Scottish Clubs in Europe

[Stairway 2 7]

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People in Scotland pay Sky etc subscriptions to watch English football, and to a lesser extent Rangers/Celtic there is no market for anything else. Who watches Scottish club football on TV? Very rarely me, zero interest other than watching Hibs, and can't remember last time I paid to watch Hibs on TV.

Think the whole world is obsessed with the EPL for some reason, was there not thousands of Scandinavian Man U season ticket holders

[Real Emerald]

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People in Scotland pay Sky etc subscriptions to watch English football, and to a lesser extent Rangers/Celtic there is no market for anything else. Who watches Scottish club football on TV? Very rarely me, zero interest other than watching Hibs, and can't remember last time I paid to watch Hibs on TV.

If that’s the case then Scottish football should have no TV deal if no one wants to watch it. That’s despite Scotland having by far the greatest % of the population actually going to watch football in Europe. I hope you’re not negotiating our next TV deal, what a great advert. 😂

[Lancs Harp]

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If that’s the case then Scottish football should have no TV deal if no one wants to watch it. That’s despite Scotland having by far the greatest % of the population actually going to watch football in Europe. I hope you’re not negotiating our next TV deal, what a great advert. 😂

The percentage of population point is a bit mute a bit of a comfort blanket. Most of that figure are watching Celtic or Rangers. None of the rest of us average 20,000 its a very dificult issue to resolve. Money comes from tv and sponsorship but quite obviously our product doesnt attract the required audience. How do you resolve that?

[ScottB]

Our coverage is basically for Old Firm fans to watch away games. So to the neutral get to see one of them, usually comfortably beat a smaller team in a half empty stadium while pundits talk about nothing but the Old Firm.

It’s not how you package a product to a wider audience.

[CentreLine]

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People in Scotland pay Sky etc subscriptions to watch English football, and to a lesser extent Rangers/Celtic there is no market for anything else. Who watches Scottish club football on TV? Very rarely me, zero interest other than watching Hibs, and can't remember last time I paid to watch Hibs on TV.

I suppose it’s all about opinions and preferences. I certainly prefer to watch Scottish football because it still retains a passion and reality. I find the EPL robotic and boring. If I do catch a game from England it is likely to be from their Championship. It at least feels genuine and not contrived. For me their EPL is contrived and overhyped whilst likely to be overtaken by the Saudi stuff, because, for these people, it’s all about money.

[DH1875]

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The percentage of population point is a bit mute a bit of a comfort blanket. Most of that figure are watching Celtic or Rangers. None of the rest of us average 20,000 its a very dificult issue to resolve. Money comes from tv and sponsorship but quite obviously our product doesnt attract the required audience. How do you resolve that?

If you take rangers and celtic out of it we are still one of the top 10 leagues (its actually better than 10th) support per head of population.
I personally would rather watch a Scottish game than an EPL game. A lot of my mates are the same.

[Lancs Harp]

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If you take rangers and celtic out of it we are still one of the top 10 leagues (its actually better than 10th) support per head of population.
I personally would rather watch a Scottish game than an EPL game. A lot of my mates are the same.

I see it from both sides mate. Im an English Hibee, I do love watching the EPL and other top leagues across Europe, the standard of football is often amazing (just look at how good Villa were). I often get asked why I support Hibs and a great part of that is harking back to the game i knew as a youngster, raw, honest, passionate, emotional. I was so proud of our fans last night.

I love football its been my passion virtually from the day I was born but Hibs is my team for better or for worse

[Real Emerald]

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Our coverage is basically for Old Firm fans to watch away games. So to the neutral get to see one of them, usually comfortably beat a smaller team in a half empty stadium while pundits talk about nothing but the Old Firm.

It’s not how you package a product to a wider audience.

Completely agree, it’s an old firm away game package. They rather show a dead rubber Celtic away game in place of an Edinburgh derby that had a lot riding on it for example. If I was English and tuning in I’d much rather watch a derby game but that’s not their agenda. It’s a Glasgow perception that the rest of Scottish football is only there to facilitate the arse cheeks success.

There’s not much we can do about Sky but the BBC facilitates this agenda too. Unless we can package and promote the other clubs as well and make the league more even, nothing will change and that’s exactly how the SFA/SPFL want it to be. Everything is done to facilitate the continuation of the cartel to the detriment of everything else.

[Pagan Hibernia]

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People in Scotland pay Sky etc subscriptions to watch English football, and to a lesser extent Rangers/Celtic there is no market for anything else. Who watches Scottish club football on TV? Very rarely me, zero interest other than watching Hibs, and can't remember last time I paid to watch Hibs on TV.

I must be mad but I watch a fair amount of Scottish football. Its rarely pretty, but it's earthy and more soulful to me than the glamour leagues ever will be. It's blood and thunder and passion.

I do accept that I'm in a tiny minority though and your point about there not being an adequate market for our game abroad is impossible to argue with at the moment

[Tommy75]

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The percentage of population point is a bit mute a bit of a comfort blanket. Most of that figure are watching Celtic or Rangers. None of the rest of us average 20,000 its a very dificult issue to resolve. Money comes from tv and sponsorship but quite obviously our product doesnt attract the required audience. How do you resolve that?

Agreed, the whole % of population thing isn't quite the achievement a lot of folk think it is. Last season 7 teams in our top league averaged less than 10k. Throw in the fact that the likes of Ross County, Livi and St Johnstone are regularly outnumbered by away fans, it doesn't point to a population coming out to watch a spread of teams across the country.

If you look at a typical week and add the Celtic/Rangers home supporters with the Celtic/Rangers away supporters that week, it would be more than the rest of the attendances across all the leagues in the country put together.

The game is knackered up here and we are so far behind. Unfortunately there is no apetite from those running the game because the status quo suits the 2 Glasgow clubs. I'd like to see a 20 team league, ideally we'd have 2 teams regularly in the CL group stages and a batch of 4 or 5 different teams regularly in the Europa/Conference group stages to get money flowing through the game here. Chances of it happening? 0.

[hibby rae]

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People in Scotland pay Sky etc subscriptions to watch English football, and to a lesser extent Rangers/Celtic there is no market for anything else. Who watches Scottish club football on TV? Very rarely me, zero interest other than watching Hibs, and can't remember last time I paid to watch Hibs on TV.

Personally speaking I'd far rather watch a Scottish game than an English one. Big fan of the Championship on BBC Scotland on Friday nights

[Phil MaGlass]

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The obvious answer is money but you need to ask why we’re so far behind in that respect? It’s criminal that we pay the same Sky subscriptions that punters down South pay but the money from Sky UK is extremely poor coming back in a TV deal. Also, the way Scottish football tries everything it can to keep the cartel of Celtic and Rangers basically stops any meaningful league competition. It’s a self serving spiral to the bottom. Who would plough money into such a corrupt set up?

The reason is we didnt go with SKY but went with Setanta, then when that went tils up they said F you Scotland, you will take what we offer, simple.

[Musselbound]

Absolutely atrocious. It was the same last year with Rangers and Dundee United losing 7-0. How Scotland is still 10th in the UEFA coefficient is beyond me. Can only assume it still has a lot to do with Rangers making the Europa League final.

[Musselbound]

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Personally speaking I'd far rather watch a Scottish game than an English one. Big fan of the Championship on BBC Scotland on Friday nights

Don't know about that but at least the Scottish Championship is quite difficult to predict - unlike the Scottish Premiership. I do enjoy watching the games too.

[Lancs Harp]

Anyone help my rangers supporting mate, he's trying to book flights up for their European group tour but cant find a flight to Betis. Had his Times atlas out, the lot. Cant find a City called Betis anywhere.

[DH1875]

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Don't know about that but at least the Scottish Championship is quite difficult to predict - unlike the Scottish Premiership. I do enjoy watching the games too.

Not sure about that. I predict Dundee Utd will win it quite comfortably.

[stoneyburn hibs]

The top four co- efficient leagues shouldn't be involved in the Conference

[hhibs]

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If you take rangers and celtic out of it we are still one of the top 10 leagues (its actually better than 10th) support per head of population.
I personally would rather watch a Scottish game than an EPL game. A lot of my mates are the same.

Well said information that needs rammed home to those ignorant souls that continually sell our product short.

[Wilson]

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Not sure about that. I predict Dundee Utd will win it quite comfortably.

They should based on budget alone. I don't think they'll beat Airdrie tomorrow though so they aren't going top yet!

[NAE NOOKIE]

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Personally speaking I'd far rather watch a Scottish game than an English one. Big fan of the Championship on BBC Scotland on Friday nights

Me as well .... I'll watch pretty well any game of football to be honest, but if the Scottish Championship game was on versus match of the day on a Saturday night I'd watch the Championship game all day long.

[Musselbound]

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Not sure about that. I predict Dundee Utd will win it quite comfortably.

Probably favourites but nowhere near as certain as Celtic winning Premiership. Or easy to predict top two.

[Stanton Spence]

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The top four co- efficient leagues shouldn't be involved in the Conference

I said that yesterday on another thread,well actually I said the top 5 leagues including France. At the least these teams shouldn’t be in the playoff rounds but I’m not sure how it would all work

[lucky]

Our performances in Europe are reflected by what clubs can spend due to TV revenue. Brentford signing players for £40m shows how the Sky money has corrupted the marketplace. Making the league bigger will reduce the share each club gets. A fairer distribution of cash is splitting the gate revenue of every game. That way all clubs would be equal but it's never going to happen. Scottish football is well-watched but the % of population stat does not paint a true picture. The old firm is miles in front then Aberdeen, Hibs and Hearts. The rest barely register. There is no easy solution to Scottish football problems, but we are doing a lot better than Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic. But the English Premiership is huge and the Championship is the third best-attended league in Europe. The only thing that might change the EPL position is the Saudi League buying up all the best players.

Europe is a great adventure, playing different teams but sadly no Scottish team, including the Old Firm is going to do much in the next few years. Our best hope is we finish third and get to the group stages of the conference league. But we are never going to compete with a club like Villa, especially with the TV money they receive.

[marinello59]

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Personally speaking I'd far rather watch a Scottish game than an English one. Big fan of the Championship on BBC Scotland on Friday nights

I’m the same, I love our game.

[Is It On....]

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Do the Greeks or Swedes have more resources than Hearts or Dons.
Does PSV have more than Rangers ?

TV deals

Netherlands £90m (£170m from 2025)
Greece £58m
Sweden £40m
Scotland £25m (£30m from 2025)

Think about the year on year cumulative effect. BBC Scotland are a vasel offshoot of BBC England who have no interest in Scottish football.

Very good article about how PAOK refused a poor TV deal a few years ago and went alone with their own streaming and subsequently got a much better deal a few years later (they still control their overseas rights). The deal Scottish clubs are getting is poor and, given the issues we have with Hibs TV, we could do worse than getting a teach in from PAOK about how to do it.

[DH1875]

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TV deals

Netherlands £90m
Greece £58m
Sweden £40m
Scotland £25m

Think about the year on year cumulative effect. BBC Scotland are a vasel offshoot of BBC England who have no interest in Scottish football.

Very good article about how PAOK refused a poor TV deal a few years ago and went alone with their own streaming and subsequently got a much better deal a few years later (they still control their overseas rights). The deal Scottish clubs are getting is poor and, given the issues we have with Hibs TV, we could do worse than getting a teach in from PAOK about how to do it.

Have Netherlands not just signed a new deal worth €180 million per year?

[Since90+2]

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I’m the same, I love our game.

Me too. I'd honestly rather watch Partick V Dunfermline on a Friday night than a West Ham v Bournemouth or something similar.

[Is It On....]

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Have Netherlands not just signed a new deal worth €180 million per year?

Just checked and you are correct; the new offer is €2bn over 10yrs. So by 2030, Dutch football will have generated £854m (€1bn) whilst Scottish clubs will generate £150m from the new deal.

[Since90+2]

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Just checked and you are correct; the new offer is €2bn over 10yrs. So by 2030, Dutch football will have generated £854m (€1bn) whilst Scottish clubs will generate £150m from the new deal.

The population of Holland is 3x that of Scotland, it also is more attractive to overseas broadcasters than the Scottish League as it's a higher standard.

The figures should be closer between the two countries, but they'll always be significantly higher.

How does a country of a similar size and league standard compare to Scotland, say Croatia?

[Is It On....]

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The population of Holland is 3x that of Scotland, it also is more attractive to overseas broadcasters than the Scottish League as it's a higher standard.

The figures should be closer between the two countries, but they'll always be significantly higher.

How does a country of a similar size and league standard compare to Scotland, say Croatia?

Noway - population 5.5m
TV Deal - £55m

Which ever way you assess it, £25m (30m from next year) for Scottish football is a great deal for the broadcasters and a terrible deal for the Scottish game.