Motherwell Record £600,000 Loss

[henry]

I don't believe the game is finished. But I do believe that it's going to be a different animal in say 10-15 years time from what it is now.

 

Someone mentioned, in another thread I think, about how the English leagues work. For me the worst possible comparison you can make is with the English leagues. You are simply not comparing like for like. Our top flight, since the establishment of the SPL has been driven trying to follow the same money chasing model of the English Premier League and we've suffered enormously for it.

 

We had Celtic and Rangers, who spent big on a ego trip so that they might continue to feel the equals of English sides and as clubs we all did the same to try to compete with the Old Firm. Throw in expensive and costly rules like having to have 10,000 seats and undersoil heating in place as well as the wages that were required to fund this attempt to keep up the with Joneses idea and we're all financially reaping what we've sown. Hell fucking mend us all!

 

But. I do think over time there will be a shift back to something more akin to days pre-Sounness and pre-SPL where we become less reliant on TV money, and are generally more financially prudent as clubs. I think we'll be pushed even further to the margins as the English game continues to get more and more airtime on the likes of SKY be that through live games, as live or highlights packages and TV deals that do come our way will continue to be scaled back in revenue. Clubs are already seen to scale back on what they are offering players, cutting squad sizes and trying to go with more youngsters too. In time there will be a more realistic balance.

 

There are also some glimmers of hope in talk of relaxing standing regulations, considering things like having a beer at the game etc. that will make attending a game a bit more enjoyable than perhaps it can be at times now.

 

It will require bold thinking, more fan input on boardrooms and the removal of people like Doncaster for whom their whole raison d'être in Scottish football is that fix of TV money. We need to look beyond that.

 

But if we can slowly edge to the point where clubs don't feel they have to overcharge at the gate and can offer realistic admission prices, offer supporters a choice of standing or sitting, the opportunity to have a beer if they wish all whilst watching a team whilst of not perhaps the standing of former years but one made up heavily of aspirational young Scots and I think the game will certainly have a future.

superb post mate unfortunately a lot of hot air won't stop the inevitable .....games fucked end of.

[Special aka]

I don't believe the game is finished. But I do believe that it's going to be a different animal in say 10-15 years time from what it is now.

 

Someone mentioned,......................................of aspirational young Scots and I think the game will certainly have a future.

 

Good post Andy, but words never win the war. The SPL is losing fans, losing money and losing the plot ..................... Decades of incompetent governance is coming home to roost.

[The Skipper]

Our game will only improve if the standard of players we have improves dramatically. I'm not talking one or two per generation but wholesale change where there are plenty of really good young players. Unfortunately I just can't see that happening. There is no evidence, that I can see, that the grass roots of the game has changed significantly to ensure we have future Law's, Baxter's, Johnstone's, Dalglish's etc.

 

There is a malaise surrounding football in Scotland and the game is competing for the attention of aspiring young players against much more than was available when I was a boy. In those days everyone was outside playing football in all weathers and whether or not they were any good. I look at kids playing football now and the facilities that are available (indoors at Ravenscraig sports centre for example) and I would have given anything to have had those facilities growing up. We still had better players in my genreration than now despite the lack of decent playing facilities. There are two excellent pitches at Calder Park which are going to ruin. If they were turfed they would provide really good playing surfaces to play on but the investment money is not there. I was really dismayed to see the deterioration of Calder Park when I visited late last year but that's another story albeit linked to lack of money. Closing Calder Primary is another tragedy but now I'm just venting frustration about all the things I see which are wrong in my opinion.

 

Maybe I'm too nostalgic and seeing things through rose tinted glasses when I rememeber my youth but I don't think so.

[Tweed]

Not overly concerned when we know the legal costs were a one off concern, we know we didn't sell a player as part of the plan and we have the money from Panathinaikos and Levante.

 

You''ve got to remember in a report like the one that has been delivered to shareholders is that they are always written as a comparison to last year and not a comparison to target.

[fatcalf]

Our game will only improve if the standard of players we have improves dramatically. I'm not talking one or two per generation but wholesale change where there are plenty of really good young players. Unfortunately I just can't see that happening. There is no evidence, that I can see, that the grass roots of the game has changed significantly to ensure we have future Law's, Baxter's, Johnstone's, Dalglish's etc.

 

 

 

I got involved with my boys team a couple of years ago and I can confirm the grass roots has not changed for the better. Grass roots as far as the bigwigs are concerned starts and ends with the pro-youth/academy set-up put in place to ensure the best youngsters receive the very best coaching available. Unfortunately late developers are more likely to miss out. Grass roots to me is the level I'm at, local boys club on manky, under maintained pitches that are unplayable for most of the winter months. Ravenscraig, for all the trumpeting, is more or less out of our league, so it's still a case of those and such as those in my opinion.

Every ash pitch in Scotland should be turned into astro so that all kids can have access to decent facilities, not just the elite. I'm pretty sure there will be boys coming on in their play from the age of 14 or 15 and develop into really good players even without the specialist coaching the elite receive, likelihood is the game will miss out on these lads. Investment required yes, but the prices charged for astros mean that investment will see a guaranteed return over time, it's not like it's money poured away and lost.

 

As things stand even the elite structure isn't producing the players it should.

[Tweed]

I got involved with my boys team a couple of years ago and I can confirm the grass roots has not changed for the better. Grass roots as far as the bigwigs are concerned starts and ends with the pro-youth/academy set-up put in place to ensure the best youngsters receive the very best coaching available. Unfortunately late developers are more likely to miss out. Grass roots to me is the level I'm at, local boys club on manky, under maintained pitches that are unplayable for most of the winter months. Ravenscraig, for all the trumpeting, is more or less out of our league, so it's still a case of those and such as those in my opinion.

Every ash pitch in Scotland should be turned into astro so that all kids can have access to decent facilities, not just the elite. I'm pretty sure there will be boys coming on in their play from the age of 14 or 15 and develop into really good players even without the specialist coaching the elite receive, likelihood is the game will miss out on these lads. Investment required yes, but the prices charged for astros mean that investment will see a guaranteed return over time, it's not like it's money poured away and lost.

 

As things stand even the elite structure isn't producing the players it should.

 

 

Spot on, there are some grass roots facilities that are excellent but your normal family are priced out of it. Its all well and good showing off the best facilities but if only 10% of the kids can use them then it really isn't much use. Don't know what the answer is, as converting these pitches to astro will just be levied on the paying punters and the same will happen and they could lie unused. Lots of work to be done and to be honest the answers are out of my league.

[Kmcalpin]

Spot on, there are some grass roots facilities that are excellent but your normal family are priced out of it. Its all well and good showing off the best facilities but if only 10% of the kids can use them then it really isn't much use. Don't know what the answer is, as converting these pitches to astro will just be levied on the paying punters and the same will happen and they could lie unused. Lots of work to be done and to be honest the answers are out of my league.

 

Maybe its unfashionable these days but whatever happened to schools football?

[Brazilian]

Maybe its unfashionable these days but whatever happened to schools football?

Dunno but probably doesn't help that they re-built all the schools on the previously open access recreation grounds

[Special aka]

Maybe its unfashionable these days but whatever happened to schools football?

Same as with schools rugby, the lefty brown-rice eaters bin'd extra corricular activities yonks ago.

[Shaka]

Schools football was killed by pro clubs who signed the best kids and denied permission for them to play for their school team. And the fact there were no coaches,it was teachers who took the teams and the time,politics and paperwork involved meant their involvement was far more hassle than it was worth

[Well Well]

Exactly, when a team in the SPL (Motherwell) famously caused a stink at the costs of Ravenscraig what chance have the grass roots players. It might as well be situated on the moon for all the chance local kids will ever get to play on it. Elite facilities for elite teams.

 

The funding should be taken from the SPL prize money to resurface every amateur ground in the country and allow the teams to play on it for free. It might take a good few years to get round them all but our game has been in decline for so many generation what is one more to wait.

 

Or an even more drastic idea that companies like SKY include it as part of their TV deal, now that would be ground breaking. Could you see Peter Lawell etc putting that forward, less cash for them and more for the grass roots.

 

Also can't see why private companies cannot 'sponsor' to pay for a local park to be resurfaced. Then get their company named after the park. I could see Asda and Tesco type companies getting involved.

 

Also introduce tax incentives like they do for charities for companies willing to commit the cash to improve the parks, but then no doubt the politicians won't like that idea.

 

Also, and I am really grasping at straws here but what about those taking the most money out of football, The £6,000 a week and more football players and their agents. Now the thought of those leeches putting something back into the sport that they have taken so much from would be outstanding.

[weeyin]

Same as with schools rugby, the lefty brown-rice eaters bin'd extra corricular activities yonks ago.

 

I think you'll find it was your mate Thatcher (who hated sport) that started the selling off of the school's football pitches etc.

[SteelmaninOZ]

I think you'll find it was your mate Thatcher (who hated sport) that started the selling off of the school's football pitches etc.

 

That milk snatcher no dead yet?

[fatcalf]

Schools football was killed by pro clubs who signed the best kids and denied permission for them to play for their school team. And the fact there were no coaches,it was teachers who took the teams and the time,politics and paperwork involved meant their involvement was far more hassle than it was worth

 

Or in the case of Braidhusrt where they fill the team up with the players from their academy set-up meaning ordinary youngsters still don't get the chance to play, no 2nd or 3rd team like we used to have. Christ I would never have played fitba' if it wisnae for the Thirds in First Year.

[Special aka]

I think you'll find it was your mate Thatcher (who hated sport) that started the selling off of the school's football pitches etc.

 

Sorry weeyin, I tend to look upon you as an articulate and well educated poster ......................... however I have to contest that one. At Dalziel we had probably the best school sports facilities in Lanarkshire, (Cleland Estate), but few teachers willing to take extra curricular activities after EIS/NUT backing, so it had sod all to do with Thatcher, (no mate of mine, but I am able to look at life without Red blinkers). That was the reason for the creation of mini/midi rugby on Sunday mornings. Clubs had to do it off their own backs as teachers had stopped, and all the pitches were still there - football, rugby, cricket, hockey - let me assure you of that.

[The Skipper]

I can vouch for Cleland Estate. It had fantastic facilities.

 

We had at least two teams in every year and sometimes three but even back in my day the amateur teams competed against the schools for the best players. I was asked by the headmaster not to compete in the European Youth Cup and play for the school instead as it clashed on the same Saturday. When I refused I was banned from the school team for the rest of the season. Headmaster couldn't be convinced that it was a great opportunity to be 'noticed'.

[numpty]

Sorry weeyin, I tend to look upon you as an articulate and well educated poster ......................... however I have to contest that one. At Dalziel we had probably the best school sports facilities in Lanarkshire, (Cleland Estate), but few teachers willing to take extra caricular activities after EIS/NUT backing, so it had sod all to do with Thatcher

While I'm no position to dispute what you say about Dalziel, weeyin is quite right that Thatcher was nonetheless responsible for selling off thousands of school playing fields in the 80s, which certainly didn't help.

http://www.historyandpolicy.org/papers/policy-paper-133.html#S3

[Special aka]

http://www.historyan...per-133.html#S3

 

Which in the same sentence as it mentions Thatcher, details ............ "and, with teachers in dispute over pay and conditions, school sport went into a period of pronounced decline."

 

So collectively, we're both right.

[Big Stall]

& while you are both correct, Thatcher has had nothing to do with the PPI schools which have went up over the last 7 years, building the new school on the old schools playing fields and then knocking the old school down.

 

Some get improved sports facilities but sometimes these are kept under lock and key and you pay a kings ransome to use them after hours.

 

 

[weeyin]

& while you are both correct, Thatcher has had nothing to do with the PPI schools which have went up over the last 7 years, building the new school on the old schools playing fields and then knocking the old school down.

 

Some get improved sports facilities but sometimes these are kept under lock and key and you pay a kings ransome to use them after hours.

 

I said she started it, not that she finished it

[Malky79]

Same as with schools rugby, the lefty brown-rice eaters bin'd extra corricular activities yonks ago.

 

Playin fields sold off by Tory governments(probably New Labour ones also)

 

Dunno about binning school football, still existed when I went to school in the 90's.