Embarrassing

[SRHibs]

Scottish Football looks like it might reach new heights of embarrassment and two-sidedeness this season. And according to most on here, these are the worst OF sides we've seen for a good amount of time.

Celtic and Rangers both with 100% records, and 11 points ahead of the 3rd place team after only 8 games - embarrassing for Scottish Football to say the least. Something really needs to be done to improve the league, and I really don't think adding a few more teams is the answer.

[Diclonius]

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And according to most on here, these are the worst OF sides we've seen for a good amount of time.

They are. That's the really depressing part.

[chorley_fm]

Scottish football is dying on its arse

[Storar]

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Scottish Football looks like it might reach new heights of embarrassment and two-sidedeness this season. And according to most on here, these are the worst OF sides we've seen for a good amount of time.

Celtic and Rangers both with 100% records, and 11 points ahead of the 3rd place team after only 8 games - embarrassing for Scottish Football to say the least. Something really needs to be done to improve the league, and I really don't think adding a few more teams is the answer.

That's not true though is it. People have been saying that one here every year since i started reading but it's rubbish.
Fair enough they're not as good as the Laudrup, Gazza, Larrson and Moravcik teams but this Rangers side for example is a million times better than teams that had the likes of Capucho, Bernard, Clement, Ostsendstad, Vanoli, Emerson, Jeffers etc
Yes it's embarrassing but people who keep saying year after year that the Old Firm are 'there for the taking' are kidding themselves

[Sir David Gray]

Rangers and Celtic are streets and streets ahead of the rest. I know it was only 2-1 to Celtic today which makes it sound as if it was quite a close contest but I watched the whole second half and apart from a couple of chances for Dundee Utd at the beginning of the half, Celtic totally dominated the play.

It really is a depressing situation.

[SRHibs]

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That's not true though is it. People have been saying that one here every year since i started reading but it's rubbish.
Fair enough they're not as good as the Laudrup, Gazza, Larrson and Moravcik teams but this Rangers side for example is a million times better than teams that had the likes of Capucho, Bernard, Clement, Ostsendstad, Vanoli, Emerson, Jeffers etc
Yes it's embarrassing but people who keep saying year after year that the Old Firm are 'there for the taking' are kidding themselves

Not sure about that TBH.

Looking at the past ten years, I can't find a team that I'd consider worse that their current one - http://en.eufo.de/football/squad/gla...angers/2010-11

Fair enough, the likes of Ostenstad might've been pish, but at that time their team was also populated with the likes of Klos, De Boer, Arteta etc, who are all a step above what they have now. I think you only have to look at the previous clubs of their current players to see how significant the decrease in quality has actually been.

[gorgie_harp]

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Scottish football is dying on its arse

100%,sad but true.

[Phil D. Rolls]

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Scottish Football looks like it might reach new heights of embarrassment and two-sidedeness this season. And according to most on here, these are the worst OF sides we've seen for a good amount of time.

Celtic and Rangers both with 100% records, and 11 points ahead of the 3rd place team after only 8 games - embarrassing for Scottish Football to say the least. Something really needs to be done to improve the league, and I really don't think adding a few more teams is the answer.

The problem is that the status quo is acceptable to too many people. As long as that pair are in the top two slots, most people are happy.

I honestly think we'd have a chance of a more exciting league if we went back to playing each other twice a season. That would increase the chances of upsets. As it stands, over four games, the points will tend to gravitate to the stronger team.

[Sas_The_Hibby]

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The problem is that the status quo is acceptable to too many people. As long as that pair are in the top two slots, most people are happy.

I honestly think we'd have a chance of a more exciting league if we went back to playing each other twice a season. That would increase the chances of upsets. As it stands, over four games, the points will tend to gravitate to the stronger team.

I'm in favour of a bigger SPL and playing other teams twice, in principle, because it would make the league less monotonous. However, I'm also aware of some of the practical difficulties, and I don't think it would make any difference to the likeliehood of the OF winning the league every season.

[Littlest Hobo]

Aye Rangers are miles ahead of the rest because of? Kenny Miller? Aye he's brilliant and so untouchable right enough.

Davie Weir? A forty year old defender!

For me it comes down to Walter and Ali running a tight ship at Ibrox.

Great team spirit. They really have a hunger and a point to prove that their no the worst old firm team in recent times.

You could say the same about Celtic.

If any of the other teams could keep a hold of a player long enough to build some team spirit I believe we could give them a run for their money.

As long as we keep paying for the train fare for our best talent to go west we have no chance, and that goes for all the rest anaw!

[IWasThere2016]

Spot on Chorley - our game is undergoing a slow and painful death. The OF have played their part in this of course

[SloopJB]

Scottish football has been getting worse every year for the past ten years as far as I can gather.
Must have been ****in good ten years ago.

[The_Todd]

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Aye Rangers are miles ahead of the rest because of?

The fact they can spend £4m on a single player while the rest of us work exclusively on bosmans?

[NAE NOOKIE]

The only difference between now & the last 20 years or so is the gap opening so quickly.

We will end up like Ireland soon where everybody loves football but wont go to Irish games and instead will fervently support Liverpool, Man Utd, Spurs etc doon the pub.

Aye perhaps our game aint the best just now, but folk out there are trying to impove it and constantly stating the bloody obvious all the time is doing nothing to help.

I would love to see Spanish and EPL class football every week, but the truth is this aint Spain or England and it never has been.

Another truth is that over the last 30 years the only truly class teams who you would pay to watch as a neutral have been Dundee Utd and Aberdeen in the 80s so this dewy eyed memory of bygone quality football that we all miss so much is tosh.

The truth is that for the last 10 years like never before wall to wall TV football from England and Spain etc has been shoved down our throats and everybody thinks we can get to something like that standard.

Keep dreamin.

[Frogga]

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Aye perhaps our game aint the best just now, but folk out there are trying to impove it and constantly stating the bloody obvious all the time is doing nothing to help.

Totally agree. Negativity like this is dragging the game down even quicker and is not helping. We still have the best supported league per population in Europe and the same teams and fans we always had. It will get better again - just like Hibs there are ups and downs - and Scottish football will find its feet again soon.

[Bookkeeper]

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The only difference between now & the last 20 years or so is the gap opening so quickly.

We will end up like Ireland soon where everybody loves football but wont go to Irish games and instead will fervently support Liverpool, Man Utd, Spurs etc doon the pub.

Aye perhaps our game aint the best just now, but folk out there are trying to impove it and constantly stating the bloody obvious all the time is doing nothing to help.

I would love to see Spanish and EPL class football every week, but the truth is this aint Spain or England and it never has been.

Another truth is that over the last 30 years the only truly class teams who you would pay to watch as a neutral have been Dundee Utd and Aberdeen in the 80s so this dewy eyed memory of bygone quality football that we all miss so much is tosh.

The truth is that for the last 10 years like never before wall to wall TV football from England and Spain etc has been shoved down our throats and everybody thinks we can get to something like that standard.

Keep dreamin.

Agree with a lot of that, the tv football shown is maybe something to aspire to, but the reality is, we should be looking at the Dutch, Danish, Portuguese leagues etc as being the level to aim at.

Equality of finance will always be a problem unless its legislated out of the equation like in american football (I believe, although stand to be corrected). The oldfirm may not be as well off as before, but the other clubs are getting poorer at a faster rate I think.

Maybe the answer is to look more at the coaching of players in this country. Maybe its time to get the skill levels of players up to an acceptable level. You've just got to look round the spl to see some of the huddies masquerading as players in this league. The league is riddled with players that can't do the basics.

Oh! and a bit of league reconstruction wouldn't go amiss.

[truehibernian]

Have to say it was the only thing I agreed with John Hughes on. The problem with Scottish football goes beyond football itself. It is societal and economic.

Kids (or youths) these days are more into playstations, bebo, ipods and booze/drugs. Not saying that other European countries don't have these problems too, however abroad there is a different outlook to life, sport and looking after yourself. Footballers abroad are also better educated. You walk along the main streets of Rome, Barcelona, Madrid, Munich, do you see kids boozing, puking, fighting and loitering in roaming, bored out their nuts gangs ? Having worked in two of those cities I can say with 100% confidence that the general youth there have a far more productive and refreshing outlook to their own lifestyles. Kids in Barca for example are far more into coffee, fashion and girls. In Rome it was vespas, music and girls. No boozy culture at all but girls were the common denominator

But the guys also loved their football, either supporting or playing. But they had better facilities, better stadia, better schools and better coaching (from state school coaches (teachers) to pro/semi pro coaches at clubs). It was also cheaper to watch their teams. A season ticket in Spain for example works out around a half/third of what we pay here in Scotland. In Germany, have a read of this

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/b...premier-league

Don't read the Guardian by the way, but thought it was an excellent overview of why our teams suffer.

No investment in facilities, no positive approach to health and dealing with alcohol/smoking, years of government where Labour were more interested in creating an Asbo culture than actually seeing the country needed proper investment in sport.......for me that is the problem and is why Scottish sport is rock bottom. Sorry if that sounds like a rant.........also bugs me that we now live in a society where respect has diminished, the value of property and money is not appreciated, and young folk don't face any real punishment from wrongdoing, meaning we live in a country which is wishy washy and where there is no real "winning mentality" as JH frequently stated. We live in a "someone else will do it" state.

It's no surprise that the top players in the world (mostly) came from humble backgrounds, some may say adversity, but they respect their families, coaches and their peers (Pele, Jairzinho, Kaka, Messi, Ronaldo, Puyol, Zidane,etc). But they worked not only because they wanted to, but because their families made them work and value their talents.

Watch the way kids talk to referees at Saughton Enclosure, Leith Links, Jack Kane, etc. They are not educated or coached in the finer art of football

They are more into bravado, shouting, swearing and playing up. They take their street attitude onto the pitch. Watch a game in Germany or Spain, youth level, you see players playing with smiles, playing to win but with an essence of what the game is about. Yes they get angry, yes they foul. But they listen to their coaches, they respect one another, and they learn

I watched a game last weekend at Saughton and not one of the players on show would make it in the game professionally. The coaches were too interested in having their players get stuck in to their counterpart, the players more into shouting at the ref, and the actual football was dire. And these were apparently two of the best juvenile teams in Edinburgh. The two players that caught my eye, a striker and a winger, were constantly fouled to the cheers of the "coaches" and those at the sidelines. Says it all for me

What a grumpy old man I am......sorry if that comes across in the post

[Bookkeeper]

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Have to say it was the only thing I agreed with John Hughes on. The problem with Scottish football goes beyond football itself. It is societal and economic.

Kids (or youths) these days are more into playstations, bebo, ipods and booze/drugs. Not saying that other European countries don't have these problems too, however abroad there is a different outlook to life, sport and looking after yourself. Footballers abroad are also better educated. You walk along the main streets of Rome, Barcelona, Madrid, Munich, do you see kids boozing, puking, fighting and loitering in roaming, bored out their nuts gangs ? Having worked in two of those cities I can say with 100% confidence that the general youth there have a far more productive and refreshing outlook to their own lifestyles. Kids in Barca for example are far more into coffee, fashion and girls. In Rome it was vespas, music and girls. No boozy culture at all but girls were the common denominator

But the guys also loved their football, either supporting or playing. But they had better facilities, better stadia, better schools and better coaching (from state school coaches (teachers) to pro/semi pro coaches at clubs). It was also cheaper to watch their teams. A season ticket in Spain for example works out around a half/third of what we pay here in Scotland. In Germany, have a read of this

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/b...premier-league

Don't read the Guardian by the way, but thought it was an excellent overview of why our teams suffer.

No investment in facilities, no positive approach to health and dealing with alcohol/smoking, years of government where Labour were more interested in creating an Asbo culture than actually seeing the country needed proper investment in sport.......for me that is the problem and is why Scottish sport is rock bottom. Sorry if that sounds like a rant.........also bugs me that we now live in a society where respect has diminished, the value of property and money is not appreciated, and young folk don't face any real punishment from wrongdoing, meaning we live in a country which is wishy washy and where there is no real "winning mentality" as JH frequently stated. We live in a "someone else will do it" state.

It's no surprise that the top players in the world (mostly) came from humble backgrounds, some may say adversity, but they respect their families, coaches and their peers (Pele, Jairzinho, Kaka, Messi, Ronaldo, Puyol, Zidane,etc). But they worked not only because they wanted to, but because their families made them work and value their talents.

Watch the way kids talk to referees at Saughton Enclosure, Leith Links, Jack Kane, etc. They are not educated or coached in the finer art of football

They are more into bravado, shouting, swearing and playing up. They take their street attitude onto the pitch. Watch a game in Germany or Spain, youth level, you see players playing with smiles, playing to win but with an essence of what the game is about. Yes they get angry, yes they foul. But they listen to their coaches, they respect one another, and they learn

I watched a game last weekend at Saughton and not one of the players on show would make it in the game professionally. The coaches were too interested in having their players get stuck in to their counterpart, the players more into shouting at the ref, and the actual football was dire. And these were apparently two of the best juvenile teams in Edinburgh. The two players that caught my eye, a striker and a winger, were constantly fouled to the cheers of the "coaches" and those at the sidelines. Says it all for me

What a grumpy old man I am......sorry if that comes across in the post

...and breathe!

Seriously though, I must be mr. grumpy too because I agree with all of that. This country is crap!

[truehibernian]

Bookkeeper, you summed it up better than me and only in one line mate .

Care to join me for a werthers original..................

[oldbutdim]

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The problem is that the status quo is acceptable to too many people. As long as that pair are in the top two slots, most people are happy.

Well not me.
It just makes me down down deeper and down.