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!
JimBhoy says:
June 5, 2014 at 10:43 am
@ECO somebody had a spare 26p???
============================
DK makes a move 😀
It’s amazing the strange way that Armageddon is working to the benefit of Scottish Football 😎
This really is a cool way to advertise for a great Scottish crime writer: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2649101/Val-McDermid-looks-boost-novel-sales-sponsoring-local-club-Raith-Rovers.html
John Clark says:
June 5, 2014 at 12:40 am
“I still fizz with anger at the way that the cack-handedness of those ‘politicians’ destroyed that wonderfully generous contribution to football that many male ( and at that time, the occasional female) primary and secondary school-teacher made…”
————————————–
I think this is an illustration of how politics spills over and interacts with our everyday existence.
The political zeitgeist of that time required that the solidarity of the working class be broken down in readiness for the onset of market driven consumerism. In many ways it was no bad thing but the unfortunate side effect you point to is that the kind of community spirit that nurtures a whole range of activities at an early age was lost. Despite Cameron’s latter calls for a ‘big society’, it did not suit a Tory agenda to have a lot of people doing things for altruistic reasons when entrepreneurs could be doing those same things and charging handsomely for it.
When I was in primary school a spirited parish priest turned up at the church and started organising football teams. I was no good but that didn’t preclude me getting the occasional game and taking part in all the other fund raising activities that surrounded the venture. Later at secondary school I was still no good but there were a few boys that were and the school team was very successful. I think that came from the broad inclusion of a range of abilities and the acceptance that some people would be good at football whilst others would be good at geography. It wasn’t elitist, it was just realistic.
I think part of the entitlement flaw is that it leads to a ‘good guy/w*nker’ mindset where everything is black and white. My limited experience of amateur footballers is that it is not always the apparently talented ones that have the dedication to make the most of their abilities. Sport is about falling down and picking yourself back up and not believing in a predetermined outcome. Nurturing that commitment is how I think you get kids to be dedicated but there is no ‘silver bullet’ to bring this about. fairness is a big part of it but there needs to be a level of understanding as well.
twopanda says:
June 5, 2014 at 11:01 am
MSM Blitzkreig on a Mr K Miller
Newsworthy – but what`s really happening under such intense black smoke?
& World Cup in a week
Last date for a public BDO report 11 June – one day before said World Cup
Guess we`re old hands at this now
I`d wager the landscape will have completely changed in a month – but surreptitiously done
All – should be on alert – and QED – take it that nothing of substance will come from PR`d MSM
==========================================================================
Twopanda, I expect that neither the Easdales nor RIFCs media advisors will have any influence on the publication date of BDOs next 6 monthly RFC 2012 Plc (Formerly The Rangers Football Club Plc) – In Liquidation report. It will be delivered within the specified time-frame with no regard to any impact it may or may not have on TRFC or RIFC or the 2014 World Cup.
BLU says:
June 5, 2014 at 12:14 pm
Apols Blu – quite correct !! – the reference was intended for any press reporting
Sorry as it read – BDO not involved as you say
I stand corrected.
When BDO do produce their next report on RFC 2012, it should be posted here.
http://www.bdo.co.uk/services/business-restructuring/rfc-2012-plc-formerly-the-rangers-football-club-plc-in-liquidation
twopanda says:
June 5, 2014 at 12:21 pm
===================
Apologies from me, it may well be seen as a good time to release information on loans terms being extended or share options being exercised.
easyJambo says:
June 5, 2014 at 12:30 pm
When BDO do produce their next report on RFC 2012, it should be posted here.
——————————————————
When BDO do produce their next report on RFC 2012, it will be posted here (onTSFM).
😛
Steve Archibald did indeed develop his motor skills in the early seventies. At that time he was a Rutherglen car mechanic. 😀
Mr pateys latest
Attendances at Scottish Championship clubs could double next season and the division’s average gates could exceed those in the Premiership.
Football finance expert Neil Patey confirmed to BBC Two Scotland’s ‘Scotland 2014’ programme that the second tier was in for a boom.
Nice wee twitter chat going between @Auldheid and @GrahamSpiers with @TomEnglishSport joining in (among others).
Graham promising to have a look at “An Honest Game” … progress.
Mr Patey is a godsend. I can’t imagine where he gets his sources. Honestly, how can one man be so wonderfully informed?
Next, Mr Neil Patey explains the beneficial effects for Scottish football of awarding the European places to the Championship winners, runners up and third placed side, plus Ramsden Cup winners.
Joethebookie says:
June 5, 2014 at 2:51 pm
2 0 Rate This
Mr pateys latest
Attendances at Scottish Championship clubs could double next season and the division’s average gates could exceed those in the Premiership.
Football finance expert Neil Patey confirmed to BBC Two Scotland’s ‘Scotland 2014′ programme that the second tier was in for a boom.
Mr Patey is a godsend. I can’t imagine where he gets his sources. Honestly, how can one man be so woefully informed?
—————————
Fixed it for you 🙄
Joethebookie says:
June 5, 2014 at 2:51 pm
Mr pateys latest
Attendances at Scottish Championship clubs could double next season and the division’s average gates could exceed those in the Premiership.
Football finance expert Neil Patey confirmed to BBC Two Scotland’s ‘Scotland 2014′ programme that the second tier was in for a boom.
Mr Patey is a godsend. I can’t imagine where he gets his sources. Honestly, how can one man be so wonderfully informed?
==========================================
Joe, it would be pretty surprising if the crowds didn’t at least double –
the Championship total in 2013-14 was 323,103
Morton, Dundee and Hamilton totalled 141,572
Hearts, Hibs and Rangers had combined gates of over 1.25m
Joethebookie says: June 5, 2014 at 2:51 pm Mr pateys latest
Attendances at Scottish Championship clubs could double next season and the division’s average gates could exceed those in the Premiership. Football finance expert Neil Patey confirmed to BBC Two Scotland’s ‘Scotland 2014′ programme that the second tier was in for a boom.
Mr Patey is a godsend. I can’t imagine where he gets his sources. Honestly, how can one man be so wonderfully informed? ========================================== Joe, it would be pretty surprising if the crowds didn’t at least double –
the Championship total in 2013-14 was 323,103
Morton, Dundee and Hamilton totalled 141,572
Hearts, Hibs and Rangers had combined gates of over 1.25m
==============================
How many fixtures in th championship are going to appeal to th traveling/home supports of Hibs and Heart’s ? Let alone the protesting The Rangers fans ? To keep this 1.25m
Manipulating the media
===================
I got interested in RTC more so because of how the MSM was happy to be manipulated – or look the other way – for the benefit of one particular club. But have we recently observed Celtic manipulate the media for its own end ?
For about a week, the media would have you believe that Roy Keane was just to put his name to a contract and the CFC job was his.
Even the bookies I believe had Keane as hot favourite for a while.
And during this period the Scottish media was adopting a critical stance about Keane’s abilities etc.
A lot of Celtic fans – myself included – where not overly impressed with the idea of Keane taking over.
…and then out of the hat Lawwell pulls out a name that I guess few fans would recognise – and managing a team few fans would know much about.
So how do you go from Roy Keane to Ronny Deila ?
Has Lawwell manipulated the SMSM for his own purposes ?
To go straight for Deila, the fans’ reaction might have been underwhelming.
But to supposedly ‘drop’ Keane – and let many Celtic fans sigh in relief – and to then go for this relative unknown chap might have been a smart move. He would get a better initial response – if only because “it could have been Roy Keane”…
So was the Keane story just that: a smokescreen to soften up the fans before going for an unknown manager ?
[Agreed – as at posting time there are no reports that Delia has signed, and may not become the manager anyway.]
Neil Patey, a football finance expert, says “The biggest single revenue source for Scottish football clubs is ticket sales”.
Who knew?
Late correction: “Delia” has most certainly not signed for Celtic… 😳
StevieBC,
I would be delighted if Celtic played the media for it’s own ends.
We have been very good recently at conducting our business out of the public eye.
The MSM have years of previous in undermining potential Celtic recruits and, I’m sure, scuppering some deals, either by their negativity or alerting other clubs.
If you are correct about the Keane case, then collusion must have been gained from O’Neill and Keane.
If so, well played, again.
tcup 2012 says:
June 5, 2014 at 3:52 pm
How many fixtures in th championship are going to appeal to th traveling/home supports of Hibs and Heart’s ? Let alone the protesting The Rangers fans ? To keep this 1.25m
============================================================
tcup, Please read my post again. I didn’t say that they’d keep the 1.25m, just that it would be surprising if the 2014-15 total wasn’t double the 2013-14 figure because the three clubs going into the Championship historically have bigger gates than the three going out.
The travel to away games for Hearts and Hibs is also much better than in the Premiership – even Dumfries and Dumbarton won’t be as far as Aberdeen, Inverness and Dingwall. Alloa, Falkirk, Livingston, Cowdenbeath,and Kirkcaldy are easy trips. They may even think they’ve got a chance of winning some away games in 2014-15. Hearts, Hibs and Rangers are all also guaranteed 4 home games against the other two.
Of course, none of this means that Hearts, Hibs and Rangers are delighted to be where they are and even the esteemed Mr Patey wouldn’t claim that, would he?
JimBhoy says:
June 5, 2014 at 10:43 am
@ECO somebody had a spare 26p???
============================
DK makes a move 😀
======================================
Wonder who he borrowed that off? 😆
JimBhoy says:
June 5, 2014 at 4:23 pm
JimBhoy says:
June 5, 2014 at 10:43 am
@ECO somebody had a spare 26p???
============================
DK makes a move
======================================
Wonder who he borrowed that off?
======================================
…or Jim McColl has cashed in his investment in RIFC ?
While I know the SMSM is going overboard re next years Championship am I the only one getting fed up about the Forum picking over every mention of the Championship as if speaking about is a heinous crime?
Two of our big clubs are there because of their obvious financial mismanagement, the other one is there because of, well, possible financial mismanagement in being far too tight with the cash over the years..
On sporting merits Hibs are there because they were gash. Hearts without the 15 point penalty may have made a better stab at it but who knows what team either will put out next season.
Will Rangers squad change that much? Will the teams like Falkirk continue to develop and put up a challenge.
It is going to be interesting and if people are even having a wee sneaky peak at the results and watching a few highlights after supporting a Premiership club then where is the harm in that.
In fact the more fans of Premiership club that have a look down the divisions the better.
Halff the teams in the Premiership were down there not that long ago anyway.
The back pages are always going to be filled with Celtic and Rangers so what are we expecting?
The situation we have from next years Championship is unprecedented so of course lazy journos are going to go for the easy story. Why are we surprised?
Is it not the case that Scottish Football needs more people having an strong interest in leagues at all levels.
At a work related meeting, I was asked, as a known supporter of a diddly team, if I was looking forward to next season’s ‘great’ Championship. I said we’d just finished a great season, that we’d lost two good teams, and Morton, and gained two s*** Edinburgh teams, and a promoted side who couldn’t beat Raith Rovers.
My remarks were greeted with literal hoots of derision from Sevco fans present.
Famous song says:
June 5, 2014 at 5:19 pm
Don’t forget Hibs couldn’t beat Raith either.
The Championship has grudge matches aplenty 😉
Seriously it all good news in both the Premiership and the Championship.
While Celtic will be odds on faves who knows what the new manager will bring.
I see good battles with them and Aberdeen and expect McCall’s Motherwell to continue to sneak up on the rails once again.
A few Dundee derbies to look forward to.
The likes of St Johnstone and Hamilton hoping to ride on the wave of achievement.
It is all looking good as far as I can see.
StevieBC says:
June 5, 2014 at 3:56 pm
…and then out of the hat Lawwell pulls out a name that I guess few fans would recognise – and managing a team few fans would know much about.
—————————————————————
You seen well connected Steve to know that the name was put out by Peter Lawwell, I take it he also put out the other 20 names that were mentioned?
Watch this space…..
wottpi says:
June 5, 2014 at 4:53 pm
____________________________________________
Yes there is a rather unfortunate backlash here about the Championship. I think it will be a very interesting and competitive division and I am happy to see it talked up.
It’s the double standards that get me. Both Hearts and Hibs were in the Premiership last term, but nobody in the media seemed to think that was a particularly “booming” situation.
As someone else pointed out, if the Championship is to be more competitive with (Hibs and Hearts) than the Premiership was last year, how is it that TRFC are required to raise the competitiveness of the Premiership?
The reason the Championship will be more competitive is that there are four sides who are at around the same standard. If we were to believe the MSM/SFA/SPFL Armageddon stories, there would be no competition at all; just a season-long victory parade for Rangers who are badly required at the top to compete with Celtic. Logic is absent if one examines both statements. Same as it ever was (©D Byrne 1980).
http://twohundredpercent.net/?p=25735
Neil Doncaster: A(nother) Premier League Chief Executive Under Pressure
TSFM says:
June 5, 2014 at 5:36 pm
The reason the Championship will be more competitive is that there are four sides who are at around the same standard.
————————————————————
Slightly bemused here.
Which four teams do you mean?
I can’t speak for the top division as it’s been none of my business for the last couple of decades but, if your premise is true, the second tier will be less competitive than usual as most years there are 7 or 8 teams of a similar standard.
My own feeling is that next season has a whiff of a three ring circus with the world at large not acknowledging the other seven teams even exist, other than insisting how thrilled we must be to have such distinguished visitors patronising our humble establishments.
StevieBC says:
June 5, 2014 at 3:56 pm
===========================
Most MSM writers have commented recently that Celtic are very difficult to get information from in terms of a new manager, and made it clear it was Martin O’Neill who inadevertently forced their hand to comment on Keane. Personally I think it’s stretching it to think the media could be played by Celtic at all. You only have to look at the snide and derisory comments in various articles over this past week to see that.
andygraham.66 says:
June 5, 2014 at 6:28 pm
“Neil Doncaster: A(nother) Premier League Chief Executive Under Pressure”
—————————————–
Woodstein was good enough to ferret out the original CF document referred to in the article, the other day.
http://tl.gd/n_1rldjec
It does seem to imply that there was at the very least a tacit recognition that there would be OF games as a mandatory element of the deal. How much this obligation played into the ensuing shenanigans cannot easily be distilled.
Re Championship talk:
I’m a Hibby and I would not be surprised if we got relegated again. Thankfully some of the mince that took as down have gone but will we recruit better? TIme will tell.
As for HMFC, who’s to say they’ll be any stronger next season than this; they have already let a few players go. Plus they’re not actually out of admin yet, could they be starting on negative points again?
I am hating this disrespect shown in some media (not here) to teams like Falkirk, QoS, Raith etc. who will surely be competitive in the Championship next season.
It is not easy getting out of the “Second Division” although the play-off place does make it theoretically easier for an “also ran” to climb out, as Hamilton did (well done to them BTW).
Crowds will certainly in the early part of the season be good in the Championship. And I can’t see any team running away with it. I certainly do NOT subscribe to the view that it’s any 2 from Hibs/ Hearts/TRFC.
blu says:
June 5, 2014 at 3:36 pm
9
1
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Joethebookie says:
June 5, 2014 at 2:51 pm
Mr pateys latest
Attendances at Scottish Championship clubs could double next season and the division’s average gates could exceed those in the Premiership.
Football finance expert Neil Patey confirmed to BBC Two Scotland’s ‘Scotland 2014′ programme that the second tier was in for a boom.
Mr Patey is a godsend. I can’t imagine where he gets his sources. Honestly, how can one man be so wonderfully informed?
==========================================
Joe, it would be pretty surprising if the crowds didn’t at least double –
the Championship total in 2013-14 was 323,103
Morton, Dundee and Hamilton totalled 141,572
Hearts, Hibs and Rangers had combined gates of over 1.25m
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
So why do we have a 12 team league playing each other a mind numbing 4 times when we could double the overall attendance with only adding 4 teams?
Castofthousands says:
June 5, 2014 at 7:07 pm
It does seem to imply that there was at the very least a tacit recognition that there would be OF games as a mandatory element of the deal. How much this obligation played into the ensuing shenanigans cannot easily be distilled.
====================
If there was no contractual obligation to supply OF games, then what happened subsequently is nothing short of an outrage. The SPL should have offered to see the broadcasters in court, rather than renegotiate the deal.
If, on the other hand, there was such an obligation, then again, that is an absolute outrage, since the league have effectively signed a deal contingent on the continued presence of two named teams in the top 6 of the league.
So which totally unacceptable scenario is correct? And just before anyone claims that there is, there is no middle ground. Either the SPL were contracually obliged to provide OF games, or they weren’t.
Sky seem to have indicated that they have no issue with the SPL publishing the relevant clause in the contract. But of course the SPL won’t publish, because they are in the wrong either way. They will stay silent, because any answer condemns them as either totally corrupt or grossly incompetent. And eventually, it will all be forgotten about. That is what they are counting on.
Scorelines, rather than the amount of fans, dictate which division you play in 🙂
Re the Championship. I have no problem with anyone talking up its competitiveness. What I do have a problem with is it being talked up in a way that in turn talks down the league above it, and that is what some, but maybe not all MSM people are doing. The teams in the top league are there because they deserve to be, and shame on anyone who tries to ignore that basic, but very important fact in this argument.
No1 Bob says:
June 5, 2014 at 3:56 pm
28 0 Rate This
Neil Patey, a football finance expert, says “The biggest single revenue source for Scottish football clubs is ticket sales”.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
What Neil Patey didn’t say …… “The biggest single revenue source for one Scottish football club is PAYE and VAT”
Just catching up on the club from Ibrox signing Kenny Miller. It reminds me so much of the time Craig Whyte put players like McGregor and Whittaker on bumper contracts. McCoist beamed like a Cheshire Cat, yet the world and its Granny knew Rangers could not afford to do it. McCoist is beaming again about signing Miller and also wants Boyd. Would it not be better for the club from Ibrox to dispense with McCoist if they are truly serious about moving forward?
I saw this article in The Washington Post.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2014/06/03/u-s-soccer-coach-juergen-klinsmann-says-american-players-can-have-sex-during-world-cup/
This statement caught my eye – “Brazil Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari also won’t be prohibiting his players from having sex, despite doing so when Brazil won the World Cup in 2002. But he wants the Selecao to avoid any “acrobatics,” which seems reasonable.”
I think that given the age profile of the followers of the blog we can rule out any acrobatics but does TSFM have any further advice for the blog?
http://www.herefordtimes.com/sport/thebulls/conference_premier/news/11260227.Crisis_at_Edgar_Street__Hereford_United_Football_Club_fail_to_pay_football_creditors/?ref=var_0
I’m sure Regan/Doncaster and Ogilvie can learn from the Conference officials if they did,t have the spines of jellyfish. Lets see what the Conference AGM does on Saturday and we can compare and contrast.
From James Forrest
http://www.onfieldsofgreen.com/oh-my-god-they-signed-kenny/
Update on Hereford story
http://www.herefordtimes.com/sport/11259798.UPDATE__Hereford_United_are_on_brink_of_expulsion_from_the_Football_Conference/?ref=ms
No1 Bob says:
June 5, 2014 at 9:26 pm
______________________________
Feck the advice from TSFM I’ll do what I like 😀
In very sunny climes just now and you know what they say…
BLU says: June 5, 2014 at 4:22 pm 5 0 Rate This
tcup 2012 says: June 5, 2014 at 3:52 pm How many fixtures in th championship are going to appeal to th traveling/home supports of Hibs and Heart’s ? Let alone the protesting The Rangers fans ? To keep this 1.25m ============================================================ tcup, Please read my post again. I didn’t say that they’d keep the 1.25m, just that it would be surprising if the 2014-15 total wasn’t double
===================
Sorry Blu
Was in a rush When I posted 🙁
Tried to edit it to include that the 1.25m figure didn’t really matter as you were correct that it would probably still be more than last years championship attendance figures
My point was that even with hibs/heart’s and TRFC in the leauge It won’t be the boom time patey is portraying
Sorry I took so long to reply but work got in the way Of the important things in life 😉
neepheid says:
June 5, 2014 at 9:43 pm
From James Forrest
oh-my-god-they-signed-kenny/.
can only ever get headline,blank screen below.
Any help 😕
From Deloittes …..extreme financial distress in the Championship. They are a huge accident waiting to happen.
“However, the 2012/13 season was a particularly bleak year for the finances of Championship clubs. A revenue reduction of £39m was compounded by a £40m increase in wage costs, leading to record operating losses of £241m. Pre-tax losses also increased by £170m, equivalent to an additional £7m per club, to £323m.
Bull from Deloitte’s commented: “The 2012/13 wages to revenue ratio for Championship clubs of 106% is the highest ever recorded by an English division and is clearly unsustainable without ongoing owner support.
“The introduction of the Championship Financial Fair Play Rules was widely seen, and advocated by the clubs who voted it in, as a necessary step to change clubs’ behaviour.
“The severity of the punishments applied to those who have not complied with the rules in the 2013/14 season and the eventual result of efforts to change the rules, will determine the extent to which they present an effective deterrent to widespread overspending.”
Cluster One says:
June 5, 2014 at 10:11 pm
can only ever get headline,blank screen below.
Any help
Might be a Browser incompatibility problem. I had the same trouble when I used IE8 – Changed to Mozilla Firefox and have had no trouble since. Worth a try.
Cluster One says:
June 5, 2014 at 10:11 pm
Original link works for me OK, but here’s a repost. Or just google onfieldsofgreen – that definitely works.
http://www.onfieldsofgreen.com/oh-my-god-they-signed-kenny/
Cluster One says:
June 5, 2014 at 10:11 pm
can only ever get headline,blank screen below.
Any help
Might be a Browser incompatibility problem. I had the same trouble when I used IE8 – Changed to Mozilla Firefox and have had no trouble since. Worth a try.
Sorry tried to edit the above… to say.
I contacted James direct a few months ago – he informed me that some versions of Internet Explorer browser won’t display his blogs. You only get the headers. I changed my browser, I now have no problem viewing everything.
smallchange says:
June 5, 2014 at 10:37 pm
neepheid says:
June 5, 2014 at 10:26 pm
Thanks 🙂
Spanishcelt@7:58, sorry, the arithmetic doesn’t work increasing top league numbers even though we might be happier with 2 games against each opponent. It isn’t just you trying to fast track certain teams into the Premiership?
tcup, thanks for getting back to me.
I fear that some Celtic fans will be asking why, why, why Deila?
….. I’ll get me coat.
Barcabhoy says:
June 5, 2014 at 10:18 pm
‘..From Deloittes …..extreme financial distress in the Championship. They are a huge accident waiting to happen….’
———
Had me going there for a second, barca, wondering where all these £millions were coming from!
Coincidentally, I’ve just been reading through BDO’s “The Annual Survey of Football Finance Directors 2013″(published October 2013) parts of which, I think, were reported on and discussed at the time here and there.
One point I found quite interesting: there was a question (no 30) ” How important is[sic, too many people think ‘media’ is a singular noun!] social media in terms of contributing to your club’s brand”
The (then) SPL responses were that 20% thought they were of ‘low importance’,40% thought they were of ‘medium importance’, and 40% thought they were of ‘high importance’.
100% of the EPL, by contrast, thought they were of ‘high importance’.
I can’t kid myself that I have anything other than the faintest idea about how the ‘social media’ are used by Football clubs ( I still have major difficulty in the personal use of Twitter!), but if significant football clubs rate their use as being important to them in branding themselves in the market-place, I would think that some of our clubs might have to brighten up their ideas a bit.
(In which roughly- connected connection, what a PR sponsorship coup by Raith Rovers to get a world-wide famous author signed up!)
http://www.bdo.co.uk/news/the-annual-survey-of-football-finance-directors-2013
To TSFM, Same as it ever was (©D Byrne 1980), I’ll raise you Slippery People (©D Byrne 1983)
Bring back Broadfoot, Ferguson, Novo. Boogie and Cuellar too…. Gazza is looking fit these days..
Lee Wallace been sold yet?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27719176
Loamfeet, as long as it’s not Delia, swigging Buckfast in the centre circle, saying, ‘Lets Be Aving U’. Second thoughts, Delia could do the catering for Ibrox or is that already tied down. ❓
JimBhoy says:
June 6, 2014 at 12:10 am
‘..Bring back Broadfoot, Ferguson, Novo. Boogie and Cuellar too…. Gazza is looking fit these days..
Lee Wallace been sold yet?’
——–
Or maybe Tore Andre Flo, of the £1.5 m EBT,
who is the younger brother of Jostein Flo,Stormsgodset’s Director of Football (and presumably the ‘boss’ of Ronny Deila.)
Who might, perhaps, have mentioned to Ronny that Celtic FC doesn’t do tax evasion remuneration schemes, even for ‘foreign’ signings. 🙂
Neil Patey – aka No Shit Sherlock
I wonder if Mr Patey is another lurker. For all we know his figures could be taken from “Armageddon, what Armageddon”.
Think about it, if he got someone to interpret the bar graphs for him and did “just some sums”, (as the ardvert goes) hey presto another world exclusive. Simples.
In other news, Neil Patey states that after June finishes we will be into July. Also, his shoes only fit on one foot each and his eyes hurt if he sticks his fingers in them.
A number of papers headlining the fact that Ronny Deila is not simply arriving or flying in, but is, in fact, ‘jetting’ in 😀
The times they are a changin’.
Danish Pastry says:
June 6, 2014 at 9:32 am
5 0 Rate This
A number of papers headlining the fact that Ronny Deila is not simply arriving or flying in, but is, in fact, ‘jetting’ in 😀
The times they are a changin’.
========================================
On a Private Jet as well DP! Not unusual for Celtic to use them but never covered with the fanfare of David Murray’s Private Jet which it turned out wasn’t actually his. it is common for companies to have contracts or leases for Private Jets but the portrayal for years by the Media that Murray actually owned one was lazy in the extreme, but it hit the spot with the intended audience.
Lies, Damned Lies and Photographs
I wouldn’t know Kenny Miller if I passed him in the street so when I read this article I was surprised to see how young and healthy a 34 year old can look. But just a moment – what’s this – a photo from 2000 – when Mr Kenny was bearly out of his teens – why choose such a photo from the many thousands available – what subliminal message lies therein – erm . . .
http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl-lower-divisions/kenny-miller-keen-on-kris-boyd-rangers-reunion-1-3435292
We are developing a music theme here, what with Talking Heads yesterday. Today Danish, “the times they are a changing” and now the 1990 album from the Damned, lies damned lies.
mcfc says:
June 6, 2014 at 10:15 am
0 0 Rate This
Lies, Damned Lies…….
Please, no songs from Fish or Half man half biscuit. We can’t start that again. 🙂
The Plausible Impossibility
That’s the term Walt Disney used to describe a cartoon character running off a cliff and continuing horizontally, staying airborne until they realize they are in mid air far from the cliff edge – they then plummet to earth making a Vitruvian Man shaped hole in the canyon below – much to the mirth of all watching.
I find it hard to believe that the The Rangers balance sheet is still on terra firma – so the only question worth asking (MSM) is how long will the Plausible Impossibility continue. And, is there an alternative ending.
P.S. the lovable base-jumping character is too valuable to kill off entirely, so is always back alive and well in the next scene J.
mcfc says:
June 6, 2014 at 10:15 am
“…bearly out of his teens” – very good.
I managed across the BBC HardTalk programme – with Christian Purslow on football finances the other day, which I found very interesting (particular the first section on the motivation of people getting involved in football as a business). Should be available on iPlayer for a few days
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0206r1n
Popular lad wherever he’s been. 🙂
https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3878/14354846531_c77591b305.jpg
Strange signing though with no resale value. Still no visible signs of austerity either, but I suppose there are still season tickets to shift.
Has anyone seen Dave King?
mcfc says:
June 6, 2014 at 10:15 am
Take your point. However having seen Miller in town the other year he is a player who has taken care of himself and will no doubt, because IMO he always has, still put in a good shift. In footballing terms it is not a bad signing as he will still score goals and offer a lot to a team in the Championship.
That being said, apart from printing ‘back to the future’ pictures the question the SMSM needs to ask is how does signing a 34 year old striker presumably on a hefty weekly wage and no obvious sell on value tie in with CEO Wallace’s talk of living within ones means, having a scouting system and developing talent with the possibility of selling them on if the price is right?
Surely there must be another young Ciftci type player out there that could have been nabbed up for similar outlay for Kenny Miller?
y4rmy says:
June 6, 2014 at 11:35 am
‘..Has anyone seen Dave King?’
——-
Talking about whom, I did a double-take when I saw the front page of this morning’s Herald Sports section. I thought the picture of Deila was actually an old one of Dave King. So did my other half, when I let her see it and asked her to say straight off who she thought it was.
Deila is a bold move from Celtic. A progressive coach who seems to be a good motivator, a man who knows the right buttons to press to get the best individual response and seems to be able to harmonize a team.. From what I have read.. Obviously a big Qn mark over whether he can handle the pressure of a big club like Celtic, forever in the public eye and not working under the underdog tag…I wonder if they will get someone else in who knows Celtic and the Scottish game to help him? Like McLeod to Jansen a while back.
Maybe he will be less hassled than past managers as the media focus will shurley be on the more exciting league, the 2nd division. 😕
If rangers wanted a big name, one of their ain, to try and add a few hundred onto the SB tally and had the choice of 2 seasoned strikers. One who is 4 years younger than the other and had scored many more times in the Scottish top flight, having had a very successful season before and presumably they would both be on a decent similar wage, both costing no transfer fee… Why would they go for the older guy?
JimBhoy says:
June 6, 2014 at 12:22 pm
McCoist is cacking himself and will only be playing with one up front???
Miller, with that type of experience, will still be able to run all day in that role.