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 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.