From the TSFM Manifesto 🙂
A spectre is haunting Scottish Football — the spectre of Sporting Integrity. All the powers of the old firms have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Billy and Dan, Blazer and Cassock, Record and Sun, Balance Sheet and P&L.
Where is the football fan in opposition to these that has not been decried as a “sporting integrity bampot” by his opponents in power?Two things result from this fact:
I. Sporting Integrity is already widely acknowledged to be itself a power for good.
II. It is high time that Lovers of Sport should openly, in the face of the whole world, publish their views, their aims, and meet this nursery tale of the Spectre of Sporting Integrity with a manifesto of fair play.
To this end, Lovers of Sport of various partisanship have assembled on TSFM and sketched their manifesto, to be published on tsfm.scot.
Those who love sport though are challenged not just by the taunts of the monosyllabic automatons in the MSM, but by the owners of our football clubs who have displayed an almost total disregard to our wish to have a fair competition played out in the spirit of friendly rivalry. In fact the clubs, who speak those fine words, are not nearly as outraged as we are by the damage done to the integrity of the sport in the past few years .
In fact the term Sporting Integrity has become, since the latter stages of the Rangers era, a term of abuse; a mocking soubriquet attached to those who want sport to be just that – sport.
Sporting integrity now lives in the same media pigeon-hole as words like Islam, left-wing, militant, Muslim – and a host of others; words which are threats to the established order now set up as in-jokes, in order to reduce the effectiveness of the idea.
In fact, a new terminology has evolved in the reporting of football by both club officials and The Succulent Lamb Chapel alike;
“.. Sporting Integrity but …”.
For example
“We all want sporting integrity, but finance is more important”
Says who exactly?
Stated in such a matter of fact way that the obvious question is headed off at the pass, it is sometimes difficult to re-frame the discussion – perhaps because crayon is so hard to erase?
This is the backdrop to The Scottish Football Monitor and the world in which we live. Often the levels of scrutiny employed by our contributors are far in excess of any scrutiny employed by the MSM. Indeed our ideas and theories are regularly plagiarised by those very same lazy journalists who lurk here, and cherry-pick material to suit their own agendas; regularly claiming exclusives for stories that TSFM and RTC before us had placed in the public domain weeks earlier.
This was going to lead into a discourse about the love of money versus the love of sport – of how the sacred cows of acquisitiveness, gate- retention and turnstile spinning is far more important to the heads of our football clubs (the Billys, Dans and Blazers of the intro) than maintaining the traditions of our sport.
However events of Friday 14th November have given me cause to leave that for another day. The biggest squirrel of all in this sorry saga has always been the sleight of hand employed instil a siege mentality in the Rangers fans. The press have time and again assisted people (with no love of football in general or Rangers in particular) to enrich themselves – legally or otherwise – and feed on the loyalty of Rangers fans.
A matter for Rangers fans may also be the identity of some of those who had their trust, but who also assisted the Whytes and Greens by their public statements of support.
Our contention has been that rules have been bent twisted or broken to accommodate those people, the real enemies of the Rangers fans – and fans everywhere.
Through our collective research and group-analysis of events, we have also wondered out loud about the legality of many aspects of the operating style of some of the main players in the affair. That suspicion has been shared most notably by Mark Daly and Alex Thompson, but crucially now appears to be shared by Law Enforcement.
I confess I am fed up with the self-styled “bampot” epithet. For the avoidance of doubt, the “bampots” in this affair are those who have greater resources than us, and access to the truth, but who have lacked either the will or the courage or the imagination to follow it through.
We are anything but bampots. Rather, we have demonstrated that the wisdom of the crowd is more effective by far than any remnants of wisdom in the press.
I have no doubt that the police investigation into this matter is proceeding in spite of great opposition in the MSM and the Scottish Football Authorities – all of whom conspired to expose Rangers to the custodianship of those for whom football is a foreign language.
I have no doubt that the constant exposition of wrong-doing on this blog, in particular the questions we have constantly raised, and anomalies we have pointed out, has assisted and enabled the law enforcement agencies in this process.
If we are to be consistent in this, our enabling of the authorities, we MUST show restraint at all times as this process is followed through. People who are charged with a crime deserve to be given a fair trial in the absence of rumour or innuendo. We must also, if we are to continue as the spectre which haunts the avaricious – and the real bampots – be seen to be better than they, and give them no cause to accuse us of irresponsibility.
This affair has now evolved way beyond one club gaining unfair advantage over others. For all the understandable Schadenfreude of many among us, the real enemy is not Rangers, it is about those who enabled and continue to enable the farce at Ibrox.
This is now about systematic cheating at the heart of the Scottish game (in the name of cash and in spite of lip service to sporting integrity), and how the greed of a bunch of ethically challenged officials allowed another group of ethically challenged businessmen free rein to enrich themselves at the expense of the fans.
Whether laws were broken or not, the players at Rangers have come and gone and are variables, but the malignant constant at the SFA and SPFL are still there. Last night, even after the news that four men had been arrested in connection with the takeover at Ibrox in 2011, they were gathered together at Celtic Park with their Irish counterparts, tucking into succulent lamb (perhaps) and fine wines, doing some back slapping, making jokes about the vulgarities of their fans, bragging about the ST money they have banked.
The revolution won’t be over until they are gone, and if they remain, it is Scottish Football that will be over.
GoosyGoosy says:
December 3, 2014 at 11:15 pm
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Liquidation kills the Onerous Contracts.
wottpi says:
December 3, 2014 at 11:08 pm
‘.. While there has always been a degree of sympathy for individual Rangers fans my guess is the vast majority on here and RTC have long given up hope of a reformed Rangers and would be quite happy to see them go to the wall. Thus a bit of gloating is perhaps understandable.’
———
Nevertheless, I personally must insist that the ‘raison d’etre’ of this blog is the FACT of SFA laxity in respect of the way they dealt with(or did not deal with!)the cheating of SDM from years ago, a laxity rooted in an attitude of ready accommodation which reached its zenith in the 5-way agreement.
It is the SFA ,and its more than a decade long failure to exercise its proper regulatory function in relation to RFC(IL), that lies at the base of all that has happened in the ‘saga’
Of course, many posters are irked that, apparently, the majority of the supporters of RFC(IL) are not only happy to accept that what had been their hero, (their £10 for every £5 hero), but seem positively to rejoice in the fact that he was a cheat! And appear not at all phased that some of the ‘successes’ of their club under SDM’s ownership was based on cheating on a scale and just as vile as that of cyclist Armstrong.
AND, further, are happy to insist on the fantasy that the team to which they transferred their affections is actually the RFC that the self-same SDM(and NOT Craig Whyte))destroyed!
But the fantasies of the supporters of a dead, disgraced club, and the fortunes of an ersatz duplicate of that club, are, in the wider context, neither here nor there. Except that the fear is there that if that ersatz Rangers goes down the plug-hole, the same rotten SFA will try to save it by any means, illicit though they may be.
The track record of deceptive and complicit rottenness of the SFA is what we have to expose.And what we have reason to fear.
Gloating is, in that context, irrelevant.
In my opinion.
And, when I come to think of it, at an SFA arranged convention, who got really slated? Not the CEO of the SFA. Oh, no, it was his, and his boss’s gig!
No, the anonymous ‘blazers’, the club owners, and Doncaster were clearly targeted, even if not personally named.
I wonder whether any party to the 5-way agreement,if sufficiently aggrieved at being singled out as a waste of space,might be prepared to sing like a canary about that 5-way agreement and who were the principal pushers for accommodating CG?
Maybe Neil Doncaster will have something to say.
Barcabhoy says:
December 3, 2014 at 11:21 pm
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Benchmarking…….
_______________________________________
Interesting idea barca.
Here is what is fundamentally wrong with it.
And it goes to the crux of what this blog is about.
You are reducing what is currently the second most succesful club in scottish football to the second tier on a basis that has no more merit than those who proposed that Rangers should maintain their status in the top flight despite their insolvency and liquidation.
So I call you out.
Caley Thistle are where we are… not by financial impropriety … we are flawless in that regard.
Not by dodgy dealings or backroom agreements. We have no special hold on those in positions of influence and power. Indeedy.
We are quite simply the second best club in Scottish football currently on the basis of sound management judicious financial policy and true sporting merit.
Evolution in action.
OK. Our crowds may be small.
But this is only because football has been priced out of the reach of the common man, and players wage inflation has (elsewhere… not in Inverness) reached the point where the link between club and community has been broken.
Our product is delightful and I am proud of it. I would go to more games than I do if I could afford to. Our budgets are minimal, but we don’t half get value for money. And our underpaid sporting heroes are lionised. Deservedly. I wish them all the happiness they deserve, – happiness and fullfilment that escapes their better paid less successful peers.
Lower ticket prices would increase our gates for sure.
But worry not.
Unlike the rest of Scottish football, we are evolved to deal with the status quo and will thrive so long as a fair pitch is placed in front of us.
We are a success because the old system is broken and we are new. And Better.
So Move aside.
Make way.
We champion the values you espouse on TSFM.
So Welcome us. Do us down at your peril.
hey… Why not support us?
We are that good!
#we have a bridge and a castle…
# oh inverness is wonderful!
Resin_lab_dog says:
December 4, 2014 at 1:14 am
‘. oh inverness is wonderful!’
——
I agree.I like it.
So was The Scottish FA Convention a success?
What do the fans think – and know?
Exactly.
Absolute bullish!t from the SFA.
Lots of positive PR expected in the SMSM.
But even more distrust and ridicule from the paying customers.
There must be some end point? !
Some thought-provoking concepts there. I had always discounted such a league setup for soccerball as too radical, too different – not personally but I imagined the powers that be would scoff at such a thing. We still have people in this country who don’t understand why players in the NFL wear padding, discounting it as “soft” whilst we tacitly accept grown men throwing themselves around the pitch in some of the most embarassing playacting every witnessed and consider it a step above. Yet the razmattazz of the NFL spectacle is too brash for many.
So a league without relegation seemed like a preposterous idea – after all, every football league we are presented with (not every league mind) is based on a pyramid or linear system of sort.
Then we were told our top league would split into two towards the end of the season.
More recently we were told that two leagues could metamorphosise into three ❗
So perhaps now this sort of alignment isn’t quite as bizarre as it might have seemed.
There are of course many differences in benchmarking against the NFL. It’s a perfect TV sport with stoppages extended for ad breaks, the revenue and draft structures (worthy of another conversation) and it’s monopoly of talent with no rival within the country or the world (in terms of the sport) are things we will never have here. You only go to play football in Canada to get into the NFL (or work through your drug ban…). Sad but for the most part true – perhaps not disimilar to Johnny Foreigner flexing his muscles in the SPL/SPFL looking for a lucrative contract south.
We might have such things (and more – read the Collective Bargaining Agreement if you’re interested) if we were starting from scratch or if we had someone with some big enough balls to shake things up but I am not an optimist in that respect.
@Resin_lab_dog – I don’t think Barca was suggesting that conference B was a lower tier. The conference arrangements in the NFL, NHL etc are on an equal footing and in many ways superficial (there is a historical reason for them which I won’t go into). It’s more like the Champions League or World Cup arrangement but instead of only playing clubs in Group x, you play clubs in Group x twice and there would be a formula for the rest of your schedule based on creating as much parity as possible as Barca has alluded to.
Just catching up on the BBC article with quotes from Barry Hearn. This is only my view, but I simply don’t believe no sponsor could have been obtained. Like many I suspect they are waiting for the predicted journey of TRFC into the top league before announcing one. Of course, it may be the case that a few extra hundred thousand are available were a Rangers in that league, but it would have been a perfect ‘see…I told you so’, to those of us who prefer advancement on sporting merit only.
I am firmly of the view the whole structure of our game as they see it is a Rangers at the very top more often than not, Celtic at the top sometimes (but never as much as Rangers) and the rest can fight it out for third spot, a very occasional second spot, and a cup here and there.
Crucial to all their thinking though is a Rangers at the very top the vast majority of the time. There have been no actions from the authorities these past two and a bit years to suggest otherwise.
On the point of sponsorship…
I work overseas and represent a number of clients who sponsor sport in multiple countries. I recently wrote to the SPFL (view their website) to put them in touch with a prospective (named) sponsor and received no reply.
Maybe they need to work a bit harder at it?
upthehoops says:
December 3, 2014 at 11:17 pm
Hearts had a similar arrangement with Kaunas, albeit a smaller club than Hearts, whereby they were ‘loaned’ players from a club ‘owned’ by Romanov. I think, in view of this, that a complaint by Hearts might not be the best idea to prevent TRFC taking advantage of the TRFC/Ashley connection as it might be too easy to ridicule their actions. The league position of the two clubs might also lead to charges (from the media, at least) of gamesmanship. This would be particularly true if TRFC were to close the gap between now and the end of January (heaven forbid 😕 )
I really would like to see my club at the forefront of the fight for sporting integrity, but, this time, I don’t think they are best placed to lead by example.
I would be surprised, though, if we actually see loan players coming to TRFC directly from Newcastle. I suspect that Ashley, or one of his men, will make arrangements with smaller English clubs to loan them players from Newcastle with them, in turn, lending to TRFC.
Resin Lab Dog
Interesting idea barca.
Here is what is fundamentally wrong with it.
And it goes to the crux of what this blog is about.
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I maybe never made myself clear. The conference idea is that both conferences are equal in status and play in the same league.
The idea is to preserve traditional rivalries , not to have conferences based on merit. That would actually be 2 seperate leagues, rather than the one league.
So ICT haven’t been “relegated ” at all . The key is to preserve the games which have traditional rivalry and are therefore likely to attract the biggest crowds.
Barcabhoy says:
December 3, 2014 at 11:21 pm
Benchmarking…….
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I think there are several problems with taking the NFL average attendances and using that to suggest that it is therefore more successful than the EPL and Bundesliga. First off, there are only 32 franchises across the whole of the USA (population 320 million). England (53 million) has at least 92 full-time professional clubs and Germany (80 million) has 56.
There are hardly any instances of more than one franchise operating in the same catchment area (except New York), whereas many cities/towns in England (and Germany to a lesser extent) support at least two clubs. This obviously has the effect of dividing the customer base and directly affects average attendances.
The smallest city supporting an NFL franchise is, I think, Buffalo (population 250000). This is roughly on a par with Southampton, Hull and Swansea. West Bromwich (135000) and Burnley (75000) are considerably smaller. All larger centres of population in England support more than one club – six, in the case of London. And this doesn’t take into account the number of smaller clubs outside the EPL that also draw support. London has 10 league clubs in total.
The only exceptions, where a possible NFL-type monoply occurs, are Leicester (330000) and Newcastle (800000+), and the Newcastle figure might include Sunderland as well, I’m not sure.
There’s also the question of ground capacity and the ability to expand or move. Anfield holds 45000, and Liverpool have been attempting to redevelop or move for at least the last 6 years. They want a 60000 capacity – which they would undoubtedly fill – and while that’s still lower than the average for the NFL, Everton average about 35000 in direct competition with Liverpool. There again, Goodison Park also needs redevelopment and currently holds about 40000 if full.
The point I suppose I’m making is that there’s more to this than simply average attendances, and that’s before looking at things like the differences between American Football and Football or the way in which the sports are run: franchises versus clubs, no relegation versus a pyramid.
I once worked a reasonably successful company that employed about 1000 people. It was taken over by a more successful company working in the same field that employed closer to 10000. After the takeover, the company structures and work patterns from the larger company were introduced to the smaller one and they singularly failed to work because what was effective and productive when working on larger sites and turnovers simply did not scale down well. I think the same would be true of applying an NFL structure to the EPL, never mind the SPFL.
Barca bhoy:
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Jake Cantona:
The point I suppose I’m making is that there’s more to this than simply average attendances, and that’s before looking at things like the differences between American Football and Football or the way in which the sports are run: franchises versus clubs, no relegation versus a pyramid.
——————————————–
And first, biggest hurdle I can see for an organisation of members so historically rigidly self-serving is that, for example in Barca’s example…
St Mirren would lose all the big gates – the twins from Edinburgh and Glasgow, the Dons, the SPFL derby V Kilmarnock and no sign of the ever-popular easy matches versus Morton.
As it’s December, here’s a wee Xmas allusion – would turkeys vote for that…?
Would it be rude to ask where do they belong?
And is Ally taking them in the correct direction?
“I share their disappointment,” said McCoist. “They are entitled to a few choice comments. But there is a long way to go in the season and we will fight tooth and nail to get the club back to where we belong.”
Jake Cantona
None of the examples you give are incorrect, however it doesn’t change the fact that the NFL is markedly more successful than the EPL.
Regardless of the reasons for it, average attendances are nearly double in the NFL over the EPL
Regardless of the reasons for it all clubs in the NFL are profitable as opposed to most in the EPL being financial basket cases without owners converting debt to equity
Regardless of the reasons for it , parity exists in the NFL , with every club having the potential to be Super Bowl Champions . In the last 20 years , 13 different clubs have won the Super Bowl. In the last 20 years 4 different clubs have won the EPL.
There is no parity in the EPL . If you don’t have an owner prepared to invest well over £1 Billion on players over a relatively short period , then you will not be in a position to win the title.
As long as we continue to employ archaic thinking , the product will stagnate. We may get occasional respite, however we do a dis-service to all clubs by consigning radical ideas to the trash bin.
We have an absolutely dreadful TV deal because of small minded , short term thinking.
We have no FFP because it would hinder one club !! A club who have been in greater need of FFP regulation than all others combined
We have no Winter break because some clubs cannot organise their cash flow in a way that allows this.
We have Leagues without sponsors, we have cup competitions where attendances are dire.
The media’s only answer to all of this , is that it’s because Rangers are missing from the top tier. That is absolute nonsense based on the self serving need of the media .
The problems run far deeper. They start with an incompetent SFA , who are completely unable to relate to and communicate with the fan base. They include poor quality executives running the SPFL.
Barry Hearn is 100% correct to slaughter them. The marketing of the League is amateurish, the failure of sponsorship inexcusable and the production quality of the TV product is unacceptably poor.
Sky and to a degree the BBC have walked all over the SPFL. Government in Scotland have been incredibly lax at supporting the national game.
Yet Regan and Doncaster and the appalingly conflicted Ogilvie remain in post. They complain about financial challenges, about the general economic climate.
What utter garbage, all in an effort to deflect from their own incompetence. I have news for them , the economy is not in desperate shape, there is plenty of money available for the right product .
The EPL, who share an economy with the SPFL have had no problem garnering sponsors. I may have the view that the EPL is a poor version of the NFL, but as far as European football leagues are concerned it is the benchmark for marketing, production and sales .
A few comments on the discussion from last day or so.
Budge v Celtic – I was somewhat disheartened, if not surprised at some of the comments made here (some of which appear to have disappeared?) in reaction to Ann Budges comments. Knee-jerk whataboutery was rife for a while – “what about them” seemed to be the growing cry. I was frustrated by that because that clearly wasn’t what Budge was saying, to me it was a clear cry for the community at large to wake up and start sorting this kind of nonsense out, from whatever club you were from. It just so happened that it was the visit of Celtic that provoked her to take action. Perhaps the internal discussions with Celtic didn’t provide the clear answer she was looking for and hence the public statement, who knows.
But then the tone here seemed to change into a more wide ranging “we need to get this sorted across all clubs”. That was great to see and my frustration faded to be replaced with a faint glow that TSFM was indeed a non-partisan, common sense kind of place, happy days!
Alas, Celtic then came out with their statement. Frankly I thought it was appalling. All that was required was a “yes we have some problems with our support, we want to sort it out, and would appreciate help from other clubs while in return we will offer our assistance in allowing others to sort out their problem fans” or “we (scottish football) have an idiot section that has attached itself to many our clubs, lets face this problem together and we can help rid all our clubs of their idiots” but instead we get a statement heavily laden with old school yard “but he did it first” style comments.
I don’t understand Celtics stance. Several times over the last ten or so years (maybe longer) they have stood up against aspects of their support. Why have they recently been so defensive? Someone else brought up Tonev, and I don’t want to go into the details of this again, but I think the way the club has dealt with that situation in public has been poor as well. It shouldn’t be a topic for open comment and debate by the manager, captains and players, it is a subject all too easily warped by press report etc looking for that sensationalist headline under the buzz word “racist” (similarily some of Budges comments have been twisted into something far more accusatory and inflammatory). Indeed the smsm “skillfully” caused the whole Tonev thing to erupt just before the last Aberdeen v Celtic match to stoke things up a bit. It should be kept behind closed doors and sorted! Nobody knows what went on apart from the two players, how you sort that one out I don’t know, but bleating about it in the press is def not the way forward!
Hearn – can’t stand the man. But he opened his mouth and came forth with much sweetness to us long suffering fans of scottish football. That said, from what I have read in the press (yeah I know, cherry picked comments no doubt, maybe taken out of context so…) he did seem to take a step back from accusing the SFA of much, his main target seems to have been the SPFL. Fair enough, they require targeting and the sacking comment said it all as far as Doncaster is concerned.
But were there any pointed comments directed at Regan, Ogilive? If not, one might almost suggest he was a hired squirrel loaned a gun by the SFA to get peoples attention to focus on the SPFL management and portray them as the bogey men. TSFM readers would spot such nonsense, but there is a large section of football fans that unfortunately (perhaps understandably, life can be hard enough without this!) can’t be bothered paying to much attention to the various situations may be seduced by such.
Barcabhoy says:
December 4, 2014 at 9:26 am
Jake Cantona…
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But you can’t disregard the reasons for the NFL’s success if the reasons are not capable of being replicated in the situation you wish to apply them to.
I think I agree with most of the rest of what you say though.
Barca bhoy:
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Jake Cantona:
The point I suppose I’m making is that there’s more to this than simply average attendances, and that’s before looking at things like the differences between American Football and Football or the way in which the sports are run: franchises versus clubs, no relegation versus a pyramid.
——————————————–
And first, biggest hurdle I can see for an organisation of members so historically rigidly self-serving is that, for example in Barca’s example…
St Mirren would lose all the big gates – the twins from Edinburgh and Glasgow, the Dons, the SPFL derby V Kilmarnock and no sign of the ever-popular easy matches versus Morton.
As it’s December, here’s a wee Xmas allusion – would turkeys vote for that…?
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The conference make up was only a suggestion. However the reality is that a club like St Mirren would lose how much revenue ?
In a normal year 1 visit each from the clubs you mention. So maybe 5 games . Celtic and Rangers bring around 4,000 Hearts 3,000 Aberdeen 2,000 and Hibs 1,500.
Thats under 15,000 visiting fans paying £20 each. There will be additional security costs required to police these fans. So the net for St Mirren may well be in the region of £200,000 per annum.
A more equable distribution of TV monies woukd cover that, not to mention that there will still be home games against some of these teams each year , based on the formula outlined in my original post
Re NFL and American Football
The other thing that works is that the sport does not compete with itself for the customer.
Friday night is for High School Football, Saturdays for College Football and Sunday for the NFL with the special Monday night game.
So for those inclined you can watch and support all three levels of competition without any clashes.
Cygnus X2 says:
December 4, 2014 at 7:27 am
In light of what Barry Hearn had to say, you’d think that some young journalist would pay attention to what you’ve said and do a bit of digging! You’d think it, but I doubt he’d do any more than phone the SPFL’s PR guy and print whatever guff he is given!
Jake Cantona says:
December 4, 2014 at 9:32 am
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Barcabhoy says:
December 4, 2014 at 9:26 am
Jake Cantona…
————–
But you can’t disregard the reasons for the NFL’s success if the reasons are not capable of being replicated in the situation you wish to apply them to.
I think I agree with most of the rest of what you say though.
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What I am suggesting taking from the NFL , is the idea that league fixtures do not have to be rigid. It is not necessary for all teams to have the same schedule to provide a better competition than we enjoy just now.
Thats not a function of size , it’s an example of greater parity
UTH,
What they are actually saying is the big sponsorship deal that a ‘back where they belong’ top division will attract is actually 133% of the deal that would have preceded it. It must be to make it worth holding out that long. Remember boycotts weren’t an issue since the sponsor could have covered all 4 divisions thus attaining blanket coverage. I’d be interested to see the numbers. I’m sure Mr Hearn’s guest blog will cover it!
The bigger deal requires two things. Thems to make it back which absolutely no-one should have been promising – promoting, yeah sure, but promising? – and secondly, that the competitors had the foresight to at least acknowledge that if they were going to hang their hats on the bigger deal, then there would be more than a subtle hint of ‘lack of competitiveness’ creeping in in order to get them there and thus the competing clubs to get the money. Good on Alloa et al for sticking that notion right up em! (For the absence of doubt Ryan, ‘Em’ is not RFC/Sevco).
http://t.co/ELJLGpTqxX
Some more from Barry Hearn courtesy of Tom English. I especially liked this bit of imagery from Hearn-
“He describes himself as a promotional prostitute and a “really good lay”. Value for money. Always.” 😆
Barcabhoy says:
December 4, 2014 at 9:40 am
What I am suggesting taking from the NFL , is the idea that league fixtures do not have to be rigid. It is not necessary for all teams to have the same schedule to provide a better competition than we enjoy just now.
Thats not a function of size , it’s an example of greater parity
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True, but it is tied to other things that help make it work – the draft system, for example, which compensates franchises for a poor season. There’s also the lack of relegation. I saw your point about some fixtures being determined by algorithms and that everyone accepted that as a way of doing things. That’s a lot easier to accepts when your league place isn’t going to be at stake.
Something I don’t think we’ve touched on from Barry Hearn’s speech is criticism of the way our game’s been talked down – by those supposedly trying to sell it. Some of what he said made him sound like a long-time reader of TSFM 🙂
Why on earth have the chairmen of all the Premiership clubs not taken the SPFL and SFA by the throat (figuratively speaking, of course) and asked them how they expect to sell eggs if they are telling every potential buyer that they are rotten?
Far be it from me, but I think it would be good if ‘back’ joined the list of banned words on TSFM.
Concerning the content of Barry Hearn’s talk to the SFA yesterday, while there is much to agree with, it has to be kept in mind that he was ‘coached’ by Darryl Broadfoot for the fortnight preceding the event.
“I usually don’t prepare. I do speeches all over the world on different motivational stuff which comes off quite easily. But [SFA head of communications] Darryl Broadfoot has been sending me all this stuff through and I’ve been reading reports for two weeks. It’s unheard of for me but I kind of enjoyed it.”
Source: http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/latest/hearn-stuns-sfa-with-attack-on-scottish-football-1-3624056
mcfc says:
December 4, 2014 at 9:25 am
Would it be rude to ask where do they belong? And is Ally taking them in the correct direction?
“I share their disappointment,” said McCoist. “They are entitled to a few choice comments. But there is a long way to go in the season and we will fight tooth and nail to get the club back to where we belong.”
==================================================================
I think ‘The Rightful Place’ concept is probably one of the most difficult questions currently faced by some Bears. Back in the old days the answer was simple: It was to be ever-victorious through burning tens of millions of other people’s money every year.
‘The Journey’ has opened the eyes and minds of many Bears who now radically question what the ‘Rightful Place’ actually is; whether it’s attainable; and whether it’s a place they want to be.
These, as always, are questions for the Bears to answer for themselves individually and many are doing so but for many different reasons which is a major hurdle to finding an acceptable and united solution. Whether such a solution can still be achieved is problematic and probably wouldn’t be long term IMO.
When I’ve been stuck with difficult decisions I often return to that old Irish granny of mine and her homespun philosophy which was built on every single day being able to find enough of the absolute necessities of life to survive another day and then do it all over again the next day.
One of her many sayings comes back to me: ‘You’ve made your bed so lie in it’. That didn’t mean you meekly accepted your position. She was always a fighter without a defeatist bone in her life and what she meant was it was time to discard the old ‘bed’ – walk away from it – and make a new ‘bed’.
I hope enough Bears decide they need a new ‘bed’ in the shape of a new club and a destination not built on Supremacy – it’s only football FFS and there is no ‘Rightful Place’ in terms of guaranteed victories and Alloa has provided a timely reminder of that.
Other Bears will pick-up their old bed and wander in a wilderness with no escape and when they rest their head on that sagging mattress will find that it’s still infested with blood-sucking bed bugs which certainly seem to have found their ‘Rightful Place’ and will hang-on until their donor is drained dry.
Barry Hearn: “It’s not just the level of football. Two donkeys make a great race.”
Maybe, but you shouldn’t try playing them together in central defence.
Haven’t been able to read carefully enough to see if anyone else has suggested this, but a possible solution to the McCoist Dilemma, as posed last night by Big Pink at 11:31 pm might be this:
He tells RIFC that he will agree to leave if they stump up the money. When it becomes clear that paying him will trigger the much-anticipated insolvency event, all he need do to deflect the blame will be to say that, having had time to reflect, he now realises that it was wrong to pretend to Rangers fans that the NC was the OC, claim that Charles Green duped him and give a handsome donation to the fans’ movement du jour that says it wants to set up a real new Rangers for really real Rangers men, thereby reinstating his legned status.
borussiabeefburg says:
December 4, 2014 at 10:52 am
I suspect that Daryl is wishing he hadn’t sent all that material to Barry, as it quite possibly informed his outrage
I read it the other way Scapa.
If that’s the opinion that Barry formed from the stuff that Darryl DID send him…
I loved his opener btw.
scapaflow says:
December 4, 2014 at 11:35 am
And to think he is very reticent to give those who ultimately pay his wages any information whatsoever! What chance openness and transparency now?
Smugas says:
December 4, 2014 at 11:39 am
Possibly, on the other hand if an intelligent person, who happens to be very good at what they do, is sent self serving tripe, they may well respond by reading between the lines and doing some digging of their very own. Who knows, maybe Barry has popped by here over the last few weeks
““And don’t say, ‘I served a beer and there was trouble’ because it’s your job to make sure there is no trouble. People will be people. But the customer experience is all part and parcel of why your gates are dropping.”
Budge & Hearn are really reading off the same script, which makes the response all the more disappointing, and, not a little disturbing.
StevieBC says:
December 4, 2014 at 5:31 am
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So was The Scottish FA Convention a success?
What do the fans think – and know?
Exactly
+++++++++++++++++++
Football fans opinions are dismissed (sometimes rightly)on the basis that they (we) are a fickle and partisan bunch.
I would prefer to use the terms “customer” in this context. Customers are listened to , their cash is fought over by the competition , they are acknowledged as the most important part of the business.
What does the customer think ? What is the “customer experience ” all about ? How are customers opinions/feedback sought ?
Football must be the only business in the world that is still stuck in the 19th century. The overwhelming majority of clubs don’t really communicate with their customers on any significant level. They don’t really care about their customers , value for money or the “customer experience”. They still think fans will blindly buy season tickets/turn up regularly as though the world hasn’t changed in the 140 years since most clubs were formed.
Except the world has changed – unbelievably so in the last 20 years. The advent of TV means football clubs are more concerned with TV income , “the brand” , merchandising. The customer in their native land is all but ignored.
So , lets attack clubs and the “authorities” from the standpoint of unhappy customers (albeit with cash to spend) and let’s attack them as a failed business model. No governance, no leadership, no idea, no vision. Lazy. Isolated. Corrupt – according to one of their own members. The list goes on and on.
And what happens to a business that displays theses failing ?
Barcabhoy says:
December 3, 2014 at 11:21 pm
Barcaboy – Germany is not actually a higher cost country than the UK.
I lived there for over 12 years 94-2006 and I still travel there a lot.
Berlin is an incredibly cheap Capital City.
That apart I like what you say about benchmarking.
cowanpete says:
December 4, 2014 at 11:57 am
If the asses running Scottish Football were any bloody good, then they would have a No question is too stupid & No idea too silly attitude, but they don’t.
Regan & co can twitter about “learning organisations” as much as they like, until someone starts putting that concept into practice, Scottish Football will remain fecked.
An excellent discussion is going on here about whether Rangers fans should accept what happened to their old club and what’s happening to the new one … start again on their own. Amazingly, I was thinking the same thing last night as I was writing this.
http://www.onfieldsofgreen.com/the-smell-of-fear/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30331054
Looks like Hearts are set to become, if they’re not already, the media’s whipping boys, and girls now, over anything linked to sectarianism after Ann Budge’s statement of yesterday. Rather than link this positive story to Ms Budge’s statement and efforts to create what ‘Nil By Mouth’ seek, they spin it in a negative way towards Hearts. I was going to ask ‘do they not realise that this sort of spin just adds fuel to the fire for the next time the teams meet?’ but then I realised, of course they do, and that’s why they spin it that way. They want to keep that fire burning, it sells newspapers.
They also mention the unfortunate death of Mark Scott, but for some reason don’t link it to the team the murderer supported, perhaps because it wouldn’t sit nicely with their ramping up of the ‘return to the world’s greatest football fixture!’ I actually don’t think this should have been brought up in this story at all, rather that a more hopeful message should have been given out, but once mentioned the full relevance should have been stated.
I really do despair, for every step forward someone takes in an effort to wipe this cancer out, the SMSM come along and take two giant steps back towards the dark ages! And again it’s from the BBC!
Final thoughts on the Hearts/Celtic Maelstrom.
Getting your retaliation in first is often deemed a good tactic in a sporting(sic) context.
Read the Celtic retort as if it was the first press release.
Fed up with dealing with sectarian abuse, coin throwing into fans etc,etc.
Now read Ann Budge’s comments. I would suggest they now sound like whataboutery.
A meeting was held the day before. Are we seriously to believe Ann Budge is the only person who cares about fans behaving themselves.
Any press release was naive.
Big Pink: Re McCoist’s contract. Did we ever get to the bottom of that? I posted on the RFC pages at the LSE site (NOT the stiock exchange, don’t know how they get away with that).
“The papers reported on 5th Ocotber 2013 “What we have at the moment are one-year rolling contracts and there will be negotiation as we rise, hopefully, through the divisions.” This was an article that also reported/repeated the “50% pay cut” claim.
a) Was the pay-cut ever implemented? I seem to remember reports there were some issues with it and it never happened.
b) If this is a rolling contract, clearly it will never run down to expiry so if anyone decides to pull the trigger, am I right in assuming he’ll get £800k regardless of whether it is today, end of the season on in 3 years time?
(BTW I also assume the pay-cut would be based on the original contract rather than reduced figure).”
As I understand it, Tony Mowbray @ Celtic was on a similar contract. Celtic sacked him and he was put on a year’s gardening leave to fulfil the contract. When another club offered him the job he wanted Celtic to pay the balance to him AND for him to be released to join the new club – effectively getting 2 salaries for any overlap. Celtic said no – either he was working his notice or he gave up the balance. (NB if Mowbray or any of his friends or advisers has knowledge on the situation, I am happy to be corrected).
As I see it, right now, Rangers still think they can qualify under McCoist. I think the end of the season will decide it but in any event, at some point they will certainly pay him £800k to leave, whether it’s in a lump or over 12 months I don’t know, as I can’t see anyone coming to poach him.
Like many others, I tbought the Hearn statement regarding the lack of a sponsor: ‘and if they worked for me they’d be sacked’ was a belter. Has Doncaster come out from behind the sofa yet?
Listening to Regan’s ideas about bringing more money into the game they appear to be based on charging fans more.
Btw, those who are offended that a few us were happy to see a wee team of part-timers outplay an unrepententant over-spending basket case of a club should perhaps think again. There’s a lot of negativity on this blog but mentioning a club of modest means havng success is positive at the best of times, and even more so when they defeat an opponent that seems intent on ignoring FFP. Is that gloating? No, it’s a celebration of fair play and everything that’s good about Scottish football.
Silent Partner says:
December 4, 2014 at 1:34 pm
Took your advice.
Here’s what I see
“As recent years have shown, the fixture between Heart of Midlothian and Celtic at Tynecastle Stadium has become a difficult one. This follows various incidents, including an attack on the Celtic manager and continued sectarian abuse directed at Celtic management, staff and players.
Celtic representatives met with Ann Budge and her Executive team yesterday and were made aware of particular issues which arose at the match on Sunday.
In addition to these issues,………”
No mention of what particualr issues Ann Budge raised. No acceptance of what Celtic fans did.
Now if they had said “Ann Budge drew Celtic’s attention to particular issues that included damage to our host’s seating, which seems to be the favoured method of some of our away fans to help discredit our club. For this we, once again, find ourselves in the unfortunate position of having to apologise for the actions of these idiots and will be taking steps to identify and deal with the culprits.
Budge on the other hand was quite happy to point out the issues in her own glasshouse before throwing stones. The Hearts statement gives much fuller picture of events than the Celtic one and if the Celtic one had been issued first no-one would have been any wiser as to what their fans did and the issues Budge raised.
Barry Hearn appearing on Hawksbee & Jacobs show in next 2 hours (2 till 4) to talk about Scottish Football on Talksport radio – 1089am or live via internet. Tune in.
Silent Partner says:
December 4, 2014 at 1:34 pm
PS I didn’t think either were press releases but Club Statements mainly directed at fans for their information with the underlying message of get yourselves sorted.
Re. the NFL – their whole league system is weird. The NFL were around for a while then the upstart AFL started. They merged the two leagues and effectively kept tham as different conferences, AFC & NFC. My point is that they probably wouldn’t have wanted to start where they started to get where they, are if you get my drift.
The NFL pools and shares all revenues from TV, from gates (except luxury boxes), from all merchandise. This is why the Cleveland is pretty much worth the same as either New York team. And why new franchise owners will pay a billion buck to jointhe party.
To achieve the “any given Sunday” parity the salaries are capped, the league manipulates its schedules (teams who had a good season previously get a tougher schedule, poor teams get an easier ride), it holds an annual draft of college players who are required to play for the team that chooses them or they have to sit out (or go to Canada).
Fans are treated poorly – the owner of a franchise is exactly that – they can move the team (with the league’s permission) to a more lucrative city and the fans can go hang; so are the players – witness the periodic NFL player strikes & lockouts.
Hey, I love American Football, I even tolerate the NFL; I am not against central pooling of revenues for many things (TV, sponsorship(!) etc) and I am very happy for league reconstruction (this split still does my old head in!) but whilst we can look at the NFL as a global money-making brand, we sure as heck shouldn’t look to them for most of the values that this site is meant to espouse…
A lot of theories about “what is wrong with Scottish fitba” when it’s staring us in the face with the reaction to the Ann budge conversation. Reminds me of the new boy on the job who needs a wee word in the shell like.
The Ultimate Book of Heroic Failures
An awful lot of noise about Ally’s latest heroic failure. He’s a dead cert for the next edition.
But let’s be serious, those who say he sholud walk away may not be the brightest at sums. Consider that each week he stays he pockets £15,400 (£800K/52) plus perks. For example, it would cost him around £400 a week to lease a decent replacement car. Not to mention his pension contribution (10%-15%) and entertaining account. Let’s call it £80,000 per month.
And let’s face it Question of Sport has moved on and his punditry is parochial and pedestrian at best – and he ain’t no oil painting anymore – give me Philip Neville, Paul Scholes or Michael Owen any day (joking, the clue’s in the monica)
Oh did I forget the seven figure number he’d forego if he walked rather than being pushed. Of course we’re all just guessing how big that seven figure number would be – but big enough to break the bank without another investment from Mike.
So what would it take for you to walk away from that – how much stick could you take for a few more weeks – let’s face it any damage to his reputation is already done – unless they get to 1st Feb and terrible things happen.
As I’ve implied before, the best The Rangers can afford to do is send Ally on a scouting trip to Bogota and tip off the Policía Nacional that he’s a donkey – they might mistake that for drugs mule and keep him out the way for a few weeks – and then let someone else, anyone else, or even no-one else manage the team. It would take a true genius to make the situation worse.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Ultimate-Book-Heroic-Failures/dp/0571277284
“he LSE site (NOT the stiock exchange, don’t know how they get away with that).”
A bunch of guys bought the LSE domain name years ago. Official stock market lost a court case to try and get ownership iirc.
Barry Hearn appearing on Hawksbee & Jacobs show now(3.47) to talk about Scottish Football on Talksport radio – 1089am or live via internet. Tune in.
Phil mentioning that TRFC will start briefing against McCoist, as he is ‘unsackable’.
Could be a very uncomfortable game for McCoist at Ibrox on Saturday against lowly Cowdenbeath.
All they have to do is confirm to the SMSM that McCoist did not in fact take a pay cut.
[Heard this rumour several months ago from a reliable source, but of course can’t substantiate.]
That would certainly get the bears going… 😕
Following on from many of the fairly petty brickbats (on other websites and other commentators) pelted in Ann Budge’s direction for having the temerity in speaking up about the behaviour of football fans. I’m struck by the number of people who actually believe clubs in Scotland are either doing all they can to eradicate bigotry, intolerance and sectarianism among their own support or that until there is a wider societal recognition of these issues, what can football clubs do?
Both, in my view, cowardly absolve football from the role it has in society, and frankly, it is a cop-out.
It doesn’t matter whether it relates to players, supporters clubs or fans, so long as football clubs in Scotland weigh taking action to resolve these issues against how much it will cost in cancelled player contracts or lost revenue from the fans in question, then the cash sadly wins. That is feeble and it is wrong. The whataboutery and faux outrage prevalent in Scottish football is positively encouraged by clubs as a useful fig leaf for the fact cash now dictates footballing morals or the lack thereof.
I do not doubt for one minute much of the behaviour rightly abhorred on this forum could be removed from our football clubs if there was the will to do so. Just as much as I have no doubt that a lack of morals is conveniently lucrative and cost-effective for football. Sad indeed.
Cowanpete,
I didnt realise Berlin was relatively inexpensive. Although it is more expensive than Barcelona and Moscow.
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/rankings_current.jsp
StevieBC says:
December 4, 2014 at 4:09 pm
0 0 Rate This
Phil mentioning that TRFC will start briefing against McCoist, as he is ‘unsackable’.
Could be a very uncomfortable game for McCoist at Ibrox on Saturday against lowly Cowdenbeath.
All they have to do is confirm to the SMSM that McCoist did not in fact take a pay cut.
[Heard this rumour several months ago from a reliable source, but of course can’t substantiate.]
That would certainly get the bears going… 😕
————————-
The recently released annual report had a comment from Somers that McCoist did indeed take a pay cut.
It though doesnt specify by how much and when it kicked in.
The Rangers might be unwise to brief against Ally – no matter how bad things get – the chances of him responding as desired are slim IMHO – and he knows too much. If he decides he’s been stiffed, he may decide to spill the beans – either by careless comments in the witness box or in a nice biography. I hear Hunter Davies can turn the unintelligible into the best-selling.
The fact that The Rangers can’t afford to sack Ally is merely a symptom of the much larger malaise. Although, there is the interesting question of whether it will be recorded on the certificate as the cause of death.
Nope
Ally must stay until he is at least 65
He`s the only person who can unite the Bears
Regarding the SFA convention it fills me with rage that Regan, Conflicted Campbell and Broadfoot set this whole thing up to slaughter the SPLs Doncaster , not trying to defend Doncaster ( wish we could remove every one of them)………….just hope Doncaster organises his own Convention for his lot and some so called expert starts asking awkward questions of Regan and co
“Ally must stay until he is at least 65
He`s the only person who can unite the Bears”
Aye, against him, as a, walking, talking, inept, symbol of everything that is wrong with the club/company
I like the cut of Barca’s jib with his thoughts toward a different model that Scottish football could operate to, that would potentially create success & spread more evenly the wealth around all of the clubs.
Clearly, every model suggested is not without its’ weaknesses, but one factor is constant,no matter the structure, the individual team or business and that’s leadership.
Great teams, great companies/businesses have at their core or head, great leaders. They are visionary, dynamic, superb decision makers & are strongest when times get tough. Aligned to this is having the personal qualities required to galvanise institutions & individuals to willingly follow them. In John C Maxwell’s famous words, “A leader knows the way,goes the way,and shows the way”
Now, can any of us for a moment think that CG,ND or SR display any of these qualities? Nothing will change while these guys are in charge, a purge is required immediately otherwise we’re simply pissing in the wind!!
Just had a thought… 🙄
What if Durranty and McDowelly have already been discreetly approached about taking over from McCoist, whilst he is put on gardening leave.
What if both have replied with a “thanks, but no thanks”, either from loyalty to McCoist or for self-preservation as they don’t think they could do better ?
Is that why there seems to be a stalemate wrt McCoist ?
Or will they just stick with him as he ‘should’ still deliver promotion – even if it’s via the play-offs ? Promotion is the priority.
Cygnus X-1 says:
December 4, 2014 at 5:08 pm
…
Now, can any of us for a moment think that CG,ND or SR display any of these qualities? Nothing will change while these guys are in charge, a purge is required immediately otherwise we’re simply pissing in the wind!!
=============================================
SR & ND could be regarded as not proper ‘CEO’s/leaders’, but more like administrators.
With the SFA specifically, it’s perhaps doubtful if a change of CEO will make a significant difference.
Forget Regan’s ’20:20′ Strategic vision.
It’s clear that the vision is fundamentally flawed. There is a lack of trust.
IMO, they have to go back to basics and confirm: what is the purpose of the SFA ?
And revisit: what should the SFA as an organisation aspire to ?
And the correct starting point, IMO, is to properly – and exhaustively – canvass all supporters of Scottish football for their feedback and suggestions.
[Having an SFA ‘Fans Survey’ which only includes carefully selected and worded questions is nowhere near adequate.]
Mr McCoist is un-sackable.
It would cost too much.
And he knows too much.
So he will not be sacked, ever.
His Toom Tabard board are only talking about it to find someone to blame and confuse the bears and the MSM.
It wasn’t that long ago when Ally’s stock was high Charlie and Co realised the cheeky chappie’s value because without Ally their carpetbagging plan would have fallen at the first hurdle.
So they did a Corleone job and made him an offer he could not refuse- a nice, some would say overgenerous wage, and bonus package and some stupid share options that became real pound notes very quickly.
Ally Delivered big time in fact he won the day for Charlie and co.
I’d say he has been the best transfer in Scottish Football history – and without even kicking a ball.
Mr McCoist is one of the copper bottomed onerous contracts and will be there till the end which will not come until all the value has been extricated and future options with the Third Rangers Phoenix (ground-rental) club evaluated.
Ally knows that too.
He is and never has been a stupid man.
He ain’t for going anywhere and holds some nice cards.
Cygnus X-1 says:
December 4, 2014 at 5:08 pm
Getting rid of Curly, Mo & Larry will change nothing, unless you also get rid of the asses who employed them.
Ally knows that too.
He is NOT and never has been a stupid man.
Ally knows that too.
He is NOT and never has been a stupid man.
Ally knows that too.
He is NOT and never has been a stupid man.
Sorry for the confusing omission.
Comedy gold on Clyde SSB
Johnstone nearly in tears defending his wee pal
It’s not his fault
He wouldn’t have signed those players
With a budget in January to buy new players he could still turn things round
Deluded doesn’t begin to describe it
Ally must stay!
justbecauseyoureparanoid says:
December 4, 2014 at 6:39 pm
8 0 Rate This
———–
DJ on SSB illustrating some of Barry Hearn’s catchphrases perfectly. Worst of all he’s more or less called the Alloa manager a liar.
Dearie me, and people wonder why we congratulate teams like Alloa and their supporters.
Danish Pastry says:
December 4, 2014 at 7:03 pm
7 1 Rate This
justbecauseyoureparanoid says:
December 4, 2014 at 6:39 pm
8 0 Rate This
———–
DJ on SSB illustrating some of Barry Hearn’s catchphrases perfectly. Worst of all he’s more or less called the Alloa manager a liar.
DP I think you’re being more than generous with your more or less comment
A disgrace of a man, just like his pal
Whyte in court tomorrow for committal hearing at 10.30 am. Keep safe Craigie. :pray:
Ticketus case.
https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/court-lists/list-chancery-judges
Scroll to court 17.
Scottish FA @ScottishFA · 5s5 seconds ago
Appellate Tribunal have adjourned Aleksandar Tonev appeal for consideration before reaching a determination within the next two weeks
mcfc says:
December 4, 2014 at 9:25 am
Would it be rude to ask where do they belong?
Back to where we belong soon became back to where we should be but now back to where we belong
English beat them to it. Committal infers possible detention.
‘Where we belong’ is delusional.
The ignorant mind, with its infinite afflictions, passions, and evils, is rooted in the three poisons. Greed, anger, and delusion.
Bodhidharma.
Is Mr. Doncaster launching a PR fightback?
This has appeared on the Herald website tonight.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/spfl-could-cash-in-on-rangers-in-play-offs.113958631
The silly billys, although attributing the story to Donald Cowey (who?) have left the PR primer’s name and numbers on the bottom of the story.
Craig Stewart of Marwick Stewart on 07948****** or 0141 563 ****. Anybody who wants to give him a call in the morning to ask who instructed him to make this press release should have a look now before they realise their mistake and pull the article. I’m too nice too publish his full numbers.
I don’t know if Marwick Stewart are still retained by the SPFL but they used to be by the SFL to churn out Press Releases.
Weeman
Great spot dummies ain’t they?