Couldn't you have just quoted one of the many posts above that communicate the same idea and manage to do so without being such a dick?
After watching the Euro's I'm even more in favor of creating a British Premier League with Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. In addition, I think a national level a merger would also benefit all countries involved. Let the proposed U.K. kit designs roll in! (I'm only half serious here so don't blow a gasket )
There are UK kits, Olympics. As an american, i kind of agree to. if England fails to advance tomorrow... if Team GB is a success with the Non-english player, fans and media (as well as the english)... i'm just saying. And the Only way and actually "save" scottish is a british premier league or an atlantic league.
so, an honest question: with the trouble Rangers and Scottish Football are in, why wouldn't it be beneficial to both for Rangers to join English Football, in the BPL or the Championship? it's been talked about before and now seems like the most likely time to do so. with the added revenue from English TV Rangers could pay their debts, and if they were successful Celtic could join them. there's already precedent for such with Swansea and Cardiff in Wales. i guess it would effectively make a 2-team Scottish 1st division in England with the other Scottish teams playing below them, or they could play against the Welsh or Irish teams in a "British Premier League"... sorry if this is an annoying question, but to an outsider it seems that Scottish Football's best hope is the success of the Old Firm to develop top Scottish players, the other Scottish teams might as well be 2nd-division teams. how would Rangers do in the BPL? would they be mid-table or relegation battlers? i don't mean to belittle Scottish Football, y'all probly had enuff of that already after that 5-1 game...
There was no professional league in Wales when Swansea and Cardiff joined the English league. It's not going to happen. English teams will not accept teams of the size of Rangers and Celtic to join with the potential to get very rich very quick. I don't really see the point in playing against Irish or Welsh teams wither to be honest. Now if you were maybe talking about the Dutch league and the Scandinavian ones then maybe yes.
The Atlantic League momentum is long gone and rightly so. With rise of the Dutch clubs outside the traditional top-3 the main incentive for an Atlantic League (more competition) basically disappeared. Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV definitely are better off in the Eredivisie than having to travel overseas every other week to play the likes of Celtic, Rangers and Rosenborg. I agree there's no point in you playing against Irish and Welsh teams either. A merger of the SPL with the League of Ireland and/or Eircom Premier League might only be nice for a while because of the novelty of the thing. Yet the Irish teams (both North and South) would have nothing to contribute to the Scottish leagues in the long run. The most popular teams in both Irish leagues have lower gates than the least popular team in the SPL. An increase in travel costs would only reduce gates further. Fixtures against Shamrock Rovers and Linfield would also worsen the whole sectarian issue. England is your only somewhat reasonable escape option, but maybe you should just accept that your future is in Scotland. Celtic and Rangers talking about leaving Scotland all the time is very bad for the image of the Scottish league in its own country.
I think it would be good for all involved if the OF was somehow able to join some other more prestigious league. The issue as highlighted above, is that there isn't an appropriate destination. Hibs wouldn't get any bigger with those teams gone...in all likelihood they'd get smaller. I'm okay with that. Most fans of SPL teams outside of the OF didn't become fans because they expected the team to one day be a European power.
so you think it's not the Scottish clubs but the English clubs that would object to the Old Firm joining England? seems to me the increased revenue would benefit everybody (except the other Scottish clubs)...
What do you guys think of the world cup qualifying group with Croatia, Belgium, Wales, Sebia and Macedonia?
It's a speculative argument, but I believe Scottish clubs would do better and play better after the initial shock wore off. They'd be more competitive, probably more interested in developing talent, and would sell more tickets. It isn't like the TV deals are particularly profitable as it is. Many fans took issue with a Scotsman article suggesting Hibs will take a 250k hit if Rangers go down. Assume that is doubled with neither OF team there, and I think that is still within the realm of what could be gained.
Think of it this way. Rangers have the fan base, the stadium and the worldwide appeal. What they are missing is the money. Why would a team like Newcastle let in Rangers? I just don't think it will happen unless Sky think the EPL is maxed out completely and try and force it to increase their audience again. I think the English teams will fight against it.
In the long term i agree. More fans would turn up. Everyone is bored in Scottish football. It's time for change. As I have said before. There is no lack of talent. Just a lack of education.
Doesn't the biggest lose come from the withdrawal of Sky? They do so when there is no OF fixture to broadcast in the SPL. They can't withdraw twice. Of course an additional lose in income will come from ticket money. If that was the only lose I guess some clubs would not lose out too much. Certainly if Dundee replaces them in the SPL next year, Dundee United surely is not going to lose any ticket money. Whatever happens, the current situation in which the OF is a financial lifeline for the rest of the league is a very unhealthy situation. Since they have been talking about leaving Scotland behind for years their presence is far from a certainty. It has to change and this year there is a good incentive to do so.
I think Craig Levein will continue to develop our much vaunted 4-6-0 formation that Spain have now adopted (the wily old fox that is Del Bosque knows a good thing when he sees it) and cruise the group. Croatia are aging. Our superior numbers in midfield will put a strangehold on our two matches and suffocate Modric into a lack of ball oxygen, which in turn will see us dominate possession (pay attention south of the border) and create chances aplenty for our surging midfield runners. Belgium have done nothing of note yet. Oh, they're very pretty to look at but their end product is distinctly lacking. Footballing teasers. No more, no less. Wales is Gareth Bale. Extremely fast but unfortunately for the Welsh, Alan Hutton will match him stride for stride and still have time to attack with impunity when our 6 midfielders take control of the middle, front, back and sides of the park. Small teams such as Macedonia are no longer potential banana skins for our team and Serbia will be put to the sword at Hampden in our opening match and will struggle to recover after that. I'd expect the qualification to be all but wrapped up before we entertain the Belgians in September 2013. Our new tactical awareness combined with players fitness levels being sky high due to the fact that at least half the squad would still be home based and we wont have a league to play in next season make this qualifying group all but a formality.
Scottish football has many ills but financially we are struggling badly. So... Why are we allowing ourselves to be dictated to by Sky bloody Sports!!? They offer us a pittance for screening rights to our league and we bite their hand off for it. Do we really value ourselves so low? I read somewhere else that Sky take about £109m from subscribers in Scotland. Time they ante'd up and offered a deal that would benefit all clubs. Pie in the sky? Maybe so, but if that is true then we need to look beyond the Sky to others such as BT Vision. The subscriber market is there in Scotland. There is no doubt about this. And what about UEFA? http://www.uefa.com/news/newsid=393046.html Working closely with our member associations and with the different stakeholders of European football, we aim to: • Achieve commercial success and sound finances without distorting the sporting qualities of our competitions. • Use UEFA’s revenues to support re-investment and re-distribution in the game in accordance with the principle of solidarity between all levels and areas of sport. • Target specific aid and assistance to help member associations with the greatest need. Above is a section taken from UEFA's Vision Europe mandate/mission statement whatever the heck you want to call it. I would suggest that the lengths Sevco, Doncaster, Ogilvie etc are going to is clearly going to distort the sporting quality of our competition in Scotland. Therefore, as they have stated, shouldn't they be looking to help one of their member organisations at this time...?