Now that we are at the end of the league season, and with respect to the job still to be done at Tannadice and McDiarmid Park, it seems like a good time for a post holocaust report.
Fig 1 Average Weekly Attendances SPL 2011-2014
Peppered around this page are three charts and a table* showing the attendance figures for the SPL in the last three seasons. A school kid could tell you that there is a positive trend in those charts and figures, but the people who run our national sport will look you straight in the eye and tell you “that can’t be right – Armageddon is coming!”
It is one of the most ridiculous and mendacious situations I have ever come across. The people who run our national game, aided and abetted by those in the MSM (sans the eye contact though) are actually trying to persuade us of how awful our game is and how unsustainable it will be in the absence of one, just one, club.
Think about that. The SFA and the SPFL trying to talk us out of supporting the game unless we all recognise the unique importance of one, just one, club. That is what has happened, no matter how they try to spin it. And despite evidence to the contrary contained in these figures, not one of them has admitted to an error, never mind the downright lies that they told to support the position they held, the one where anyone speaking of sporting integrity was mocked and ridiculed.
Whilst growing up as football supporter in the 60s, one of things I was constantly bombarded with via the medium of the tabloid newspapers was that football clubs should be grateful for the publicity afforded them via their back pages. These were probably reasonable claims, especially in the light of the relative lack of access to players and officials conceded to the hacks in those days, and the pre-eminent cultural position in which they helped to place football. Alongside that, the broadcast media, particularly Archie Macpherson’s Sportscene and Arthur Montford’s Scotsport could be relied on to talk the game up. Of course, there was something in it for the papers – sales. The more column inches devoted to the national sport, the further northward their sales, and consequently advertising revenues travelled.
Fig 2 Avg. Attendances excl Celtic & Rangers
The situation was further cemented by the fact that the press in that ante-interweb era held a monopoly over the exchange and dissemination of information. That symbiotic, win-win relationship between football and the press was as much a part of football reality as the Hampden Roar. It also endured for decades. The press would talk up the game to such an extent that folk often remarked that they hadn’t realised how much they had enjoyed a particular match until they had read Malky Munro or Hughie Taylor’s report the next day. Archie Macpherson is on record as having said the same thing about legendary commentator David Francey, “It was a much better game to listen to than to see!”
Today that symbiosis is broken. The press themselves, in print and in front of microphones consistently belittle the product, talk of crises and Armageddon, of our own version of the Eisenhower domino effect of clubs going to the wall one after another.
Aided and abetted by the two chief bureaucrats in charge of Scottish football, Stuart Regan and Neil Doncaster, who have consistently helped to hammer home the message that Scottish football is not good enough, and cannot sustain itself financially without Rangers, a club that could not itself sustain itself financially to the extent that it is being liquidated.
At a time when Scottish football was clearly in crisis, and badly in need of sponsorship which could mitigate the effects of that crisis, the press and the authorities sought to strengthen their own negotiating hand by making negative claims about the state of the game which never came to pass, and for which they have never apologised. The actual situation, which would not have been hard to predict had anyone actually bothered to analyse the business of Scottish football, is summarised quite easily by saying this;
- Since Rangers’ liquidation and subsequent absence from the top league, the average home attendance of the other clubs has INCREASED overall (See Fig 2).
- In this season, the other clubs have added 50,000 fans to home attendances compared to 2011-12 (the last year Rangers were in competition).
- In that time the league has been won (twice) by Celtic, and the other honours have been claimed by St, Mirren, Aberdeen, Celtic and (either) Dundee United or St Johnstone.
- In that time, both Dunfermline Athletic and Hearts (who both had historical financial problems) entered – and exited – administration after fan-led buyouts.
- Dundee United have cleared off their bank debt.
- Kilmarnock have restructured their bank debt, freeing the club from a precarious long-term situation.
- League reconstruction has allowed some money to trickle down to the second tier clubs in an attempt to mitigate the immediate effects of relegation and to reward ambitious clubs.
Looking at the table of attendances above, it is pretty clear that immediately upon Rangers exit, the overall figures took a dip. However there was little difference the in the figures if you leave Rangers out of the equation (Fig 3) – despite Celtic’s attendance taking a hit that year (down by around 5,000 per home match).
Taking Celtic out of the calculations, it is clear that there is a 6,000 uplift in this average (Fig 2).
It is still undeniable that less people overall are watching football (Fig 1), but the trend is upward if one leaves the Ibrox club out of the picture.
Furthermore, this statistic exposes the double edged sword that is retention of home gates. The fact that gates are not shared is predicated upon the notion that the bigger clubs do not depend on the smaller clubs for income. And since the smaller clubs are no longer recipients of big club largesse, their fortunes are not affected, at least not as much as was suggested by the Regans, Doncasters and Traynors of this parish. The “Trickle-Down” theory of Reganomics said otherwise – but clearly and demonstrably it was wrong.
The abandonment of gate sharing has made Scottish football less interdependent than it once was, but the irony is that it works both ways. There is hardly a club in the country that depends on Rangers for their own existence, and here is the news; small clubs are no longer financially dependent on the former Old Firm.
Fig 3 Excluding Celtic
The fact, that is F-A-C-T, is that Scottish Football attendances in the top division are on the increase. The absence of Rangers has made no appreciably negative difference to any other club, far less caused a catastrophe of biblical proportions.
Even if the fools who were the harbingers of our doom were simply guilty of making an honest mistake, it is clear that they are uncontaminated with the slightest notion of how the game in this country operates. The Old Firm may be dead, but the OF prism is still being peered through by Stuart Regan, Neil Doncaster and the vast majority of print journalists. The latter who failed to honour that age-old football/press symbiosis because they believed, erroneously that David Murray’s dinner table was the hand that has fed them for over a century.
The irony is that as job opportunities diminish in the print sector, so too will the fine dining and patronage. I think they call that evolution.
Two years ago, in the wake of the fans’ season ticket revolt which saw the new Rangers forced to apply for membership of the league and begin at the bottom, those same MSM hacks taunted fans about putting their money where their mouths were. The fans responded splendidly as our statistics demonstrate, but typically there has been no recognition of this either at Hampden or in the media.
And the message from those fans is this: Scottish football is not dying. Not any more. At least not as surely as it was when David Murray started to choke the life out of it in the late 80s. The supporters are returning in numbers to see a competition untainted by the outrageous liberty-taking and rule-breaking of the last couple of decades, and all but one club has emerged from the mire of the Moonbeam Millennium looking forward to a new era.
If authorities allow the new era to thrive by restoring sporting integrity to the agenda, then the numbers, like the opportunities available to more and more clubs, will grow. The question is … will they?
Admittedly, these figures, like any set of statistics, can be cherry-picked to suit almost any argument that you care to construct. The fact remains though, that whilst it would be fanciful and ridiculously over-optimistic to claim that they bear witness to a burgeoning industry, it is utterly dishonest to conclude that they represent financial Armageddon. Armageddon? Aye right!
Allyjambo says:
May 25, 2014 at 12:09 pm
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John Clark says:
May 25, 2014 at 11:53 am
I think we might well be in the same technological boat, John. Pass the paddle and compass, have you remembered the sextant?
Still, there’s some things we auld yins will always have, and that’s the ability to tell our left foot from our right! I noticed a couple of players in the CL final had so little knowledge of such old fashioned things (probably due to their over-use of technology) that they both had different coloured boots on each foot, the blue one was the left, and the pinkish (footballers with pinkish boots!!!) was the right! Reminded me of the comedian who wore wellies, one with an ‘L’ and the other with an ‘R’ because he couldn’t tell his left from his right either! Progress…
===================================
Did he not wear them on the wrong feet as well?
ecobhoy says: May 25, 2014 at 11:28 am
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I wasn’t suggesting that the means of repayment of the loans had changed. I agree that repayment from ST monies was expected.
I was only pointing out that the critical repayment date for Laxey had been superseded by the July date agreed by Letham.
easyJambo says:
May 25, 2014 at 2:11 pm
ecobhoy says: May 25, 2014 at 11:28 am
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I wasn’t suggesting that the means of repayment of the loans had changed. I agree that repayment from ST monies was expected.
I was only pointing out that the critical repayment date for Laxey had been superseded by the July date agreed by Letham.
====================================
I think we may accidentally be talking at x-purposes. What I was trying to say was that the change of date from September to July as to when interest becomes payable doesn’t actually change the terms of the agreement that the capital sum will be repaid as soon as the money is raised from either ST sales or a share issue.
So IMO Rangers don’t have until 2 July to repay the £1 million to Letham but have to pay it as soon as they receive £1.5 million from the sale of STs because the loan agreement is a joint one betweem Letham and Easdale who lent £500K.
Taking a guess perhaps Rangers have to use the ST money first and foremost to pay this month’s wages and perhaps payments to suppliers. So on that basis they might need to raise £3-£4 million from STs before Letham gets his £1 million back.
The silence with Wallace apparently not responding to Letham IMO means they haven’t raised the £3-4 million (at a guess) but may well have sold enough STs to cover the £1.5 million of the loan but that would be revealed if Wallace advises Letham how many STs have actually been sold.
I was thinking about the 4 instalments payable by fans – The DR might be getting confused with the Zebra Finance facility. But I don’t know how much Zebra would pay Rangers up-front after it receives the first payment from a fan so maybe it would still end-up at 25%.
tomtom says:
May 25, 2014 at 2:10 pm
Allyjambo says:
May 25, 2014 at 12:09 pm
John Clark says:
May 25, 2014 at 11:53 am
——————————————————————————-
James Mulgrew stage name Jimmy Cricket “And there’s more”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBbSJMW29TI
@Woodstein I live near his sis honestly..
Anyways I took this (below) from the bears den, brilliant…. 😳
Obviously right now we are hopefully selling alot of season tickets and keeping the cash coming in. But when the season starts and eg we have two away games in a row each Saturday, then thats Ibrox empty for a fair bit of time. Even during the week its empty with very little income except stadium tours and the shop and restaurant.
What could be set up to encourage people to visit Ibrox and its surrounding area?
– Open training days £5 entry
– Gigs at Ibrox like we used to have
– Ibrox car wash and valet to get people driving by and stopping off and use the shop and restaurant
– Treasure hunt for kids round Ibrox and Govan and they get a party afterwards. Policed by rangers youth players.
– Go karts area set up in the car park that lies empty most of the week
– Laser quest in around the Ibrox corridors which dont get used/Edmiston House
Any ideas could be emailed to Graham Wallace.
JimBhoy says:
May 25, 2014 at 3:32 pm
Come on now, JB, admit it, you made that up. Oh wait a minute, you couldn’t make that up, could you?
Seriously, that has to be a Celtic fan on the wind up!
woodstein says:
May 25, 2014 at 3:23 pm
Thanks Woodstein 😀
JimBhoy says:
May 25, 2014 at 3:32 pm
“from the bears den”…………
———————————————————————————————————–
I visit occasionally 😳 and it does appear increasingly to resemble this;
Under the Dome, an American science fiction drama series developed for television by Brian K. Vaughan and based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King
The series takes place in Chester’s Mill, Maine, that suddenly finds itself totally cut off from the rest of the world when an invisible, impenetrable barrier, referred to as “the Dome”, mysteriously appears around it.
replace Chester’s Mill with The Bears Den. Surreal 😯
JimBhoy at 3:32pm
What could be set up to encourage people to visit Ibrox and its surrounding area?
…………………………………………………
Sack the current manager?
Perhaps a hint of the state of building repair at Ibrox as in this neck of the woods any door you can shove several hundred postcards over under and between is not wind and watertight.
The chat about when Letham expects his cash back is interesting.
While there is the fall back of shares it does seem he is keen to get his cash ASAP.
Now here we have someone portrayed as a life long fan and current shareholder willing to hand over £1m.
Surely the type of person that may be interested in providing soft loans a la DKs idea.
However the reality is these guys didnt get millions and keep them by oeeing it up against a wall.
In DKs mind, where exactly are these soft loans coming from? (Other than the fans)
The piece about selling the Celtic managers post to candidates and there being some possible young Scottish Managers available ,this happened to a very good up and comming manager a few years back,he was head hunted and brought some of the best football seen in Scotland ,he developed the team and also brought in a few foreign imports ,that unfortunately led to this mans downfall ,these guys asked for riches that in their opinion ,their talent merited ,maybe it did but according to the man in control of the purse strings they had agreed a contract and would not get one thin dime more ,thanks for the entertainment Tommy and God rest.
A bit off the current topic, but having said that I could not see the play-off second leg, it turns out the net has ample streams of this match — and what a match!
A nervy start but then it took off with the type of frenetic, attacking football that I really like. Honest-to-goodness football with none of the modern cheating seen in ‘superior’ leagues. That said, it’s Hamilton doing most of the attacking, and they’ve been rewarded with a goal to 2-0 in the 92nd minute.
On today’s performance, Hamilton look like the top tier team with their adventurous, passing football. Hibs are poor.
* Once again I ask myself why there is no place for at least 2 more, but preferably 4 more teams in the top tier, with extended prom/relg.
* And someone, somewhere, please make an HD stream of matches available for a one-off online match ticket. As a supplement to the TV streams, SPFL TV please! After all, it turns out the league is paid in crumbs from the Sky & BT EPL table. So why not exclude online streaming from that miserable deal so that the SPFL can set up their own ‘basic’ match streams?
Meanwhile, extra time for the 18,000 at Easter Road …
Danish Pastry says:
May 25, 2014 at 5:40 pm
Was just thinking the same DP. It is like watching Real Accies against Athletico Hibs LoL. The centre half Garcia Tena for Hamilton looks a decent player he can certainly pass the ball and his position play is good too..not really been able to judge his pace yet but could be a diamond in the rough.The drama of play offs is undeniable and this one is a true cliffhanger.
If I was a Champioship team I would be wanting Hibs rather the Accies to have a chance of getting up from there next season ,good stuff from Accies and 5 mins to go in extra time.
Hibs 0,1,1,1,0
Hamilton 1,1,1,1,
Well done ACCIES
Congrats to Hamilton. I think that was justice done.
What was Butcher thinking putting that young guy on the fifth pen?
League Cup Final.
Scottish Cup Final.
And Easter Road Today.
What a season it has been.
The ‘Old Firm’ is dead and buried.
Long Live Scottish football.
I take it that having got the game for free that BT are now due a penalty payment because the exiting match had the audacity to go beyond their schedule 😈 😈 😈
So cue the media headlines:
“Will the real Scottish Premier League please stand up”
Mr R Mc Geddon has left the building. Well done to Hamilton ,what a season other than the predictable win for Celtic it has been twists and turns all the way. Shame the press and the suits continue to talk the game down but still two highland teams in the top flight makes a poor crofter happy. 😆
loamfeet says: May 25, 2014 at 6:14 pm
Congrats to Hamilton. I think that was justice done.
What was Butcher thinking putting that young guy on the fifth pen?
——————————————————–
Jason Cummings came up through the Hearts Academy until two years ago. He was released after U17 season after a year out with injury, spent a year with Hutchison Vale before being picked up by Hibs. He is an exceptionally talented player and I’m sure he will continue to be so.
I know some of the Hearts youngsters who played alongside him are sorry the he will be remembered for the wrong reasons. Here’s some of their tweets.
Angus Beith @AnguusBeeith · 14m
Yessssssss, feel sorry for Jase but Hamilton fully deserved it! What a league it’s going to be next year
Kai Wilson @_kaiwilson4 · 11m
F***ing brutal on jase! Best player in a Hibs jersey today by far. Some of them don’t even deserve to pull on that strip
Sam Nicholson @sa1nicholson · 6m
Feel sorry for Jason! The tin of beans statement was a joke for a start! Such a good guy as well!
Next season the top league will be contested by the best 12 teams in Scotland, measured by sporting ability
remember this throughout every Clyde and Radio Scotland show, Through every editorial in every red top newspaper
These are the best teams in Scotland and they will start 2014-15 trying be champions of the country..
hector says:
May 25, 2014 at 6:31 pm
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… Shame the press and the suits continue to talk the game down but still two highland teams in the top flight makes a poor crofter happy.
————
Good on Owen Coyle, too, for stopping the ‘It’s a disaster for Scottish football’ talk from one of the BT pundits with his ‘We must remember it’s a sporting competition and Hamilton are there on merit.’
Looked like a victory for a team playing excellent passing football to me.
What are the odds on a 14-16 team top tier in season 2015-16?
Did the formation of the SPFL not come with a moratorium on further reconstruction? Not that that would stop them 🙂
Yep. It’s meant to be three years.
Hamilton thoroughly deserved their win today and let’s not forget that Hibernian were technically the worst team in the Premiership. They only made the play off due to Hearts point deduction.
I believe that this season has seen the revitalisation of Scottish Football as a whole. Forget about the SMSM bleating on about lack of competition – this is sour grapes coupled with smoke and mirrors and no-one believes it anyway.
We all know the previous situation was manufactured by the two big teams from Glasgow getting all the prize money and the TV money to the detriment of all other clubs. One of those clubs goes bust and they all wonder where the competition has gone!!??? HELLO!!??
I sympathise with Celtic’s situation, but I sympathise much much more with the other clubs in the Scottish leagues. They have had to struggle to even survive without help whilst the big two dined at the top table.
The football dished up has been on the whole of a much better quality, more youngsters have been blooded, bigger crowds, more excitement. I could go on and on – it has been tremendous. I would like to thank all clubs involved in all competitions this year. It has been great. I look forward to a sterner challenge to Celtic next year. Year on year the challenge and competition to Celtic will be greater with or without the other team in blue from Govan.
The Championship is looking like a cracking league next year, let’s hope there’s not too many “honest” mistakes.
Anyone know if Doncaster & Co can look to set up a TV deal for Championship matches?
I really hope that they have not been given away as freebies already 🙄
Doncaster is currently bidding for the rights to sell to BT and sky
He has offered sky a £500k a year payment but BT are prepared to accept £450K
andygraham.66 says:
May 25, 2014 at 7:13 pm
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Doncaster is currently bidding for the rights to sell to BT and sky
He has offered sky a £500k a year payment but BT are prepared to accept £450K
————–
Haha! Those pesky gantries!
That should lead to tidy a bonus for Neil D. given the inverted logic that passes for football governance.
andygraham.66 says:
May 25, 2014 at 7:13 pm
Doncaster is currently bidding for the rights to sell to BT and sky
He has offered sky a £500k a year payment but BT are prepared to accept £450K
————————————
The best compliment I can give you on the above is to tell you that my wife just told me “not to laugh too loud as I was annoying her”, that was a belter 😀
Football distress survey.
http://www.redflagalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/FINAL-SCOTLAND-Football-Survey-May-2014.pdf
The rangers, Hearts and Hibs in the Championship next season…..
Wonder who will get relegated 🙄
No1 Bob says:
May 25, 2014 at 1:37 pm
I was delighted that Atletico Madrid lost yesterday.
As a 14 year old I was at Celtic Park to see the dirtiest football team on the planet kick lumps out the Celtic players. They paid particular attention to Jimmy Johnstone.
I have disliked that team ever since and hope that this defeat sticks in their craw for ever.
—
Well said. Was there – shocked at cynical antics – we had never seen anything like it.
Montevideo was on b/w newsreels – but to see live constant spitting was insultingly new.
Saw Big David Hay running to the tunnel. My Dad and Uncles were agitated and furious. Never seen that before. We had seen Leeds at Hampden – Partick Thistle at Hampden – My Dad thought this `Athletico` was by far the very worst example of negative football he had ever seen
– and they could deal with anything – and he was reserved with words.
Shaming for all time
TP
TwoPanda
Remind me never to leave the sugar out of your tea. But if I ever do it’s good to know you wouldn’t bear a grudge 🙂
Danish Pastry says:
May 25, 2014 at 8:43 pm
‘…Football distress survey. ‘
———-
Interesting that the source cited for the Scottish figures was second-hand, from ESPN-and we know that their assessment of potential viewing figures is likely to be based on anything that could weaken a football authority’s hand in any kind of negotiation of TV coverage..
The figures for English football, however, came from the Football League.
Also interesting is that Begbies Traynor sold ‘Red Flag Alert LLP’ in 2012, yet for some reason ( perhaps to try to make it sound urgent) Patullo refers to the ” Begbies Traynor Red Flag Alert Football Distress report”.
Various comments in the papers today,from Kevin MacKennas excellent piece to this from an ex suit at our School of Excellence aka SFA,Gordon Smith had written his piece on Neil Lennon’s departure from Celtic and it was going reasonably well until the last two paragraghs ,I quote.
Rangers may benefit from Lennon’s exit
If Celtic fail to reach the Champions League group stages-and comming as early as it does in the season,that has to be a possibility-the financial edge they will have over the light blues come 2015-16 will be diminished.
What is sure is that Rangers wont be comming up against a man with the range and experience of the Old Firm that Lennon had to call on.
Unquote
Seriously,this is what Gordon Smith put in print
Ally is now got a clear run .
Hibs, Hearts and The Rangers are all in the second level of Scottish Football.
Amazing?
Or, just the brave new world where things are more real than they have been for a while.
If nothing else, it is interesting. For only the second time in the last twenty years, I am genuinely looking forward to the start of the next season.
Honesty, integrity and a fair game must be victorious in its battle with greed, commercialism and the SFA.
What was that BBC coverage like of the play-off game? That was shocking! The sound was literally 4 seconds behind the pictures.I thought the penalties were missed cos there was no cheering …….dearie me …….
John Clark says:
May 25, 2014 at 9:59 pm
“Interesting that the source cited for the Scottish figures was second-hand”
—————————————
With my cynics hat on I’d first be noting that this article was produced by a company that are basically an insolvency practitioner. Their whole raison d’etre is based upon viewing the world through flashing red spectacles.
I’d also question why they bothered to publish such an article in the first place. There are only about 100 professional football clubs in the UK which I’d suspect is rather a small market for the services they offer. Only about 10% of those clubs are showing signs of distress according to the piece so it’s not exactly an insolvency goldmine. I suspect this is just an eyecatching piece of PR puff designed to get the company name in front of a few faces. Big Pink’s header piece above contains more data and analysis.
Yes it is quiet. Not too quiet however.
Christyboy
Maybe they have not received there fee from the SPL up front.
Danish Pastry says:
May 25, 2014 at 6:44 pm
… Shame the press and the suits continue to talk the game down but still two highland teams in the top flight makes a poor crofter happy.
————
Good on Owen Coyle, too, for stopping the ‘It’s a disaster for Scottish football’ talk from one of the BT pundits with his ‘We must remember it’s a sporting competition and Hamilton are there on merit.’
Looked like a victory for a team playing excellent passing football to me.
================================================
The other side of the coin is this. If Hibs, a club with good resources (one of the biggest clubs outside the Glasgow big fish) are so poor they get outplayed by a club with very limited resources and get relegated out of the top division that can be seen as a good thing. Hibs have been under-performing for years and just maybe this is the kind of shock that can get them to sort themselves out. Why should they be kept in a league which they don’t deserve to be in?
There’s a romance about a wee club succeeding which is good (I bet every football forum is congratulating them – even Hibs ones). And of course if a club (fairly) win enough games to be promoted they absolutely deserve to be there. And vice versa.
I don’t know if Terry Butcher will keep his job at Hibs but I can’t help but think that it is written in the stars that he will play a big part in denying TRFC the passage to the Premier League they seem to have mapped out for themselves next season.
Scottish Football needs a good dose of Karmageddon next season.
Football, as a sport, never ceases to amaze you!
Although I did not watch the whole game, the part that I did see it was very clear who the best passing team were. Hibs were abysmal, lacked cohesion and appeared to lack self belief. Terry butcher needs, if he is still there next season, to gut that entire squad.
Hamilton stuck to their game plan. got the ball down, and passed it with composure. It will be interesting to watch them in the top league next season.
So the Edinburgh derby has dropped to the championship to be replaced in the top division by the Dundee and Lanarkshire derby.
So where does this leave our sport?
The championship will clearly be a war next season with Hibs, Hearts, Falkirk, and ‘The Rangers’ battling it out for two places. If, as we all expect one way or another, financial reality will come knocking again down Govan way then it will be very interesting indeed.
The Premiership will also be strange with no one visiting Edinburgh during the coming season for the first time ever. Both teams relegated, I can still barely get my head round it!
Who ever Celtic pick as their new manager could have a big effect on team, tactics, and acquisitions. It is only five years ago the Tony Mowbray walked in the door and when he left Celtic were playing four loan players in their first team. After today nothing is a gimme in football.
Dundee United will be looking to their exciting youngsters to continue their progression.
Aberdeen will want to build on their good season.
Motherwell will wish to retain at least second place.
The crowds may actually be bigger in the championship than the premiership but, before the media start demanding league reconstruction, the reasons for this are as follows; Hibs are no longer good enough to play in the premiership. Hearts have paid the price for reckless spending that had no basis in reality and RFC paid the ultimate price of losing their club and having to begin as ‘The Rangers’ from the bottom wrung of our domestic ladder.
Our media will no doubt paint this as a death knell for our sport. Well run clubs putting one over on larger clubs with supports who have taken their position in the top league for granted for far too long.
This is the re-alignment that many have spoken about for the last few years.
If the media are that concerned about the financial crisis engulfing the top league perhaps the clubs should tell the media to buy a press season ticket to cover home games. For too long these guys have pitched up at every stadium in the country, accepted the hospitality of the clubs, only for them to turn round and decry the very sport that earns them their living.
I started this post by saying that football, as a sport, never ceases to amaze you.
Unfortunately it is the media and the governing authorities that are all to predictable.
They talk down the product at every turn and allow clubs to spend outwith their means.
It’s the sport that amazes.
It is the reporting and governance that is all to predictable.
Without doubt, Hibs, Hearts, Falkirk, Raith Rovers and Rangers can’t ALL get promoted next year.
The implication of the presence of both Edinburgh teams for “The Journey” is serendipity in reverse for TRFC.
You wonder about whether all of those TRFC fans who revelled in Hearts demise (in the knowledge that two teams could be promoted next term) should have been a bit more careful about their wish.
It may well be that the genie has now disappeared back into the lamp, all wishes spent, and some vigorous rubbing will now be required.
Turnbull Hutton’s assertion to BP that the Championship would be the one to watch from a competition point of view is certainly beginning to look even more prescient than we thought.
And if my own talents for prescience are intact, I suggest that the Championship WILL be the talk of the MSM next year; and the competitive nature of the division will see all talk of a hitherto bemoaned lack of quality abandoned.
I have no argument with that, but there is an exciting competition even despite the financial constraints with which TRFC are burdened, maybe those same hacks will stop blethering on about the urgent requirement for the Ibrox club to spend, spend, spend.
They may also ponder the ramifications (for TRFC) that the increase in competition in that division is almost certainly a consequence of the absence of Celtic in that division, which is at odds with the flipside assertion that the lack of competition in the top tier is a consequence of the absence of Rangers.
Congratulations to Hamilton! They play a decent brand of football and deserve to go up. Commiserations to Hibs though. They gambled mid season with a change of manager and the dice came up snake eyes. They are a well run club and that will ensure they get back up soon enough.
Interesting though that this season’s outcome for Hibs and Hearts shows that football can help and hinder regardless of a club’s probity. Hearts financial shenanigans and subsequent administration hamstrung them and almost killed the club, but Hibs just gambled on a change of manager.
I guess that’s football. It’s quite entertaining when the it’s not too financially unfair.
ptd1978 says:
May 26, 2014 at 12:53 am
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Congratulations to Hamilton! They play a decent brand of football and deserve to go up. Commiserations to Hibs though. They gambled mid season with a change of manager and the dice came up snake eyes. They are a well run club and that will ensure they get back up soon enough.
Interesting though that this season’s outcome for Hibs and Hearts shows that football can help and hinder regardless of a club’s probity. Hearts financial shenanigans and subsequent administration hamstrung them and almost killed the club, but Hibs just gambled on a change of manager.
I guess that’s football. It’s quite entertaining when the it’s not too financially unfair.
_________________________________________________________
I think Hibs problems were more deeprooted than a change of manager.
I think that there was an underlying weakness in the squad that still badly needs addressed.
The medicine has had some pretty nasty side effects, and I am sure these were unintended.
I think sacking Butcher is the wrong thing for them to do now. (TD expected)
There will be 5 or 6 first team players shown the door minimum.
Then Butcher will try to build a team around 3/4 key individuals of his choosing.
I expect Nicky Ross to be signed and given a key role.
I imagine Terry has his targets identified and wheels in motion.
This window was always going to be a busy one for the Hibees, from the moment they poached the ICT management team.
It will be interesting to see how it develops. It will be ugly for a while, but ultimately effective.
Resin_Lab_Dog
Hibs certainly did have other problems, but what club doesn’t? Had they kept Fenlon, I doubt they would have gone down. They would have been comfortably mid table.
I wonder if that would have been seen as failure without the perspective of what actually happened.
Something I was wondering over… Do we (we as a body of contributors at TSFM) overvalue the impact of good financial housekeeping on results? Hibs have been held up as a well run club for a long time now, but this hasn’t translated into league positions and loads of silverware. Fenlon basically failed against those expectations. Can he consider himself hard done by considering the subsequent nosedive in form?
I’m not advocating overspending at all, but there are lots of different ways to run a club, with loans, overdrafts, mortgages, sugar-daddies, fan owned , privately owned, listed status etc which can involve debt, or a level of speculation on how money is invested.
It seems to me that unless a club is willing to take this to a COMPLETELY unacceptable level, finding the right manager has more of an impact on results.
I think I would make Hibs 3rd favourites to come up next year. Hearts have the kernel of a useful team and Rangers have the remnants of one. I might be doing Falkirk a disservice by missing them out as well. Hibs policy might act against them next season. What budget will they have to reconstruct a squad Butcher has alienated? Can top flight players be attracted to 2nd tier football without a cash sweetener?
I hope Butcher stays. He’s shown himself as a good manager before and he deserves the chance to show his mettle. His staying probably relies on whether 2 or 3 good buys can forge the remnants of the current squad into a team or if really major surgery is needed.
Handsome is as handsome does. Forgetting about the strength of next season’s Championship, let’s start with this season’s.
The Championship side beat the SPL side in the playoff.
The Championship side won out against the Division 1 teams in their playoff.
The Championship team won the Ramsden’s Cup against the runaway winners of Division 1. Rovers didn’t have the best of league seasons.
Falkirk will be right up there. One or more of the fancied teams will struggle, and that’s before we take the Sevco accounts into account. Review the odds, and start betting like grown ups.
@FamousSong you also forgot, shock as it was, the team ultimately relegated from the championship effectively ended the possibility of the treble. Note I only say shock because of their position and not because of the match itself.
Resin_Lab_Dog
Hibs certainly did have other problems, but what club doesn’t? Had they kept Fenlon, I doubt they would have gone down. They would have been comfortably mid table.
—————————
It is the curse of many clubs these days that boards and / or fans always demand to go to ‘the next level’. Some, notably Charlton when they sacked Curbishley a few years back, and now Hibs, find that a change in management structure delivers exactly that.
Congratulations to Hamilton, and hopefully the ‘big’ teams in the ‘wee’ league will sort their heads out rather than rely on any sense of entitlement if they want to rise again
John Clark says:
May 25, 2014 at 9:59 pm
7 0 Rate This
Interesting that the source cited for the Scottish figures was second-hand, from ESPN-and we know that their assessment of potential viewing figures is likely to be based on anything that could weaken a football authority’s hand in any kind of negotiation of TV coverage..
The figures for English football, however, came from the Football League.
Also interesting is that Begbies Traynor sold ‘Red Flag Alert LLP’ in 2012, yet for some reason ( perhaps to try to make it sound urgent) Patullo refers to the ” Begbies Traynor Red Flag Alert Football Distress report”.
———–
John,
I thought it was a very strange one. At least we now know where some in the media and fitba people get their financial abyss stuff. It’s got an official looking heading and logo so it must be true … uh?
Looking their site, it seems as though they are working hand-in-hand with people offering funds and solutions to clubs in distress. How convenient 🙂 Another interpretation to the report is that 9 out of 10 clubs are healthy!
Congratulations to Hamilton Accies U15s for winning the Scottish cup yesterday..
JimBhoy says:
May 26, 2014 at 8:32 am
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Congratulations to Hamilton Accies U15s for winning the Scottish cup yesterday..
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The interviews with the Hamilton folks after the match (the play-off) were a credit to Scottish football. The emphasis on bringing through youth and giving local lads a chance is outstanding and inspirational.
Btw, I think it was Stephen (‘It’s-a-disaster’) Craigen who was the BT pundit standing next to Owen Coyle. Why do TV companies employ such negativity promoters? Is is that they want to caricature Scots as dour and miserable moaners?
Take Celtic out of the equation for a minute and the top league looks refreshed and competitive for next season. And with a new management setup at Celtic Park it’s all looking very interesting already. Personally, I’d love to see Coyle involved in Scottish football. Talks a good game and is an optimist. Pity some fans in the East End have taken a dislike to him, seems an ideal fit otherwise.
ptd1978 says:
May 26, 2014 at 3:14 am
=========================
Without good finances a club can do little (unless the finances are very dodgy) but good management in finance doesn’t always equate to good management on the park. The right football people have to be brought in and given both time and resources. It’s always a nice judgement how much time a manager should be given and sometimes impossible to judge.
However one management mistake is understandable but a whole series of them (whether the mistake is picking the wrong man or not giving him enough time) makes you suspect bad judgement at the board level. Perhaps they should think of getting outside help? Also all these mistakes – managerial pay-offs and rolling over staff when a new man comes in – cost the club money and will have contributed to a debt of about £5.5m (though that is down from a previous year). It’s probably fortunate for them that the Championship will be such a competitive league next season.
Of course big money can make a difference despite the quality of the manager and board if a club is able for whatever reason to outspend its rivals by a vast amount (yes AM I’m pointing my elbow at you).
@JimBhoy says:
Hamilton have had an excellent youth policy for a long time now, two of their products were at one point playing in the English Premiership. I hope my own club’s reinvigorated (resuscitated might be a better word) youth policy can be as successful as theirs in future.
@Danish Pastry
Remember Craigan is an Irish fella.. He does stay in Hamilton though, I have met him many times..
Accies is my second team and I loved the game yesterday, I just felt they would get that second goal. My boy plays for a Hamilton team at U15s but Accies at that age have been the best team around for a few years now.
I would rather stand at the side of the park and watch a youth game than be in a ground watching a senior game. Boys should be getting a sniff at first team football at 17/18 imo.
Talk today about Everton wanting James Forrest so a good youth policy and giving the boys a chance can pay off. In this case to the tune of £8m.
Struggling to see why Butcher would want the hassle to stay on. To me its a no-winner . Do badly and he’s out by Christmas, do well and everyone says why didn’t you do that 6 months ago? At the very least he should have publicly offered to walk?
Smugas says:
May 26, 2014 at 9:38 am
Struggling to see why Butcher would want the hassle to stay on. To me its a no-winner . Do badly and he’s out by Christmas, do well and everyone says why didn’t you do that 6 months ago? At the very least he should have publicly offered to walk?
=============================================================
Terry Butcher has got previous form. He took ICT down into the championship and then brought them straight up again and just look at what he did there. He wants to stay and do the same – I hope he does stay and we see Hibs, Hearts or Falkirk back in the top league for 2015/16 – any combination of the three 😀
justshatered says:
May 26, 2014 at 12:34 am
”..and RFC paid the ultimate price of losing their club..’
———-
I think we must ALWAYS add that the reason for RFC(IL) dying in disgrace and dishonour, undeserving of even a scintilla of sympathy, lies not in poor management, or weak/mad finances, but simply and purely in the rotten heart of a megalomaniac who lied to and cheated the rest of Scottish Football ( while probably also cheating the taxpayer).
I’ve just been reading the obituary of Jeb McGruder-he of Watergate infamy- whose capacities as a serial liar have since been dwarfed by the senior people who ran affairs at RFC(IL) and the SFA, as well as by those hacks who prostituted themselves (and are still on the game!) by covering up for them.
Hacks whom the Watergate, true journalists, would treat, on account of their betrayal of their profession, as they would treat the foulest kind of excrement on the soles of their shoes.
( As a complete aside,yesterday I found myself within a few feet of Lord Doherty. As Falstaff says, “The better part of valour is discretion.”, so I decided not to tell him to get his finger out and publish his decision!)
Yourhavingalaugh, maybe the mic’s were on a different gantry !!!!!! 😀
Following yesterday’s splendid performance by Hamilton Accies I thought I thought I would have a look at the common take on the Championship being the more competitive league next season. In order to do so I thought I would reference the last 50 seasons in Scottish football and review winners and runners up.
I am going to use a term I do not subscribe to, however for the purpose of these figures I feel it is best understood using this term. Out of the 50 top league championships 45 have been won by either side of the old firm (sic)
so given next season’s league line ups, what league will the other winners and runners up now be performing in? And what percentage of the trophies won outwith the OF are in what league.
LEAGUE
W RU
PREMIERSHIP 5 13
CHAMPIONSHIP 0 7
OTHER 0 0
TOTAL 5 20
LEAGUE
W RU
PREMIERSHIP 100% 65%
CHAMPIONSHIP 0% 35%
OTHER 0% 0%
SCOTTISH CUP
W RU
PREMIERSHIP 12 15
CHAMPIONSHIP 3 12
OTHER 1 7
TOTAL 16 34
SCOTTISH CUP
W RU
PREMIERSHIP 75% 44%
CHAMPIONSHIP 19% 35%
OTHER 6% 21%
LEAGUE CUP
W RU
PREMIERSHIP 11 20
CHAMPIONSHIP 5 7
OTHER 0 3
TOTAL 16 30
LEAGUE CUP
W RU
PREMIERSHIP 69% 67%
CHAMPIONSHIP 31% 23%
OTHER 0% 10%
so this looks to me that the most competitive league next season is likely to be the Premiership, where more winners and runners up in all three of the major competitions in Scotland over the last 50 seasons excluding the OF will be performing.
All winners of the top league outside the big two will play in the premiership, 65% of scottish cup winners and 69% of league cup winners will also perform in the top league.
football evolves all the time and does not live in the past, Hearts and Hibs have been living on past glories for too long but the SMSM will have you believe different.
Lets compare the New Firm against Hearts and Hibs in the last 50 years
Competition New Firm Edinburgh two
Top League winners 4 0
Scottish Cup winners 8 3
League Cup winners 7 3
Again please note all these figures are exclusive of the OF.
For Hibs and Hearts you could read the following English Giants
Accrington Stanley
Aston Villa
Blackburn
Bolton
Burnley
Derby County
Everton
Notts County
Preston NE
Stoke City
WBA
Wolves
Football is based on sporting merit and not biggest support nor history, whether it be actual or purchased.
so hit the SMSM with the facts over the last 50 seasons when they spout forth their nonsense based on sentiment and not fact!
i do hope this post above does not feel like a lecture from the OU on BBC2 from all those years ago. Fore armed is forewarned
Scottish Football needs a strong Arbroath
John Clark says:
May 26, 2014 at 10:27 am
Hacks whom the Watergate, true journalists, would treat, on account of their betrayal of their profession, as they would treat the foulest kind of excrement on the soles of their shoes.
_____________________________________________________________
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s a damned shame that a field as potentially dynamic and vital as journalism should be overrun with dullards, bums, and hacks, hag-ridden with myopia, apathy, and complacence, and generally stuck in a bog of stagnant mediocrity.”
Hunter S. Thompson
complete stats for last 50 years – i hope these are legible
LEAGUE SCOTTISH CUP LEAGUE CUP
PREMIERSHIP W RU W RU W RU
ABERDEEN 3 10 6 4 5 6
CELTIC 25 15 19 7 12 15
DUNDEE 0 0 0 1 1 3
DUNDEE UTD 1 0 2 8 2 4
KILMARNOCK 1 0 1 0 1 2
ICT 0 0 0 0 0 1
PARTICK TH 0 0 0 0 1 0
MOTHERWELL 0 3 1 1 0 1
ROSS COUNTY 0 0 0 1 0 0
ST JOHNSTONE 0 0 1 0 0 2
ST MIRREN 0 0 1 0 1 1
HAMILTON 0 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 30 28 31 22 23 35
LEAGUE SCOTTISH CUP LEAGUE CUP
CHAMPIONSHIP W RU W RU W RU
THE RANGERS 0 0 0 0 0 0
HEARTS 0 5 3 4 0 2
HIBS 0 2 0 5 3 5
FALKIRK 0 0 0 2 0 0
Q.O.T.S 0 0 0 1 0 0
DUMBARTON 0 0 0 0 0 0
LIVINGSTON 0 0 0 0 1 0
RAITH ROVERS 0 0 0 0 1 0
ALLOA 0 0 0 0 0 0
COWDENBEATH 0 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 0 7 3 12 5 7
LEAGUE SCOTTISH CUP LEAGUE CUP
OTHER W RU W RU W RU
RANGERS* 20 15 15 9 22 5
AIRDRIE** 0 0 0 3 0 0
GRETNA* 0 0 0 1 0 0
DUNFERMLINE 0 0 1 3 0 2
AYR UTD 0 0 0 0 0 1
TOTAL 20 15 16 16 22 8
GRAND TOTAL 50 50 50 50 50 50
KEY
* NO LONGER EXIST
** NOW CLYDEBANK FC
Former Celtic forward Paolo Di Canio would consider a return to Parkhead as Neil Lennon’s replacement, the Italian’s agent has claimed. Cluster One says:
May 23, 2014 at 6:58 pm
Very dull for a Friday isn’t it?
Paolo Di Canio wants back into management
(Hope that it was not me who stirred up that story) 😯
jean7brodie says:
May 26, 2014 at 11:40 am
‘….generally stuck in a bog of stagnant mediocrity.”
————
Hunter S.Thompson was perhaps too gentlemanly to mention ‘partisanship bordering on blind prejudice’ among the failings of the ‘dbh’s’ . 🙂
Angry Young Man62
That’s a great selection of stats. I never realised the lack of mobility in the Scottish league was so apparent. I guess if we were talking about people we would call it social mobility.
There’s another lesson in there for the blazers too. The big leagues aren’t afraid to cast off big teams if their performance deserves it. In England, Forest have 2 European cups, but no one is desperate to boost them into the top flight. Ditto Leeds, Wolves and more. Italy were willing to eject Juve and strip titles for crimes that are at least similar in scale if not duration to Rangers antics.
The ability to fall from any height in these leagues is partially what is safeguarding then from the influx if money. Someone realises that when you stop winning a lot of your fans drift away to other teams. Yet in Scotland our administrators insist on the fiction that Celtic and *Rangers must be at the top and at least in Rangers case no rule is more important than that.
It gets worse seeing that the next tier of teams are also fairly safe in the top flight. We all expect to see Hearts and Hibs come up again when they’ve overcome their respective problems. Where is the Scottish version of Luton Town or Swindon?
This years playoffs were a great success in terms of drama and the attention they got, but the blazers made them a farce by giving the TV rights away. This might be a ploy. I reckon they’ll be scrapped as soon as *Rangers get promoted and we can all get back to the same state of rigor mortis that has driven away non OF fans for over 20 years.
John Clark says:
May 26, 2014 at 10:27 am
( As a complete aside,yesterday I found myself within a few feet of Lord Doherty. As Falstaff says, “The better part of valour is discretion.”, so I decided not to tell him to get his finger out and publish his decision!)
So how long did you get?
John Clark
Thank God John it was not a chewin the fat moment ,I smell sh?te,tell us there was no odour in the area.
So with three of the biggest teams in Scotland out of the top flight is it not time for ND to gain another bonus in renegotiating the TV deal..?
Off topic from the Hibs Relegation and Accies Promotion I know, but has BDO released their up to date report yet? If not when is it due?
Thanks in Advance.
Latest from PMGB. “Another day another meeting”
ptd1978 says:
May 26, 2014 at 3:14 am
13
4
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Resin_Lab_Dog
Hibs certainly did have other problems, but what club doesn’t? Had they kept Fenlon, I doubt they would have gone down. They would have been comfortably mid table.
I wonder if that would have been seen as failure without the perspective of what actually happened.
Something I was wondering over… Do we (we as a body of contributors at TSFM) overvalue the impact of good financial housekeeping on results? Hibs have been held up as a well run club for a long time now, but this hasn’t translated into league positions and loads of silverware. Fenlon basically failed against those expectations. Can he consider himself hard done by considering the subsequent nosedive in form?
I’m not advocating overspending at all, but there are lots of different ways to run a club, with loans, overdrafts, mortgages, sugar-daddies, fan owned , privately owned, listed status etc which can involve debt, or a level of speculation on how money is invested.
It seems to me that unless a club is willing to take this to a COMPLETELY unacceptable level, finding the right manager has more of an impact on results.
I think I would make Hibs 3rd favourites to come up next year. Hearts have the kernel of a useful team and Rangers have the remnants of one. I might be doing Falkirk a disservice by missing them out as well. Hibs policy might act against them next season. What budget will they have to reconstruct a squad Butcher has alienated? Can top flight players be attracted to 2nd tier football without a cash sweetener?
I hope Butcher stays. He’s shown himself as a good manager before and he deserves the chance to show his mettle. His staying probably relies on whether 2 or 3 good buys can forge the remnants of the current squad into a team or if really major surgery is needed.
______________________________________________
I think Butcher Malpas have from of getting players in cheap and adding value.
Johnny Hayes is an example… and he is speaking up in support of his former gaffer today.
He offers the chance for Hibs to both be financially sustainable and fluorish. BUT radical surgery was required. Guessing he hoped to limp on to the close season without relegation before re-engineering the whole set up, and it blew up in his face.
But if Fenlon had stayed they would have gone backwards, and I suspect that alot of the players that will be thanked and shown the door (pretty much everyone except those couple that Terry brought in so far) and Hibs would be in a different hole altogether.
Assuming TB stays on, Championship could be a better environment for blooding the talent that he and Malpas will bring in and develop.
John Clark says:
May 26, 2014 at 10:27 am
”..and RFC paid the ultimate price of losing their club..’
———-
I think we must ALWAYS add that the reason for RFC(IL) dying in disgrace and dishonour, undeserving of even a scintilla of sympathy, lies not in poor management, or weak/mad finances, but simply and purely in the rotten heart of a megalomaniac who lied to and cheated the rest of Scottish Football ( while probably also cheating the taxpayer).
I’ve just been reading the obituary of Jeb McGruder-he of Watergate infamy- whose capacities as a serial liar have since been dwarfed by the senior people who ran affairs at RFC(IL) and the SFA, as well as by those hacks who prostituted themselves (and are still on the game!) by covering up for them.
Hacks whom the Watergate, true journalists, would treat, on account of their betrayal of their profession, as they would treat the foulest kind of excrement on the soles of their shoes.
( As a complete aside,yesterday I found myself within a few feet of Lord Doherty. As Falstaff says, “The better part of valour is discretion.”, so I decided not to tell him to get his finger out and publish his decision!)
==========================================================
Strongly worded post JC, and all the more appropriate for it.
However, I now notice that you are quoting that Shakingspear chappie without even a side reference let alone any sign of apology to my raw memories of it being taught in such a non “JC” way…!…LOL!
I have been keeping an eye on message boards and social media since yesterday’s play-off game, seeing the reaction of Accies and Hibs fans and the subsequent actions from Hibs themselves (11 players released today).
Much of the comment unsurprisingly has been upbeat from the Accies side and highly critical from Hibs mainly of the Hibs owners, management and the players,
However I was somewhat shocked to see the Facebook comments of one ex Hibs player (and supporter) being critical of an individual Hibs player, in Jason Cummings, a youngster who had actually got the team to the verge of winning the play off after his two goals in the first leg.
Here are some of the comments from Leigh Griffiths
Now there is nothing that Griffiths could get done for out of the above, and as a Hibs supporter he has every right to feel bad about their relegation, but given his own recent history you would think that he would learn to keep his gob shut. Not only that, I believe that it is highly unprofessional for a current Scotland Internationalist to rip into an 18 year old lad that would probably be playing for Scotland U19s tonight in their UEFA Championship Elite Round group if he hadn’t been playing for Hibs yesterday.
I don’t know what Celtic said to him after the Hearts and Skacel incidents (which are still subject to a police investigation), but I suspect it has fallen on deaf ears.
easyJambo says:
May 26, 2014 at 4:20 pm
================
I think Mr Griffiths would be wise to give up on Facebook and Twitter, at least until he has grown up, which I guess will be about the time he gets to my age. And if he’s not wise enough to do it himself, then the club who pay him should take some sort of action. He isn’t doing himself or his club any favours with stuff like that.