Calcie Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 I was just having a look at our fixtures in the next few months. In November and March we are only playing 2 games but in January we have 7. I know there are reasons for this (Scottish Cup ties, International games), but it seems crazy to ask fans to pay for 7 games in January. Surely there could be a way to spread them out more evenly, or even just have more games towards the end of the season when the weather is better. A lot teams are really struggling for crowds right now. Is asking fans to turn up in the freezing cold in January, when they are also skint after Christmas the way to get fans back to the games? Seems like madness to me. Is anyone in power looking at the way games are scheduled in this country? I know clubs rely heavily on TV money and are at at the mercy of their scheduling, but surely there has to be change. Asking Aberdeen fans to travel to Hamilton on Friday night, and us to Aberdeen this week is bonkers. The nutters and financially able will be there, but the fixtures dates and time are killing it for the majority. Thoughts and feelings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweed Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 Problem is we are not allowed to schedule top flight games when the Champions League and Europa League are on which basically knackers every midweek from the end of July until Christmas. Because the Champions League takes a break in January, we can play some more league games there. We can re-schedule games for European nights but not originally put them there. Unfortunately that issue is hard to resolve.However, the Friday night thing is crazy. It's OK when the journey is shortish but the ones we have are three of the six furthest away teams to us. Mental. I noticed a wee banner in the SPice of Life Stand on Friday that said 'Paying Supporters Last Again' when Accies scored their first goal. So this is not just a Motherwell problem. A tougher problem for Aberdeen who are at least an hour away from every other team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 18 team league. 34 game season. Winter shutdown. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calcie Posted October 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 I guess not being allowed to fixture games is something the SFA need to sort out with UEFA/FIFA if they want to improve the state of our game. I know it is not as simple at that, but not being allowed to play at bog standard SPFL game on a Tuesday night because a game is taking place thousands of miles away in another country is just another example of bureaucratic madness. Maybe it is black and white, and this is a situation that can't be changed but I would make it an urgent priority if we are to improve things in this country. Would the majority of fans prefer to stay at home and watch Atlectico Madrid - Chelsea in April, rather than their own team on a nice Spring night? Maybe some would. Allowing Champions League / Europa League fixtures to dictate the fixtures when we only have one team competing regularly doesn't seem a sustainable way to continue. Why is the future sustainability of small clubs being dictated by higher powers whose actions are only furthering the gulf between the big and small clubs. The financial disparity between Celtic and the rest of us is a perfect example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ya Bezzer! Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 18 team league. 34 game season. Winter shutdown. We don't have enough professional teams to have an 18 team league. It's just about possible for the 'Premier' tier but a team that got relegated to the second tier would probably have to go part time because the 'big' teams in the lower league would be the likes of Cowdenbeath and Alloa, it would more or less all be sub 1,000 attendance level teams. Taking a look at it outwith the Top 18 teams in Scotland at present there are only 5 teams with average attendances of over 1,000 - Alloa, Livingston, Dunfermline, Morton and Ayr Utd and only two of them are significantly over the 1,000 mark - Dunfermline and Livingston. That's just not enough to support professional level football in the second tier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
underboyleheating Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 7 games in January. Thoughts and feelings? If we lose all 7 we will have a clearer understanding on where we stand in the relegation stakes. We can then relax as the other games will have no baring on where we finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 We don't have enough professional teams to have an 18 team league. All the teams in the SPFL are professional. That's what the "P" stand for. If you mean we don't have enough full-time professional teams, we have certainly had part-timers in the top flight before. I wasn't being completely serious with 18 teams (although throw Hearts, Hibs, Rangers, Falkirk, QoS & Raith Rovers into the mix, and we wouldn't be far away). However, I'd rather see a league where we played each other twice and had a winter shutdown than a league with a split and a 7 game January fixture list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelboy Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 there are five saturdays in january plus the new year's day fixtures so it would be a minimum of 6 anyway. 7 in a month is a lot but the international breaks probably make it a necessity. on the plus side there is no scottish cup so there won't be any inverurie/arbroath style multiple postponements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richie Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 All the teams in the SPFL are professional. That's what the "P" stand for. The funny thing about the SPFL is that Queens Park, famously, aren't professional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calcie Posted October 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 there are five saturdays in january plus the new year's day fixtures so it would be a minimum of 6 anyway. 7 in a month is a lot but the international breaks probably make it a necessity. Seven games in a month doesn't personally bother me, more games the better. I just think if the fixtures were more evenly distributed at better times it would lead to more people going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goggles & Flippers Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 There has to be some sense employed here. Either UEFA have to allow countries without representation to play games midweek or at least allow overlap. After they introduced the Tuesday fixtures a few years back, it limits things considerably, give countries the option of having that back. Secondly, I'm a big advocate of summer football, the game here needs a shot in the arm and I think that would do it. As a nation we'd be hitting Euro qualifiers halfway through the season, t-shirts and light nights, no sandpit playing surfaces, howling gales with horizontal hail and possibility to sell it to other markets as they don't have anything to broadcast during the summers. The SPFL as it stands and its previous incarnations moved from a larger top league to the 10/12 in the late 70's because it was felt the country couldn't sustain a large top league. He we are 35 years later, game is on its arse, teams going bust/admin left right and centre and we're talking about going back up? Madness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 Ever consider that's because the move to 10 teams was to let the OF skim the profits and that model has ruined the game? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yabba's Turd Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 Ever consider that's because the move to 10 teams was to let the OF skim the profits and that model has ruined the game? I'm sure way back in the AFL/NFL early days teams split the gate 60/40, a very socialistic view in such a conservative country but they knew what folk wanted. Competition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well Up For It! Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 18 team league. 34 game season. Winter shutdown. Thats exactly what we will have next season if Rangers don't get promoted! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelboy Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 I'm sure way back in the AFL/NFL early days teams split the gate 60/40, a very socialistic view in such a conservative country but they knew what folk wanted. Competition. socialism between the owners of the teams to guarantee them a profit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yabba's Turd Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 socialism between the owners of the teams to guarantee them a profit. It's still a better system than what we have currently, it's not perfect but it's better than duopoly that exists in Scottish fitba. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goggles & Flippers Posted October 23, 2014 Report Share Posted October 23, 2014 Ever consider that's because the move to 10 teams was to let the OF skim the profits and that model has ruined the game? I did and I also can't deny it was a factor. Lets face it though, Dermot Desmond or David Murray (in his day) seem themselves pack in 45,000 minimum every game and they recognise its probably due to the interest in them that there's even a TV deal in place in the first place get miffed when the other teams ask for a handout. Now look at the rest, they recognise that the big teams wouldn't have anything to broadcast without competition, they know regardless of how successful they are, buses will leave that town every weekend to head to Ibrox and Parkhead, but they think if they were able to compete then their crowds would rise and over time things would be interesting again. You got a quick fix to the above to keep everyone happy, please outline your proposals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted October 27, 2014 Report Share Posted October 27, 2014 The SPL came about for the simple reason that Rangers and Celtic wanted to play each other as often as possible every season. They milked that dry and so the newer formats were created. They continue to milk the current format dry and the other clubs just bend over and take it. I'm not sure why you think there is quick fix. When a situation is allowed to develop over a number of years, and some of its participants have facilitated the decline, the fix is not likely to be anything other than a longer term process. Some ideas (which are hardly radical) might include: 1) Getting rid of the man who can't find a sponsor for the league and who is on record as saying it doesn't concern him. 2) Bringing in someone who can get a sponsor for the league. 3) Bringing in someone who talks the game up and markets it properly instead of talking it down, and broadcasting doom and gloom about the lack of Rangers. 4) Splitting the league revenues more equitably between teams. 5) Stop messing around with schedules so fans can plan to attend games. 6) Get rid of the split in the league 7) Related to 6), stop playing the same teams so often 8. Getting a winter break in. What in reality is going to happen is that, once Rangers are back in the top flight, magically a league sponsor will appear and 90% of the money will be sent directly to the OF. They will continue to take an unfair share and more clubs will end up going to the wall. And everybody will be afraid to vote against the OF because half the chairmen in the country are fans of one side or the other, and the other half only care about the short term viability of their club - not the long term viability of the game. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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