Gordon Waddell: In the greediest economy on the planet...

[ian1964 10,440]

...32 teams run by some of the world's wealthiest capitalists, agree it’s better that everyone gets the same slice of pie. What about that, Dermot?.

 

DESMOND and Lawwell can pop off - and leave Scottish football to those who want to make it work says GORDON WADDELL.

 

 

 

THERE was a time when I’d have driven the pair of them to the airport myself to get them down the road faster.

 

Old Firm to England? Good riddance. A two-team tail shaking down a 40-team dog for every penny for over a century without the intelligence to realise by weakening everyone else they were only weakening their own environment.

 

Off you pop. Leave Scottish football in the hands of those who want to be here, who want to make it work. Let it rediscover its own baseline and get back on an even keel instead of being in the thrall of people who think it exists to serve them and them alone. Because it would’ve done. Absolutely.

 

A belief only strengthened when you look at the way Aberdeen and Hearts are handling their affairs instead of tossing away good money after bad trying to chase Rangers and Celtic.

 

These days, though? Honestly?

 

Sick of it. Sick of hearing the same hoary old chestnut trotted out by people who know it will never happen but still would rather punt pie-in-the-sky moonbeams to be delivered on a preposterous timetable than do something about fixing what we have.

 

Dermot Desmond is a self-made billionaire. He sure as hell understands how to make money for himself.

 

So instead of sticking his head above the parapet once a year when he surfaces at the Dunhill golf, telling everyone he thinks is gullible enough to listen what he thinks they want to hear, why doesn’t he try something more constructive?

 

Like endeavour to make Scottish football better instead of constantly referring to it like it’s an albatross around his neck.

 

Say: “Y’know what, just for once I’m going to bin the enigmatic, international man of mystery, Howard Hughes s***, step in for a couple of months and offer my services to see if I can help the lads out in the Scottish game.

 

“A few tweaks, see how Celtic’s people can improve our own environment for the good of everyone. How do we prepare better for Europe? How do we stop the decline of our attendances on domestic match days? Sort the League Cup?”

 

Although let’s face it, if they haven’t twigged by now that they’re stuck here, after 20 years of the same garbage and the same reply, maybe they’re not as smart as we give them credit for.

 

A decade ago it was David Murray and Martin Bain, now it’s Desmond and Peter Lawwell, tag-teaming the issue at every opportunity.

 

Never mind: “How do we make the game better?” It’s more like: “How do we make ourselves richer?”

 

That’s all they ever talk about. The gulf in cash between what the poorest team in the EPL get and the richest team here. It is never about the game itself. Or what the fans want from it.

 

Because that’s another thing. Most of the Celtic supporters I know are at best ambivalent to the idea of playing in English football, at worst completely opposed to the idea.

 

If the mechanism existed to haul them up for bring the game into disrepute, acting against the interests of Scottish football, call it what you like, you’d love to see them in the dock.

 

Sadly it doesn’t. But you wish they’d realise the power they could have to make a difference to their own world.

 

It’s an example used often enough but it bears repeating.

 

There are plenty of men as rich as Desmond is in American sport, particularly football – their kind – who get it. Who understand the one thing that truly makes them all richer is competition. Uncertainty of outcome.

 

The last 15 Superbowls have featured 17 different teams and had nine different winners. That’s why their media deal brings in $5billion a year through to 2021. Why you can’t buy a seat for love nor money in most of their stadia where their average attendance is over 68,000. Why their merchandise deals run into the billions as well.

 

And why all of it is split 32 ways. Every cent. No matter how big your franchise is, or how big a market it operates in. Dallas or Jacksonville, New York or Green Bay.

 

As the late owner of the Baltimore Ravens, Art Modell, so eloquently put it: “We’re just 32 fat cat Republicans who vote socialist once a year.”

 

In the greediest economy on the planet, 32 teams owned and run by some of the biggest and wealthiest capitalists, they all sit down and agree that for the good of their sport, it’s better that everyone gets the same slice of pie.

 

Us? We live in a world where only two teams have won our domestic league in the past 30 years, where only one of them currently can, and they STILL don’t think that’s enough for them?

 

We’re often accused in the media of talking the game down but we’re as positive as the pointy end of a Duracell compared to those within it.

 

There’s so much needing done with Scottish football which is within our powers.

 

We’ve talked often enough here about how poorly we sell our product, how wrong our pricing strategy is, all the rest of it. So why doesn’t the man with arguably more power – and money – than anyone else lend a hand instead of booting it in the stones?

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/gordon-waddell-greediest-economy-planet-6568816

[Bluedell 5,353]

What a crap analysis. The old firm give more away and their teams get weaker, resulting in poorer performances in Europe leading to less CL cash, leading to less cash in the Scottish game, resulting in the OF buying less players from other Scottish teams.

 

Coming along is to the NFL is crazy as well. It has so many winners because of the draft pick system, which can't be introduced in Scotland so his comparison is irrelevant.

[aweebluesoandso 290]

The SPL and the SFL was amalgamated to the benefit of only one club, not two clubs Gordon. Every other club bar Celtic, then had their share of the pie cut.,

[26th of foot 5,849]

When Gordon's brother, Bruce was Editor at the Daily Record/Sunday Mail, he bent over for Peter Lawwell. Thus, by proxy, Bruce was taking the big wooden one from Dermot. Of course, we shouldn't visit the sins of the brother upon Gordon, but what did Gordon say then?

 

Last week, that other doyen of diddy clubs, Jim Spence was advocating both Aberdeen and ra Sellik have growing too large for Scottish football and would be better leaving for the richer pastures of England. And Gordon says ....................... ?

[RANGERRAB 3,293]

There's not a hope in hell of the yahoos moving to England.

Their anti-British, militant Irish Republicanism is well known South of the border now. We're stuck with them unfortunately

Edited October 4, 2015 by RANGERRAB

[Rousseau 9,478]

I actually agree. Overlooking his clear hatred for a moment, the idea that every team should get an equal share is a good one. It would allow everyone to start on an even footing, and would put the good of the game over any individuals. The money is minuscule anyway -- how much are we really giving up? We would still have bigger revenues because of the ST sales, but the increased competition -- that's still a big 'if', no matter what happens -- could give us better TV deals etc.

 

If things are going to change, the ones that benefit the most have to take a hit for the good of the game. (We've almost been restructured towards lower income streams, so it could benefit us anyway!)

[Thinker 886]

What a crap analysis. The old firm give more away and their teams get weaker, resulting in poorer performances in Europe leading to less CL cash, leading to less cash in the Scottish game, resulting in the OF buying less players from other Scottish teams.

 

Coming along is to the NFL is crazy as well. It has so many winners because of the draft pick system, which can't be introduced in Scotland so his comparison is irrelevant.

 

Not to mention that the NFL has 32 clubs for a nation of 321.5 million whereas the SPFL has 42 clubs for a nation of 5.5 million. I'm fairly sure that's a pretty important contributing factor when it comes to their superior attendance figures and sponsorship deal values.

 

There are also less games in a season. Do I envy NFL supporters who have to pay an arm and a leg to see even a single game live? Not really.

Edited October 4, 2015 by Thinker

[Rousseau 9,478]

Not to mention that the NFL has 32 clubs for a nation of 321.5 million whereas the SPFL has 42 clubs for a nation of 5.5 million. I'm fairly sure that's a pretty important difference when it comes to selling out stadia and sponsorship deal values.

 

That's a very good point, but we're not going to be able to remove clubs. We are stuck with the numbers we have. I'm not sure we can do anything about it with regards to any change.

[Thinker 886]

That's a very good point, but we're not going to be able to remove clubs. We are stuck with the numbers we have. I'm not sure we can do anything about it with regards to any change.

 

I agree. We have to accept that the SPFL are operating on a different order of magnitude from the NFL (not that anyone other than Gordon Wadell would seriously attempt to compare figures without acknowledging that blatantly obvious fact).

[trublusince1982 243]

and how exactly are you supposed to negate the consequences of lowering your income dramatically as a business while continuing to attract custom on a growing basis in the short term? All the while you have to explain to your customer base why their expenditure is going to benefit others in the face of a declining product ,all because the other teams cant do it themselves!

 

Guy is a complete idiot trying to understand that which he does not have the ability to comprehend. Should spend his time trying to make the game more interesting through the written word with imaginative articles instead of always going for the shock and awe approach