Frankie Posted February 2, 2008 Report Share Posted February 2, 2008 Did anyone see Samaras' debut goal today? I thought that it was pretty good actually. Excellent goal, but one swallow doesn't make a summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EISTnWAST Posted February 3, 2008 Report Share Posted February 3, 2008 MiM, if you want me to solve the problems with Scottish football I am more than willing to oblige. However, I have no influence at the SFA, SPL, or any of their member clubs. Here it is anyway (and I do know that this will never happen)..... There are too many clubs in Scotland, from the same area, competing at the same level. Ideally the Scottish Super League teams would be something along the lines of Rangers, Celtic, Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen, Glasgow United, Dundee City, Highlands, Borders, Stirlingshire, Ayrshire, and Fife. Or something along those lines. Those teams should be able to get crowds of 15,000 every week, thus able to compete (better) with the Old Firm. Some people would argue that they wouldn't get such attendances, but they would be wrong. Kilmarnock used to get crowds abouts that size for games against Hearts. The reason they don't anymore is because the fans have given up on the team, due to every decent player the club has produced being sold. One of the problems is that people are willing to pay to see their local clubs. Another problem is that very poor players are able to pick up a wage for playing. I'm talking about the teams which are no better than Delting. In the Shetland football thread someone mentioned that nobody will give the Shetland team money, because the players have full-time jobs. Well East Stirling fans pay to see their team play, the club pay their part-time players a wage, and the team is worse than Delting. Imagine the uproar if Delting started charging people to watch their games so they could give their players a few quid. Scottish football needs the small clubs to go bankrupt. It's the only way to stop the community clubs which are in the SFL from pretending to be professional. Teams like Ayr United could start playing on a Sunday, and stop charging people for watching the team play. That would mean all those people with a few quid to spare could go and watch Ayrshire FC. Rugby Park would need to be bigger though. With all those folk in Ayrshire supporting one professional team, they might need 40,000 seats for a home game against the Old Firm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shetlandbairn Posted February 3, 2008 Report Share Posted February 3, 2008 I'm afraid Scottish football is far too backward-thinking for there to be any chance of your plan happening EISTnWAST (as you say). Look at how much derision the idea of summer football was met with. It's not really their fault but, in my opinion, the size of the Old Firm has artificially increased Scottish football's percieved pulling power. Clubs like the Edinburgh teams, Aberdeen, Dundee, Dundee United, Motherewell etc. saw the success of the Premiership in the mid nineties and thought it could be replicated here. Money is so important now that there's no way the SPL will ever go to a league format that would level the playing field but would cut visits from the Old Firm to only once a season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoichkov Posted February 3, 2008 Report Share Posted February 3, 2008 I do feel that money and TV are ruining football at its lowest levels. There is so much on tv that most fans would rather sit at home and watch games on the telly rather than sit in the freezing cold watching poor Scottish sides at poor grounds. Smaller teams are losing more and more support as its far easier to watch the bigger teams with the better players. I don't know if Shetlandbairn can verify this but I would imagine most youngsters in Falkirk will support Celtic, Rangers, Man U, Arsenal, Barcelona etc. rather than support their local side. I think its happening all over the world not just Scotland. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shetlandbairn Posted February 3, 2008 Report Share Posted February 3, 2008 Definitely Stoickov... I would guess Rangers fans alone would outnumber Falkirk supporters. And this is arguably one of the ten biggest teams in Scotland. And you're spot on with your first point as well and I don't entirely blame people for supporting a bigger club. You can get Setanta and Sky Sports for about £40 a month which gives you access to either side of the Old Firm every fortnight, the Premiership and all the top European leagues... whereas it would almost certainly cost over £50 for a parent to take their two kids to just ONE (probably awful) game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAStewart Posted February 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2008 I support Chelsea, but I also Support Salisbury City F.C. in the Blue Square Conference. I'd actually love to go to a Salisbury.. hopefully see a Tubbs hattrick! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baxter Posted February 3, 2008 Report Share Posted February 3, 2008 Salisbury, where did du get dat from, and more importantly are they actally in a league?? Rangers buggered up today against a misjointed hibs squad, by all accounts hibs also had their chances to win the game!! I dont think rangers can afford this many replays, as they have already been publicised for having alot of games in not alot of time! Aberdeen v celtic in the scottisch cup next round, has to be tie of the round and must be on TV, the question is whether itll be on bbc or sky. The winner of this game , i believe will be favourites to win the cup, and hopefully it won't be celtic. (sorry all the celtic fans reading this ) The fans shuld just boycot all the games, and force the clubs to lower the prices. Will it happen, NO. Will it work, Probably not. But something has to be done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zico Posted February 5, 2008 Report Share Posted February 5, 2008 So, EistnWast, who do you blame for the smaller teams selling their players to the Old Firm? The selling teams, cashing in on a talent they have nurtured?The OF who appear to have a policy of weakening anyone they see as a threat?The player for having aspirations no higher than becoming an OF benchwarmer?Agents for looking out for a quick ££ for themselves? There must be countless examples of players who have been lured by the wages on offer who have barely kicked a first-team ball for either of them. But is this not a problem in every single league in the world? Especially in Britain. The teams with the cash get the best players, and sometimes it is to stop the opposition beating them. It isn't just a Scottish problem, it's teams like Chelsea (Shaun Wright-Philips), Man Utd (Carrick), Celtic (Riordan) and Rangers (Naismith) -- Those are the main players I can think that have been bought and haven't played too much for their new teams. You make it sound like it's just a Scottish problem, when clearly it isn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie Posted February 6, 2008 Report Share Posted February 6, 2008 It's only paranoia when it's not true. Here is a classic !!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fGBXJJwkbQ [/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BALLACK Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 if you want me to solve the problems with Scottish football No, EistnWast we can't even solve the problems of the Southern League! I think you should forget about Scotland just now. Scottish football revolves around the old firm! Always has and always will. The only good thing that can happen is if the old firm join the Premiership. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAStewart Posted February 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 No, EistnWast we can't even solve the problems of the Southern League! I think you should forget about Scotland just now. Scottish football revolves around the old firm! Always has and always will. The only good thing that can happen is if the old firm join the Premiership. Wouldn't that just dramatically lower the quality of the SPL? How many people who go to football matches are Rangers or Celtic fans? Assuming that the stadium sells out.. Rangers + Celtic (51,082+60832) 111,914 people who come to watch them. Aberdeen+Dundee U, Falkirk, Gretna, Hearts, Hibs, Caley, Killie, Motherwell and St. Mirren = 135 709. It takes a total of at least 8 teams to match Rangers+Celtic, and we all know that Rangers and Celtic close to fill their stadia for league matches. So if we took out 111,914 fans from the SPL, thats going to lose the SPL a lot of money. If I were a celtic fan and they got moved to the EPL, would I buy a TV package which had the English or Scottish League? English fo'sho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shetlandbairn Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 Would it dramtically lower the quality of the SPL? Possibly. But I fail to believe anyone actually watches the SPL for the standard of football anyway! If the Old Firm were to leave there would be significantly less money in the game but that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. It would allow a major overhaul of the league setup and the changing of certain rules which really are holding Scottish football back. There's no reason we couldn't be like the Norwegian league which, outwith Celtic and Rangers, is of just as high a standard as ours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoichkov Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 It would be more interesting for the rest of the clubs if the old firm left as they'd have a chance of winning the trophy. Games might even be better, however, the money would significantly drop. Would the SPL turn into something like the Welsh or Irish leagues? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shetlandbairn Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 It would be more interesting for the rest of the clubs if the old firm left as they'd have a chance of winning the trophy. Games might even be better, however, the money would significantly drop. Would the SPL turn into something like the Welsh or Irish leagues? I was going to say "maybe" to your last question but that might not be a bad thing. Then I went and checked average attendances for both leagues and they were shocking! Ireland, on a good year, is getting just over 1,000, and Wales's best season the average gate was 300. I'd say that, although they've no team to rival either of the Old Firm (certainly in terms of fanbase and wealth), the Norwegian league is a lot more enjoyable than ours and one we could aim for if Celtic and Rangers were ever to leave. And if there can be a round of international games in the Premiership then I see no reason why the Old Firm might not be asked to join sometime soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Bourne Posted February 8, 2008 Report Share Posted February 8, 2008 In the future, I think Celtic and Rangers will end up playing in some from of a European Super League. I read today that the Premiership plans to have fixtures in Sydney, Los Angeleas and Cape Town. This would mean that the Premiership would add another 39th fixture. This will be the beginning of a massive change in the current football structure throughout Europe. I feel with that the richest clubs in Europe will breakaway and form a "European Super League". I read an article about it last year: http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2047991,00.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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