Gribz 743 Posted March 16, 2008 Share Posted March 16, 2008 Its time the SFA, SFL and SPL got together along with a number of ex players and current managers and worked out what to do about the joke that is Scottish Football. The backward trend that has been going on for the last 15 years has to stop now. I dont think its a coincidence that the a 4th league was introduced in the country around this time and in that time period new clubs such as Inverness, Ross County, Livingston, Peterhead, Elgin and Gretna have all entered the professional game. Dont get me wrong there was always a good shout for a highland team and Inverness have not been bad for the game but Im not so sure Ross County and Elgin are justified and could have been part of the original Highland merger. But the fact of the matter is there are too many teams and divisions in a small country meaning games have attendances that you see at Shinty matches. The Gretna scenario has to be the wake up call for all 3 football bodies in the country to sort something out. Its time tradition was put out the window and clubs were made to merge. If it means upsetting a few hundred fans from each small team then so be it for the state of the game. Soon enough the traditionalists would miss football and be bite the bullet and want to see football again at some grounds and if it means they change the team they follow then thats not a bad thing as they would still be turning up a a game somewhere. It may take a generation or so to get used to mergers but in the long run this would be benefical. After all we have been going backwards for 1 generation already, so whats 1 more when its for the good of the game and the trend would be on the up rather than decline. There is no over night solution for the game anyway. You could name a few ways to improve the structure but a maximum of 3 leagues is the way. Personally id like to see 2 top divisions with the lower regional leagues being brought back and then play offs at the end of it between the top teams from each region. A trip from Montrose to Stranraer on a Wednesday night has absolutely no point to it at all and I cant work out where the travelling club would profit from this. The stadium issue also has to be addressed following the state of Fir Park lately. Clubs must submit all details of stadia well in advance to make sure only severe weather conditions can force games off. Obviously tragic circumstances such as the Phil O Donnell situation this year are exceptions. One of aspect to improve the game is either having summer football or a winter break. During the winter break all clubs would have to re-lay there pitch. But Id be a fan of moving to summer football. There is no doubt in my mind having midweek games on a summer night would bring much more fans out than to midweek nights on a cold December. The Christmas period also means fans have to dip into there pockets more and some just have to give up going to the footy on the odd week. On the bright side of the Scottish game at the moment is the Old Firm seem to be improving when playing in Europe. Both sides have held there own against supposed bigger teams in the last few seasons. Not only that the national team are improving and we're very unlucky not to qualify against the 2 World Cup finalists. So the product is there in the country, we just need to tighten it up and run things better. We have a number of superb footballing brains from our country - that is shown with the amount of success stories down south from Alex Ferguson, Davie Moyes, Kenny Dalglish and all the way back to greats such as Shankley and Busby. Its just a shame they are cancelled out by a group of men who seem inept of doing there job with a hint of common sense in there system and just seem happy sitting a nice desk at Hampden during the week. One final point is the media in the country dont help on occasion. They continue to fault and criticise and show bitterness to certain clubs in Europe rather than rally behind them when these clubs are flying the nations flag. But these journo's are easy to ignore and are certainly not worrying about. The way they act is more a social problem than a footballing one. But the game needs someone to stand up and drive the ideas forward so we are not having a top flight football team going bust during a season making us a laughing stock. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewarty 1,876 Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Agree 100%. It may take government intervention to force the hand of all three bodies. I wonder if Alex Salmond will have the balls to do something on this unlike Joke McConnell and his Labour cronies. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
juffery 0 Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 I fail to see how the game of football is a place for politicians. If the Scottish Parliament get involved then I shall be severely disappointed that this is how they choose to spend my income tax. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete 2,499 Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 I fail to see how the game of football is a place for politicians. If the Scottish Parliament get involved then I shall be severely disappointed that this is how they choose to spend my income tax. Sorry Juffery i can't believe you wrote that. All sport in every country is organised by the government. that is why there is a minister for sport. Without government funds sports at the grass roots cannot survive. I would rather pay my tax to be put in to sport rather than feed fat cat councillors to shout their heads off and use expenses to travel the world or buy second houses. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gribz 743 Posted March 18, 2008 Author Share Posted March 18, 2008 We could go into a different topic altogether with this one and MP's and how much money they waste and use on themselves. But i dont think they need to get involved to revamp the league system, thats up to the footballing bodies. Where governments come into it is what Pete says - the grass roots - but that means encouraging youngsters to get off the couch and put the playstation remote down and stop playing virtual games with there hero's and start playing the game outdoors an pretend to be there hero's. Again summer football would help this, not much youngsters are going to head out after school in November when its raining, windy, cold and will be dark by 4pm. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmck 117 Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 a good read. i stuck it on newsnow. i tend to think there must be some Really Good Reason we dont play football in the summer that i cant think of. why is football a winter game? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
calscot 0 Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 Got to agree with summer football. I'm sure Rosenborg benefit greatly from it and it doesn't stop the Russian teams doing very well lately. Have a winter break while the six nations is on so we don't get too bored... Do you not think we'd be better at attracting top foreign players if they could go on holiday to somewhere warm in winter instead of playing in the freezing cold? And as long as our pitches are well watered, (not too difficult in recent summers!) then there will probably be less injuries. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
calscot 0 Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 Does it really matter how many leagues we have? England have 4 leagues but then have three Blue Square Leagues and then leagues below that. What is the difference? Surely having straight forward relegation and promotion in the ranks ensures that our teams and players are playing at the correct level which ensures they are as strong as they can be? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
juffery 0 Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 Sorry Juffery i can't believe you wrote that. All sport in every country is organised by the government. that is why there is a minister for sport. Without government funds sports at the grass roots cannot survive. I would rather pay my tax to be put in to sport rather than feed fat cat councillors to shout their heads off and use expenses to travel the world or buy second houses. I was taking this to do with the top four leagues. At a grass roots level, yes the Government should be involved, but with 3 organising bodies involved in 4 leagues and 3 cups, the last thing we need is Alec 'I'll do anything to get on the telly' Salmond involved. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
calscot 0 Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 I do agree about some teams merging, and think the best candidates in the top flight are Hibs/Hearts and the Dundee teams. It will never happen but when you do the simplistic projection of adding the two average attendances together, their could be a strong Edinburgh team with about 30,000 fans. With that money, a better stadium and a superior product on the park with more success at home and in Europe, could swell the crowds to 40,000. A three horse race instead of two would make our league far more attractive with eight more big games ie 12 instead of 4. Put a strong Dundee team in the mix with 20k fans and our league looks far less Mickey mouse and sure to attract much more TV money on top of bigger attendances round the country. With the extra income and interest, maybe Aberdeen could join the party too. I doubt many other mergers would work as the reason many teams are surviving at all is the fact they are local. If the likes of Ayr United fans wanted to support a team in Kilmarnock, why would they not already do so, to at least support a team in the SPL? Same goes for Motherwell and Hamilton etc. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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