Re: Rangers v. Iverness (Beas) August 4th. Did anyone else feel like they were watching NCAA I soccer? I sure understand why the brits are afraid of what a Mickey Mouse league can do to a player.
Re: Rangers v. Iverness (Beas) August 4th. Correction. Scottish soccer is rough and not very skillful.
Re: Rangers v. Iverness (Beas) August 4th. Inverness are a team which normally rely on their teamwork and organization, they don't have a lot of skill or technique, their team is worth peanuts. MLS teams have better finances. The Scottish game is debt ridden, and teams like Caley Thistle are trying to stay away from it. They have come a long way in a short space of time Caley. The SPL is much more aggressive than the English Premier League because of this and you'll find the referees let players away with a lot more. This is because sometimes it might be hard to actually finish a game if the referee was ruthless like in other leagues. Teams like Hibs and Falkirk have different styles to Caley thistle, they like to play the ball on the gorund, but can still be quite ruthless in their challenges. BTW the SPL is not a mickey mouse league, its just a different culture of soccer, MLS teams might struggle in such an aggressive league. FC Talavana is correct, their have been many disasters in the British game to do with supporters entering stadiums and pushing, so for safety reasons the game will be delayed. Also, their are normally more fans at SPL games than the MLS, and the roads are much busier and in this case more remote than in the US. I thought Beasley had quite a good game today, it was a good competitive debut. He should have had a goal early on, but he will learn to take his chances, and learn how to adapt bullying defenders taking advantage of his weaknesses.
Re: Rangers v. Iverness (Beas) August 4th. DMB rated a very respectable 7.6 http://www.skysports.com/football/user_ratings/0,19768,11065_2846716,00.html BTW recall that the SPL didn't do much harm to (and more likely helped) the careers of Arteta and Gattuso
Re: Rangers v. Iverness (Beas) August 4th. oops, 6.8 now didn't look closely -- thought that was the Sky rating not the surfers all these re-designs is mucking me up
Re: Rangers v. Iverness (Beas) August 4th. It all comes down to the money. Between standium attendance, CL and UEFA, the result in the SPL is Celtic, Rangers, and 10 other teams. Anything can happen in a single year, like Rangers or Celtic dropping out of the top 2, but nothing sustained. So Celtic and Rangers can compete (compete, not necessarily win) in Europe, but nobody else can really do much on a multiyear basis. My sense is that MLS is a cut above the bottom 10 but below Celtic and Rangers - not necessarily a bad place to be after only a decade. MLS is not the EPL or La Liga, but it is definitely getting better. Right now I'd say it's a 3rd tier league, hopefully hitting the 2nd tier (ie Holland) within a decade. The thing about MLS compared to other leagues is that is will only get better with better home grown talent (americans) as time passes. I don't think anyone right now would say the quality of MLS would get worse.
Re: Rangers v. Iverness (Beas) August 4th. Attendance 7711 That's just sad. Perhaps everyone is "on holiday"... Ack! I just checked World Stadiums -- that's the capacity! Just as sad!
Listen, all I mean to say is, if you saw the game, the only impression you could leave with is that the quality was piss poor.
Re: Rangers v. Iverness (Beas) August 4th. considering the population of Inverness is only about 50,000 that isn't too bad.
Re: Rangers v. Iverness (Beas) August 4th. Inverness is known for the Cup upset that sparked one of the funniest headlines ever (especially if you support Rangers) Remember?
Re: Rangers v. Iverness (Beas) August 4th. It's actually pretty amazing given there isn't exactly much population in the surrounding areas either. Last season their average was almost 5k. Attendances in Scotland are the highest in Europe per head of population, btw.
Re: Rangers v. Iverness (Beas) August 4th. Lower that the Premiership obviously, but I don't recall them being particularly cheap at the games I've been to in recent years.
Re: Rangers v. Iverness (Beas) August 4th. Atlanta metropolitan pop c 5,000,000, Inverness c 50,000. How are the soccer crowds doing in Atlanta?
Re: Rangers v. Iverness (Beas) August 4th. I find that fascinating. A quick search on Inverness CT's website indicates that the cheapest single-game ticket is GBP 20 (slightly higher when they're playing Celtic or Rangers). Adult season tickets begin from GBP 280. So it would seem that, over the course of a 20+ match season (how many matches does each team play in the SPL?), season tickets are a great bargain. This is only the example of one club, though, and a small one at that.
Re: Rangers v. Iverness (Beas) August 4th. You ever been to Inverness? It's small city that happens to be where the river (Inver) feeds into a nearby lake (or Loch) of some reknown called Ness that draws a bunch of tourists hoping to see something that doesn't exist. It's just not that big a place and while they might be able to draw a tad more with a bigger stadium, the town just isn't big enough to draw that much more.