SFA Part 4, an epic fail?

Earl of Leven

Well-Known Member
Official Ticketer
Overall the Scottish game needs an overhaul and my personal opinion is that it's now up to the fans to make these changes happen otherwise Scottish football in the next 5 - 10 years will be in a terrible state. I would like to see the following.

1) £20 maximum for Adult Tickets and £10 Concession (£10 extra for Derby games to cover extra policing etc)
2) Trial period for standing area's in all stadiums
3) Maximum costs for Food Stalls
4) Some form of entertainment before and at halftime
5) Fans Representatives on the SPL board
6) SFA, SPL and SFL to come under the 1 Association
7) Clubs to be allowed to Field B teams in the lower leagues as per La Liga.

Adamski

Kick-off at 3pm on a Saturday - t
he TV money is so negligible, I don't understand the need to rearrange kick-offs.
Terrestrial TV Highlights on Saturday Nights -Every other country in Europe manages it.
More starters from Scotland - All SPL sides must field a minimum of 6 players in their starting line up who are from Scotland.
Admission Fees -Capped at £10 for adults, and £5 for kids.


Ross The Ger

The 12-team SPL does offer some excitement if you’re an Old Firm fan, but generally speaking for the other clubs it is a real pain in the neck. Hearts, Hibs, Dundee United and Aberdeen have no chance of sustaining a proper title challenge when they are playing the Old Firm 8 times a season - some losing 24 points in the process. For me, an 18-team Premier League is the way to go with a European play-off and a relegation play-off, as well as another automatic relegation position. With 34 games, these potential challengers could afford to lose out on the 4 times they play against the Old Firm which would only be 12 points and does not make a significant dent in a title challenge. I think this structure for the SPL would also restore major interest in the crunch matches like Rangers v Celtic, Aberdeen v Rangers, Hearts v Hibs and perhaps offer some other local derbies like Dundee v Dundee United.

Yorkshire Blue

The healthiest option would be a Premier League of 18 teams with a Division 1 and Division 2 consisting of 16 teams. This would give 32 teams under the SFL and 18 under rule of the SPL. The extra 8 teams could be filled by ‘B’ teams from the SPL or lower league clubs could be given the opportunity to step up to the top level. I would prefer the latter option but with no reserve league, the current top 8 in the SPL may be interested in the first option.

It would also be worth noting that big clubs such as Rangers and Celtic would not have to play the same smaller clubs 4-6 times a season which cannot be a good selling point when trying to attract a good calibre of player or indeed trying to keep them. Players get bored in our league, and therefore often move given the first opportunity.

In the current system we are harming clubs who are left with a harsh choice of developing the team or building a stadium fit for the SPL. All you have to do is look at Airdrie and Falkirk in the early days of the SPL for unfair situations at both ends. Airdrie built a nice stadium fit for whenever they win their way into the SPL; unfortunately they never had the quality to achieve this. Falkirk, however built a fantastic squad that regularly destroyed SPL clubs in the cups but Brockville was deemed unsuitable for the SPL so they were denied promotion despite being champions.

From a sporting point of view this is an offence to all supporters and people that put money into the game.

A more reasonable option would be the introduction of controlled standing areas as well as seated sections alike to what they have in Germany and Holland to great success. Obviously they would have to adhere to Health & Safety regulations which should be enough to provide everyone inside the stadium with security.

This also increases capacity of stadia and therefore brings prices down. Which also means the working class family can all attend matches and support their local club. This would provide higher crowds creating a better atmosphere at matches, and overall clubs would make more money out of this through food & programme sales, in fact ticket sales alone with cheaper prices would probably overtake the current set up. In the current economic climate we are all in right now, it makes good sense.


Iaatpies

The lower leagues have character. The lower leagues have passion. The lower leagues offer a brand of football that's free from the cynicism that infests the modern game. Respectable middle aged men become fearless, shameless cheerleaders as they invoke the spirit of The Shire Army and show all of the enthusiasm of an old firm fan on derby day and there's a genuine hatred and venom between fans of Cowdenbeath and East Fife that would stand equal to most football rivalries. These fans support our national game and any decision that would reduce the number of clubs would undoubtedly leave communities broken - supporters would be lost to the game.

Unfortunately sentimentality doesn't pay the bills. Journeymen like Dennis Wyness, Bobby Mann (both Peterhead) and Alan McManus (Dumbarton) continue to draw money from the game well beyond their sell-by date and whilst some youngsters do feature, it becomes all too easy for managers to rely on picking up a cheap player from another club than invest the time, effort and risk in developing home-grown players.

Aunty Christ

The big problem with football today and Scottish football in particular is money. Because we are operating along business lines we end up with monopolies such as us and them. We need a radical rethink. My suggestion is that we need to increase competition and the only way to do this is to create an even playing field financially. Of course this will be painful for the bigger clubs such as us but eventually we will all be winners.

We have to do 2 things. Firstly we need to introduce a wage scale just like nurses, firemen, social workers, plumbers etc. All players get paid the same depending on which league they play in. There is no incentive then for the likes of Wayne Rooney to leave his beloved Everton who will then grow stronger. Secondly we need to share all income evenly including gate money, prize money and sponsorship. This will be difficult at first but if we do it gradually we will adjust. The cash needs to be collected by a governing body. It is then distributed evenly allowing the "diddy clubs" to grow stronger and compete. Unpredictability returns as does excitement, bigger crowds and better atmospheres. Do we have the courage and fortitude to see it through? I don't know, but then I stopped going years ago when I realised that the game was dying. All seater stadiums and lack of competition convinced me to look elsewhere for thrills.

The main thrust of my argument is that sport is different from business in that businesses seek to destroy the opposition in an attempt to gain a monopoly and maximise profits. Sport requires a healthy and competitive opposition to make it interesting and exciting. Who wants to watch or even take part in a competition where the outcome is decided before the competition begins. This fundamental idea seems to have been lost in the race to develop and promote professional football. The result is that football is moving ever closer to the abyss. Football too has lost its way. It no longer meets the needs of the supporters who want competition, unpredictability and excitement. Most clubs are run for profit rather than results. Don't get me wrong the clubs realise that results are important but only because good results bring in more money.

Just a few years back I remember watching Rangers almost pip Marseilles to the European Cup Final yet here we are, less than 2 decades later, and the best we can hope for is to make it out of the league stages. The club directors aren't even that ambitious. All they want is the £10 million for qualifying. The sad fact is that this money will not even be used to benefit the club. It will be spent on salaries for players who couldn't care less if they were employed at Ibrox or across the city with our sworn enemies.

In summary I believe that football has lost its way. It no longer caters for the needs of supporters. It has become a business first and foremost. The only way to save it from destruction is to regulate the collection and distribution of cash. We need to create a powerful governing body that controls and distributes income evenly between all clubs in the SPL. This includes gate receipts, sponsorship and prize money. This body should develop a salary scale for players depending on what division they play in. Everyone receives the same salary within their division. Using the EPL as an example there would then be no incentive for the likes of Wayne Rooney to leave his beloved Everton and join Man Utd. In Scotland the so called "diddy clubs" would grow stronger as they could keep their best players. They could build better stadiums and attract bigger crowds. The league would be unpredictable and exciting. Every game would be meaningful. Winning for us would become special again.
 
I think that if most SPFL teams want to attract better crowds, they will need to drop their adult tickets to £12-15 and kids £5. Many areas in Scotland have large sections of the population with low disposable income and the product is often terrible.
 
I think that if most SPFL teams want to attract better crowds, they will need to drop their adult tickets to £12-15 and kids £5. Many areas in Scotland have large sections of the population with low disposable income and the product is often terrible.

Under Dempster, Motherwell tried £5 pay at the gate and free entry for kids to get folk in the door and it still didn't work.

It's much more fundamental than just adjusting prices down and while doing that, clubs still have to set prices at a level where they can rely on income, rather than gamble the drop will be offset by a sudden influx of new paying supporters.
 
Are Rangers and Celtic prepared to redistribute a greater percentage of their own disproportionate revenue into helping elevate the overall standard of the Scottish game?

That is usually one of the demands made by fans of other clubs, but I doubt you'll find many Old Firm supporters in agreement. I certainly wouldn't be one of them.

As a result two huge clubs continue to reduce the competition to a binary event and no amount of tinkering with the structure or format is likely to change that.

A change in culture and mindset plus greater amenities provided by government and local councils to ensure kids have the opportunity to play football in their immediate environments are desperately needed when you think of the huge upsurge in the fortunes of Icelandic football following the investment their own government made in their infrastructure, but I don't see any groundswell of interest from the SNP to implement something similar in Scotland.
 
Under Dempster, Motherwell tried £5 pay at the gate and free entry for kids to get folk in the door and it still didn't work.

It's much more fundamental than just adjusting prices down and while doing that, clubs still have to set prices at a level where they can rely on income, rather than gamble the drop will be offset by a sudden influx of new paying supporters.
It is indeed a balancing act but equally the clubs need to focus on ensuring the product on the park is something people want and that the matchday experience is good enough to make more people want to come back.

Current prices are not working, crowds are terrible. If you can reduce prices and improve the matchday experience, you may more than offset the cheaper prices through more tickets being sold, food and drinks sales and merchandise.

I fail to believe that each squad in Scotland couldn’t improve through more and better training. This is something that the clubs should be working on and it’s something that costs nothing. Instead of just having big lumps, how about have a better focus on skills. That’s what will put bums on seats, allied to a more sensible pricing structure. Maybe the authorities need to look at incentivising clubs through perhaps bonus points for goal scoring in some way.
 
Under Dempster, Motherwell tried £5 pay at the gate and free entry for kids to get folk in the door and it still didn't work.

It's much more fundamental than just adjusting prices down and while doing that, clubs still have to set prices at a level where they can rely on income, rather than gamble the drop will be offset by a sudden influx of new paying supporters.
Their previous chairman did likewise.
Did one club, maybe Albion Rovers, not try “pay what you can afford” but without success?
 
I seriously don’t get how three o’clock on a Saturday would improve attendances or anything else.
Most games, outwith ours and the scums are already at that time.
As for restricting who we have in our pool, that will be illegal just now and probably post Brexit as well.
 
Their previous chairman did likewise.
Did one club, maybe Albion Rovers, not try “pay what you can afford” but without success?
I'm sure that Inverness CT have tried this a few times in the past (including when they were in the SPFL), without much/any success
 
All these clowns ever do is look at what’s happening down south and try and mimic it. Scottish Premiership. Scottish Championship. Every so often they change the name, keep the same shite set up and somehow expect different results.

Playing each team 4 times a season is tiresome regardless of who you are. Even games against Celtic can lose their edge because we play each other so often.

It’s not rocket science. Two bigger leagues. Play each other home and away. Two automatic relegation places and a playoff. We can have a good winter break like Germany and do away with the daft split.
 
Are Rangers and Celtic prepared to redistribute a greater percentage of their own disproportionate revenue into helping elevate the overall standard of the Scottish game?

That is usually one of the demands made by fans of other clubs, but I doubt you'll find many Old Firm supporters in agreement. I certainly wouldn't be one of them.

As a result two huge clubs continue to reduce the competition to a binary event and no amount of tinkering with the structure or format is likely to change that.

A change in culture and mindset plus greater amenities provided by government and local councils to ensure kids have the opportunity to play football in their immediate environments are desperately needed when you think of the huge upsurge in the fortunes of Icelandic football following the investment their own government made in their infrastructure, but I don't see any groundswell of interest from the SNP to implement something similar in Scotland.

Disagree with this part. I'm a local volunteer coach for younger age groups (fun fours) and the coaches talk about this quite a lot. Maybe we are lucky in my local area but there are so many opportunities now for kids to get involved in the game with proper coaching and reasonable facilities which just weren't on offer when I was young.

The difference is definitely cultural. When we were kids it wouldn't be unusual for us to play football for 7 or 8 hours a day in the summer and several hours a day even while we were at school (games would kick off straight away at every break, before and after school). Nowadays a lot of the kids I coach only play football in the training sessions and matches we provide. That's not something a government can do much about.
 
slacker

Where I live all the kids are middle class as Kris Boyd claimed...and they have the kits, boots, and tracksuits. However NONE play actual football in the local park with their pals, none.

I cannot grasp it at all.
 
TV money is a large part of the revenue of lower SPL teams. Scottish football will only improve by a greater sharing of revenues.
 
Contributors were asked for ideas, thoughts or personal experiences.

Was a decade ago maybe?

Just shows how little has been done apart from attacking our club.
Yep, the whole league structure requires an overhaul, and I would bring back the reserves league
 
Disagree with this part. I'm a local volunteer coach for younger age groups (fun fours) and the coaches talk about this quite a lot. Maybe we are lucky in my local area but there are so many opportunities now for kids to get involved in the game with proper coaching and reasonable facilities which just weren't on offer when I was young.

The difference is definitely cultural. When we were kids it wouldn't be unusual for us to play football for 7 or 8 hours a day in the summer and several hours a day even while we were at school (games would kick off straight away at every break, before and after school). Nowadays a lot of the kids I coach only play football in the training sessions and matches we provide. That's not something a government can do much about.

I might be being unfair and basing it on second hand evidence (I haven't lived in Scotland for years) but I don't really accept that kids in Scotland play football less than kids in the likes of Norway or Denmark for example.

They will have the same distractions with PS4 and XBox, social media and the like, the same issues with the weather, other sports that vie for their attention and their parents' bank accounts and yet, despite leagues that cannot be said to be any stronger than their Scottish equivalent, invariably seem to punch at a higher level on the international stage than we do.

I'm not really sure why that is, but you do have to wonder if it is down to some problem with the Scottish psyche whereby this eternal wee man complex does not permit us to believe in ourselves enough to reach the heights of other similar sized nations like Denmark, Crotia and Uruguay.
 
Ticket prices definitely should be capped considering the product is dire. People complain about the atmosphere being 'sanitised' in one breath, and then try to justify £40-£50 tickets in the next.

Refereeing standards need to be raised throughout all age groups and especially in the 'Premiership'. Allowing talentless hatchet men to kick ball players up and down the pitch needs to be stamped out.

Plastic pitches straight into the bin.
 
It is indeed a balancing act but equally the clubs need to focus on ensuring the product on the park is something people want and that the matchday experience is good enough to make more people want to come back.

Current prices are not working, crowds are terrible. If you can reduce prices and improve the matchday experience, you may more than offset the cheaper prices through more tickets being sold, food and drinks sales and merchandise.

I fail to believe that each squad in Scotland couldn’t improve through more and better training. This is something that the clubs should be working on and it’s something that costs nothing. Instead of just having big lumps, how about have a better focus on skills. That’s what will put bums on seats, allied to a more sensible pricing structure. Maybe the authorities need to look at incentivising clubs through perhaps bonus points for goal scoring in some way.

It's chicken and egg though. Improving the matchday experience costs money. Simple things like improving catering costs a lot of money and is difficult to make a return on for the companies themselves. To spend the money required to improve the experience, while significantly reducing tickets prices in the hope enough people will come in and spend the money to not only balance the books but make a significant upturn is a risk most clubs simply won't be prepared to take.

I'd also strongly disagree that it doesn't cost anything to increase and improve the training for players.

Better coaching costs money - lots of it. Facilities to do it at a higher level also costs money to put in place and maintain.

The real issue is that this wasn't anticipated or cut off at the past decades ago and has now reached a point of probable no return.

I don't think Scottish football will ever recover. It may simply have to evolve completely into something else, which in itself may mean a culling of clubs or other unpalatable options, but the game as a whole has moved on far beyond what we can now hope to catch up on notably.

I already think the game down South is beginning to show signs of a need to evolve similarly. I said on the Bury thread the other week that I can see it heading the way of American sports, where clubs become more like franchises and business/marketing playthings for corporations while the traditional community heart of the game is ripped out and crushed under foot.

You can probably go back to the Setanta deal as an early part of where the game here took a wrong turn and it's taken many since, while also being polluted with the hate over what's best mindset that is too firmly ingrained here to allow what needs to happen to actually do so.
 
Their previous chairman did likewise.
Did one club, maybe Albion Rovers, not try “pay what you can afford” but without success?


John Boyle done it with all clubs bar Rangers and St Patricks BC FPFC....and telling us he was continuing to screw us for the Blue Pound.

They subsequently went in to administration twice.
 
There's no simple and easy answer. There's a ton of problems and you could be sitting here all night talking about it.

Pricing is disgraceful. A father taking his two kids to Ibrox or somewhere else in Scottish Football would cost him the best part of 100 quid. How are working class families meant to afford that on a weekly or Bi-weekly basis? How can it cost that much to watch a product that's so dire?
 
It's chicken and egg though. Improving the matchday experience costs money. Simple things like improving catering costs a lot of money and is difficult to make a return on for the companies themselves. To spend the money required to improve the experience, while significantly reducing tickets prices in the hope enough people will come in and spend the money to not only balance the books but make a significant upturn is a risk most clubs simply won't be prepared to take.

I'd also strongly disagree that it doesn't cost anything to increase and improve the training for players.

Better coaching costs money - lots of it. Facilities to do it at a higher level also costs money to put in place and maintain.

The real issue is that this wasn't anticipated or cut off at the past decades ago and has now reached a point of probable no return.

I don't think Scottish football will ever recover. It may simply have to evolve completely into something else, which in itself may mean a culling of clubs or other unpalatable options, but the game as a whole has moved on far beyond what we can now hope to catch up on notably.

I already think the game down South is beginning to show signs of a need to evolve similarly. I said on the Bury thread the other week that I can see it heading the way of American sports, where clubs become more like franchises and business/marketing playthings for corporations while the traditional community heart of the game is ripped out and crushed under foot.

You can probably go back to the Setanta deal as an early part of where the game here took a wrong turn and it's taken many since, while also being polluted with the hate over what's best mindset that is too firmly ingrained here to allow what needs to happen to actually do so.
Re training, you already pay your staff salaries. They aren’t hourly paid. I am not expecting the clubs to suddenly hire St. George’s or to invest in the latest technology. I am talking focusing on technique, passing, shooting, making players do double sessions instead of swanning off at midday. None of that costs money but it most certainly improves the product on the pitch.

There are also easy things a club can do to improve the matchday experience that aren’t expensive. Make sure the police and stewards aren’t heavy handed, maybe allocate certain seats to singing sections, perhaps have the players to interact more with the fans in some way, maybe have some kind of random ticket draw that gives a chance to take yourself and a few mates to hospitality or attend training and meet the players, have them think outside the box FFS. None of this is expensive but the status quo isn’t working. More people buy more grub and more drinks, also more merchandise. Have a sort of fanzone pre-match, that would more than pay for itself and cover any ticket shortfall.
 
How would folk feel about summer football?

In 2020, do we REALLY want to be sitting at a cold stadium in the middle of February watching football?

Also, with not much football being played over summer (apart from major tourneys), it would help the product from a marketing point of view.

The days of everyone being off for a fortnight in July are LONG gone. So, I don't see the holiday periods making much difference.
 
There's no simple and easy answer. There's a ton of problems and you could be sitting here all night talking about it.

Pricing is disgraceful. A father taking his two kids to Ibrox or somewhere else in Scottish Football would cost him the best part of 100 quid. How are working class families meant to afford that on a weekly or Bi-weekly basis? How can it cost that much to watch a product that's so dire?


When I first moved to Killie I could take my kids and their friend to Rugby Park for £20 for any non OF game. When I inquired for the tickets for the four of us for an up and coming visit from Rangers I was told it would cost me £88 for the four of us!!! And that wasn't yesterday!!!


In fact I could get a family season ticket for 2 adults and 2 kids for £180 when my ST i the front of the Govan for myself approx £450.
 
When I first moved to Killie I could take my kids and their friend to Rugby Park for £20 for any non OF game. When I inquired for the tickets for the four of us for an up and coming visit from Rangers I was told it would cost me £88 for the four of us!!! And that wasn't yesterday!!!


In fact I could get a family season ticket for 2 adults and 2 kids for £180 when my ST i the front of the Govan for myself approx £450.

88 quid and that's before you even buy the kids something to eat or drink. Any merchandise at the stadium, pay for transport etc.

Is it any wonder families think their money would be better spent elsewhere at the weekends?

A lot of working class families probably don't have 100 quid disposable income every week never mind shelling out 100 quid to get to the football.

We need a major rethink in the country.
 
Personally,
How would folk feel about summer football?

In 2020, do we REALLY want to be sitting at a cold stadium in the middle of February watching football?

Also, with not much football being played over summer (apart from major tourneys), it would help the product from a marketing point of view.

The days of everyone being off for a fortnight in July are LONG gone. So, I don't see the holiday periods making much difference.
I’m not in favour of summer football.
Obviously watching and playing in generally better weather would be better but my big negative here is when the season starts.
Just now, during the close season, we’re dying for the new season to start.
Still in shorts and short sleeves trooping along to the game is something to look forward to.
Let’s imagine the season starting in March or April.
Would we have the same enthusiasm?
Would we have the same gumption to drag yourself along in what is usually pretty adverse weather and certainly much colder.
Same towards the end of the season.
By the time the better weather comes along, we could have lost many to the game.
 
I watch kids play casual kick about in the park and you rarely see one who is actually any good. They can’t control the ball, tackle, strike or dribble. When I was a nipper the parks were full of kids with half decent skills. Lots of reasons I guess but that just seems to be an easily observable fact.
 
We have to do 2 things. Firstly we need to introduce a wage scale just like nurses, firemen, social workers, plumbers etc. All players get paid the same depending on which league they play in. There is no incentive then for the likes of Wayne Rooney to leave his beloved Everton who will then grow stronger. Secondly we need to share all income evenly including gate money, prize money and sponsorship. This will be difficult at first but if we do it gradually we will adjust. The cash needs to be collected by a governing body. It is then distributed evenly allowing the "diddy clubs" to grow stronger and compete. Unpredictability returns as does excitement, bigger crowds and better atmospheres. Do we have the courage and fortitude to see it through? I don't know, but then I stopped going years ago when I realised that the game was dying. All seater stadiums and lack of competition convinced me to look elsewhere for thrills.

Couldn't agree more but it'll never happen.
One body overlooking the entire structure, sensible ticket pricing.
One shirt manufacturer for every club be it Nike, adidas, Puma or whoever and all proceeds being shared evenly, gate receipts shared evenly, sponsorship shared evenly.
Finish first or last you get the same cut of the pie, you're in the league to win the trophy not money because it's the same for everyone.

The game is dead, we know who's winning the league from now to the end of time. It's us or it's them!
There might be the odd blip cup win for someone but that's all it'll be and it certainly hasn't happened recently.

Our country is below Cyprus and Kazakhstan in the qualification group, fucking Kazakhstan!
 
A higher caliber of person running the show there is too much self interest and preservation, our higher management always seem to have a connection and sometimes a very small connection but a connections none the less to the filth.
 
Start by unifying the 3 separate governing bodies. Why do we need 3?
Complete clear out of the staff running our game and while we're at it stop the gravy train for all the hangers on who contribute absolute zilch to the game but are quite happy picking up their nice wee check every now and then.

Maybe once we do that,we stop the corruption that is strangling the life out of our game.
 
The money thing for some teams is a get out of jail card to hide the fact their fans are crap and only turn up to see the big teams. You could give them some top league games for free and they wouldn't bother going.

For me one of the changes should be to change League 1 and 2 into either North/South or East/West divisions to reduce travel costs
 
Couldn't agree more but it'll never happen.
One body overlooking the entire structure, sensible ticket pricing.
One shirt manufacturer for every club be it Nike, adidas, Puma or whoever and all proceeds being shared evenly, gate receipts shared evenly, sponsorship shared evenly.
Finish first or last you get the same cut of the pie, you're in the league to win the trophy not money because it's the same for everyone.

The game is dead, we know who's winning the league from now to the end of time. It's us or it's them!
There might be the odd blip cup win for someone but that's all it'll be and it certainly hasn't happened recently.

Our country is below Cyprus and Kazakhstan in the qualification group, fucking Kazakhstan!

Why should we share gate receipts with fans of shitty wee clubs who can’t half fill their grounds most weeks but when a cup final comes along there’s all of a sudden 25000 of them appear from nowhere.
 
This sounds a bit like a communist manifesto!
Putting wage Capps on players just means no quality player will come and play in scotland. And kids will go abroad quicker than pundits hang up the conversation when talking about Celtic child abuse.
Telling a business that you are going to take their profits and give it to rivals is illegal. Also forcing a club to play six Scottish players is illegal(remember the 3 Fournier rule). Some suggestions we're worth exploring. But others sound like they came from a feminist lefty.
 
I don't buy the 18 team league idea. Those of us old enough can remember standing in a near empty Ibrox watching Cowdenbeath or Arbroath. Don't think that's an attractive prospect. One ruling body is a no brainer but the old adage about turkeys and Christmas springs to mind. Basically for the foreseeable future we're goosed.
Game filled with cheats who don't get punished for diving, feigning injury turn people away too IMO.
 
Re training, you already pay your staff salaries. They aren’t hourly paid. I am not expecting the clubs to suddenly hire St. George’s or to invest in the latest technology. I am talking focusing on technique, passing, shooting, making players do double sessions instead of swanning off at midday. None of that costs money but it most certainly improves the product on the pitch.

There are also easy things a club can do to improve the matchday experience that aren’t expensive. Make sure the police and stewards aren’t heavy handed, maybe allocate certain seats to singing sections, perhaps have the players to interact more with the fans in some way, maybe have some kind of random ticket draw that gives a chance to take yourself and a few mates to hospitality or attend training and meet the players, have them think outside the box FFS. None of this is expensive but the status quo isn’t working. More people buy more grub and more drinks, also more merchandise. Have a sort of fanzone pre-match, that would more than pay for itself and cover any ticket shortfall.

The problem is that you're basically saying to the current people carrying out coaching, etc to "just do your job better" and "try harder".

Not proposing providing significant improvements to the resources they have to do the job or the facilities they are using. Just work harder and longer. That's not thinking outside the box.

That is zero basis for a revolutionary change that is clearly required in our game.

It's also a bit of a folly to think that clubs will be dictating to police how to handle events or to think that competitions for hospitality either don't already exist or will attract anything notable in terms of change in interest/revenues.

The game in this country needs a sea change from top to bottom. Little, small tweaks and mini incentives simply don't cut it, have been tried and have changed nothing.
 
The two laziest excuses trotted out for years by so-called pundits was our population size and bloody computer games.

Uruguay, Iceland, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, even bloody Wales.

All small countries who I’m pretty sure have kids who play computer game!

The games been run into the ground by what has become the bowling club committee now taken over by the wrong sort.
 
Scottish football tried to kill us.

Anyone with a suggestion on how to better it is needing their head checked.

Beat the opposition, I don't give a monkey's if it's Ross county thirty times a season or whatever.

Scottish football hates us. Why are we even debating trying to better it?
 
I’m 100% against summer football.

I don’t think it would have any real material impact in terms of improvement and I’m a traditionalist.How sh!te would the winter be without the football.
 
Enlarge the top league, play each other only twice, not four times. The split has to go....dig a hole, bury it, then forget its location. For us at least leave the banned songs and FTP's behind and join the 21 Century. I dont care about whataboutery, thats not our problem.
 
I’m 100% against summer football.

I don’t think it would have any real material impact in terms of improvement and I’m a traditionalist.How sh!te would the winter be without the football.

Agreed. Summer holiday season when families are away too. We've played through the winter forever, to blame it on that is another deflection from where the real responsibilities and failings going back decades lie.
 
Are Rangers and Celtic prepared to redistribute a greater percentage of their own disproportionate revenue into helping elevate the overall standard of the Scottish game?

That is usually one of the demands made by fans of other clubs, but I doubt you'll find many Old Firm supporters in agreement. I certainly wouldn't be one of them.

As a result two huge clubs continue to reduce the competition to a binary event and no amount of tinkering with the structure or format is likely to change that.

A change in culture and mindset plus greater amenities provided by government and local councils to ensure kids have the opportunity to play football in their immediate environments are desperately needed when you think of the huge upsurge in the fortunes of Icelandic football following the investment their own government made in their infrastructure, but I don't see any groundswell of interest from the SNP to implement something similar in Scotland.
Haven't Rangers done their bit. When we were down the leagues,due to the Rangers support following the team all over the country, we've more than paid our dues. It requires an over haul at the very top of our game. Get rid of all those suits in Hampden and get guys in that have played and Managed the game. What happened to the so called "think tank" we were supposed to draw up. We've the wrong people in charge of our game.
 
It's all grass roots even attendances are linked too grassroots. If no fecker is playing football or interested in it then no fucker is watching it.
 
The two laziest excuses trotted out for years by so-called pundits was our population size and bloody computer games.

Uruguay, Iceland, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, even bloody Wales.

All small countries who I’m pretty sure have kids who play computer game!

The games been run into the ground by what has become the bowling club committee now taken over by the wrong sort.
100% this I live in Wales and the sport infrastructure in each town puts Scotland too shame it's embarrassing how neglected Scotland is.......the blame for this lays with the residents I.m afraid the community spirit and amount of people who put back into these communities is incredible down here in wales. In Scotland nobody gives a fcuk
 
I don't see that Saturday 3pm kick offs would increase attendances.
Saturday is more of a working day now than it ever was.

Sunday transport maybe prevents a few from attending but by and large isn't as much of an obstacle as it used to be.
 
The product is crap and needs a drastic overhaul things that would help
Design a league that we play another team twice in a season only.
Get rid of plastic surfaces in all leagues.
Allow teams to play colt teams in the lower leagues.
Have one organisation to run the game.
We have far to many teams playing in the top leagues ideally we should have only 3 leagues with the 2nd teams of clubs playing in the 3rd league if they want to
Relegation means relegation to the juniors and juniors gaining promotion to league 3.
Professional referees and which would mean referees from other countries would be able to apply for posts here
SNP to stop selling of public pitches for housing
Just a few ideas for debate
 
Back
Top