The vibrancy of summer football.

[tonyrougier123]

I say this a lot,but the Celtic game the other night must go some way to indicating how Scottish football could benefit from shifting from turgid stop start winter months to fairer months.

Easter road looked glorious the other night,pitch was fantastic football was better and obviously the result helped the mood and atmosphere.

But that aside,surely we could sell the game better in the summer and possibly even breed better talented footballers. Even for a fix in winter a cup could be played.
It’s been a while since I’ve felt good about the league in winter,it’s became very stop start with international breaks,and if you’re hoofed out the league cup even more breaks.
Surely there must be more support for this in the modern game?

[Paulie Walnuts]

Scottish teams generally do crap in Europe so I wonder if we’d do better with summer leagues? If we were in full flow we might stand more of a chance of getting to the groups of competitions etc.

[LaMotta]

Understand the question after the other night, but Summer football is a terrible idea.

Do crowds get bigger? No real evidence of that.

Will we get a better TV deal and increased demand for watching games? No. Look at the League of Ireland.

Do we want our league to compete with a World Cup or euros every two years?

Do we want to be out of sync with other leagues?

The winter in this country is gloomy enough without taking football away!

[tonyrougier123]

Scottish teams generally do crap in Europe so I wonder if we’d do better with summer leagues? If we were in full flow we might stand more of a chance of getting to the groups of competitions etc.

Another good example aye. We would surely benefit from an earlier start in qualifying stages,enhancing the co efficient.

[Hillsidehibby]

Understand the question after the other night, but Summer football is a terrible idea.

Do crowds get bigger? No real evidence of that.

Will we get a better TV deal and increased demand for watching games? No. Look at the League of Ireland.

Do we want our league to compete with a World Cup or euros every two years?

Do we want to be out of sync with other leagues?

The winter in this country is gloomy enough without taking football away!
Absolutely

[G15 Hibs]

The winter in this country is gloomy enough without taking football away!

This is a key point for me, from a wholly personal point of view. There are plenty of decent arguments in favour of summer football, and standing in a ground on a lovely sunny night is a thing of beauty. However, winter is a real dark and dismal slog for me and plenty of others, taking away those little chinks of light and social contact that going to the football gives would make it unbearable.

[CapitalGreen]

Understand the question after the other night, but Summer football is a terrible idea.

Do crowds get bigger? No real evidence of that.

Will we get a better TV deal and increased demand for watching games? No. Look at the League of Ireland.

Do we want our league to compete with a World Cup or euros every two years?

Do we want to be out of sync with other leagues?

The winter in this country is gloomy enough without taking football away!

What’s the relevance of the league of Ireland? A different country where football is the 4th most popular sport?

[Paulie Walnuts]

Understand the question after the other night, but Summer football is a terrible idea.

Do crowds get bigger? No real evidence of that.

Will we get a better TV deal and increased demand for watching games? No. Look at the League of Ireland.

Do we want our league to compete with a World Cup or euros every two years?

Do we want to be out of sync with other leagues?

The winter in this country is gloomy enough without taking football away!

What about Scandinavian countries that get better tv deals than us? For every LOI there’s another league with summer football that works better than our winter season.

There’s be a lot to weigh up but it’s worth considering imo.

[tonyrougier123]

Absolutely

You’d still have European games and English and foreign football. The Scandinavian leagues seem to manage well enough. You could add in a winter cup,but close all football domestically say December January just ideas.
As someone else said a lot of pros and cons. But entirely workable and always worth trying something new.
Never thought I’d see a winter World Cup til it happened,anything is possible.
It could be done exciting and affordable. December we cram so many fixtures in I find it hard even with a season ticket to get to games in the run up to Christmas. Wouldn’t need to worry about that.
I don’t think there’d be a football blackout like the long summer months building up to the start. Maybe it’s a form thing recently as well,but beginning of season is superb, overloaded in December,stop start in January February mixture of reasons for that. Then end of the season is a wee bit more enjoyable again as we push for Europe or avoid bottom six and the pitches and football improves slightly.

[hibsforeurope]

I don't think we need to fully move to summer football at the top level, kids sport is a different story.

But we really need to get away for bunching so many games into December and the cold months. If we can't play Saturday Tuesday/Wednesday early season we should extend the winter break and play more games in April and May when the weather is (usually) better.

To play a quarter of the season in 1 of the coldest months is crazy.

[LaMotta]

What’s the relevance of the league of Ireland? A different country where football is the 4th most popular sport?

Because there is a notion that moving Scottish football to summertime would suddenly see better TV deals and a surge in interest in people from elsewhere watching games as we wouldnt be competing with English leagues. The LOI tried it and it hasn't made a difference.

[neil7908]

I'm all for summer football. It would undoubtedly help us in Europe.

And Why anyone thinks sitting outside for 2 hours in Scotland through December, January and February is a good idea is beyond me!

[LaMotta]

What about Scandinavian countries that get better tv deals than us? For every LOI there’s another league with summer football that works better than our winter season.

There’s be a lot to weigh up but it’s worth considering imo.


I'm all for summer football. It would undoubtedly help us in Europe.

And Why anyone thinks sitting outside for 2 hours in Scotland through December, January and February is a good idea is beyond me!

The scandanavian deal is better but I dont think we can say its because they play in the summer.

Why does scandanavian summer football work better than Scottish football?

Why would it would help us in Europe? Scotland are 9th in the Uefa club rankings right now, way ahead of Norway and Sweden. When was the last time either of those leagues had a team in a European final?

[Steven79]

The scandanavian deal is better but I dont think we can say its because they play in the summer.

Why does scandanavian summer football work better than Scottish football?

Why would it would help us in Europe? Scotland are 9th in the Uefa club rankings right now, way ahead of Norway and Sweden. When was the last time either of those leagues had a team in a European final?The last time a Swedish tean played in a European final is probably against Dundee United in 1987.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

[Newry Hibs]

This year the League of Ireland runs from 17 February – 3 November 2023.

If that is a typical year, then the players would get a month off - basically November. Pre season friendlies would need to start mid to late January(?) - who would we play?

[LaMotta]

The last time a Swedish tean played in a European final is probably against Dundee United in 1987.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

Think you are right mate.

[Paulie Walnuts]

The scandanavian deal is better but I dont think we can say its because they play in the summer.

Why does scandanavian summer football work better than Scottish football?

Why would it would help us in Europe? Scotland are 9th in the Uefa club rankings right now, way ahead of Norway and Sweden. When was the last time either of those leagues had a team in a European final?

Surely by the same token then we can’t say the LOI get a worse tv deal because it’s in the summer?

It would help us in Europe because nobody outside the Old Firm ever qualifies for tournament propers unless it’s guaranteed.

If we could have someone other than the OF getting through qualification then that would be a benefit to our game. Having a head start on the majority of opponents would help with that.

[bingo70]

Understand the question after the other night, but Summer football is a terrible idea.

Do crowds get bigger? No real evidence of that.

Will we get a better TV deal and increased demand for watching games? No. Look at the League of Ireland.

Do we want our league to compete with a World Cup or euros every two years?

Do we want to be out of sync with other leagues?

The winter in this country is gloomy enough without taking football away!

In terms of crowds getting bigger, I’m not sure what evidence could be provided when it’s never been tried?

Not a direct comparison but is there not potential comparables with rugby league moving to a summer league so they didn’t have to compete with union? I’m really no expert on that subject so I may be miles off with the comparison but my perception was it was a sport that wasn’t really thriving, once they moved to the summer the popularity of it took off, helped by the fact there’s very little other sport on at that time.

I think we face a similar challenge competing with an English football.

I’d be all for summer football, I hate being cold and would be quite happy to hibernate for the winter, only leaving the house when absolutely necessary. Much nicer experience for taking kids to a game too if the sun is shining and it’s warm.

[LaMotta]

This year the League of Ireland runs from 17 February – 3 November 2023.

If that is a typical year, then the players would get a month off - basically November. Pre season friendlies would need to start mid to late January(?) - who would we play?

Another good point. "Summer" football still sees us playing in colder darker months. Some our worst weather in recent years has also taken place in March - eg. 2018's Beast from the East. December was far better weather that season.

[Lago]

I say this a lot,but the Celtic game the other night must go some way to indicating how Scottish football could benefit from shifting from turgid stop start winter months to fairer months.

Easter road looked glorious the other night,pitch was fantastic football was better and obviously the result helped the mood and atmosphere.

But that aside,surely we could sell the game better in the summer and possibly even breed better talented footballers. Even for a fix in winter a cup could be played.
It’s been a while since I’ve felt good about the league in winter,it’s became very stop start with international breaks,and if you’re hoofed out the league cup even more breaks.
Surely there must be more support for this in the modern game?
Totally agree with you, have said this for years.

[LaMotta]

Surely by the same token then we can’t say the LOI get a worse tv deal because it’s in the summer?

It would help us in Europe because nobody outside the Old Firm ever qualifies for tournament propers unless it’s guaranteed.

If we could have someone other than the OF getting through qualification then that would be a benefit to our game. Having a head start on the majority of opponents would help with that.

Im not saying LOI deal is worse because of summer, im saying they didnt see any benefits on that side from the change. So it doesn't make it worth the change on that front.

Your last 2 paras I would agree it could be worth changing if there was any guarantee of that, but I doubt it would make much difference. I can't see us ever finding out because the change will never happen, the arguments overall just dont stack up.

[CapitalGreen]

Another good point. "Summer" football still sees us playing in colder darker months. Some our worst weather in recent years has also taken place in March - eg. 2018's Beast from the East. December was far better weather that season.

Either way we’d be playing in March so not sure that’s a negative for summer football. We’d have a lot more days of good weather with summer football than we currently do, that’s obvious.

[LaMotta]

In terms of crowds getting bigger, I’m not sure what evidence could be provided when it’s never been tried?

Not a direct comparison but is there not potential comparables with rugby league moving to a summer league so they didn’t have to compete with union? I’m really no expert on that subject so I may be miles off with the comparison but my perception was it was a sport that wasn’t really thriving, once they moved to the summer the popularity of it took off, helped by the fact there’s very little other sport on at that time.

I think we face a similar challenge competing with an English football.

I’d be all for summer football, I hate being cold and would be quite happy to hibernate for the winter, only leaving the house when absolutely necessary. Much nicer experience for taking kids to a game too if the sun is shining and it’s warm.

Interesting question on the crowds, but summer football does get played every year already in August, and May is almost summer. Yet if you look at our crowds over the last 10 seasons, most years our biggest attendance has been in December, January or February. If there is a big important game, people will attend whatever the weather.

I cant see any way in which playing in June or July would drastically enhance crowds, particularly with people going off on holiday etc.

[nonshinyfinish]

I might be wrong, but aren't the Scandinavian tv deals worth more because they allow more games to be televised? IIRC Denmark's tv deal was discussed a while ago and it was more like the Spanish league where the games are spread out so that most/all of them can be televised without clashing.

[G15 Hibs]

Another good point. "Summer" football still sees us playing in colder darker months. Some our worst weather in recent years has also taken place in March - eg. 2018's Beast from the East. December was far better weather that season.

Freak weather, I know, and I'm not using it as an argument either way, but some of the worst weather I've ever seen football played in at Easter Road was at those Intertoto Cup games in the mid 00s (2004 and 2006?). Absolute monsoons at both, and I dare say if they'd been domestic games they'd have been called off and only went ahead because the away team had travelled. Both played on the first Saturday of July.

[LaMotta]

Either way we’d be playing in March so not sure that’s a negative for summer football. We’d have a lot more days of good weather with summer football than we currently do, that’s obvious.

Yeh but it's not a positive for it.

You say its obvious weather would be better in summer, but actually over the last 30 years in Edinburgh, July and August are 2nd and 3rd for most amount of rainfall, just behind October.

Id far rather be wrapped up warm on a dry cold day than soaking wet in a slightly warmer July or August. The notion that summer football would see us often end up with a full Easter Road in our shorts and t shirt watching glorious football is a fantasy.:greengrin

[LaMotta]

I might be wrong, but aren't the Scandinavian tv deals worth more because they allow more games to be televised? IIRC Denmark's tv deal was discussed a while ago and it was more like the Spanish league where the games are spread out so that most/all of them can be televised without clashing.

:agree:


Freak weather, I know, and I'm not using it as an argument either way, but some of the worst weather I've ever seen football played in at Easter Road was at those Intertoto Cup games in the mid 00s (2004 and 2006?). Absolute monsoons at both, and I dare say if they'd been domestic games they'd have been called off and only went ahead because the away team had travelled. Both played on the first Saturday of July.

:agree:

[Since452]

Would also increase our chances of competing in Europe

[CapitalGreen]

Yeh but it's not a positive for it.

You say its obvious weather would be better in summer, but actually over the last 30 years in Edinburgh, July and August are 2nd and 3rd for most amount of rainfall, just behind October.

Id far rather be wrapped up warm on a dry cold day than soaking wet in a slightly warmer July or August. The notion that summer football would see us often end up with a full Easter Road in our shorts and t shirt watching glorious football is a fantasy.:greengrin

A higher amount of rainfall doesn’t necessarily mean a higher number of rainy days. There is slightly more rainfall in summer months by volume but it falls on fewer days therefore the chances of rain falling on a summer day are less than in the winter.

[LaMotta]

A higher amount of rainfall doesn’t necessarily mean a higher number of rainy days. There is slightly more rainfall in summer months by volume but it falls on fewer days therefore the chances of rain falling on a summer day are less than in the winter.

So, if it falls on a football day, we are getting absolutely soaked then:wink:

[LaMotta]

Would also increase our chances of competing in Europe

Whats the evidence to support that though?

[tonyrougier123]

So, if it falls on a football day, we are getting absolutely soaked then:wink:

I’d rather get soaked in June than December 😂🥶.
The weather situation is clearly much better this time of year,just need to look at the pitch for proof of that. Your best argument imo against summer football is winter is crap in Scotland need something to do. Which is a fair enough point. But not without remedy.

[tonyrougier123]

Whats the evidence to support that though?

Because we don’t currently play in the summer there’s little data to use in Scotland. However when Scottish teams qualifying for Europe come up against teams with a pre season and match sharpness generally we struggle. I’d also point out Scandinavian teams play in group stage football a whole lot more than we do,it might be preparation is better starting early or it might be our league is just not at that standard. I think it’s a good mix of both. Maybe summer football would see us produce your Haalands and odegaards but maybe it wouldn’t.
But either way testing the water could be worth it.

[LaMotta]

I’d rather get soaked in June than December 😂🥶.
The weather situation is clearly much better this time of year,just need to look at the pitch for proof of that. Your best argument imo against summer football is winter is crap in Scotland need something to do. Which is a fair enough point. But not without remedy.

People forget we have a pre season period. So pre-season training would really need to start about Christmas time followed by a raft of friendlies in January. It'll never happen.

[CapitalGreen]

People forget we have a pre season period. So pre-season training would really need to start about Christmas time followed by a raft of friendlies in January. It'll never happen.

Winter training camps are thing, we have been to Spain and UAE during January in recent years.

[tonyrougier123]

People forget we have a pre season period. So pre-season training would really need to start about Christmas time followed by a raft of friendlies in January. It'll never happen.

If it never happens it’s not because it can’t happen. You have break weeks in England in January teams go abroad. As as been said scandinavian teams would be in pre season also,they seem to cope with preparation.
It would take an expansion of people’s minds to migrate to the idea,and better much more thinking folk I’m sure could at least draw up a blueprint and let the supporters up and down the country have a look. We do fund it mostly after all.

[Bristolhibby]

Because there is a notion that moving Scottish football to summertime would suddenly see better TV deals and a surge in interest in people from elsewhere watching games as we wouldnt be competing with English leagues. The LOI tried it and it hasn't made a difference.

The LOI product is crap.

Ours is better.

J

[Blaster]

I wouldn’t change to a Summer season but I’d try and avoid as many games in December and play an extra few midweek games in March/April/May instead

[G15 Hibs]

I wouldn’t change to a Summer season but I’d try and avoid as many games in December and play an extra few midweek games in March/April/May instead

This would be a sensible solution

[Bishop Hibee]

I’d stop getting a season ticket as I’d miss too many games going away at the weekends during summer.

[CapitalGreen]

The LOI product is crap.

Ours is better.

J

League of Ireland changed to summer football in 2003, attendances have increased in that time by over 70%.

[LaMotta]

Winter training camps are thing, we have been to Spain and UAE during January in recent years.

As the greenest club in Scotland we should be against long avoidable flights :greengrin

[LaMotta]

The LOI product is crap.

Ours is better.

J

But its still crap to wider TV markets. People in England arent interested in our game, moving it to summer wont change that.

[superfurryhibby]

League of Ireland changed to summer football in 2003, attendances have increased in that time by over 70%.

That's interesting, so one myth blown out of the water (do you have a link for this?)


I would like summer football, It works in other places, our game is moribund and this would be an innovation. I think it would give our teams a better chance in Europe, instead of going in cold, after a couple of warm up games.

There have been many freezing nights when I sat and watched and thought that this is brutal. It's entertainment, not the Scottish equivalent of some freaky game show endurance test. Worth considering

[Carheenlea]

League of Ireland changed to summer football in 2003, attendances have increased in that time by over 70%.

I go to the occasional Galway Utd game if they’re at home when I’m over, and their home crowds are similar in size to our travelling support.

I’ve never really enjoyed it that much and the only highlight was sitting along from president Michael D Higgins one night. Given they also play in maroon I’m not sure why I bother to be honest.

[vercol36]

What’s the relevance of the league of Ireland? A different country where football is the 4th most popular sport?

I mean, I get where you’re coming from. But to call football the fourth most popular sport is perhaps a bit disingenuous. Every single pub is packed out for English Premiership games.

[NAE NOOKIE]

The worst we could do is have a feasibility study on it. There are other summer leagues in Europe, instead of speculation why don't the SPFL / SFA actually try and collate some facts and figures from those leagues, especially ones who have changed from winter to summer and see if the pros outweigh the cons.

From a financial point of view I simply can't see how it doesn't make sense.

If the league was closed from say December to the end of February there would be no need to use stadium floodlights, no need to use undersoil heating, no need to heat or light stadium interiors in that time, basic maintenance notwithstanding ... that has to save a few bob on the water, gas and leccy bills.

No it might not lead to a better TV deal, but for the months the EPL /EFL is closed down there would be no need to move kick off times of live matches to ridiculous times like 12 or 12:30 to avoid a clash with SKY's main event of Bournemouth v Brentford ... a factor which stops quite a few people attending matches. The Scottish cup final would almost certainly have to be moved as well, avoiding the embarrassment of it having to play second fiddle to the FA cup final, to the extent that it's inconveniencing 50,000 of our games supporters.

That fact and playing during 'allegedly' better weather could well see an increase in attendances, it simply has to be the case that some folk look at the weather forecast in January and February and decide not to attend some matches, especially if poor driving weather is a factor. That could well see an increase in away supports.

Clubs could also look at outdoor fan zones if they have the capacity to do so.

Yes there are downsides as well, school holidays, folk who play golf, all the usual summer activities.

But that's the whole point ..... There is a potential here to increase the attendances, possibly get a better TV deal, possibly decrease costs for clubs. It seems daft on the face of it that the people who run football haven't at least attempted a study, which amongst other things involves an intensive supporter survey and intensive consultation with other summer leagues, to find out if it would be worth giving this a go. :dunno:

[Jones28]

The worst we could do is have a feasibility study on it. There are other summer leagues in Europe, instead of speculation why don't the SPFL / SFA actually try and collate some facts and figures from those leagues, especially ones who have changed from winter to summer and see if the pros outweigh the cons.

From a financial point of view I simply can't see how it doesn't make sense.

If the league was closed from say December to the end of February there would be no need to use stadium floodlights, no need to use undersoil heating, no need to heat or light stadium interiors in that time, basic maintenance notwithstanding ... that has to save a few bob on the water, gas and leccy bills.

No it might not lead to a better TV deal, but for the months the EPL /EFL is closed down there would be no need to move kick off times of live matches to ridiculous times like 12 or 12:30 to avoid a clash with SKY's main event of Bournemouth v Brentford ... a factor which stops quite a few people attending matches. The Scottish cup final would almost certainly have to be moved as well, avoiding the embarrassment of it having to play second fiddle to the FA cup final, to the extent that it's inconveniencing 50,000 of our games supporters.

That fact and playing during 'allegedly' better weather could well see an increase in attendances, it simply has to be the case that some folk look at the weather forecast in January and February and decide not to attend some matches, especially if poor driving weather is a factor. That could well see an increase in away supports.

Clubs could also look at outdoor fan zones if they have the capacity to do so.

Yes there are downsides as well, school holidays, folk who play golf, all the usual summer activities.

But that's the whole point ..... There is a potential here to increase the attendances, possibly get a better TV deal, possibly decrease costs for clubs. It seems daft on the face of it that the people who run football haven't at least attempted a study, which amongst other things involves an intensive supporter survey and intensive consultation with other summer leagues, to find out if it would be worth giving this a go. :dunno:

Great post NN.

Pitch maintenance as well. Grass doesn’t grow in December, January and February.

So it would be a plus point for “ball on the ground” football.

[hibby rae]

Understand the question after the other night, but Summer football is a terrible idea.

Do crowds get bigger? No real evidence of that.

Will we get a better TV deal and increased demand for watching games? No. Look at the League of Ireland.

Do we want our league to compete with a World Cup or euros every two years?

Do we want to be out of sync with other leagues?

The winter in this country is gloomy enough without taking football away!

I would far rather sit watching football in the summer than a gloomy winter.

I have hobbies outside football anyway so can entertain myself other ways.

[davhibby]

The main reason it would never work is that we’d be totally out of sync with our biggest transfer market. Teams would lose out of contract players to English clubs at the end of our season and would then have to wait until the middle of the season to sign replacements unless they were able to pay a transfer fee.

You’d also have the problem of losing players for months in the middle of the season and again unless you had a massive summer transfer window mid season (other countries who play in the summer tend to just have August) you’d be left waiting up to 2 months to replace people.

If we had the winter break in December instead of January that would be better. First games back could be boxing day and we could have the extra midweek games at the start/end of the season instead of right around the winter break.

[BoomtownHibees]

Great post NN.

Pitch maintenance as well. Grass doesn’t grow in December, January and February.

So it would be a plus point for “ball on the ground” football.

I think that could also cause some bother with pitches as well though.

So if season finished in November, pitches will be a mess and not sure how they would recover in time for the season starting again in March.

Might explain why so many Scandinavian teams play on artificial pitches

[seanshow]

Should have done it 30 years ago.

Start the season mid March and have the cup final on new years day,
perfect pitches all season, summer football, and better prepared for club euro comps.

Just have to suck it up and adjust come international football.

Chick dung (bbc) has been advocating this for his whole career......but don't let that put us off the idea :)

[SHODAN]

Would be for it in principle, and from a personal perspective my family doesn't go on holidays an awful lot so will be able to make most of the games. Would miss the Winter football though.

[Pagan Hibernia]

The LOI product is crap.

Ours is better.

J

motherwell fans thought the same last summer… then they were humped both home and away by Sligo.

but on the question of summer football, it’s a no from me. I love my winter football. Love the festive fixtures.

as others have said many people struggle in the winter months. To trudge through three cold dark months without Hibs to look forward to at the weekend would be more punishment. I don’t even like the couple of weeks winter break in January. I equally love switching off from football completely during the warm months when there’s always plenty to do outside on a Saturday.

[.Sean.]

This might sound silly but part of the football experience is getting wrapped up and watching your team all weathers in the winter. Summer football isn’t for me

[Steven79]

This might sound silly but part of the football experience is getting wrapped up and watching your team all weathers in the winter. Summer football isn’t for meGive me summer football over that experience every day of the week.

Not everyone lives 5 minutes from Easter Road.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

[CapitalGreen]

This might sound silly but part of the football experience is getting wrapped up and watching your team all weathers in the winter. Summer football isn’t for me

There would still be part of the season played during cold months, we’d just no longer be stopping when the weather got nice.

[Gatecrasher]

I don't really go in the winter anymore, much prefer football in warmer weather. It just feels better.

[jacomo]

In terms of crowds getting bigger, I’m not sure what evidence could be provided when it’s never been tried?

Not a direct comparison but is there not potential comparables with rugby league moving to a summer league so they didn’t have to compete with union? I’m really no expert on that subject so I may be miles off with the comparison but my perception was it was a sport that wasn’t really thriving, once they moved to the summer the popularity of it took off, helped by the fact there’s very little other sport on at that time.

I think we face a similar challenge competing with an English football.

I’d be all for summer football, I hate being cold and would be quite happy to hibernate for the winter, only leaving the house when absolutely necessary. Much nicer experience for taking kids to a game too if the sun is shining and it’s warm.


It worked for a while but I wouldn’t describe English rugby league as thriving these days.

[Sauerkraut]

Quite enjoying the civilised debate. I'm an old fart and its getting increasingly difficult to drag myself up to ER on winter evenings. Weds occasion was so much more pleasant, (and the result a huge bonus). TV will stump up for SPFL during summer when there is no alternative. Only one digital channel will have access to Euros/WC in the even years, leaving the others scrambling. I am happy to settle for English/European TV football (lets say Dec to Feb) to ensure retention of the dangly bits. I hardly think we would often be endangering brave Scottish teams in the latter stages of European competition. And yes, there is an argument around eco-issue money savings.
I acknowledge there is some resistance which I respect.

[Alfred E Newman]

I say this a lot,but the Celtic game the other night must go some way to indicating how Scottish football could benefit from shifting from turgid stop start winter months to fairer months.

Easter road looked glorious the other night,pitch was fantastic football was better and obviously the result helped the mood and atmosphere.

But that aside,surely we could sell the game better in the summer and possibly even breed better talented footballers. Even for a fix in winter a cup could be played.
It’s been a while since I’ve felt good about the league in winter,it’s became very stop start with international breaks,and if you’re hoofed out the league cup even more breaks.
Surely there must be more support for this in the modern game?
The cup final is in June and the season starts in July, we are already playing 12 months of the year.

[sauzeelegod]

Would love us to switch to a summer league.

[tonyrougier123]

The cup final is in June and the season starts in July, we are already playing 12 months of the year.

We hardly played in about 3 of those months. Plus you had World Cup stoppage.
I can understand by reading this thread why meaningful changes to Scottish football will never happen. It’s good to see there’s more than few share the view it would be worth at least looking into though.

[Billy Whizz]

We hardly played in about 3 of those months. Plus you had World Cup stoppage.
I can understand by reading this thread why meaningful changes to Scottish football will never happen. It’s good to see there’s more than few share the view it would be worth at least looking into though.

We should certainly be looking at kick off time’s November to January. 3pm is too late for weekend matches in my opinion

[IberianHibernian]

We should certainly be looking at kick off time’s November to January. 3pm is too late for weekend matches in my opinionI`ve always thought this . Electricity bills must be massive especially for lower league clubs . I suppose problem would be TV games having to start even earlier and Englisg games clashing .

[O'Rourke3]

Summer footy for me. Piling the fixtures before the New Year is a necessity as they have to have contingency for postponed fixtures and cup replays. You also have European fixtures. The two cheeks are getting closer to regular after new-year games. They'd also be the two teams most likely to veto any move. Summer Saturday fixtures would play havoc with matching season. So another reason to want it.

Sent from my SM-G990B using Tapatalk

[bingo70]

It worked for a while but I wouldn’t describe English rugby league as thriving these days.

Is it not? That’s a shame, I went to a St Helens (I think) Wigan game once when I was young and it was a great day out.

I’m guessing crowds are still better now than they were before the move to summer rugby though?

[Lancs Harp]

Will ruin my pimms and cricket

[Waxy]

If every fan wanted a switch to summer football.
If most clubs wanted a switch to summer football.
It wouldnt matter
What matters is???????
Whatever the old firm want.

[LaMotta]

Ah summer football - magnificent pitches for free flowing passes, glorious weather etc etc :wink:

[CapitalGreen]

Ah summer football - magnificent pitches for free flowing passes, glorious weather etc etc :wink:

I assume you mean the glorious sunshine currently shining on Leith 😆