Scottish football ... There is hope

[NAE NOOKIE]

On the back of a 20,000 crowd on Thursday can we dare to hope that in spite of the game being in the doldrums over the last few decades that there is still an appetite out there for the beautiful game.

Both St Mirren and Dundee Utd hosted decent crowds for matches over the last couple of weeks and I've noticed that though small the away supports have been slightly bigger at ER ... thinking of Killie here who in spite of playing in Edinburgh only days earlier still brought a slightly bigger crowd than usual.

Just thinking that if we get the product right the fans are still out there for every club.

As I've said before I cant help thinking that for the rest of us the OF ( or whatever they are now ) have become an irrevelance to Scottish Football on a domestic level. They are so far ahead on financial terms that the prospect of any of the other clubs winning the league is, and will continue to be, vertually nil.

I would love to see the fans of the SPFL's also rans ( including us ) get together and buy a flag and trophy which will be presented by the fans to the highest placed non OF club at the end of the season as the Champions of the real Scottish Premiership. Because lets face it, the competition we play in every season is to finish above the likes of Motherwell, Dundee Utd, Aberdeen etc. Thats the real league.

I could honestly see folk buying in to such a scenario and being more encouraged to go to games as a result. I could also see it sending a message to UEFA if it gained enough media coverage ..... That a lot of fans around Europe, not just in Scotland, are fed up of the same big clubs with tons of cash monopolizing the top spots.

[Carheenlea]

A flag and a trophy for finishing "best non old firm" would be met with derision from outsiders who are always keen to stick the boot in to our game. Probably quite right too as handing out cups to effectively a loser would add nothing.
The more fans that turn out to support their teams the healthier and more competitive the non old firm clubs will be. 20,000 was a magnificent attendance, and I think Aberdeen had a 20,000 crowd last season. The fans are there if there is entertainment and enjoyment from following their teams, and Scottish Football is in a good place right now, with some great young talent and some decent sides. Onwards and upwards.

[GreenCastle]

The cancer of Scottish Football....lesser greens and Sevco.

Take them out and you would see crowds rise and a competitive league - it may not make as much money straight away but it would grow over time.

The problem is simply the Old Firm and the monopoly they have on the game over here with fans and the media.

[easty]

A trophy for a team coming third? Nah.

[DanHFC1875]

I like the post until it got to a trophy and a flag and the real league... I'm out!!!

[Eyrie]

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The cancer of Scottish Football....lesser greens and Sevco.

Take them out and you would see crowds rise and a competitive league - it may not make as much money straight away but it would grow over time.

The problem is simply the Old Firm and the monopoly they have on the game over here with fans and the media.

[MyJo]

While i agree with the sentiments of it i think a "best losers" trophy wouldn't work.

What i agree with and im confident would work is a league without the old firm, the day they piss off to the english leagues or a super-duper-euro-league will be fantastic for scottish football.

To have a team sitting in our league talking about spending £6m on one player when every other team in the league combined over the last year havent spent that much on any players is disgusting. The fact that they also have a wage bill almost 7 times that of the next biggest spenders in the league and then complain about lack of competition and the league being a one-horse race is an absolute joke.

[Ozyhibby]

Getting rid of them to a bigger league would be suicidal. All the media attention would follow them without a backward glance to the rest.
The solution is to salary cap the league at affordable levels.
We may find an unlikely ally in the new Rangers as they face returning to the SPFL with a reduced wage bill of about £4 compared with Celtic's wage bill of £30m.
Either way I don't understand why we don't pursue this in an effort to make the league more competitive.

[SJNB Hibby]

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A flag and a trophy for finishing "best non old firm" would be met with derision from outsiders who are always keen to stick the boot in to our game. Probably quite right too as handing out cups to effectively a loser would add nothing.
The more fans that turn out to support their teams the healthier and more competitive the non old firm clubs will be. 20,000 was a magnificent attendance, and I think Aberdeen had a 20,000 crowd last season. The fans are there if there is entertainment and enjoyment from following their teams, and Scottish Football is in a good place right now, with some great young talent and some decent sides. Onwards and upwards.

Aberdeen had 20000+ in their first game THIS season. When was the last time there were two in 1 season(and if we dont make top 6---likely a third?)

[Ozyhibby]

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Aberdeen had 20000+ in their first game THIS season. When was the last time there were two in 1 season(and if we dont make top 6---likely a third?)

If we don't make top 6 there won't be a third as the Hibs fans will be well p****d off and crowds will fall,

[Bishop Hibee]

Celtc will play in an NFL style Euro League at some point. The Rangers are in such a mess financially they may miss the boat.

I'd like to see a league minus both which would be genuinely competitive. There would still be European competition with the teams not in the Euro league. There could still be a Scottish cup if the OF and all the other clubs agreed.

The death of Rangers put paid to the myth that they support Scottish football.

[Jonnyboy]

On the subject of attendances, it must have blown TB away to see 20k against the mutants when at ICT it would take about 6 home games to accumulate that number

[...WentToMowAnSPL]

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On the subject of attendances, it must have blown TB away to see 20k against the mutants when at ICT it would take about 6 home games to accumulate that number

I'd have thought so but wasn't going misty eyed on Thursday or even knew words to Sunshine on Leith

Onwards and Upwards ...

[Jonnyboy]

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I'd have thought so but wasn't going misty eyed on Thursday or even knew words to Sunshine on Leith

Onwards and Upwards ...

Did say he was going to make a point of learning them though

[MyJo]

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Did say he was going to make a point of learning them though

There's an idea for the tunnel

[Bronson]

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A trophy for a team coming third? Nah.

Agree with you there, very defeatist mentality and the reason the 2 ugly sisters were so far ahead all this time, and the reason celtic still are. No team seems to genuinely believe they can challenge them, no one has since hearts under burley and us for that half season under yogi when we were right in the mix until we got leathered off the huns around xmas time and faded away. Hopefully see a couple teams build and become stronger and really mount a challenge sometime soon.

[whiskyhibby]

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Celtc will play in an NFL style Euro League at some point. The Rangers are in such a mess financially they may miss the boat.

I'd like to see a league minus both which would be genuinely competitive. There would still be European competition with the teams not in the Euro league. There could still be a Scottish cup if the OF and all the other clubs agreed.

The death of Rangers put paid to the myth that they support Scottish football.

Agreed the sooner scottish football gets rid of the old firm the better, we need a competitive league to move forward

[NAE NOOKIE]

I dont like the idea of prizes for finishing third either ... on a level playing field.

But we dont have a level playing field. Even in the days of Aberdeen and Dundee Utd doing well, which was 30 odd years ago now, the gulf wasnt as big in financial terms. In the next two seasons Celtic will double their income from the Champions league and like it or not The Rangers will be streets ahead of the others in financial terms on return to the Premier League and it will be normal service resumed.

As Ozyhibby rightly said "getting rid of them to another league will be a disaster" not in the short term perhaps, but even now its hard to turn kids from the delights of the EPL ... If there were two Scottish clubs in the EPL future kids will be drawn to them and our domestic leagues including the Premiership would get page 10 in the papers instead of page 5.

As things stand the OF are light years from joining the EPL and the other Scottish clubs are light years from being able to compete financially with the OF.

Unless the SPFL / SFA / UEFA* bring in a proper spending cap to make things fairer ( which is highly unlikely ) it will be status quo for the forseeable future.

As far as I can see doing what I suggested wouldnt be admitting defeat .... It would be us expressing our anger that there are two clubs in this country who have carved up a monopoly of the league and in doing so have come close to destroying our domestic game. When was the last time a non OF fan woke up on the first day of the season thinking his or her club had any chance of winning the league? In any case .... all we would be doing is putting meat onto the bones of what already exists, which is a league within a league.

As for us doing this making us a laughing stock. I would prefer to think that all around Europe the millions of fans who dont support the giants would applaud what we had done.

* I know UEFA are bringing in a rule about spending on wages etc being linked to turnover. All that does is make it even more difficult for smaller clubs financed by rich companies or individuals to break the monopoly of the giants who's huge crowds and global appeal give them huge turnovers.

[marinello59]

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Agreed the sooner scottish football gets rid of the old firm the better, we need a competitive league to move forward

Should Spain dump Barcelona and Real Madrid then?
Maybe England could dump Chelsea, Man Utd, Man City and Chelsea.
What value would winning a national title have if the biggest teams in the country aren't playing in the competition? We should be trying to win trophies despite the odds being stacked against us rather than simply giving up and aiming for less meaningful prizes.