Like every Celtic fan, I’m angry that Premier Sports haven’t given our supporters the right to watch the coming Scottish Cup game on the Pass To Paradise, and whilst it is tempting to lash the company for it or to lash Celtic for not doing a deal, I know who I blame.
I blame the SFA for handing a chunk of their flagship competition to a greedy pay-per-view media company in the first place, and a smaller one at that.
Had it gone to Sky or BT we might not have so many complaints as a lot of fans have subscriptions to one or the other.
But Premier Sports?
One of the reasons I am so pissed is that I am one of the mugs this was designed to reel in; for the last two years I’ve been giving this useless shower £10 a month, and why? Because they do the pre-season friendlies, they do the Champions League early round qualifiers and yes, of course, because they do the damned Scottish Cup.
The SFA should never have sold this competition to a third-rate broadcaster with such a limited audience base. As an example of treating fans with utter contempt it’s a hard one to beat. How much could a deal like that have been worth?
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Who else was in the running?
Why did we have to flog the last remaining piece of the family silver?
The Scottish Cup belongs on the BBC, or on STV, channels available to everybody as part of the license fee.
It should not be stashed away where only a handful of folks will ever see it.
It was bad enough that the tournament spent so long on Sky … it is the one competition which everyone should be able to see on terrestrial TV throughout.
The BBC does have part of this deal, so Premier Sports, of course, chooses only the games it wants to, and this is another part of the problem… which always means games involving us and other lot, which is to say the two biggest fan-bases.
It’s just a leeching of our support, like going to away games and paying £10 extra on a ticket than everybody else. It takes the piss.
The SFA should be ashamed of that deal.
If I’m going to blame anyone for this, I’m going to blame them.
I wrote at the time about how this deal was a joke, and it actually came with a six-year term … it’s not due to expire until 2024.
I know I can’t really complain as I’ve taken the conscious decision to give this shower of charlatans my money, but see, I’m not, I’m complaining on the behalf of other people, those who can’t afford it.
The SFA never gives those people a seconds thought.
There are some things worth more than money.
The SFA could have left its best cup competition on terrestrial TV, and they should have done exactly that.
Instead they put it where they knew guys like me would grudgingly fork over £10 a month for the chance to see it.
And when I write guys like me, I mean Celtic fans as we’re the target audience.
After all, our team has been on those screens more than any other in the country since they signed the contract in 2018.