not to mention that I have found people who are from the States and like Football but refuse to associate themselves with an MLS team ONLY due to the fact that they are afraid people will make fun of them because of the image the league has. Look I realize that the MLS isn't the greatest league in the world but it's what we have here, that’s why you see SO many Americans that only watch and/or talk about the EPL, La Liga & Serie A, they want people to think they only respect the greatest of leagues in the world and I am sure you have some of that in Scotland. Look we started mass producing soccer here in the 60's or 70's but failed every time. It wasn't until the MLS started in 94 that it somewhat begun to catch on. As for the SPL as long as there is not an equal distribution of league funds / salary cap it will not be competitive plain and simple....not that I am for that anyhow just my point.
1. 16 teams in the SPL. 2. Pyramid system. 3. Two bodies running the show - SPL and SFA - I'd like to see only one - but I don't think it will happen.
it was stated in World Soccer. i'm not claiming they get everything right but it isn't the run of the mill daily rag.
well according to Deloitte, the 2. and 3. richest german clubs, schalke and hamburg have about the same revenue put together as bayern . and then you have 15 other clubs.
it would appear then that whomever did that article at World Soccer was way off base. but for the point that Bluesfan was making earlier in this thread regarding Celtic and Rangers ruining Scottish football because of their size, greed etc then Bayern is still a good example of of the opposite of what Bluesfan was suggesting. Bayern Munich are a much larger club than any of their closest rivals in terms of income (295mill Euros - Schalke 148mill Euros), and yet have struggled, to an extent, to dominate in the Bundesliga in recent times. three other teams have won it since the start of the new millenium. rather than focusing on the size of the Glasgow teams income/expenditure it would be better for us to look at other areas already suggested in this thread such as youth development, managerial and coaching development, pitch conditions, league setup to name but a few.
One factor that probably shouldn't be ignored is ticket prices--it's unrealistic to expect supporters to pay SPL prices often times for the smaller clubs.
fair point. and maybe one that should be expanded on slightly. many fans outwith the two Glasgow teams like to have a pop at them and their superior income etc. but the fans of Celtic and Rangers have to pay through the nose to follow their team away from home in domestic football. take Kilmarnock for example. £25 to watch Kilmarnock at Rugby Park. an extra £5 tacked on to Celtic and Rangers fixtures. and no concessions for U-12's which is available for all other away supports. of course, they treat their own fans in the same manner for these matches. but once the carnival moves on the prices return to the same level. i haven't followed Celtic away in Scotland for a number of years for a variety of reasons but i'm fairly certain we have to pay above the normal price at every away ground the fans visit.
Partially because I always have to figure the exchange rate, they seem shockingly expensive compared to when I could get concession rates living there.
Step 1? Jim Jefferies and Gus MacPherson support SPL expansion http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_prem/8549611.stm
I'm quite sympathetic with those who thinks that Scottish Football needs to more to create competitive balance. Take the NFL for example, the world highest revenue sports league, with a strong tradition of competitive balance -home teams keep 60% of gameday revenues, the rest is put into a fund, given out equally to all teams in the leagues, compared to the norm in Association Football, which is home teams keep 100% of gameday revenues -TV money is split equally The NFL also has a salary cap, but I think UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules are enough
i agree about the start times, unfortunately this is controlled by television. summer football may address this issue but it should be every game starting at 3pm. The SPL needs to be expanded, that's a given. And I favor the consolidation idea as well. More cooks in the kitchen just increases the likelihood of food poisoning. I agree also about only league winners playing in champions league and the losers in the champions league shouldn't get to play in the europa league either. it'll never happen though because fewer games means less money. I'm also not concerned about the difference in quality between the glasgow clubs and the rest of Scotland. Look at La Liga and the points difference between 2nd and 3rd there. It makes our league look downright competitive
The SPL needs to expand to 16 teams. Having the same teams play each other 4 times a season is stupid. And they NEED winter break. You'd think this past winter proved that. How many games did I read about that got cancelled cause of ice and snow ruining the pitch?
Last winter was the worst winter in Scotland for over 30 years. Games were probably called off from early December right through until March. Do you think a 4 month winter break would be good? We can't change the rules based on freak seasonal weather.
Whilst there's very little that can actually be done to make leagues more competitive, in this sense. Bosman, spiralling wages and fees and availability of football on TV, making it easier to sit at home and follow a winning team rather than a local one (like these changes or not), mean that we can never go back to the competitive nature of the past. However, saying that the competition side of it, in our league is unconcerning because it's even more obscene somewhere else, is a bit strange. The lack of competition in the SPL has made it an utter joke of a league. I would hate to support a team in the upper part of the SPL. Non-OF teams are consigned to a limbo between scraping survival and finishing 3rd and the OF are caught in the perpetual 'top 2 death spiral'.
I don't agree with the notion that we can never go back to the competitive nature of the past. I believe better is possible. They just need to learn some of the lessons of what North American leagues have gotten right. Especially, the notion sharing some portion of the game day revenues, such as the NFL's 60% going to home side & remaining 40% split equally among all league members. Baseball has the same deal except the percentages are 80/20. Outside the Old Firm, the football could be greatly improved by this change.
I know that making steps towards it are possible, I just don't think there's much will in Scotland to make the neccesary changes.
Very true. At club level as well as within the corridors of power(if there are any) at Park Gardens, or wherever it is the SPL bigwigs pitch up. At least moving the SPL to a 16 team league would offer a bit of freshness to it all. Nobody in their right minds should want to play anyone four times a season. I don't want to see four(minimum) Glasgow derbies per season. I'd prefer it to be reduced to two and they would mean a hell of a lot more. Familiarity breeds contempt. But then, the smaller clubs want the cash the games against Celtic and Rangers bring in. Can't blame them for that I suppose. As the old saying goes, turkeys don't vote for christmas.
Is it just me? A 10 team league does not excite me at all. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/scotland/9291848.stm
Me either. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/motherwell/9291880.stm Now on the other hand, illegal betting syndicates involving Scottish football...
I just want a tip off on the games so I can actually win on a fixed odds coupon for a change. Match fixing has been going on for decades. We all know it. Look at the end of season matches in Serie A. Heck, read the fantastic book The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro.