Making Scottish football more watchable on TV

Have commentators who actually like the game, and have them commentate.

The idea of a commentator is to describe the game. Why, then, is the standard for scottish football commentary to have incredibly long periods of dead air? I counted a few times during our Europa League run last season, and Rob Maclean was having up to 95 seconds with him saying nothing while play went on. Our commentators just sound like they want to be anywhere else.

Also, just listing the players' names is not commentary (especially when you get them wrong). This is a standard but of commentary on our games - "McGregor. Tavernier. Tavernier to Jack. Arfield. Kent. Morelos. Mo-RE-LOOos. Well, you could see what he was trying. Headed back by Goldson."
Beyond Tavernier giving the ball to Jack, and Goldson heading the ball back, we've been told nothing whatsoever about what's happening. Did McGregor roll it to Tav? Did Tav come short? Where were Tav and Jack respectively when the pass was played? Did Arfield run into the halfspace to make space for Jack to pass? How did Kent get past his marker? Did he go inside or outside? Where was Alfie when he picked up the ball? What did he do? What part of the goal did he hit the ball towards? Left or right foot? Powered, passed, curled or chipped? Was it saved by a diving keeper? Caught comfortably? Wide? Over the bar? How did the ball end up with Goldson heading it back? What part of the pitch was he at?

What has that commentator actually added to the viewing experience? Compare with Archie, McNee, Tyler, Motson who all actually told the story of the game they were watching, or more recently the American boys who commentated on the tournament we were at in Florida - sure, there were a fair few alien sounding terms used, but the commentary added to what we were watching, not took away from it.
 
Scottish football will never attract big TV money. It doesn't have the marketable stars that foreign TV companies will want to show. It's basically schedule filler. For UK broadcasters? Pretty much the same thing. There's a bigger attraction for lower league English football than for top flight Scottish football.

What we really need is to sell our game to fans. Get more fans though the doors of clubs. We have an ageing fanbase and have had for the past 30 years. I went to my first Rangers game in 1987 (3-1 win over Dunfermline if I remember correctly) when I was just about to turn 8. Growing up I was one of the few in my class who went to football games on a Saturday afternoon.

If we don't get fans through the turnstiles then we won't have a game to try to sell to TV. Get more fans to go along on a Saturday. Change the age profile of your typical Scottish football fan. A bigger and younger crowd opens up marketing opportunities but the key thing is trying to ensure that clubs have a fan base in the first place. Too many clubs are losing fans to old age, illness or disengagement with the game.
The product on the pitch, in general, is shite in Scotland. We were brought up in a different time when there wasn't na option of what you did for your entertainment - you played football, you watched grandstand, you went to the football. We were a captive audience.

Now, our kids can see practically any game in the world, with more skill and entertainment on display. Yes, we can bore them shitless by telling them what Rangers means to us, but unless that can be parlayed into an enjoyable experience then they aren't going to embrace it and ultimately, this great institution will be a relic of a bygone age.

On field, there needs to be an outlawing of the more industrial sort of stuff that is the standard across Scotland. Teams need to be encouraged to play football, not hoof all.

We need a full root and branch overhaul of the match day experience too - think NFL and MLB style fan zones, decent food, pricing structures that make every game accessible to everyone (prices start at £5), seats that are comfortable, stewards and police who are there for safety reasons - not to criminalise folk.

I know there are some who are reading this and recoiling in horror, cause that's not what football is all about. Maybe not to you, but it's about making it attractive to the next generation. Nae offence, Da, but your money is guaranteed.
 
Have commentators who actually like the game, and have them commentate.

The idea of a commentator is to describe the game. Why, then, is the standard for scottish football commentary to have incredibly long periods of dead air? I counted a few times during our Europa League run last season, and Rob Maclean was having up to 95 seconds with him saying nothing while play went on. Our commentators just sound like they want to be anywhere else.

Also, just listing the players' names is not commentary (especially when you get them wrong). This is a standard but of commentary on our games - "McGregor. Tavernier. Tavernier to Jack. Arfield. Kent. Morelos. Mo-RE-LOOos. Well, you could see what he was trying. Headed back by Goldson."
Beyond Tavernier giving the ball to Jack, and Goldson heading the ball back, we've been told nothing whatsoever about what's happening. Did McGregor roll it to Tav? Did Tav come short? Where were Tav and Jack respectively when the pass was played? Did Arfield run into the halfspace to make space for Jack to pass? How did Kent get past his marker? Did he go inside or outside? Where was Alfie when he picked up the ball? What did he do? What part of the goal did he hit the ball towards? Left or right foot? Powered, passed, curled or chipped? Was it saved by a diving keeper? Caught comfortably? Wide? Over the bar? How did the ball end up with Goldson heading it back? What part of the pitch was he at?

What has that commentator actually added to the viewing experience? Compare with Archie, McNee, Tyler, Motson who all actually told the story of the game they were watching, or more recently the American boys who commentated on the tournament we were at in Florida - sure, there were a fair few alien sounding terms used, but the commentary added to what we were watching, not took away from it.

It's a good point about the poor quality of commentator/pundit.

I'd like if the league removed restrictions on radio commentary, allowing anyone to do audio commentary. Fans-based media groups, like Heart & Hand, would to a much better job. TV viewers could then sync up the commentary with the TV pictures and immediately everyone gets a more personalised and enjoyable experience.
 
The product on the pitch, in general, is shite in Scotland. We were brought up in a different time when there wasn't na option of what you did for your entertainment - you played football, you watched grandstand, you went to the football. We were a captive audience.

Now, our kids can see practically any game in the world, with more skill and entertainment on display. Yes, we can bore them shitless by telling them what Rangers means to us, but unless that can be parlayed into an enjoyable experience then they aren't going to embrace it and ultimately, this great institution will be a relic of a bygone age.

On field, there needs to be an outlawing of the more industrial sort of stuff that is the standard across Scotland. Teams need to be encouraged to play football, not hoof all.

We need a full root and branch overhaul of the match day experience too - think NFL and MLB style fan zones, decent food, pricing structures that make every game accessible to everyone (prices start at £5), seats that are comfortable, stewards and police who are there for safety reasons - not to criminalise folk.

I know there are some who are reading this and recoiling in horror, cause that's not what football is all about. Maybe not to you, but it's about making it attractive to the next generation. Nae offence, Da, but your money is guaranteed.
Pricing at the NFL can be horrific, entrance and beers, etc. I love it as a sport but it’s priced beyond many.

I assume your cheap pricing is for clubs that struggle to sell tickets? If so, yes, a good idea.

The quality of the product needs to improve and that comes down to a cultural change and training kids on how to play with the ball.
 
Pricing at the NFL can be horrific, entrance and beers, etc. I love it as a sport but it’s priced beyond many.

I assume your cheap pricing is for clubs that struggle to sell tickets? If so, yes, a good idea.

The quality of the product needs to improve and that comes down to a cultural change and training kids on how to play with the ball.
True about the NFL (depending on team) but certainly baseball has a pricing structure that makes it open to most. What we could do better in the style of the NFL is treating fans like they matter. The fanzone idea for one. Why can't the car park area between the underground and the megastore get used for tailgate party style events? The only reason I see for it not to be is because over the years we've been conditioned, and allowed the idea to be perpetuated, that football fans mean trouble.

The cheap pricing structure - not so much for clubs that struggle, but under 16s tickets flat rate £5 across the entire league for any game. It is kids that we need to get through the turnstiles after all.

Oh, one other thing I'd do, I'd strictly enforce the rule that if you're pished you're not getting in.
 
STOP SHOWING LIVE GAMES FROM SHIT STADIUMS

Show our matches from the best stadiums.
Theres a start.

I agree with this. However for the TV companies, showing a game at Ibrox means their TV veiwing figures are 50,000 lower than if they showed the equivalent away game.
 
Where does the money come from?

The same place the money came from tearing up the pitches in the first place. On the gantry issue, 30/40 years ago the TV companies stuck their main cameras on a cherrypicker at Somerset Park, Douglas Park, East End Park, etc. The broadcasters should be absorbing that cost. Instead of a subbuteo scaffold like at Inverness, Falkirk & Hamilton
 
The same place the money came from tearing up the pitches in the first place. On the gantry issue, 30/40 years ago the TV companies stuck their main cameras on a cherrypicker at Somerset Park, Douglas Park, East End Park, etc. The broadcasters should be absorbing that cost. Instead of a subbuteo scaffold like at Inverness, Falkirk & Hamilton
I hate plastic pitches. Did the money come from the local authorities or the clubs? The clubs will plead poverty and cite rental usage. The SFA should demand they are replaced.

No idea about point two.
 
Refereeing is shocking in this country.

All semblance of skill is brutalised out of the game here.

It's no wonder we get so consistently skelped in world and European football when our players don't have any skills
 
TV money in Scotland is influenced by how watchable the average SPFL team is, so it's in our interest for all games to be more watchable on TV. There are a lot of simple ways to make games look better on TV that don't involve having to bring in World class players. Here are some rules I'd propose that would make Scottish football a better TV product and improve the value of the TV contract:

(1) If a club's average attendance falls below 60% of capacity over a season the club must:
(a) Install multi-coloured seats to create the impression of a fuller stadium and make the empty sections of their stadium look less terrible on TV (like this: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/r-691SzkXb0/hqdefault.jpg )
(b) In the following season the club must sell tickets in the stand opposite the main TV camera, and behind the goals, before selling tickets to other parts of the ground.
(c) The club must play background crowd noise in the stadium to create the impression of an atmosphere. [Before going mental over this one, remember that this is as much about punishment and the stigma of having to do this. Not all teams would have to do this, just the ones that are currently dragging the quality of the TV product down.]

(2) Referees should be instructed to officiate all games in exactly the same way a Champions League game would be officiated. That simple change (which could happen overnight with zero cost) alone would make life for 3 or 4 teams in the league impossible and they would have no choice but to start playing a more visually attractive style of football.

(3) The location provided in a stadium for TV cameras must be a certain height and distance from the touchline. This would stop games looking rubbish on TV because the camera angle is too low or too close to the pitch. Some Scottish top league games look like Sunday league football simply because of the location of the TV camera. If a club is unable to create a TV gantry in a suitable location then they would not be eligible to play in the top league.

(4) Pitches must be real grass and be would be assessed each game to make sure they meet certain quality criteria; not just to be playable, but also to be nice and green. A pristine, rolled grass pitch immediately creates a high quality impression, and also gives players the best chance to put on a good game of football.

(5) All clubs must contribute to a PR/marketing fund to pro-actively create a brand for Scottish football. There are a lot of good things about Scottish football to build a brand around, such as history. For example, a lot of football firsts are from Scotland, and there must be 100s of Scottish people that founded football clubs/associations around the World. At the moment the image of Scottish football is created by the media, and because negativity sells in Scotland it drags down the brand. The league as whole has to get pro-active about building a brand and a story to help make it relatable to people. Americans would lap up all the history stuff for example.

Some of these ideas would have a cost but I think it would be more than covered by the increase in the value of Scottish football as a TV product. Wealth in football is all about TV these days so we should be willing to consider major changes to keep pace with that.
but i enjoy flicking over to see the sheep playing in an empty stadium it makes me happy puts a smile on my face
 
I agree with this. However for the TV companies, showing a game at Ibrox means their TV veiwing figures are 50,000 lower than if they showed the equivalent away game.

Its a thread about improving the overall image of our game.

No one down south or abroad turns over the channel, sees a match at Dens Park, Inverness or Hamilton and thinks “this looks like it could be a good game”

It looks shit. The stadiums look shit so 9 times out of 10 your minds made up before you get onto the actual match.

If you turn a match on and see Ibrox, their shit pit, or say Easter road Tynecastle, it looks half decent so its attractive to the viewer.

Plastic pitches and half empty stadiums do damage to the image
 
Refereeing is shocking in this country.

All semblance of skill is brutalised out of the game here.

It's no wonder we get so consistently skelped in world and European football when our players don't have any skills
It's not just on the officiating side though - look at the response to young Oduwa who produced a wonderful piece of skill and was derided by pundits, players, fans for 'coming up here and taking the piss'.

No marvel at the technique, just hatred and parochial attitudes.

Every game thereafter the lad was on the receiving end of a meaty challenge or 2, which generally went unpunished, before he lost what made him entertaining to watch and went back down south early.
 
Its a thread about improving the overall image of our game.

No one down south or abroad turns over the channel, sees a match at Dens Park, Inverness or Hamilton and thinks “this looks like it could be a good game”

It looks shit. The stadiums look shit so 9 times out of 10 your minds made up before you get onto the actual match.

If you turn a match on and see Ibrox, their shit pit, or say Easter road Tynecastle, it looks half decent so its attractive to the viewer.

Plastic pitches and half empty stadiums do damage to the image

I agree with you. I'm not defending the showing of games from rubbish stadiums, just pointing out why the TV companies do it.
 
(b) In the following season the club must sell tickets in the stand opposite the main TV camera, and behind the goals, before selling tickets to other parts of the ground.

Fully agree with the OP ... some excellent points in it and its something Steven Gerrard commented on at some points during the season about how shocked he was about the way we promote our game on live tv ..... on the point above its something our own board should take note of also when housing away fans and segregation in full view of cameras .... not a good look !!!
 
The product on the pitch, in general, is shite in Scotland. We were brought up in a different time when there wasn't na option of what you did for your entertainment - you played football, you watched grandstand, you went to the football. We were a captive audience.

Now, our kids can see practically any game in the world, with more skill and entertainment on display. Yes, we can bore them shitless by telling them what Rangers means to us, but unless that can be parlayed into an enjoyable experience then they aren't going to embrace it and ultimately, this great institution will be a relic of a bygone age.

On field, there needs to be an outlawing of the more industrial sort of stuff that is the standard across Scotland. Teams need to be encouraged to play football, not hoof all.

We need a full root and branch overhaul of the match day experience too - think NFL and MLB style fan zones, decent food, pricing structures that make every game accessible to everyone (prices start at £5), seats that are comfortable, stewards and police who are there for safety reasons - not to criminalise folk.

I know there are some who are reading this and recoiling in horror, cause that's not what football is all about. Maybe not to you, but it's about making it attractive to the next generation. Nae offence, Da, but your money is guaranteed.

Is it really more entertainment?

The skill level on offer on TV is certainly higher but that doesn't always make for a more entertaining game.

We've conditioned a generation of fans to reject anything that isn't highly technical and highly tactical. Me? Give me a blood and thunder game with wingers running at defenders, midfielders making tackles and a battle between a centre forward and a centre half. Add some goals. Take away this VAR push. Get play acting out the game - it's cheating.

I'd rather watch 2 teams having a go at each other than highly technical but utterly boring football.
 
Most of those are completely unenforceable

At least two of them are entirely enforceable and should be done immediately.

(2) Referees should be instructed to officiate all games in exactly the same way a Champions League game would be officiated. That simple change (which could happen overnight with zero cost) alone would make life for 3 or 4 teams in the league impossible and they would have no choice but to start playing a more visually attractive style of football.

(3) The location provided in a stadium for TV cameras must be a certain height and distance from the touchline. This would stop games looking rubbish on TV because the camera angle is too low or too close to the pitch. Some Scottish top league games look like Sunday league football simply because of the location of the TV camera. If a club is unable to create a TV gantry in a suitable location then they would not be eligible to play in the top league.

I listened to the Michael Beale interview on H&H recently and the refs one was exactly what they did in England to help modernise their game there. Had a few weeks of a mass of red cards and then everyone got on board with it and it's improved their European prospects immeasurably.

As for point 3, this is a must. Hamilton, Ross County, Cale and Falkirk (though they're less of an issue for TV games now) are particularly horrendous for viewing.

The games cannot look good who ever is playing filmed like that. That, along with grass pitches in the top flight would be the very first things I'd change / make compulsory.
 
Grass pitches is a must and the fact we have a quarter of our top league using sub-standard, artificial pitches is an absolute disgrace.

It's a form of financial money-doping, why should a provincial team like Motherwell pay for the upkeep of a grass pitch and the likes of Kilmarnock, Hamilton etc don't?

The league virtually bankrupt teams forcing them to go to all seater stadia after the Taylor Report, surely these same teams can afford a grass pitch too?
 
give Barry Hearn the gig as chief exec , could not do any worse , than the corrupt mental pygmies in charge just now
 
TV money in Scotland is influenced by how watchable the average SPFL team is, so it's in our interest for all games to be more watchable on TV. There are a lot of simple ways to make games look better on TV that don't involve having to bring in World class players. Here are some rules I'd propose that would make Scottish football a better TV product and improve the value of the TV contract:

(1) If a club's average attendance falls below 60% of capacity over a season the club must:
(a) Install multi-coloured seats to create the impression of a fuller stadium and make the empty sections of their stadium look less terrible on TV (like this: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/r-691SzkXb0/hqdefault.jpg )
(b) In the following season the club must sell tickets in the stand opposite the main TV camera, and behind the goals, before selling tickets to other parts of the ground.
(c) The club must play background crowd noise in the stadium to create the impression of an atmosphere. [Before going mental over this one, remember that this is as much about punishment and the stigma of having to do this. Not all teams would have to do this, just the ones that are currently dragging the quality of the TV product down.]

(2) Referees should be instructed to officiate all games in exactly the same way a Champions League game would be officiated. That simple change (which could happen overnight with zero cost) alone would make life for 3 or 4 teams in the league impossible and they would have no choice but to start playing a more visually attractive style of football.

(3) The location provided in a stadium for TV cameras must be a certain height and distance from the touchline. This would stop games looking rubbish on TV because the camera angle is too low or too close to the pitch. Some Scottish top league games look like Sunday league football simply because of the location of the TV camera. If a club is unable to create a TV gantry in a suitable location then they would not be eligible to play in the top league.

(4) Pitches must be real grass and be would be assessed each game to make sure they meet certain quality criteria; not just to be playable, but also to be nice and green. A pristine, rolled grass pitch immediately creates a high quality impression, and also gives players the best chance to put on a good game of football.

(5) All clubs must contribute to a PR/marketing fund to pro-actively create a brand for Scottish football. There are a lot of good things about Scottish football to build a brand around, such as history. For example, a lot of football firsts are from Scotland, and there must be 100s of Scottish people that founded football clubs/associations around the World. At the moment the image of Scottish football is created by the media, and because negativity sells in Scotland it drags down the brand. The league as whole has to get pro-active about building a brand and a story to help make it relatable to people. Americans would lap up all the history stuff for example.

Some of these ideas would have a cost but I think it would be more than covered by the increase in the value of Scottish football as a TV product. Wealth in football is all about TV these days so we should be willing to consider major changes to keep pace with that.
Pole dancers
 
Over and above the many other valid points we should improve the fixture computer generator at the start of the season.
It should “plug in” the known “bigger” English games, such as Man U tied v Liverpool and ensure that does not clash with one of the “bigger” games up here. Obviously us v the filth could still cope but things like the Edinburgh derby should never clash with big games in England on the same day.
 
Some decent points raised in the OP.
Can’t see Celtic splashing out for 50 odd thousand multi coloured seats though.

They could get together with the other teams and do a seat swapping scheme. They could call it Seat Swapping Saturday, and in the end they could all pretend to have a sell out.
 
Show all Rangers and Celtic home and away games, with the only exception being Edinburgh derbies. Referring games as they would a CL fixture is a good one, also all pitches should be grass.
 
Grass pitches and stricter officiating would definitely help but I agree that a complete overhaul of grass roots is required.

Pro youth is an abomination that will lead to young kids having all sorts of mental health issues,it’s f.ucking horrific.
 
If you don't sell out 70% of your tickets for a match then it doesn't go on TV. TV schedules are released weeks/months in advance so its plenty time to reach this requirement.

Make all live TV games, bar us vs the peados, 7.45 on a Friday and Sunday night.
 
Multi ball system to keep the game flowing.

Punishing time wasting with yellow cards and actually adding any time wasted onto the end of injury time. This will deter players from doing it.

Referees keeping the game flowing more with more advantages and only stopping the game if a yellow card is going to be produced or if it’s a genuine injury.

I like the camera angle to make the stadiums appear fuller idea. And I do agree that we should be marketing the game better. There’s a lot going for the game, the rivalries, the history, the characters, and so many unique things about the game here too. A more gritty and authentic product that the Premier League.

Scrap the 4 home game max on tv rule. Rangers, Celtic, Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen... any game between these teams, no matter where, have on tv. Rangers vs Hibs in August 2017 was a very entertaining game full of incidents yet it wasn’t on tv, mental.
 
Multi ball system to keep the game flowing.

Punishing time wasting with yellow cards and actually adding any time wasted onto the end of injury time. This will deter players from doing it.

Referees keeping the game flowing more with more advantages and only stopping the game if a yellow card is going to be produced or if it’s a genuine injury.

I like the camera angle to make the stadiums appear fuller idea. And I do agree that we should be marketing the game better. There’s a lot going for the game, the rivalries, the history, the characters, and so many unique things about the game here too. A more gritty and authentic product that the Premier League.

Scrap the 4 home game max on tv rule. Rangers, Celtic, Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen... any game between these teams, no matter where, have on tv. Rangers vs Hibs in August 2017 was a very entertaining game full of incidents yet it wasn’t on tv, mental.
Mate its a no brainer.

Like I said previously, stop showing games in shitty stadiums.

When youre selling your house, you dont show pictures of your overgrown back garden.
 
Scrap the 3pm blackout.

Cheaper tickets and clubs start their ticket sales from central sections of the ground before working their way around as sales increase. Nothing worse than seeing sparsely occupied sections of the ground - Livingston and Hamilton being very notable examples
 
The U21 Denmark v Austria game that was on Sky yesterday is quite a good example of some of these things.

The quality of the football is probably no different to the SPFL but it just looks better because although the stadium is about 10% full it has multi coloured seats, a good camera angle, and a high quality grass pitch.

 
No commentary option.

Its not difficult and available in other countries

British TV still wish us to be force fed an opinion
 
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