ian1964 10,431 Posted June 19, 2016 Share Posted June 19, 2016 Gordon Waddell SUNDAY MAIL chief sports columnist slams unfair league card but insists it’s the clubs’ own fault. THE only surprise about the SPFL’s fixture list debacle is that anyone could possibly be surprised by it. It’s a fundamentally flawed, dysfunctional system. How many times do we need to say it? The SPFL have been using it for 16 seasons – the only thing they’ve learned is how to make a 17th look just as shambolic as its predecessors. What’s the basic premise of a league? A competition to determine the best teams in a fair and equitable manner and rank them accordingly. So when your starting point makes reaching your end objective impossible, when you set out on a journey knowing you can’t actually reach the destination you want, what’s the first thing you do? A: Change it? B: Keep going, shove your fingers in your ears, pencils up your nose and just hope no one notices? The SPFL only know B… even if BS is the outcome. With a 12-team league and a split it’s impossible for there not to be anomalies. They’ve proven it, time after time. Money, prestige, rewards such as Europe, consequences such as relegation, all decided at various times by iniquitous schedules. But you know what? The teams complaining? Contrary as it sounds, boo-hoo. Dry your eyes. This year it was Motherwell who were first out of the traps. Partick Thistle were right at their backs. Their point? They face both Rangers and Celtic only once at home before the split, as do Accies, but Inverness, Dundee and Hearts have four at home out of six against the Old Firm. Yes, it’s unfair. Absolutely. See all the points above. When the outcome of your entire season is predicated by something as arbitrary as finishing sixth or seventh then it’s inherently wrong that you face a more difficult road there than your potential rivals. Sure, having to go four times to Ibrox and Celtic Park is harder than having to face the two of them four times at home. Same as going to Pittodrie and Tynecastle twice more than your rivals would be. But they’ve both made two crucial mistakes that undermine their case. The first is moaning it puts them at a financial disadvantage as well as a sporting one. Four years ago they’re backing their fans, saying they don’t need Rangers, now they’re asking for compensation because they’re not hosting them often enough? And the second is worse – which is waiting until it affects THEM before they complain about it. The system has been in place for nearly two decades. Where were you last year? The year before? There have been fixture injustices every single season in the top division, fans being shafted and short-changed. Where were the statements demanding justice then? The SPL has taught them well – the only interest is self-interest. These three clubs make up a quarter of the top division. So instead of carping on about how wrong it all is, here’s an idea: DO. SOMETHING. ABOUT. IT. Elect someone to the board who’s interested in more than just meekly accepting the status quo or preserving it for their own ends. And then come up with a better idea. Irony alert: Ian Maxwell, general manager at the Jags, chairs the SPFL’s Competitions Working Group. He’s in the perfect position to affect change. And they made it radical enough when they threw the Irn-Bru Cup at us last week – the answer to a question no-one was even asking. Yet the one set-up everyone knows is flawed sits there with a trunk and giant ears in the corner of their boardroom while they spend year after year doing nothing about it. The guy I feel sorry for is Iain Blair, the SPFL secretary. He’s a terrific administrator but every June and April he’s given the thankless task of feeding c**p into a computer then having everyone expect anything other than c**p to come back out. He’s also taking a caning for the champions not being at home on flag day but Celtic asked for their ‘fixture holiday’ in week two so they could play Inter Milan in Limerick. That means it has to be a scheduled home game for them to forego it, which means they have to be away in week one. The fact is, we’re living with an organisation stupid enough to vote to allow friendlies to take precedence over its own product in the first place. Stupid enough to vote for and persist with a league system they all know is flawed. And passive to the point of comatose that they keep doing absolutely nothing about it. Throw in the full set of midweek fixtures on December 28, one of the least fan-friendly things they’ve ever done, and an Old Firm game on Hogmanay – what could possibly go wrong? – and you have the full set. Yet still no marketing of their product worth a monkey’s, still no price initiatives or standardising, no schemes to attract more kids, no mention of better supporter engagement, better match-day experiences for them. There must have been half-a-dozen ideas from punters on Twitter alone on Friday morning that would have instantly improved the look and feel of the league, yet those within it don’t want to know. They only have themselves to blame. They all spend year after year doing nothing about it. Read more at http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/moaning-motherwell-partick-thistle-only-8229805#lY6goU3JIZR0Xzbr.99 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,431 Posted June 19, 2016 Author Share Posted June 19, 2016 Who'd have thunk it?, a fair/balanced article from Waddell,he beeter be careful with writing these type of articles as he may find himself out of a job!,no doubt he will revert to normal in his next article which will no doubt have negatives about Rangers 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluedell 5,350 Posted June 19, 2016 Share Posted June 19, 2016 Excellent summary of the situation by Waddell. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,431 Posted June 19, 2016 Author Share Posted June 19, 2016 (edited) It wasn't so long ago these clubs said they didn't need Rangers....................fast forward a few years and they are complaining that they are not playing us enough! Edited June 19, 2016 by ian1964 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERRAB 3,291 Posted June 19, 2016 Share Posted June 19, 2016 It's times like this when we need a strong voice within Rangers to slaughter these clubs for what is double standards. Four years ago they didnt need us. Four years on they're complaining they're not playing us enough !!! You couldnt make his nonsense up....... 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluedell 5,350 Posted June 19, 2016 Share Posted June 19, 2016 It's times like this when we need a strong voice within Rangers to slaughter these clubs for what is double standards. No point in getting involved in something that doesn't concern us...unless they do change the fixtures. We will have enough battles to fight without getting involved in ones where we don't need to. Waddell has raised the double standards. We don't need to...at this point. It's something we can keep up our sleeve though. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranger_syntax 3,785 Posted June 19, 2016 Share Posted June 19, 2016 (edited) A: Change it? B: Keep going, shove your fingers in your ears, pencils up your nose and just hope no one notices? The SPFL only know B 3 options and 3 complaints: 1. 10 team league - too boring for supporters 2. 16/18 team league - too boring for T.V. 3. Status Quo - too stupid and often unfair We will need to accept one of these options. Given that all are very easy to criticise for some reason it is easy to see why nothing changes. Edited June 19, 2016 by ranger_syntax 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig 5,199 Posted June 19, 2016 Share Posted June 19, 2016 (edited) I would still go option 2. We get a pittance from TV anyway so no big loss in terms of revenue there. 10 teams is boring for Fans AND TV. Status quo is worst of the lot. As Waddell rightly says, the whole point of a league is to work out the best in an even, balanced way. What hasn't even been mentioned yet is how Rangers have been shafted by the fixtures as we conveniently are away twice to each of the leagues top 3 of last season. They won't change the status who as long as they can shaft us fixture wise and hide behind "the computer decides the fixtures". With 12 teams currently you could add Hibs, Dundee Utd, Falkirk, Raith, QotS and even St Mirren to get an 18 team top flight - and you wouldn't see a massive drop off in quality. Edited June 19, 2016 by craig 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranger_syntax 3,785 Posted June 19, 2016 Share Posted June 19, 2016 I would still go option 2. We get a pittance from TV anyway so no big loss in terms of revenue there. 10 teams is boring for Fans AND TV. . . . With 12 teams currently you could add Hibs, Dundee Utd, Falkirk, Raith, QotS and even St Mirren to get an 18 team top flight - and you wouldn't see a massive drop off in quality. I more, or less, agree. TV will still prefer 4 Rangers/Celtic matches though. I don't imagine that many outsiders would tune in for any other matches. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhunter 0 Posted June 19, 2016 Share Posted June 19, 2016 what about 14 team top league that maintains the split for the top six but play each other twice? Everybody plays home and away twice 26 games split top 6 / bottom 8 say relegate the bottom 3 and have a play off 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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