Congratulations to SPL chief executive, Neil Doncaster, who delivered a remarkable increase in the league’s TV deal with Sky and ESPN; £80m for five years until 2017. The one concession he had to trade, was the possibility that he had to subjugate the link between sporting meritocracy and the commercial imperative.
When news of the deal broke yesterday a Rangers fan was quick to suggest that Sky and ESPN would not have bid on such terms if they had any doubt Rangers would survive in the league, however, later details emerged to prove the exact opposite. The entire deal is dependent on a clause assuring Celtic play Rangers four times each season. If Rangers were eliminated from the league, or even if they failed to earn enough points after an administration penalty to finish in the top six after 33 games, the TV deal becomes invalid.
While this clause was crucial in Doncaster getting his deal it does nothing for the sporting integrity of the competition. It has been five years since Rangers finished outside the top two in the league but if they go into administration, or worse, a fire sale of assets and a point deduction is likely.
The league has now introduced a contractual ceiling on whatever penalty would be applied to a financially deviant club, irrespective of the offense. Doncaster will now also set off to find a sponsor to replace Clydesdale Bank, promising the TV exposure his deal with Sky and ESPN provides. By extension, not only will TV income be dependent on four Celtic-Rangers games per season, so too will league sponsorship income.
Can you imagine the goings-on if Rangers enter next season in administration, with a 10-point deduction and a skeleton squad? Beating Rangers, making it less likely for them to reach the top six, could cost each team in the league millions. Clubs have a clear incentive to ensure Rangers are in no danger of finishing outside the top six.
Neil Doncaster, who is likely to be financially incentivised to deliver TV money, is a member of the SPL board who would decide whether or not to admit a prepack company into the league in the event of an existing club failure. His partiality would be compromised by this deal, so too would other board members from clubs without the liquidity to cope without TV or sponsor income.
While TV broadcasters have a clear financial incentive to lobby for whatever it takes to keep Rangers buoyant, the financial incentives will touch everyone with their snout in the trough, and that includes non-TV media and referees.
This is a dreadful deal as it inserts a clause which compromises the sporting integrity of the competition. Can you imagine giving the team talk to a club, safe from relegation, about to face a Rangers team needing a win on game 33? What about the referee who makes a mistake in Rangers favour, late in the season, under similar circumstances? How would Sky, ESPN and others frame the debate in the event of Rangers going into administration?
I can understand why Sky and ESPN want clause, but the rest of us might as well chuck it.
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=======================forster=============================
matthews========wanyama========big dan===============el kaddouri
forrest================ kayal========================ledley
========commons==================mccourt==================
===================stokes===================================
go all out
==========forster===========
====matthews==vic==dan====
ledley====ki==kayal==commons
stokes=====hooper===mccourt
Who the hell are the Scottsh Gov’s advisors on this? Obviously lawyers. It’s a charter for money makers among the “legal” professions. Justice does not come into it. The” Law” and Justice are strangers. Belfast Celtic? This is the same moment. They have not broken Jimmy Johnstone’s leg yet–they are waiting for the go-ahead.
CM, Huddleboard and Kerrydale Street have threads claiming there’s an article in the morning’s Herald about Gordon Strachan coming back to CP. No confirmation that this has even been published never mind its authenticity. We’ll see…
ßjmac:
Let me tell you where I stand on freedom of expression mate.
I would allow EVERYTHING to be said, as long as it can be challenged. Let people say what they want, as long as I have a right to call them insane, as long as I have a right to debate with them. As long as rational people can hold irrational views up to ridicule I have no issue with anyone saying whatever the Hell they want.
My argument is NOT over protection of people criticising religion. It is over the fact that this Bill sought to do one thing, and does something else ENTIRELY. That clause, which you say protects free expression, should not even be NEEDED because that bill should not be written, let alone debated, let alone passed into law.
I don’t need to create reasons for opposing it. I am opposed to it on the fundamental basis that it aims to create restrictions where restrictions do not need to be.
The paragraph which you claim protects religions from getting into trouble ALSO protects those who abuse them. It is plainly written, and I do not understand how you can not see what it says in black and white. We are not talking about people saying the notion of the Virgin Birth is hard to swallow. That clause protects anti-religious sentiment under the banner of free speech, and THAT makes a mockery of the stated intent of the law.
This shows the law to be about something OTHER THAN tackling sectarianism in Scotland. It protects extreme anti-religious rhetoric. It does so in black & white, and I would defy anyone familiar with the law to state that such an interpretation of that clause could not be successfully argued in court.
So if the law is NOT about tackling religious/sectarian prejudice, what exactly is it about? Well, McLetchie wants to make promoting Republicanism a criminal offence within the football stadium, a clause CLEARLY designed to attack our supporters. It wants to go after Aberdeen fans who sing about the Ibrox Disaster under the banner of “celebrating or commemorating death”. It wants to chase down the people who celebrate the injury to Davie Cooper. And yet it could, if taken on a literal reading, rope in those who wear the poppy, who sing The Flower of Scotland and numerous other songs.
What is worse is the proposal that the law will be amendable, without Parliamentary debate, and able to be extended to cover any manner of other issues and even moved outside the realm of football stadiums to cover other public events.
As I said, I do not need to invent reasons to hate this legislation. I hate it for everything it is, what it seeks to do and what it seeks to stop me from doing. I hate it for the same reason I hate the No Platforms Policy, the reason the Labour Party’s assault on civil rights should have been deplored by every party member – and I am glad I was long gone before those abominations were forced on our name – and why I will never forgive certain people who were associated with our club for their part in them.
The SNP has shown its hand. It is as profoundly authoritarian as the Tory Party. It contains elements every bit as sectarian as it ever did.
Labour too has shown its ineptitude and weakness, in their intent to “abstain.” Shameful. Opposition should NEVER be met with absention, only ACTION.
This has become a horrible, squalid little country to live in. This bill makes matters worse, and again I am moved to ask what GOOD it does, what its PURPOSE is, who GAINS from its passing, except in a few headlines, soon to be forgotten, and a mountain of coming legal challenges.
James Forrest is Lennon says:
23 November, 2011 at 02:08
JF I clearly stated it enabled criticism of any religion, freedom of religious expression works both ways – I clearly stated.
I am against the bill, originally I was merely trying to point out that you had raised 3 points against the ridiculous nature of this legislation. 2 I agreed with, one I believe is inaccurate.
This proposed legislation was originally publicised to try and address one thing – I agree entirely it does nothing of the sort and it is patently obviously that the publicly stated objectives of this legislation were merely a smoke screen for something far far more sinister. The legislation is very very dangerous and MUST be stopped.
There is numerous areas of concern, none of which is the 3rd one you highlighted in your earlier post.
I entirely agree with the sentiment in and passion you have shown for opposing this legislation. Chillax as my 10 yr old says, it is simply one point where I feel you got it wrong, the rest you’re bang on, IMO. You can’t be right in everything you say – nobody is (well except from Awe_Naw)
So, what are you proposing we do collectively and as individuals to fight and “Kill the Bill”? Is the FAC campaign enough/working? Someone suggested a sit-in after a home game – thought that idea held merit and could potentially make a big statement – would need to have clear objectives on what we propose as a support. Auldheid has some interesting (& very good) ideas in what we propose and how we do it, as well as the outcome we’re looking to achieve – unsure if they will work with GB though.
hh
bjmac
ßjmac ® °¿° says:
Great post just then mate. Looks like we got our wires crossed a bit haha.
There are a number of ways we can challenge this, and yes I love the idea of a peaceful sit-in. It’s a fantastic option, and if it could be organised right it could be a winner. I know this much; with Labour’s opposition not going further than sitting on their hands, and with the Nats holding a majority and almost certain to impose a three-line whip this is not going to be defeated in Parliament. Not a chance. This is going to be law.
The Green Brigade is going to oppose it in their own way. I don’t think we should be leaning on these guys, or pressuring them. They have an idea about what they want to do, and I think it almost certain that a number of its members will end up in court, pleading not guilty, taking this as far as they can through the legal channels, maybe all the way to the European Court or the Supreme Court in London, whichever one wants to hear it first.
What we CAN do for those guys is make sure they have the resources of the whole Celtic Family behind them, whether that be financial, legal experitse, promotion of their cause, publicity … that is something which, as a collective, we can certainly do.
We can also target SNP members individually for defeat at the next election. That will require some work, but it can be done, and no mistake. We have to make them pay a price for the very discriminate way they are targeting our supporters. Cunningham and Grahame both have expressed appalling views during the course of this debate, making their positions difficult to defend, but the guy I think much of the ire should be focussed on is Kenny Macaskill. This piece of trash will bear his name and his imprint.
What amazes me is that much of the mainstream media is dead-set against it, although I realise some of that is politically motivated anti-Nationalist posturing.
But we also have friends in high places. Jack McConnell, for one, has been nearly silent, but his opposition can be taken as read.
As to Fans Against Criminalisation, my issue with them, as previously stated, is that in trying to make that a broad church we have had to bring in elements – i.e. Rangers supporters groups – who would happily allow this law to pass if it was the David McLetchie version. Rangers themselves are angry about it only in that it does not go far enough in criminalising people or ideas they don’t happen to like. That makes the Broad Church approach to this decidely difficult to navigate. I expect enough “compromises” to be made to buy off large sections of that organisation.
As I said, it’s not going to be defeated in Parliament. What we can do, and must do, is to monitor how it is implimented, confront it with its own contradictions every chance we get and to chip away, stone by stone, at it until the entire edifice comes down.
Zbyszek says:
22 November, 2011 at 22:54
I think your Jewish population figures of Palestine pre `48 are seriously wrong.
Now, you and Karl may be right about Jerusalem,but the relevant comparison would have to be with Palestine.
Before `45 , the non Jewish population greatly outnumbered the Jewish one and the Jewish population had increased markedly during the course of the 20th century through immigration.
This was the cause of great resentment by the native Palestinians,who could see the writing on the wall.
And so it came to pass……..
I agree with Kilbowie Celt but freedom of speech is that. However, I remember my early days taking on kojo and had my posts deleted. Then I got a yellow then a red. He is exactly as Kilbowie Celt describes. Its like something from FF and should not be encouraged. For the football synopsis sometimes I agree with him sometimes not. Outside of football EVERYTHING he types is not very Celtic in my opinion.
weeminger says:
22 November, 2011 at 15:29
I hope you are right. God I hope you are right!
The abuse of Ireland and the Irish should be a modern lesson for us all that
there are other more modern abuses. We see it today in Syria, Afghanistan, Burma
and a multitude of others. Palestine for example.
Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English
or France to the French. It is wrong and in-human to impose the Jews on the Arabs.
What is going on in Palestine today cannot be justified by any moral code of conduct.
The mandates have no sanction but that of the last war.
Surely it would be a crime against humanity to reduce the proud Arabs so that Palestine
can be restored to the Jews partly or wholly as their national home.
kitalba says:
4 June, 2011 at 13:14
“During the last century a famous controversy took place between Charles Kingsley and Cardinal Newman. It began, I believe, by Kingsley suggesting that truth did not possess the highest value for a Roman Catholic priest; that some things were prized above truth.
Newman protested that such a remark made it impossible for an opponent to state his case. How could Newman prove to Kingsley that he did have more regard for truth than for anything else, if Kingsley argued from the premise that he did not? It is not merely a question of two persons entertaining contradictory opinions. It is subtler than that. To put it boldly, Newman would be logically ‘hamstrung.’ Any argument he might use to prove that he did entertain a high regard for truth was automatically ruled out by Kingsley’s hypothesis that he did not. Newman coined the expression poisoning the wells for such unfair tactics…The phrase poisoning the wells exactly hits off the difficulty. If the well is poisoned, no water drawn from it can be used. If a case is so stated that contrary evidence is automatically precluded, no arguments against it can be used.”
Right friends, 3 and a half hours betyween postings is quite long enough.
Come on, there’s a huge game tonight, time to get a move on! *alarm rings…snooze pressed again*
Oh yes, and it’s a wet and grey start to the day in EK.
Jobo
Is the Pars game on CelticTV, or are we restricted by the CL games?
Morning all
Not checked outside but the coffee smells good in the pot.
4.0 the good ghuys
Jobo –
You certainly woke me up, and I’m still at work.
:~)
Tom,
and here am I just about to leave but happy as ever!
*toast pops up*
Jobo
Jobo –
Enjoy your walk to work.
3-0 to the Bhoys tonight.
Hail Hail
Tom,
it’s a 10 mile drive first then walk the final mile (in the rain by the looks of it…). But an early-ish finish to look forward to before tonight’s entertainment.
Later…
Jobo
Lennon managing just fine, but mentor vacancy remains open
from The Herald
by Michael Grant
23 Nov 2011
TO say that Neil Lennon isn’t losing any sleep about whether the club will find a “mentor” to help him manage Celtic would be one of the understatements of the season.
Football guys are a proud bunch, protective of their patch and not given to openly relying on others. It would be only natural if the 40-year-old manager felt peeved by the ongoing notion that he is still a young buck who could do with an old head around the place to help when times are tough.
Instead, so long as the old head is the right one, Lennon is perfectly relaxed about Celtic adding another name to his management team. He sees things like this: if he routinely picks up the phone to ask advice from four or five of his trusted pals how could he object if one of them – namely Gordon Strachan – was brought in to be permanently at the club’s beck and call?
Lennon’s own enthusiasm for bringing Strachan back to the club around six weeks ago might be interpreted by his detractors as a sign of weakness. Others will think it takes a certain assurance to be comfortable about welcoming back a highly-successful predecessor. Lennon had the self-confidence to not only embrace the idea but to push Strachan as the ideal candidate.
The rumour mill would have shot into overdrive if Celtic and Strachan had been able to conclude a deal, of course. Any bad results for Lennon and suddenly Strachan would have seemed like a small bloke casting an enormous shadow. The perception would be that he was circling over Lennon’s head, a safety net for the club if they had to sack their young leader. It could even have made it easier for them to do so.
The issue of appointing a senior figure will not go away for as long as Lennon and his staff do not have a league title. But that would be a misinterpretation on two counts: of the offer which was made to Strachan and of the nature of his relationship with Lennon. The pair are close friends. Lennon liked the idea of having Strachan around as an informal but permanent consultant because he could trust him. Much of Celtic’s offer appealed to Strachan. Ultimately terms could not be agreed and the deal fell through, to the disappointment of both.
Strachan returning to the Parkhead staff would have been a more natural fit than another obvious candidate, Martin O’Neill, doing so. O’Neill is too big a figure with the Celtic support, too much of an icon, to simply stalk the Parkhead corridors. However much it would horrify him to do so, his very presence in the background would undermine Lennon (or any other Celtic manager).
The issue of Celtic wanting to appoint a senior figure will not go away for as long as Lennon and his backroom staff do not have a league title to silence those who highlight their collective inexperience. Will the idea of a mentor be resurrected again? Only if Lennon is in difficulty, and only if the club identifies someone he is happy to work with. It would have to be an appointment which had his blessing. Strachan would have fitted the bill in a way that hardly anyone else would.
In the meantime, the day-to-day business continues. Lennon met chief executive Peter Lawwell on Monday to discuss various matters including what may happen during the January transfer window. The extent of his budget has yet to be finalised but there will be signings and Rosenborg’s Swedish international right-back, Mikael Lustig, could be one. “We have discussed targets in the last week or so. There were some ideas being bandied about between myself, Peter, [chief scout] John Park and some of my staff,” said Lennon.
“Lustig is a player we have had our eye on. Whether a deal gets done, I don’t know. He is an international and he’s played most of Sweden’s qualification games and been a regular with Rosenborg for a number of years. I think we are in talks, that’s as far as it’s gone. Hopefully we’d bring him in January if we can.”
Lennon spoke privately with Anthony Stokes to make sure the young Republic of Ireland striker was okay after an attack on his home at the weekend. Stokes was with the team in Inverness when a window was smashed at his West Lothian home while his pregnant girlfriend was inside. “Obviously it is, again, the downside of the off-field stuff that goes on here,” said Lennon, alluding to the occasional danger of being a high-profile Old Firm figure. “We had a chat with him and he is okay. I think he is going to move out of the area now and find somewhere else to live because it’s not the first time that it has happened.” Stokes’s house was also targeted after an Old Firm game last year.
The incident soured what has been a highly-rewarding spell for Stokes, who has scored five times in Celtic’s last three games and 11 times in total this season. “When we have needed him, he has come to the fore,” said Lennon. “He is the kind of player who always seems to be in the right place. Whether he scores them or not, chances seem to fall to him. He has that instinct of being in the right areas. But his all-round game is improving as well. His work-rate is improving and he has become more of a team player.”
Stokes sometimes felt undervalued by his manager when he was left out of some major games last season but he has played himself into automatic selection for the time being.
Lennon said he would be prepared to speak to Giovanni Trapattoni, the Republic of Ireland manager, to endorse his claim for an international recall. Trapattoni has been cold on Stokes since he withdrew from a squad in May. “First of all I want Anthony to get to that level in his club career where I think he is ready to play international football. The way he is playing just now he is in that place, but he has got to sustain it over a period of time. And then I could pick up the phone [to Trapattoni] and say he is well worth a look.”
Celtic use up their game in hand to Rangers tonight and will cut the gap to seven points if they defeat Dunfermline Athletic at Parkhead. Doing so would also extend their sequence to four straight victories, their longest winning run of the season. Lennon was not surprised that the complexion of their season suddenly looks healthier than it did even a month ago.
“The great thing about football is that it’s so unpredictable at times. I have been here 11 years and seen swings and rollercoaster rides along the way. So it is never a foregone conclusion.”
Is it not today that FC Sion appear before the Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS) ?
Let’s hope it’s the final chapter in a long and boring saga.
.
JOHN KENNEDY RELISHES BARCELONA RETURN
A look at Neil Lennon’s substitute bench against Dunfermline tonight confirms the benefit of the Next Gen Series to Celtic.
John Kennedy’s youth team squad fly out to Barcelona today leaving behind some of the key players that made such an impact in the back-to-back wins against Manchester City.
Those two wins have given Celtic hope of qualifying for the knock-out stage of the competition with Kennedy delighted to see the first batch of his players graduate into Neil Lennon’s plans.
“Seeing players away with the first team shows that we’re working in the right direction and I’m already looking to the next group of boys to step in,” Kennedy explained.
“The younger players have been brought in and did a great job so we’re expecting the same from them on Thursday night against Barcelona.
“This game was always going to be a big test, even if we had the guys that have moved into the first team, but other players now have an opportunity and they know where that can lead to.
“We have a good squad of players and a few of them haven’t played as much as they’d have liked, now they have the chance to show what they can do at a high level.
“The match is about our full squad, we’ll travel with 18 players and everyone is part of it, it’s more than just about the 11 on the pitch. The other seven will be involved and have a big part to play.
“We’ll have a close look at the players in training then myself, Tam (McIntyre) and Stevie (Frail) will get down to naming a team.”
While Celtic go into action in Barcelona Manchester City will host Marseilles hoping to take their first points in the competition.
Celtic currently trail the French side by three points and must match their result tomorrow night to make the final group match- Celtic v Marseilles- meaningful.
Kennedy knows better than most the impact of putting in a big performance against Barcelona and is looking forward to watching his players match up to the famous Catalans.
He added: “We play our own style of football, an attacking pressing game, and that’s how we’ll approach the game in Barcelona.
“Our players are geared to getting the ball down and knocking it around. That’s the way that they like to play. They are all good players and don’t have anything to prove to anyone.
“We’re looking forward to the match, looking forward to facing Barcelona and confident that our players can go out and do themselves justice.”
Summa
Morning all
Quiet here this morning. They say that a quack doesn’t echo. Let’s try it.
Quack!
Very quiet TPD. Quietly pondering tonights match, possibly?
HH
Giggs
.
Name that Hun..
“I’m happy here at Rangers and I’m committed to my five-year contract but, in football, you just never know,” he said.
“I have experienced it before when I was at &*^%$^# and I signed a four-year deal then left the club six months later.
“So, you can never say for sure what’s going to happen. I’ve always said I’d like another crack at it in England.
Summa
“I enjoyed it down there and it’s probably the best league in the world. There’s so much quality and so much money being invested.”
GiggsyBhoy says:
*ponder*
Summa –
you’ve snookered me with that one.
Right, time to work.
jobo
.
Jobo..
lol..
Summa
Morning all from a still dark and windy North Ayrshire.
Miserable in Bonnybridge!
It’s a right Hunnish morning this morning.
Hunnish I say.
MWD
Foggy, damp and chilly in the valley.
C’mon you Bhoys in green!
Summa
Davis
MWD
Margaret McGill says:
23 November, 2011 at 03:18
I remember that post but to be honest I had to check way back to recall the context in which it was posted.
It can be butchered (and is, often, by the special ‘they are the people’) to render all counter arguements redundant of sincerity, consideration and worth.
Good morning all from sunny Jersey, are we still okay to say good morning??
Papers now saying Brown off to Newcastle for nothing In the summer. As usual they are trying to unsettle us before a game.
if gordon strachan came back it would cause an explosion in sydney so big that the mushroom cloud would be visible from the sun, for that reason alone i’m in
Who is Sydney? :-)