and more prolific striker than Daniel Sturridge.