U-turn leaves Football League facing competition to tempt Old Firm clubs

[the gunslinger 3,366]

We would be mad to turn this down no matter where we are asked to start.

 

Would take years to get the infrastructure in place for the epl anyway.

 

We would need 80000 seats and God knows what all else. Proper training academy etc.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

Oh and I would welcome another

Break from celtc. Even if it meant them going up before us or some such. Just going to down to two games that aren't as vital would be lovely.

[JFK-1 1,675]

The first time we had any sort of competition there was a hiccup. There are dozens of good teams in the English Championship and League 1 in England.

 

There is nothing in league 1 in England that could compete with the resources of Rangers. The Championship is a different matter because for one thing every year you have 3 clubs dropping down from the premiership with parachute payments but the majority also couldn't compete with Rangers given that all the others would be receiving the same TV deal but they don't have the crowds to match Rangers.

 

I'm pretty confident that if the likes of Bournemouth with a stadium capacity of 11K can make it to the EPL which they have then a team with the additional resources and drawing power of Rangers can do it too.

 

But if you think a better alternative is to stay on this sinking ship till it hits the bottom with the league of Ireland that's your choice. Personally I wish we had got out in 2012 and started at the bottom in England then and I would still prefer England to any continental league now.

[lenzEK 0]

I absolutely think we should do it given the opportunity, my point was merely that it would be a mistake to think that we would walk through the lower leagues and suddenly hit the jackpot. It could take us a lot longer than the 5 years.

[der Berliner 3,251]

Sky should call out an All British League with invites from the various countries. Make that 3 British Leagues with the rest getting the chance to qualify through national competitions. ... and some consolation payments along the way. Inviting the Old Firm into a 5 tier "English" League, probably at the bottom, is just not on. (Then again, who knows what they'll earn down there ... as compared to Europe)

Edited August 29, 2016 by der Berliner

[JFK-1 1,675]

I feel that some avenue of escape will come along in the next few years or so and it will be taken then Partick etc can enjoy competing in a league they have a chance of winning something in while enjoying the additional factor that there will be even less money for them in a league that's already skint. Hope they all relish that when they get what they apparently wanted 4 years ago.

 

Whichever escape route we take we have to accept that "they" will probably be coming with us which makes all the new club pish all the more dimwitted. The grunts parroting that will then find themselves in a position where anyone inviting us will be specifying oh we want sellick and a new club because we're that stupid you know.

 

And look at it from another perspective. They would NEVER have the chance to match our league haul even with their new club grunting. There is no money in this league and there's never going to be. As it stands we and they are effectively already the only thing elevating it a shade above the league of Ireland.

 

Something will come along and we have to take it and I hope it's England even if that means starting at a lower level. And when it comes fuck them all left behind in their hateful little hole of irrelevance.

Edited August 29, 2016 by JFK-1

[BeardyGuts 6]

Sky should call out an All British League with invites from the various countries. Make that 3 British Leagues with the rest getting the chance to qualify through national competitions. ... and some consolation payments along the way. Inviting the Old Firm into a 5 tier "English" League, probably at the bottom, is just not on. (Then again, who knows what they'll earn down there ... as compared to Europe)

 

I'm interested to know what would Sky's push for this be based on?

 

I had a look at the figures... the last time i can find a weekend to compare w/e 27 Dec 2015. Both matches were on SS1

Hearts v Celtic got 250k viewers where as the Super Saturday match in the EPL got 1.5m viewers on the same weekend. In terms of ROI... the SPFL costs around £500k a match assuming the printed numbers are correct so £2 per viewer.

The EPFL matches cost Sky £11m per game so that is just over £7 per viewer. So in terms of value for money the SPFL is a much better investment for Sky as it stands now.

 

I had a check on BT viewing figures it works out the same... 6 to 1 ratio in favor of the EPL game.

 

So what would adding Rangers and/or Celtic to the EPFL do for Sky? i mean in the UK anyone willing to pay for Sky to watch Ranger or Celtic now will already be doing so you would think... surely it wouldn't add that many subscribers if we were in the English setup.

If anything it would be worse for Sky, the cash cow of Rangers viewers will now be lumped into the EPL deal and will just drive that price up for Sky.. not down.

Edited August 29, 2016 by BeardyGuts

[Tannochsidebear 2,315]

I must be in the minority now that believes that we belong in the Scottish leagues and we just have to make the most of what we have. It can most certainly be improved upon if we can get good people to run the game and remove those with only a one-team vested interest in favour of the game as a whole being pushed forward.

 

I dont mind having some sort of Euro league for midweek competition, while remaining true to our Scottish heritage and fanbase. We dont belong in any other countries league set-up, we belong here. If we get our infrastructure right, as is underway, we can operate on a decent level outwith the big leagues. That is simply a population thing. We belong to a country that is small in European terms. We need to deal with this instead of whoring ourselves around Europe looking for bigger scraps than we get at home.

 

It is not that long ago that we beat teams from France, Germany, Italy, Greece, and Portugal on our way to a European final while downsizing our debts and quality of squad. It is not impossible to get back to that from our current location.

[cooponthewing 1,139]

I've been preaching for long enough that the North Atlantic League(NAL) is the way forward, for footballing and financial reasons it makes perfect sense.

[SteveC 150]

I've been preaching for long enough that the North Atlantic League(NAL) is the way forward, for footballing and financial reasons it makes perfect sense.

 

When I was growing up my dad used to take me to all the away games. Then I went with my pals for many a year thereafter. That's something I think would be a big loss. In the last decade, when I've made very few games to be fair, the away ones have been by far the best - albeit the first sight of Ibrox after an absence always takes my breath away.