Archie Macpherson - League Reconstruction

[ian1964 10,448]

Number will soon be up for format the fans do not want

 

 

 

The architects of the proposed new league structure remind me of those who have read Stephen Hawking's A Brief History Of Time without understanding a blind word of what it was all about but nevertheless trying to persuade us that they do.

 

I take it on trust that Hawking knew everything about the complexities of the universe and black holes. But I cannot take it on trust that the purveyors of the scrambled-egg league which has been proposed are fully aware of the conundrums they are heaping on the public, and clubs whose future and very existence following a three-way split after 22 games could have as much relationship to ability and achievement as a gambler playing a one-armed bandit in Vegas.

 

If, as they say, the devil is in the detail then old Mephistopheles has had a field day with this one. I do not intend to go into the infinite possibilities of how a split of 8-8-8 could be achieved, nor what the consequences could be for any individual club falling on the wrong side of the split by virtue of an outbreak of norovirus or a crass refereeing decision, and then having to go back to start all over again, the slate wiped clean, as if they hadn't existed for a few months.

 

If it comes to pass, and such outcomes produce anger and incomprehension, then the acrimony we have experienced in the past few months in Scottish football will seem like a golden age of ecumenism. Of course it could all work, they say. All the bits and pieces could fall into place, all the different parts working for opposing purposes of relegation and promotion would synchronise, as if it was the handicraft of a Swiss horologist. Why am I finding that difficult to swallow?

 

My lack of trust in the winding of the watch from the top stems, wearily, from recalling a track record of inconsistency, and ultimately hypocrisy, through the years. You find yourself desperately seeking a figure among the suits who brings a sense of overall command to the most trenchant of tasks, the way Ernie Walker did at the Scottish Football Association. Instead the supposed central figures offer portraits of men on the fringe of action rather than central to it. Stewart Regan of the SFA and the Scottish Premier League's Neil Doncaster seem to have a sense of direction more akin to that of Hansel and Gretel than to Scott and Amundsen.

 

Roger Mitchell, yesterday, offering some astonishment and indirect praise to them for what emerged, misses the point about these figures. It was events, dear boy, events. The proposals for a unitary body which will preside over a new league and the greatly welcome redistribution of some revenue came about because of the elephant in the room during talks: Rangers.

 

Celtic's welcome largesse in this matter was because of where Rangers have now ended up. It was Peter Lawwell who realised that, if he did not relent on this, there would have been no deal at all. Celtic, free of the twinning encumbrance with Rangers, could act independently. They could not afford to be seen as an isolated stumbling block and at the same time could act to cement his club's great rivals even more securely to where they now are. Methinks Roger has forgotten something about the DNA of the Old Firm.

 

And we cannot overlook the fact that essentially nothing is changing. It's about money, about the number of home games they can count on, especially against Celtic. It's an old refrain that not even David Bowie could make sound fresh. The 12-club league â?? which was for so long considered an anachronism and led to the familiarity, which bred contempt, that moved on to boredom and staleness among the public, and was considered dead and buried in any historic evaluation â?? has been exhumed, even before it became deceased. It is an awesome feat that reduces the Lazarus story to insignificance.

 

But if they really are so desperate to be able to have the top clubs finance themselves to offer the best talent they can afford, then, by that notion, the logical step would be to invite that new cash-cow of the under-privileged called Rangers back into the fold again at the top. You can take it that idea would be lower down the agenda than inviting a transvestite team to become one of the 12.

 

So let us not be too carried away by the pleading of why they have to inflict this rigmarole on the public in their intent to ring-fence talent. They have opted for self-limiting solutions and have to live by them. In any case, since the start of this present season the clubs â?? Celtic excepted â?? were supposed to be entering a new era of modest self-sufficiency, and even without a platinum television deal. They would all struggle through, using as much of indigenous and youthful talent as passed muster. That seemed an invigorating challenge to everybody.

 

Perhaps it was that mood of "bliss was it in that dawn to be alive" which aroused the terracing surge for a top league of 16. Radicalism was in the air. Here was the great chance to renew our marriage vows with the game. Instead of a new ring we are being handed a wee poke for a Lucky Dip.

 

Equally, that very uncertainty is being lauded as something valuable, worthy of a try, since there are no options, especially not a revenue-weak league of 16. It's a format I have supported since the days of Muffin the Mule, though, and I am not giving up on it now. Perhaps Scottish football could stand up to television and deliver a message that the vast majority of supporters, who also pay subscriptions for viewing, are demanding a specific format and that, aided and abetted by sponsorship, any shortfalls in revenue would be made up by them.

 

The odds might be stacked against such an initiative but surely it is worth a try if the new unitary controlling body of football wish to develop trust with their public. Other than that, we will see the new format unveiled to us with all the incandescence of a shooting star. And you don't need to read Hawking to know that these phenomena burn out very quickly.

 

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/number-will-soon-be-up-for-format-the-fans-do-not-want.19897595

[ian1964 10,448]

Barry Hearn on Scottish football reconstruction: If the fans want a 16-team league, give them one

12 Jan 2013 08:46

 

THE Leyton Orient chairman says Rangers belong in Scotland, he also says if fans want a 16 team league set up then football chiefs should oblige.

 

 

 

BARRY HEARN has saved more sports than Scottish football has had hot debates.

 

He revitalised snooker in the seventies and put boxing back on its feet three decades later with the invention of his Prizefighter series on television.

 

Hearns is also chairman of the Professional Darts Corporation and is into the 20th year of the satellite television franchise Fish-o-Mania which ITV told him would never attract a viewing audience when they rejected his original sales pitch to them.

 

But what is currently thrilling Hearn to bits is the fact the football club he owns, Leyton Orient, are 90 minutes away from a cup final at Wembley.

 

If Orient reach the climax of the Johnstone Paint Trophy at the expense of Yeovil it will complete a journey for Barry that began on March 25, 1995, when he assumed control of a club facing financial ruination after the collapse of the coffee business owned by then chairman Tony Wood.

 

Barry’s invention and financial input assured the club’s future and in 2006 Orient won promotion for the first time in 35 years.

 

And Hearn began examining what a Scottish game in the midst of civil war needs to do to achieve progress through peaceful means by summing up what a day out at Wembley would mean to him on a personal level.

 

The multi-millionaire, who flirted with bankruptcy in the early 90s and suffered a heart attack in 2002, said: “I can’t buy what taking my club to Wembley would give me.

 

“We all need to enjoy life and appreciate that we’ll all be dead one day. I’d like to take a few memories for the journey.

 

“That’s where I’d start assessing where you are in Scotland so far as the current debate over league reconstruction is concerned.

 

“I think you’ve all lost a true sense of yourselves to begin with.

 

“Too many club chairmen leave their brains in the car park and too many fans have unrealistic expectations of the game.

 

“It’s time to lay down your arms, stop fighting with each other and move your game forward because you want to have a strong sport to leave behind for your children.

 

“I’m proud of the fact that I’ve been in charge of Leyton Orient for 18 years and have lasted that long by keeping true to my word.

 

“I told the fans I’d never make them silly promises and I vowed to keep our club in business.

 

“In other words I learned the art of telling the truth and that’s why I regard the Orient as an unfinished symphony.

 

“I knew I had a financial predicament at the club that couldn’t continue and I had to create an environment where players, fans and management felt they were all in it together.

 

“It was a time for cleansing and no time for bulls**t.

 

“Scottish football is now in that position as the game contemplates an immediate future of considerable change.”

 

Hearn surveys a scene north of the border that has fans in uproar because they feel their views on what’s best for the game have been sought then binned.

 

More than 8000 people completed an SFA questionnaire and a large majority of them asked for a 16-team Premier League.

 

What they may be about to get is two leagues of 12 that split into three leagues of eight after 22 matches have been played.

 

This might be accurate mental arithmetic but it doesn’t add up for Hearn who said: “The basics of sound business apply whether you’re talking about fishing, darts, snooker or football. And that means football clubs are servants of the customers who pay to watch them. The customer is king.

 

“If customers want a 16-team league then give them one.

 

“I see myself as an ordinary bloke but I probably live in an ivory tower. That’s why I’m always carrying out market research to see what people want. The chairman isn’t king. The fan is.

 

“Football has become complacent and that’s dangerous when we’re in a recession. The obligation is to keep the existing fans happy and work on bringing in new ones.

 

“An old boxing promoter Jarvis Astaire told me he and others didn’t have the incentive to put on better boxing shows when I started to get involved in the business in the 80s because they already had BBC Television’s contract money in their pockets.

 

“But Scottish football can’t afford to be Bertie Big B*****ks today.

 

“You should be looking at what’s going on and feel excited. The game is basically dealing with a clean sheet of paper because you’ve gone to the bottom of the pile and now the only way is up.”

 

Hearn means up as opposed to out because he’s having nothing to do with Rangers or any other club thinking the solution to their problems is a move to England.

 

Charles Green might fancy the idea rather than feel slighted by the reconstruction plans formulated by the SFA, SPL and SFL but Hearn would form part of a border guard to repel invaders from north of Hadrian’s Wall.

 

He said: “I’m on the other side of the wall and that houses the real world.

 

“I wouldn’t let any Scottish club into our football and shouldn’t want to be part of it in the first place. Scotland is where Rangers’ history, roots and tradition lie. You are who you are and you don’t jump any walls to be part of something else.

 

“I’ve met Charles but not often enough to form any opinion of him. What I can say is any man who’s given the 100 per cent effort he’s put into reviving Rangers has my regard.

 

“What he and others have to do is remember that the game you play is peoples’ escape from their working lives. You have to offer a service where you have always lived.

 

“If that means playing at what you perceive to be a lower level of the game than your neighbours in an adjoining country then so be it.

 

“I’ve got a club in the third tier of English football and with an entire squad that doesn’t earn

what one Arsenal player can get in an entire week.

 

“But I’m never frightened to give the fans bad news. No chairman should be. What I am frightened of and what others should fear is not learning from previous mistakes that have been made.

 

“If you’ve messed up and you need to regroup then look at yourself in the mirror, wipe your mouth and move on.”

 

Hearn has been used to battles with authority in his assortment of sports and doesn’t believe in any game with a top-heavy bureaucracy.

 

That means the notion of merging the SPL and the SPL strikes him as being a good place to start when it comes to pointing Scottish football in a different, positive direction.

 

He added: “I was on the FA Council in England for a while.

 

“There were 91 committee members in total and that meant we never got anything done. The game needs visionaries. It’s all very well doing a Del Boy and saying, ‘This time next year we’ll be

millionaires.’

 

“You have to earn the right to make your money and the game’s got no room for different factions.

 

“Too many committees dilute the product and lessen the chances of achieving what you’ve

actually set out to do.

 

“I’m a benevolent dictator who takes no s**t at the Orient.

 

“However, I understand that I have no divine right to be successful.

 

“Chairmen need to give value for money the same way as their players.

 

“Football doesn’t have a black book that you consult for ways to make the game work but football clubs should be capable of making money, regardless of which side of the border they are on.

 

“A wage cap that puts income no higher than 60 per cent of any club’s income should be the perfect business strategy to build on.

 

“And no one should look at any club chairmen and expect him to bale them out of bother at every opportunity.

 

“You wouldn’t say that to the chairman of ICI or British Airways. Actions always speak louder than words that are requests only for money.”

 

In other words, sort yourselves out and leave your ego at the reception desk.

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/barry-hearn-i-wouldnt-let-rangers-into-english-1530755

[EDGE 0]

Great piece by Archibald.

[RANGERRAB 3,299]

wooosh !!!! Swept away as archie would say

[biggordy 0]

I think Archie should have Regan's job.

Regan lacks only two things which Archie has in abundance, intelligence and common sense!

Mind you, Regan lacks many other qualities far too numerous to mention.

[DUDE 0]

I quite like that piece, good read.

[RANGERRAB 3,299]

I think Archie should have Regan's job.

Regan lacks only two things which Archie has in abundance, intelligence and common sense!

Mind you, Regan lacks many other qualities far too numerous to mention.

 

Regan's appointment as SFA CEO needs seriously looked into as does the appointment of Craig Levein as Scotland manager - a manager with no obvious credentials. Who was behind these appontments & why?