It’s been a strange (but HUGELY enjoyable) 48 hours.
Wonga seem to have found a perfect customer case study in Mr Craig Whyte. He seems to borrow money, realise he can’t pay it back then borrow some more. With me not being a Fred Goodwin or a Gideon Osbourne even I know that if you borrow money then default on the first repayment isn’t good.
Questions are being asked where the £24.4m that Mr Whyte got up front in return for 4 years season book revenue has went. Another £5.5m was gained yesterday after selling Jellyandicecreamvic. It seems that fee is just a working float.
To the untrained and naive eye it looks like the club are now in more debt than they were before the takeover. And this is before the Gorilla in the room needs to relieve itself on the carpet.
Yesterday saw them trim the wage bill of their highest earner and a few of the Murray Park Portages that were tipped for greatness a few seasons back after winning the Scottish Youth Cup. At least they have let the children off the sinking ship.
Whyte has blamed the previous board. He does have a point. The paper exclusive that has blown his cover was narrated by a board member who knew about the EBTs and the Tax Evasion. Last night their former chairman said that he was ‘feeling uncomfortable’ about what else is going to happen.
Graeme ‘The Beast’ Souness was appointed manager of our friends in April 1986. David Holmes and Lawrence Marlborough (Lights?) bankrolled the first Souness Revolution. David Murray rolled in November 1988 and his ego took the bank rolling to a level that had it’s own moons and orbit.
The press loved him. He had them eating out of his hand. They all wanted that Ronaldo to Ibrox exclusive. They all wanted to be on that private jet when the next BIG NAME was arriving. They didn’t do their job and haven’t been doing their job correctly for 26 years.
They are like an irresponsible adult teaching kids the green cross code but using the M74 for practice. The press are safely on the other side and are now encouraging the kids to cross using what they have learned. The kids are going to get hit with that on-coming Harry Stobart. I have no sympathy. They should have learned to work Google and never trust strangers with a vested interested in hiding the truth.
Since the Souness Revolution we have numerous Scottish clubs get into financial difficulty. Dundee had the Bonkers Bonetti period when Claudio Caniggia, Temuri Ketsbaia, Fabian Caballero, Craig Burley and Giorgi Nemsadze wore the dark and plunged them into eventual administration. Motherwell also went into administration. Hearts are just the living equivalent of a Blankety Blank cheque book and pen.
Souness, Holmes, Marlborough and Murray told us Scottish Football was all boom. Only a wee guy with a bunnet warned of a bust. The Scottish press were living the la vida loca on the back of – what has turned out to be – financial doping, fraud, tax evasion and cheating. No-one told the other teams that’s how it was being funded.
I was lucky enough to be a guest on the Homebhoys Radio Show the other evening. It was mentioned about R*ngers killing Scottish Football. I hadn’t thought about it like that but I saw this tweet afterwards.
In the 80’s Scotland had 4 title winners, 2 European Finalists (both non us or them) and Hearts were an Albert Kidd off winning the league with basically a team of thugs that they brought up via the 1st Division.
A few months back Justshatered sent me his “Green Print To Save Scottish Football”. I feel that it’s a good time to let it out the bag to breath.
Read digest (it’s after the ACN advert)and tell us your thoughts.
Armageddon Day is getting closer.
A Green Print on the way forward for Scottish football
Much has been made in recent months regarding the way forward for Scottish football so I decided to put forward my thoughts and ideas.
When you hear the pundits and the great and the good discuss football one word and one phrase are always used: ‘finance’ and ‘the good of the game’ and in my mind the two do not sit well together.
The game in Scotland is in a terrible state. Some clubs, like society as a whole, have spent utterly out with their means. Others seem to have decided that the requirement to pay tax does not apply to them. The finances within the game are horribly inadequate for modern top flight football and squeezed by the riches south of the border.
This is where I feel particularly let down by our games leaders and administrators.
Is it any wonder that, in the last ten to fifteen years, Scottish kids have started to wear tops of English teams when they do not get to see Scottish football on a Saturday night!
Our own product is relegated, literally, to a Sunday night at ten o’clock. Most kids who have school the following day are in bed. This is the next generation of supporter for every club in the land and we are alienating them.
The highlights package on each game is terrible. If there are more than four goals in a game then everything else is left out. When questions are asked about the coverage we are told that the satellite channels demand a limited highlights package as part of their investment.
Well bugger them I say. The administrators of our game should set the parameters of any let contract and accept bids accordingly. This should not be a haggling process as the game in Scotland gets little enough as it is. An extensive Saturday night highlights package on terrestrial television should be a non-negotiable part of any contract.
I believe that a complete and utter overhaul of the top flight is required and these are my proposals.
The TV money, as little as it is, must be split evenly amongst the top teams. This will mean Celtic and Rangers giving up a major chunk of the TV income but if we are talking about the ‘good of the game’ then this is, to me, a no brainer.
When I say the ‘top teams’ I propose an eighteen team league playing each other twice. There are a few reasons for this;
Firstly the universally detested split will be done away with.
Secondly there will not be the pressure of relegation for probably six or seven teams allowing them to blood youngsters.
Thirdly a smaller team will only have to play well, or get lucky, against the Old Firm once to get 50 % of the points on offer. This could lead to a tighter league as I believe familiarity breeds contempt. Coaches and players get to know each others moves and tricks throughout a season whereas a bigger league would bring new challenges every week.
Of course with an eighteen team league and two Old Firm games fewer any TV deal would be worth less to the satellite companies but possibly worth more to a BBC/STV joint bid (why is it BBC and STV can’t join forces to put in a joint bid).
The new split of the TV money mentioned above would mean that the only real financial losers would be the Old Firm the other teams currently in the league would retain roughly the same split whereas the teams coming up from the first division would have substantially more to invest.
With this redistribution of wealth should come a complete agreement on ticket pricing at every top flight ground while at the same time bringing back parent and child tickets. This would help the Old Firm fans who are generally penalised when going to away games.
Going as far back as the late 70’s I was always hacked off going to places like Easter Road only to find a sticker above the boys gate with the full price written on it. I recently heard a ‘phone in’ where a Rangers fan who lived in Inverness phoned in to say that his four year old boy had been charged £25 pounds to see Rangers play at Inverness. This is completely unacceptable. These are the very clubs who say they don’t feed off Celtic and Rangers!
A standard pricing policy would assist every travelling support in the country.
Fifteen pounds for and adult and Twenty pounds for a parent and child coupled with a small return to terracing would help bring some much needed atmosphere back into grounds. Youngsters would identify with their club at an early age and possibly stick around and become adult fans.
Home fans would also benefit from a reduction in pricing in the current economic climate. Tighter financial constraints are required to halt clubs spending out with their means. This has worked well in Germany and I see no reason why it should not work here.
Of course it goes without saying that I believe all of the above is for ‘the good of the game’ but may not be financially palatable if some quarters.
Will Rangers, in their current financial plight, give up their slice of the TV revenue? Would Celtic for that matter as our current board can’t see any further than the bottom line on the balance sheet. Will the other clubs slash their prices in return for greater TV revenue?
The problem is that finance takes priority over the good of the game.
Could the predicted financial collapse of Rangers actually be a blessing other than in a footballing sense?
If Rangers do go down the pan or into administration then all contracts could be up for re-negotiation.
As I write this there is talk of a new Rangers being created from the ashes of the previous club and their immediate reinstatement back to the top league. If this is authorised, and for the good of our game I hope it isn’t, then that again should also be a reason for re-negotiating contracts.
Celtic could offer the re-negotiating of financial contracts to scupper a phoenix like rise from the ashes.
Hearts are also experiencing cash flow difficulties and Dunfermline have announced the closing of one stand for the remainder of the season. At the same time sponsors are leaving left, right and centre.
The Scottish game now stands upon a precipice and if the next big decisions taken are incorrect the game could fail to the ruin of all.
Interesting times ahead.
The main, in fact, ONLY problem i have with this “Green Print” is that it makes total sense. The authorities up here would never go for it i’m afraid 🙁
I agree with all the proposals. Unfortunately, its never gonna happen. Its a slow death for us all I think!!!
First off, I’ll say I’m a gers fan. Doesn’t mean we can’t have a proper discussion.
I was with it when it was talking about sharing money evenly amongst the teams and an 18 team league but I can’t get behind the liquidation of either of the old firm being a good thing. While it may seem that the lower teams would get more money the team left (rangers or celtic) would just take command of the league and no one would pay to see that every year so money would disappear rapidly and the league would crumble.
Welcome John and you will get a proper discussion.
Though liquidation may happen Rangers will still exist in a new form. Whether that is in the 3rd Division or heavily handicapped in the SPL for a few seasons they will be a club in blue playing in Govan.
Celtic would need to cut their cloth if this happens. Off course we would have higher gate revenue than the others but the leveling out of all other deals would boost the rest. Serie A recently changed the way they dished out the Tv money. This season we see Udinese challenging for the title.
Hearts can fill Swinecastle. The Sheep The Rhodders. Both of these mobs would and can take travelling supports just as large as us to away games. Hibs? Aye, could get 12 or 13 thousand if they had a chance.
As Edwyn Collins sang: “rip it up and start again”.
Rangers woes will give us that chance.
Pardon me for being uncharitable…..
But where was all this discussion and concern when we were on the brink of disaster?
The non-Celtic element in Scotland ( which is considerable as we know) positively gloated at our situation..and couldn’t wait for us to topple.
No…sorry…I don’t give a flying feck for Rankers and their troubles…or anyone else’s for that matter.
As for BBC and STV…both are bastions of the Govan Club , as has been proved time and time again,and I’m just sorry they have to be involved in the game at all.
If the game in Scotland dies…so be it…
We owe it nothing!!
You are quite right. If I remember correctly I’m sure we were told the game would prosper. But, EVERYTHING I’m thinking about is the result of not them being saved (as Speirs said the other night) but the being out the game, ceasing to exist in there current form.
I want Rangers circa 1872 dead. A Gaddafi style exucution. Hiding in a sewer pleading like a dog.
That feeling comes directly from 1994.
First of all, great article. Some excellent ideas that would seem like no brainers but are probably too radical for the prehistoric SFA/SPL to consider.
This should not be about the state we were in 17 years ago, things have changed and Sky has taken over British football since then. Scottish football has gone down the pan because while England is pumped full of more money than it needs by Sky, our league is reduced to earning less in TV money than the bottom team in the English Premiership.
We cannot use old grudges to excuse ourselves from trying to improve Scottish football as a whole with or without Rangers. It’s petulant, childish and most importantly does not serve Celtic Football Club in any way. We have to be better than that.
I agree with all the ideas in the article, especially the 18 team league and a re-negotiated TV deal. I always set the SPL up as an 18 team league in Football Manager as you are right, familiarity breeds contempt.
Last year Celtic played Inverness 6 times.
Last year Celtic played Rangers 7 times.
I don’t watch many repeats on TV why should I pay to do it in the sport I love?
If an 18 team league is being put forward as the saviour of our game….put the lights out now.
There are obvious huge gaps in the quality of our current set-up, without adding another 6 no-hopers.
As for Clubs reducing gate money charges and Celtic and Rankers agreeing to take a reduced TV share….
Dream on….
Not one article I’ve ever read on the subject of Scottish football’s demise, mentions….. Stadiums and pitches.
The “smaller” Clubs have spent millions on new stands ….which sit empty every week….and are a huge drain on their resources. What a waste of valuable revenue. Who agreed to that kind of madness? Through arrogance and ill placed pride , clubs who SHOULD ground share…DON’T…and we’re supposed to feel sorry for them?
Then you have the situation where fans travel long distances..only to be told the game’s off..
Or last minute pitch inspections are carried out before a decision is made.
Would you travel to the Cinema…not knowing if the movie was being shown or not?…No..Didn’t think so.
Or Clubs , whose pitches are a disgrace at the best of times,having games put off due to frozen surfaces or being waterlogged……and with firm laws in place about the standards that have to be achieved. ( For some…)…Total joke.
I could go on all day…but if fans think the solution to the problem is 18 league set-ups and reduced entry money…then think again…
the Game is killing itself.
And finally, it’s not an old grudge…IT’S A FACT.
Mike, I read this column a lot, and like me, you contribute often. I like your thoughts and your input.
As it happens though, this time I am thinking, “what comes first here, the chicken or the egg”? If the 18 team league were there, wouldn’t the level of the game be raised, the level of skill be raised, the interest of the up and coming be raised and the overall quality we used to have on offer when there were 18 teams before, be raised too?
I suspect these are all contributing factors to the demise of the game and honestly think that lordofthewing has some great points. The economay has made things worse for sure, but the game started going down the pan years ago as mentioned, when Souness was spending money like water, Smith followed suit, wee Dick was even worse, Smith tried it again, and jumped ship to the lifeboats to let McCoist go under with the ship. What has also contributed to this massive demise has been the way the powers that be in Scotland have flaunted the blatant bias and bigotry in the way they treat us in general, and the rest of the league whenever necessary. They did this to protect their own, and the Bunnet saw this and challenged it. When he proved the corruption was there, we were too late to take the league as we should have, but early enough to see the back of the very corrupt Mr Farry. Whe n Lennon and Reid challenged it a second time, again, we paid the price of “mysterious” decisions against us, costing us points, suspensions etc, but once again, the corrupt bigots Dallas and McDonald were exposed and promptly fired. Not for doing what they did, but for being dumb enough to get caught! Corruption is rife in Scotland and has been a factor in the demise of the game. It isn’t going far away soon and the powers that be are looking to see what they can do to keep us firmly in place should their club go under. I feel along with lordofthewings proposals, a completely new and honest board at the top, followed by justice for all, not for one, and the kids will start to go to games and play their part in the future.
I know there will be whipping boys originally but I thought Falkirk were a breath of fresh air on Sunday and while teams will struggle it will assist teams to blood youngsters into the mid table area of the league.
Well it’s good to see you’re willing to have a proper discussion on it, plenty of people from both sides would simply abuse an opposite fan if they came to a website similar to this. But, no offence, is the Swinecastle stuff really necessary?
Anyway onto the main points. I understand where you’re coming from with Udinese, but the quality of players in Serie A is much better league for quality football(I find it a bit boring at times to be honest though) and for the most part, have better youth coming through. That’s not to say that Scotland don’t, there’s some really promising youth players being given chances around the SPL which is good to see but just not quite the same ability.
The best thing I could see for the SPL as a whole, is the removal of Rangers and Celtic into a different league, whether that be England(which won’t happen since the teams struggling to avoid relegation would be scared that we would take their spots if both teams had more money) or any of the other league ideas that were floating about a while ago. Let the old firm youth players play in the SPL and that way it gives the other teams a chance to win the title and a spot in Europe while also giving the chance for more youth players to come through.
With an attitude of “we owe the SPL nothing”, how can you expect to change things if you aren’t even going to try or care. I agree with you guys to an extent about you being victims, I think you do it overly so. Yes I admit things do go against you but not every single thing like you make out. I don’t want to see any team go into liquidation, especially not Celtic, because then that’s a huge rivalry and some really exciting games gone. If you don’t care about the league and want to pretend to still be Irish, then why don’t you ask to join the Irish league? You clearly don’t want to stay in Scotland by the sounds of it.
John,
Thanks for your contribution and your points raised.
Can I ask you; what do you think should happen to Rangers if the tax case goes against them or indeed how are they going to get out of their current finacial plight?
There is a current ground swell that if there is a newco they should be voted back to the SPL for the good of the game. There is no mention of the fans from other clubs who will simply walk away from the sport because they will see it for what it is.
The points I made about the TV contract, I believe, are valid and indeed will come to pass. If you think about it; if Rangers go into liquidation they cease to have a voting right right on the SPL board. It is Celtic and Rangers, using the rule that it must be an 11 to 1 vote, that has blocked a financial rebalance within our game.
I was also looking at some stats (I know a dangerous thing) but, with the exception of Ibrox and Parkhead where the away support get 8000 tickets. The average away allowance is somewhere between 4 to 6 thousand and this is currently never sold out. If any club could sell an extra 400 to 600 season tickets with the prospect of success in the league this would cover the short fall over the season.
Another point is how many fans come out of the woodwork when Motherwell got to the Scottish cup final, how many did Falkirk bring on Sunday to Hampden, how many fans followed Dundee Utd and Aberdeen when they were having success in the 80’s.
Remember when Rangers went 9 years without winning the league in the 70’s and 80’s three seperate teams won the league and if Hearts had not capitulated at Dens park in 1986 there would have been four.
How many absent fans do Hearts and Hibs have?
We do have sleeping giants in this country and it is time to wake them up.
Again thanks for your input and please don’t be put off by any pointless name calling. This is a debate that every football fan in the country should be involved in. If you can entice any fans from other clubs on here I’m sure they will be more than welcome. Although this is on a Celtic website this issue is now too important to be ignored.
Why should Celtic play in the Irish League? As the richest, largest tax contributor and most financially secure club in Scotland I think we deserve a bit more respect than racist innuendo. The worst thing is you actually believe what your saying, and that is why so many Tims are praying not only go under, but stay under.
If it’s me you’re getting at with the Irish jibe…
let me clarify for you….
I’m not Irish….I have no Irish connections…
and as far as football goes…have no interest in Ireland….so I await your apology.
As far as not caring about the game in Scotland….
It’s full of over-paid and basically useless “jobs for the boys” types….and until that’s sorted as well…
Why should I care?
They get fat salaries and expenses….
Let them sort it.
It looks virtually certain that rANGERs will go into liquidation before long, and logically any phoenix NewCo will have start off next season in Div3.
It will then be up to the likes of DUnt, Hearts, Aberdeen and Hibs (I know, I know) to throw down the gauntlet and make a real impact on the Scottish game. Like they did in the 80s before the game up here was holed below the water line by Murray and his like.
The new-look SPL SHOULD present a more level playing field (still 12 teams though), and the added competitiveness should make for bigger crowds and interest in the game. Hopefully, there would also be an improvement in the performance of the Scots teams in Europe and teh Scottish national team. Let’s be honest, it won’t take much to improve on where we are.
Meanwhile, crowds should be boosted in the lower leagues for two or more seasons, generating more cash all round.
Not like me to be so opTIMistic, but what’s not to like?
Mike it wasn’t meant as a jibe of any sort. It’s just that I see all these idiots flying Irish flags and singing Irish songs when in actual fact they have roots at all(same with some Rangers fans and Northern Ireland), so apologies for the misunderstanding.
Ever football league in the world is full of over paid and useless types. The SPL is no different.
What has peoples irish background got to do with Rangers attempting to scam the tax man to compete with the Celtic anyway?
John,
When you say these “idiots flying Irish flags” why do you assume they are idiots, and why do you assume they are not, in fact from Ireland? Your post smacks of trying to hide resentment to be honest, but it’s seeping out.
People all over the world claim ancestory (sp?) from certain nations. why does it annoy you so much? Does it annoy you when barca fans fly their Catalan flag?
What’s the problem with singing Irish folk songs also? When an organisation has roots from a certain nation, why detest for celebrating those roots.
I work for an American based company, in Belfast, who play the American national anthem at staff functions and party’s. I know that it’s a bit different but the fundamentals are there.
Does anyone care? Nope.
Regarding Serie A; it’s the most over rated league in the world. Outside the top 6 would struggle to compete in the championship.
Sound good. It’s a long way away from the old biscuit tin days and I’m glad we are relatively well off these days. However, I think the heart has been ripped out of football both north and south of the border. I’m not lucky enough to get to many games but I try to catch as much as I can or watch live tv. When the games are on the telly or in the stadiums the lifeblood of the game, the kids, don’t even want to watch or go to the games. The prices must come down so that the game stops being another computer game with no soul. We are so far removed from what football used to stand for.
Well if the tax case does go against us and we do go into liquidation the fair thing would be to force us back into the 3rd division as a newly formed club, I wouldn’t mind it too much. To try to limit the damage even without the tax case , is a difficult task. We could get rid of excess wages,or unnecessary staff. Despite all of the things going against Whyte right now, I do like that’s he trying to grow Rangers in markets like America and India etc, that’s a smart move in my opinion. If we can get more fans to turn up at the regular games like you said, it will go a long way to helping out the money problems, even if it doesn’t seem like it everything adds up
Don’t worry, it’s actually good to see a celtic site where it doesn’t go straight to that and people can at least try to talk about things properly. I try to keep up with Celtic as much as possible, and this place is pretty good from what I’ve seen.
Cheers John.
I think the media driven ‘Rangers back into the SPL’ is them not wanting their gravey train to stop. It is almost like a polliticians knee jerk reaction to the mob.
Almost as big a story regarding the current Rangers situation is te complete unwillingness of the Scottish media to discuss this matter over the last 18 months.
If you are interested on the real unfolding story regarding Rangers can I suggest you look at the Rangers Tax Case website.
There is a lot of ambiguous stuff on their but if you sift through it their is some great disection of the current situation. Virtually everything posted has come to pass.
Somebody even mention the securitisation of season tickets in June last year. That is what our journalists should be doing.
Thanks for the website, it’s hard to find good info about this whole thing. Obviously I would love to see Rangers back in the SPL as soon as possible, but does that mean we have to be unfair to the other teams? No it doesn’t, make it so that its 2 teams being promoted from each league and then put us in the 3rd division. Not too difficult, and it’s not giving special treatment to us. The whole of the Scottish press needs a good shake up(like the league, the people who deny it must be blinding themselves to the truth.
The problem with a newco is that it can have no connection back to the previous company as HMRC will simply present the newco with the bill. So where does that leave Whyte?
I also don’t think that he is going to pass the ‘fit and proper person’ test now. So he’ll have to sell the club to someone else to get the newco off the ground.
All the issues now arising only point to the fact that there must be tighter fiscal control over all clubs in the Scottish leagues.
numero uno i dont care if THEY live or die no sympathy no tears nothing but scottish fitba has to change anything is better than what we had or have 18 team league fine try it 26 team league try it wage cap try it try anything but dont say it wont work before we try i remember a good few years ago hibs going down they were getting 3 times their crowds when they were going for promotion if THE IBROX MOB go under it will only take a clever coach and chairman to be 1st or 2nd in the spl and lets start having the balls to give the kids a real chance PS iam amazed sorry im not amazed that no scottish hack has dug into the souness murray FRIENDSHIP i remember murray saying after he bought rfc for 6 million the best bit of buisness he done that week was to sell 10% to sounessthen low and behold when rumours of financial problems down govan way rfc got 8 mill for boumsong 9 months after getting him on a bosman 7mill for bazza 4 mill for amo 3 mill for tugay over 20 mill from different epl clubs could anyone tell me who were the managers of these clubs of course this is all nonsense just my little paranoid brain at work
I would love to see an 18 team league. When we played them 7 times last season it was embarrassing. Just to have a bit of a change would be good enough to make people got to the football again. Can you imagine if we only had one trip to pittodrie, Easter rd or swinecastle? The tickets would be like gold dust for both sets of fans. Could a petition be started and sent round supporters clubs? Possibly even sent to the government? It benefits the gov as people would be spending money again!
John,
Apology accepted…
And good on you for debating in a sensible manner…
well done.
Thanks
I’m not one of these guys who specifically goes looking for people to rile up,so if it happens you can be sure it isn’t intentional. Just want to have aa proper discussion. I don’t see the point in all the name calling and Hun this and Tim that, that you see all the time.
Joe,
If you accept the fact that football now needs to sell itself..in the face of competition from all quarters…( Computer games for a start)….then I honestly believe that “tinkering” with the game is not the way to go.
Where would it benefit Celtic and the SPL in general to add..Falkirk/ Dundee/ Clyde/ Hamilton/
etc; etc;…?
To use my Cinema analogy again…if your local was showing 12 movies….10 of which weren’t much cop..but in order to boost attendances..announced that another 6 not so good movies were being added to the list..would it change your mind?
The whole product needs looking at..starting with the fat, biased cats at the top.
Get rid of all the different bodies that “run the game” for a start..and get a concentrated hard hitting set up in it’s place.
Finally…As someone who has sat their Coaching Badges at SFA courses….they suck…..and do nothing to improve the skill factor in the game..
The whole set up stinks.
Rant over…
Good to talk…
Goodnight.
Using your cinema analargy;
If there were 12 poor films in an 18 cinema multiplex would 3 of those films and repeat them twice in the remaining six cinemas filling the 18 screens. Would you go and watch the same film four times.
I posted this earlier so please forgive me for repeating myself;
Last year Celtic played Inverness 6 times.
Last year Celtic played Rangers 7 times.
I don’t watch many repeats on TV why should I pay to do it in the sport I love?
You are correct. The mindset of the whole Scottish game has to change. From top to bottom. For me if you don’t trust those to see by their own self gain and greed to change the game then turn to those who are objective.
The fans.
first thing is i dont think the teams would buy it what money they get from meeting the old firm 4 times a season is what gets them through a season .so if you half that and increase the amount of teams playing. well we are talking falkirk ,dundee ,raithrovers etc they dont bring in together what 1 of the old would bring.yes the game needs looked at but it has to start grass roots up.the old firm only use the spl as a stepping stone to play in what has become there own little gold mine and would not welcome another team drinking from it.am i right in saying the old firm can veto any proposal.this would be my concern.no i dont want to see our game fade away but pipe dreams wont solve it.we have to get out chairs and along to our team. prices now adays are stupid and if we can get the numbers back i think it will take care of itself.
European football money, Sky money, players wages and the high cost of going to football. All of these are considered to be constants. We have a multi millionaire footballer pleading to be part of the British olympic team. The plot has not been lost it has been buried.
In most small countries the richer clubs dominate the leagues but they need to keep the smaller clubs interested.
The spending started by Rangers in 1986 was good for them while it lasted but they weren`t doing what they did to improve the health and sustainability of Scottish football. 🙂
The TV revenue Sky has brought to the game has been more hindrance than helpful for our game in my opinion. Yes it’s made it easier to watch football games and from a wider range of teams, but the huge amounts of money pumped into the clubs from have it has jacked up player wages and transfer fees. And the fact that clubs feel the best way to make a good profit from ticket sales is to crank up the prices is ludicrous, all they’re doing is turning more an more fans away who won’t pay the insane prices.
The MSM are making the claim that Scottish football “needs Rangers to survive” and they may have a point if you assume it is to continue in its current form.
The thing is, in its current form it was dying a slow death anyway, regardless of the situation at Rangers or any other club.
The truth is – and I think we’re all in agreement here – the game in Scotland needs a complete shake-up like never seen before. The demise of Rangers would be one of the biggest things that has ever happened to Scottish football and could be the catalyst for that change. Then again, it could just speed up its death. These are the things we have to consider, putting grudges and differences aside.
It is encouraging to see various fan blogs, sites and forums sparking debate on how to save the game and some of the proposals are well worth consideration. As we are so often reminded ‘fans are the lifeblood of the game’ and this adds weight to that claim.
Unfortunately, I have next to no confidence in the custodians who have presided of Scottish football’s slow death to pay any attention to the ‘lifeblood’ adage. If they are worth their salt, any plans to re-shape the game should involve considerable fan input and consideration of ideas like that proposed in the article. At the moment, it’s just an idea and we are at the stage where none of these should be considered good or bad but they should be listened to. Hopefully, with enough of these ideas from fans of all clubs we can come to a consensus as to what we can do.
Again though, I won’t hold my breath that those in the SFA/SPL will get anything right.
The silence from the “powers that be”, notably the SFA regarding the turmoil around the second biggest team in Scotland can mean only one thing:
They were aware of the dodgy dealing down Govan way, and probably complicit (Rangers OKAYed to play in Europe this season, for example).
There better be a high powered fan to deal with all the shit that going to hit it.
The blazers in place at the moment need to be replaced if we are to move ahead.
No doubt the George Peat clones that are at the SFA will find all this “tiresome”. But like Aul Dinosaur George, they are just going to have to move on to the knackers yard.
Still listening to the hacks on the phone in tonight and they are still living in fantasy land.
They don’t seem to realise that if Rangers are liquidated and have to form a newco then they must, obviously for the good of the game (no sniggering at the back), come straight into the SPL so sky can continue with its current deal.
They do not address how many fans from other clubs will throw in the towel if a newco is voted back into the SPL as it will be quite clear that two, and possibly even one, club is all that there is to Scottish football.
What they do not deal with is the fact that with a newco the Old Firm tag is dead anyway. You can’t have an Old Firm where one club is only five minutes old. How much would sky pay for that deal is anyones guess.
If there is to be a newco and it starts in Div 3 then there should be a tidal wave of criticism that should sweep the useless bunch of blazers from power. They have allowed one of the biggest clubs in this country to collapse due to their ineptitude and old boys network.
For everyone who has an interest in this topic, one way or the other, get on to your clubs’ chairman and let them know where you stand.
This battle, if fought correctly, could finally change our game for the benefit of the people it is supposed to serve………………. us the fans of all of Scotlands clubs.
See those pesky Romanians Fotbol Club Unirea Urzciceni that gave R*ngers a doing in 2010 have ceased to exist. They had debts of 1.5m Euros and the mayor of Unirea said they couldn’t afford to keep then alive.
I hope Salmond takes note.