Football in Scotland

[18Hibee75]

The footballs p*sh. But the fans are passionate. I have just seen a statistic which says that it is expected that 5% of Scotlands whole population will own a season ticket for a football club here. Like I said the football isnt brilliant but you can't knock the fans, a lot more passion in the game than in England. Scottish premiership > English Premier league.

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[MWHIBBIES]

The football isn't pish, the football is just fine relative to the money invested in it.

The fans are no better or worse than England, plenty of brilliant sets of fans down there as well.

[Marco G]

The football isn't pish, the football is just fine relative to the money invested in it.

The fans are no better or worse than England, plenty of brilliant sets of fans down there as well.
I would argue the football is better relative to money invested. Have seen lots of good quality exciting matches here compared with England. Lots of reasons, including having leagues where younger talent can develop and foreign players see a career path to the highest paying leagues in other countries. Plus playing in front of decent sized passionate crowds..

Only problem imho is those "fans" who state that the football is pish and talk our game down [emoji3]

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[bingo70]

I would argue the football is better relative to money invested. Have seen lots of good quality exciting matches here compared with England. Lots of reasons, including having leagues where younger talent can develop and foreign players see a career path to the highest paying leagues in other countries. Plus playing in front of decent sized passionate crowds..

Only problem imho is those "fans" who state that the football is pish and talk our game down [emoji3]

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In my experience most of the fans who talk down Scottish football never go to a game, rarely watch a game other than the likes of killie against Partick then take great delight in saying how bad our game is based on that match (that should never be on the tele in the first place) and 'support' someone like man united but never go.

I really like Scottish football and I think one of the problems is people comparing it to English football which is natural even if it is completely unrealistic.

[SirDavidsNapper]

The ones that say it's pish are listening to the blinkered EPL lovers. It's not pish. It's proper football and many have come north of the border and failed.

[Michael]

What makes it pish? Because we don't spend inflated prices for average players?

I think the quality of Scottish football is fine. We're just not good at marketing it (mainly because people want to talk it down all the time).

Remember Man City couldn't beat Celtic over 2 legs. And we, as a second tier club, took Brondby to penalties.

[Scouse Hibee]

The ones that say it's pish are listening to the blinkered EPL lovers. It's not pish. It's proper football and many have cone north of the border and failed

Nah it's pish, but I still watch it and have a ST.

[Just Jimmy]

Aside from the fact you are throwing about generalisms...

The football isn't pish. Since I moved down here the guys I work with are all football daft. I work with the usual City and United fans who actually go to games but I have wigan, bolton, oldham and rochdale fans at work. They all knew who hibs were and everyone of them mentioned us winning the cup and how fantastic the final was and the scenes at the end. They've all said next time Hibs are on TV we'll go as a group to the pub to watch it.

They just love football. Scottish fans and English fans are not that different tbh.

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[NORTHERNHIBBY]

I wonder what will happen to the EPL when the foreign owners get bored with their expensive follys and move on either to China or to another sport.

[oneone73]

The figure in the OP will be skewed, because a fair proportion of the Bigot Brothers' ST holders live on another island.

[Robinho08]

We need to get away from calling Scottish football 'pish' because it's not!

[CorrieHibs]

I love Scottish football. So much more passion in the stands than there is in England. That's just a fantasy league now.

We just need to get a good tv deal, I hope BT get it fully because I hate sky's coverage.

[SirDavidsNapper]

I love Scottish football. So much more passion in the stands than there is in England. That's just a fantasy league now.

We just need to get a good tv deal, I hope BT get it fully because I hate sky's coverage.

Exactly. Watch MOTD and some of the fans, particularly of the bigger teams, politely clap when their team score and also take photos of the opposition team celebrating. The money has killed the passion of English top flight football. Much prefer the lower league tv show. In Scotland it's euphoric tribalism when our teams score. Even for newer teams like Rangers at Firhill. Love Scottish football.

[yonder1875]

Nah it's pish, but I still watch it and have a ST.

Mustn't be that pish if you have a ST. In relative terms, Scottish football is great. Just because the standard isn't as high as down south or in Spain, Germany or Italy, doesn't make it pish.

[Thecat23]

I love the rawness of our game. It's not filled with world superstars but I've seen some brilliant football all over Scotland. I wouldn't swap it. Yes the standard can be dire at times but watch MOTD any sat night and the last 3 games on it will be torrid.

[Sir David Gray]

I don't think it's the fact that Scottish football is talked down, it's the fact that English football is talked up far too much and made out to be far better than it actually is.

The number of matches marketed by Sky as being part of a "Super Sunday" line up which have been utter dross is unreal.

[Brightside]

The ones that say it's pish are listening to the blinkered EPL lovers. It's not pish. It's proper football and many have come north of the border and failed.

Its not great and its far from Proper football. But i'll still watch it week in week out.

[jeffers]

Its not great and its far from Proper football. But i'll still watch it week in week out.

Pretty much where I am. I love Hibs and they have played some good football at times over the past few seasons, but if I was a neutral there isn't a lot to get me enthused about with the standard of Scottish football. For whatever reasons we don't produce the standard of players we used to and as a result the football isn't great. Look at the national side, a bunch of triers but I'm struggling to think of any who would get in the World Cup team of 74 or 78.

[Lago]

I love the rawness of our game. It's not filled with world superstars but I've seen some brilliant football all over Scotland. I wouldn't swap it. Yes the standard can be dire at times but watch MOTD any sat night and the last 3 games on it will be torrid.
Kind of agree with your 3 games are torrid, but have to say you will see some fantastic skill & games inthe rest of show.

[Lago]

Pretty much where I am. I love Hibs and they have played some good football at times over the past few seasons, but if I was a neutral there isn't a lot to get me enthused about with the standard of Scottish football. For whatever reasons we don't produce the standard of players we used to and as a result the football isn't great. Look at the national side, a bunch of triers but I'm struggling to think of any who would get in the World Cup team of 74 or 78.
Have to agree with your assessment, having watched Hibs since the early, very, 1970s I have seen a steady decline in the game overall at both club & national level.

[bingo70]

Kind of agree with your 3 games are torrid, but have to say you will see some fantastic skill & games inthe rest of show.

When discussing the standard of Scottish football it inevitably results in it being compared to English football which is a ridiculous comparison. I'd guess our league stands up quite well against the likes of The Scandinavian leagues for example which is a far more realistic barometer.

I also think it's funny when people say it's no wonder sky doesn't pump money in when the standard is apparently so bad, one of the reasons it's the standard it is, is down to the lack of investment from the tv companies.

[Lago]

When discussing the standard of Scottish football it inevitably results in it being compared to English football which is a ridiculous comparison. I'd guess our league stands up quite well against the likes of The Scandinavian leagues for example which is a far more realistic barometer.

I also think it's funny when people say it's no wonder sky doesn't pump money in when the standard is apparently so bad, one of the reasons it's the standard it is, is down to the lack of investment from the tv companies.
Completely agree re comparison with EPL, I wasn't trying to do that just saying over my years watching & enjoying football in Scotland, the standard has declined. Also I do enjoy watching some EPL games, just for that, not to compare. Agree with a comparison to Scandinavian football, however we never really see it to compare, apart from the odd occasion as in Hibs v Bromby.

[Scouse Hibee]

Mustn't be that pish if you have a ST. In relative terms, Scottish football is great. Just because the standard isn't as high as down south or in Spain, Germany or Italy, doesn't make it pish.

It's all about opinions and generally when you rate something you tend to compare it to something else. I moved here in the early nineties, thought the football I started to watch then was pish compared to English football and haven't changed my opinion over twenty odd years. I have a ST because I love to watch football and that has always been part of my life. I wasn't in a position then to keep my English ST so reverted to Hibs with my father in law's guidance. I still discuss football up here with friends when back home and often describe it as pish to this day. Hibs have gotten into my soul but that doesn't mean I can't tell it how I feel.

[Thecat23]

Kind of agree with your 3 games are torrid, but have to say you will see some fantastic skill & games inthe rest of show.

Yeah I'm not saying English games don't have some crackers. I think both countries enjoy their fare share of good games. But I do think the EPL is massively over rated.

[NAE NOOKIE]

There is passion for the game in Scotland no doubt about it, but I wouldn't say we are any more passionate than a guy who turns up to support Bradford City, Brentford or Bristol Rovers every week .... my last English match was Everton v Watford the season before last, the Watford away fans were brilliant and sang for their team for 90 minutes. Some of the bigger clubs do have a big chunk of football tourists more interested in taking pictures of the players than actually backing the team though .... I'm sure the ordinary fans of Man Utd or Liverpool find it all a bit annoying too.

Scotland has a perfect storm to contend with in that not only do we have two clubs who leech fans from every other club ( not unique to Scotland ) we also share a border with the worlds most successful league .... the fact that kids in Scotland are exposed to this fantasy football every week means they compare our football to that, too many of them find it hard to be enthusiastic about our game as a result ..... you can understand kids being like that, the adults who fall into the same camp need a good kicking, we are the ones who should be teaching them the error of their ways.

For a number of reasons football in Edinburgh has experienced a real resurgence crowd wise and I wish we could see it replicated around Scotland ... I would love to pick up the paper and see Motherwell v Dundee 8,000 or Kilmarnock v Ross County 7,000 rather than the crowds of under 5,000 these games attract at the moment. It could be done if only the folk in charge would help encourage folk to back their local clubs and get them to realise that supporting a football club can be a fun experience even without the presence of world class superstars or a bulging trophy cabinet.

Instead they sit back and think they don't have to do anything proactive to encourage support for our game because its covered on TV and Radio. What the fail to recognise is that a lot of the time that coverage isn't always positive, you don't have to wait for long around a TV or Radio until some twat comes on to tell you how crap Scottish football is ... quite often ex players who have played all their lives in England and who haven't been to a game in Scotland for decades, or so called fans whose experience of Scottish football involves having watched half an hour of bland Sportscene coverage.

The SFA and SPFL should get off their arse and produce a TV advert that bigs up our game, showing it not only as a great entertainment experience, but also making it clear to potential fans that they have a part to play in making it a great experience and that you don't have to support a so called 'big' club to be able to make that happen.

[Zazu62]

I like watching Scottish football on TV, can't wait for next year now that the Hibees are back on the box more regularly. I don't mind watching English premier league games on BT Sports but the Sky coverage is terrible the pundits and commentators bore me to death

[blackpoolhibs]

Some Scottish games are great, some are pish. Its the same all over the world.

[Scorrie]

I love Scottish fitba. When I can I'll watch highland league, juniors etc. Passionate stuff most times and it's often great. And nowhere comes close to Hibs at ER!

[Lago]

Yeah I'm not saying English games don't have some crackers. I think both countries enjoy their fare share of good games. But I do think the EPL is massively over rated.
Agree it is over rated, mainly by all the celebrity pundits, I give you Garry Lineker & Alan Shearer for starts. Of course everyone down South is obsessed with it being better than Germany, Spain or Italy & to be honest they all have their strengths & weaknesses.

[celthedd1]

I love Scottish fitba. When I can I'll watch highland league, juniors etc. Passionate stuff most times and it's often great. And nowhere comes close to Hibs at ER!

Lost interest in EPL,I'm a traditionalist which I'll admit not the way forward but hey ho,even the stadiums are dull with dull atmospheres and spoilt personnel on view.
Scottish football is more down my street still relitivly old fashioned grounds and actually can still get a bovril and wagon wheel at half time for a few quid and get soaked through for the privilege lol.
If you have an interest in a team then the match should be an enjoyable experience whatever the standard, your going to get crap and good games, same as anywhere else on earth because that's the nature of football, it's 90 minutes out of a 20 hour daily return outing or a weekend in a Scottish town for me and wouldn't change a thing,but I'm in a minority because nobody here and mostly England have no interest in Scottish football, if these folk only knew about the history in Scottish football they would be surprised and in my eyes Scotland should be proud of all the historic and large clubs with a relatively small population.

[Hibby Bairn]

The SFA and SPFL should get off their arse and produce a TV advert that bigs up our game, showing it not only as a great entertainment experience, but also making it clear to potential fans that they have a part to play in making it a great experience and that you don't have to support a so called 'big' club to be able to make that happen.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ePJpTvRKQWU

[madabouthibs]

Great performance going on right now in the Toulon Tourney, the young Scots are 2-0 up with about 15 mins to go to reach the final. Possible final against England. 😁

[Craig_in_Prague]

Great performance going on right now in the Toulon Tourney, the young Scots are 2-0 up with about 15 mins to go to reach the final. Possible final against England. 😁

England beat us 3.0 in semi
This is 3rd place play off

[stantonhibby]

Agree it is over rated, mainly by all the celebrity pundits, I give you Garry Lineker & Alan Shearer for starts. Of course everyone down South is obsessed with it being better than Germany, Spain or Italy & to be honest they all have their strengths & weaknesses.

I think Sky are far worse for 'bigging up' poor games. Lineker and Shearer are more likely to call it as it is imo.

[Scouse Hibee]

Great performance going on right now in the Toulon Tourney, the young Scots are 2-0 up with about 15 mins to go to reach the final. Possible final against England. 😁

England have already seen off Scotland.

[CMurdoch]

When discussing the standard of Scottish football it inevitably results in it being compared to English football which is a ridiculous comparison. I'd guess our league stands up quite well against the likes of The Scandinavian leagues for example which is a far more realistic barometer.

I also think it's funny when people say it's no wonder sky doesn't pump money in when the standard is apparently so bad, one of the reasons it's the standard it is, is down to the lack of investment from the tv companies.

Lots of good points, Scottish football fans support their teams far more than those of almost all other European countries.
At the end of this season I looked up average attendance stats for all leagues in Europe.
The Scottish Premiership was 7th best supported last season with only Spain, England, Germany, Italy, France and Holland ahead of them.
Quite remarkable given our tiny population.

The biggest thing holding us back and handicapping our teams is the crap TV deal.
Improving that to a reasonable level would allow the likes of ourselves to sign Stevie Mallen instead of Barnsley or Rolf who has gone to Cardiff.
Both these teams will have smaller average crowds than Hibs and Hearts this season.

[Itsnoteasy]

It's all about opinions and generally when you rate something you tend to compare it to something else. I moved here in the early nineties, thought the football I started to watch then was pish compared to English football and haven't changed my opinion over twenty odd years. I have a ST because I love to watch football and that has always been part of my life. I wasn't in a position then to keep my English ST so reverted to Hibs with my father in law's guidance. I still discuss football up here with friends when back home and often describe it as pish to this day. Hibs have gotten into my soul but that doesn't mean I can't tell it how I feel.

Bet the scenes you have witnessed with LFC in the 80's must have been amazing. But nothing will compare to Hampden Park 21 May 2016. Also the spine of that LFC were born, bred & played in Ecosse before moving down south. You just chose the wrong decade to move to the best country on the planet.

[Scouse Hibee]

Bet the scenes you have witnessed with LFC in the 80's must have been amazing. But nothing will compare to Hampden Park 21 May 2016. Also the spine of that LFC were born, bred & played in Ecosse before moving down south. You just chose the wrong decade to move to the best country on the planet.

Yes mate have said many times on here, that day in May and the emotion I felt at the final whistle surpassed anything I have ever felt at a football match anywhere. In the eighties Liverpool winning became so expected that it became oh another one and though still tremendous as a Liverpool supporters, the Hibs SC win was just a bit more special.

[LancashireHibby]

I often find that 'better' football doesn't necessarily make it more entertaining. The CL final apart, I generally find the EPL, CL and international games to be pretty dull whereas I tend to enjoy watching the SPFL games on telly, watching non league down here and most recently watching League One with Bolton all season.

[bingo70]

I often find that 'better' football doesn't necessarily make it more entertaining. The CL final apart, I generally find the EPL, CL and international games to be pretty dull whereas I tend to enjoy watching the SPFL games on telly, watching non league down here and most recently watching League One with Bolton all season.

Totally agree, with the odd exception I find the bigger the game you tend to see teams trying not to get beat more than they're trying to win games.

[Pete]

You just chose the wrong decade to move to the best country on the planet.

Apart from the borders, parts of the north east, parts of Perthshire....;-)

[where'stheslope]

Have watched the lower league highlights program on Channel 5, and the production is 100% better than anything we get up here!

We have to many pundits and so called ex players who continually run our game and teams down on national tv?

In the English football leagues, its all about positivity and how the players are reacting to the play, here its all talk about negativity and diving!

We need a total rethink on how our game is brought to the small screen, more life and helpful reaction from the pundits would be a good start.

My point is fully taken in by the pundit on Sportscene, who said that the points Celtic lost in the league in draws were from dives and suspect decisions, yet they don't say about the numerous dodgy decisions that went their way in winning other games including dives for penalties????

[Scott Allan Key]

The football isn't pish, the football is just fine relative to the money invested in it.

The fans are no better or worse than England, plenty of brilliant sets of fans down there as well.

I might further add, that a player who hasn't played at a higher level, had his best individual season, surrounded by dross, just scored two different free kicks against the highly paid, not highly better England players.:cb

[Bishop Hibee]

Good point. Also Scott Brown looked as good as anything in the England midfield. Not as skilful as some but more guile, strength and leadership. I wouldn't have Chris Smalling ahead of McGregor or Hanlon judging him on that display.

The best thing about Scottish football is that fans of around a dozen teams or more have a shout of winning a cup. Not the case in England or many other European leagues.

[easty]

I wouldn't have Chris Smalling ahead of McGregor or Hanlon judging him on that display.

Come on...be serious

[superfurryhibby]

Kind of agree with your 3 games are torrid, but have to say you will see some fantastic skill & games inthe rest of show.

Torrid sounds good. I think TC meant turgid though, that would be less than good:na na:

Regardless of the standard of player, a game is a game. There are some well **** games in the EPL, even though the players are capable of playing at a high standard. Equally, there are some rivetting games where the skill levels aren't as high. Our semi final v the Sheep is a case in point. That must have made for decent viewing for any neutral.

[Bishop Hibee]

Come on...be serious

On that display yes. No doubt he's a better player but I thought he was awful. Nervy, headed clearances straight to Scotland players and booted the ball away with no one near him. Encapsulated in one player why England will never win a major trophy again.

[Lago]

Torrid sounds good. I think TC meant turgid though, that would be less than good:na na:

Regardless of the standard of player, a game is a game. There are some well **** games in the EPL, even though the players are capable of playing at a high standard. Equally, there are some rivetting games where the skill levels aren't as high. Our semi final v the Sheep is a case in point. That must have made for decent viewing for any neutral.
Agree

[bigwheel]

Good point. Also Scott Brown looked as good as anything in the England midfield. Not as skilful as some but more guile, strength and leadership. I wouldn't have Chris Smalling ahead of McGregor or Hanlon judging him on that display.

The best thing about Scottish football is that fans of around a dozen teams or more have a shout of winning a cup. Not the case in England or many other European leagues.

That Smalling point is brilliant - mad as hell - but brilliant

[NAE NOOKIE]

Apart from the borders, parts of the north east, parts of Perthshire....;-)

Just dinnae right !!!

Its bad enough that me and my almost exclusively SNP or Labour voting mates have to live with that bloody result without folk rubbing it in :boo hoo:

[grunt]

I thought this thread was going to be about SFA president Alan McRae and his comment in the Sunday Mail that "Rangers need to be strong next season as Celtic winning the Treble would be boring". I'll not post a link to it but there's plenty online discussion about his comments.

The article has a photo of him, and I finally realised who the sour faced guy was in the presentation team who struggled to applaud when David Gray picked up the Scottish Cup last year. He couldn't hide his dismay at the result. So, SFA President was gutted that Rangers didn't win the Scottish Cup in 2016 and failed to hide his disappointment even when awarding the Cup to the winners.

Scottish Football is forever damned while the blazers are filled by Rangers fans.

[H18 SFR]

I thought this thread was going to be about SFA president Alan McRae and his comment in the Sunday Mail that "Rangers need to be strong next season as Celtic winning the Treble would be boring". I'll not post a link to it but there's plenty online discussion about his comments.

The article has a photo of him, and I finally realised who the sour faced guy was in the presentation team who struggled to applaud when David Gray picked up the Scottish Cup last year. He couldn't hide his dismay at the result. So, SFA President was gutted that Rangers didn't win the Scottish Cup in 2016 and failed to hide his disappointment even when awarding the Cup to the winners.

Scottish Football is forever damned while the blazers are filled by Rangers fans.

He's an Aberdeen fan.

[Phil MaGlass]

For all the cash that is splashed in the epl, it's pi5h. There is a high skill level but the big clubs almost cancel each other out. Its boring watchi g. Nae need tae talk our own game up. Its great. The Spl was/is a one horse race,aye but take a look at the rest. Its pretty close. Falkirk, United StMirren even Raith would make Spl even more attractive. Imagne whit a small extra injection from tv could add. We havea good product that is poorly managed/represented by the leading authorities. Did it really take a bookie tae point this oot tae us?

[grunt]

He's an Aberdeen fan.Ah. Oops. Still, him and his pal didn't look very happy to be handing us the cup.

[madabouthibs]

England beat us 3.0 in semi
This is 3rd place play off
Yup, I realised this at the end of the game. Bit of a "duh?" moment.
*goes and hides.....

[emerald green]

"Football in Scotland. The football's pish."

What a ridiculous sweeping statement. :rolleyes:

[H18 SFR]

Ah. Oops. Still, him and his pal didn't look very happy to be handing us the cup.

Definitely agree with that.