Graham Spiers - Complete Tosser!

[MJC_MKI]

He won't slag off the old firm,

 

Rubbish, Graham Spiers is one of the very few journalists who DO openly have a go at the 'Old Firm' especially Rangers. Whilst many other, like Chick Young, Hugh Keevins & Ewan Cameron shy away from criticising them for their fan's behaviour or the songs they sing or the way the clubs are run, Graham Spiers usually tells it like it is. He has regularly ripped into Rangers over 'The Billy Boys' and 'FTP' and actually has the balls not to fall at David Murray's feet(pardon the pun) over everything he says and does, rather he questions him, something which Murray does not like one little bit.

 

As for this article, I really do not see much wrong with what he's said. We're hardly a top team yet our league placings in recent years does not suggest that we are a bottom of the table side either, so 'Yo-Yo' sounds about right to me.

[Steve Diggle]

It's just symptomatic of the contempt that the 'middle order' of scottish football is regarded by the media and the authorities.

 

I've said this for many years - there would be uproar if the 2nd to 12th teams in England were reported on in the same way that the equivalent teams are up here.

 

It's where the whole picture falls down north of the border. Anything outwith the old firm is lower league football. if 5th beat 2nd in England it's great - if 5th beats 2nd here it's a shock giant killing act.

 

The Old Firm have a stranglehold over all the resources, a vast majority of the football public, the ear of the media and almost complete control over the direction of the SPL.

 

A bit of stability and lack of fear for the middle order isn't anything that should be scorned. A larger league should mean football without fear and a bit more solid long term planning for a good few clubs.

 

Graham Spiers can go rub his gums wi shite!

 

Edit: in response to MJCs point, I agree GS can write a good article and I take on board what you say. however every now and then he throws in a pile of shit like this. The term yo-yo team in football means a club that flits between promotion and relegation on a regular basis. We're hardly the first club that should be wheeled out to illustrate a 'yo-yo' club.

[KirkySuperSub]

"I believe we should still aspire to get figures like Dick Advocaat, Martin O’Neill, Chris Sutton, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and others to come to our scene."

 

Aye, very good. So go on then, tell us, who the fuck is gonnae fund this Graham, you fucking upper class, short-sighted prick?

[Haggischomper]

"I believe we should still aspire to get figures like Dick Advocaat, Martin O'Neill, Chris Sutton, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and others to come to our scene."

 

Aye, very good. So go on then, tell us, who the fuck is gonnae fund this Graham, you fucking upper class, short-sighted prick?

 

 

And how the fuck is it gonna benefit/improve Scottish football as a while? We have already had tehse guys here and it has set Scottish standards back decades, a fact that Speirs conveniently doesn't raise.

[jonnymfc]

I have yet to meet anyone with the Surname of Spiers and think they know anything at all and dont care about anyone but themselves.

 

Personally the SPL is boring and i would love to see 18 teams, that means more european places and different teams at FP. This doesnt mean easier games for Motherwell as hostory proves we struggle in the cups against lower opposition.

[ankles]

Who cares what he says? A poor mans version of Peirs Morgan,a boring pompous self righteous feckin windbag who fits the profile of a scottish Tory candidate. Hasn't got a clue about yer average guy in the street and about life in general,Tosser

[LadywellToi]

The first line of the article is "Walter, stop talking nonsense"

 

Sorry Al B, just read what was included in quotes on Hammy's first post rather than click through.

[Al B]

Ahhh, gotcha...

[Special aka]

Nothing. Just saying that him calling us a "yo-yo team" is totally justified.

 

yo-yo means:- up then down then up then down aka promotion then relegation then promotion then relegation. So he is not justified describing us as a 'yo-yo' team.

[Special aka]

How you could possibly forget their season in Division 1 under McLeish in the 1990s?

 

Will never forget that mate. I was meaning since the SFL began in the late 19th century.

[something else]

The guys a wank

[Fi2810]

I have had the misfortune to have been in his company acouple of times...............................

he is a complete dickhead !!

 

He knows fuckall about football, upper class twit !

 

Is a friend of Tam Cowan......proabably having a go at him !

 

And he wears jumbo cords !!!!!!

 

Jumbo cords are not even "so last year" they are so last century. Sounds a real tosser if he can compare Motherwell to some of the other teams he mentions.

[Psycho1991]

So what is wrong with his point ?

 

Fuck all thats what !

[Jay]

Got to admit, I wouldn't have thought twice about his comments if I hadn't seen this thread - don't really understand the problem. I think his point is justified. And he clearly explains in the article that by yo-yo teams he means those that "either spend their time worrying about SPL survival, or bleating that they can’t quite make it". I think that pretty much covers us - if we're not looking below us and trying to make sure we're not going down, we're having a decent season but feeling hard done by because we don't have the resources to go much further. Pretty apt description IMO.

[Wellfan1984]

I think that pretty much covers us - if we're not looking below us and trying to make sure we're not going down, we're having a decent season but feeling hard done by because we don't have the resources to go much further. Pretty apt description IMO.

 

And every other club in the SPL - outside the Old Firm. As has been mentioned there are clubs not named, that have been relegated since we last were but there has been no club that has won the league out side the Old Firm - nor even established themselves as any sort of European Certs since well - about the same time.

[Jay]

And every other club in the SPL - outside the Old Firm. As has been mentioned there are clubs not named, that have been relegated since we last were but there has been no club that has won the league out side the Old Firm - nor even established themselves as any sort of European Certs since well - about the same time.

 

I wouldn't say Hibs, Hearts or Dundee Utd would be in the group though as, apart from the odd season, they spend most of the time challenging for Europe and are therefore rightly not included in his list. Whether they have had a particularly bad season one year in the past doesn't remotely mean they would fit into his "yo-yo club" category in the context of this article.

 

But if you even want to include those clubs, he does say "and the rest" so it's blatantly obvious he hasn't listed all the clubs he feels fit into that category.

 

So basically, folk are moaning because Graham Spiers has used Motherwell as one of a few examples of clubs that spend most of their time alternating between having half decent seasons without really setting the heather alight and staving off relegation, and would therefore, in his opinion, benefit from a league expansion? Is that genuinely why people are moaning? Seriously!?

[trafficlight]

I know of Speirs from his anti-sectarian pieces, and he seems a decent human being who tackles the problem head on, rather than ignoring it. I know Rangers fans loathe him for what he's said on the subject, so it seem he's one of the good guys.

[fatcalf]

I know of Speirs from his anti-sectarian pieces, and he seems a decent human being who tackles the problem head on, rather than ignoring it. I know Rangers fans loathe him for what he's said on the subject, so it seem he's one of the good guys.

 

What's that saying, things aren't always as they seem?

[CoF]

I wouldn't say Hibs, Hearts or Dundee Utd would be in the group though as, apart from the odd season, they spend most of the time challenging for Europe and are therefore rightly not included in his list. Whether they have had a particularly bad season one year in the past doesn't remotely mean they would fit into his "yo-yo club" category in the context of this article.

 

But if you even want to include those clubs, he does say "and the rest" so it's blatantly obvious he hasn't listed all the clubs he feels fit into that category.

 

So basically, folk are moaning because Graham Spiers has used Motherwell as one of a few examples of clubs that spend most of their time alternating between having half decent seasons without really setting the heather alight and staving off relegation, and would therefore, in his opinion, benefit from a league expansion? Is that genuinely why people are moaning? Seriously!?

 

I think it's the tone of the article that makes him come across as a bit of an arsehole. By calling Motherwell and teams around us the complacent, flabby midriff of Scottish football then where does that leave the rest? Nice way to take a swipe at 90% of the teams in Scotland.

 

It's also a cynical and completely misinformed view of Browns opinions on the matter. Brown spoke of the benefits of SPL expansion long before he was Motherwell manager.

 

So aye, arsehole.

[Wellfan1984]

I wouldn't say Hibs, Hearts or Dundee Utd would be in the group though as,

 

Actually Dundee United belong part of the bottom tier of SPL clubs more than we do if you're going by records. Since it's founding, we have gained 42 more points than Dundee United in the SPL. Hell even Killie have more points than Dundee United and Hibs since the foundation of the SPL

 

Fact of the matter is, there is only two non-yo-yo clubs (by the way he has used it - wrongly) in the SPL as no club has been able to cement themselves season after season, after season as the next best thing after The Old Firm and to use that as an argument against expansion is laughable and now doubt in a couple of weeks state that something must be done to stop the rot... without coming up with any decent alternative.

[Jay]

I think it's the tone of the article that makes him come across as a bit of an arsehole. By calling Motherwell and teams around us the complacent, flabby midriff of Scottish football then where does that leave the rest? Nice way to take a swipe at 90% of the teams in Scotland.

 

It's also a cynical and completely misinformed view of Browns opinions on the matter. Brown spoke of the benefits of SPL expansion long before he was Motherwell manager.

 

I actually took the "flabby midriff of Scottish football" comment to suggest that Scottish football as a whole, as we all know, is in terrible shape. Anyone with a flabby midriff is generally unfit and unhealthy as a whole - and that's exactly what I took from that comment. Granted, it's not nice to have Motherwell associated with it, but it's not something I thinks even worth commenting on in the context of the article.

 

As for Brown's opinions - so a journalist has taken comments by someone and used them out of context - I hope we're not now going to have threads on here every time that happens, because the forums would end up crashing.

 

Actually Dundee United belong part of the bottom tier of SPL clubs more than we do if you're going by records. Since it's founding, we have gained 42 more points than Dundee United in the SPL. Hell even Killie have more points than Dundee United and Hibs since the foundation of the SPL

 

I don't really see what points collected since the foundation of the SPL has to do with anything. Dundee United have been challenging for Europe the last few years and probably will do the next few years, and go into every season with the expectations and the resources to do so. We, on the other hand, go into every season wondering whether we'll have a good season with a push for a European place or end up battling relegation. That's the difference and exactly why, in the context of the article, I would assume teams like United aren't listed as clubs who would especially benefit from league expansion at this particular moment in time.

 

Fact of the matter is, there is only two non-yo-yo clubs (by the way he has used it - wrongly) in the SPL as no club has been able to cement themselves season after season, after season as the next best thing after The Old Firm and to use that as an argument against expansion is laughable and now doubt in a couple of weeks state that something must be done to stop the rot... without coming up with any decent alternative.

 

Yes, you've said. I fail to see why that's remotely relevant though, given he explains exactly what he means by it. If he's just said "yo-yo clubs" then you'd have a point, but the description of what he means in the article is there for everyone to read. Anyway, are folk now not allowed to use words or phrases "wrongly", even when it's blatantly obvious what they mean? There are plenty of threads on here with folk being called "c***s" but I haven't noticed anyone taking issue with the fact the word has been "wrongly".

 

I still find it quite amusing that folk are raging about this article. I don't read a lot of Graham Spiers stuff but what I have read I haven't had a problem with (including this), and that includes a lot of the anti-bigotry stuff trafficlight has mentioned. To me, this just seems like another example of folk purposely looking for something to moan about and be offended by.

[Big Stall]

I don't really see what points collected since the foundation of the SPL has to do with anything. Dundee United have been challenging for Europe the last few years and probably will do the next few years, and go into every season with the expectations and the resources to do so. We, on the other hand, go into every season wondering whether we'll have a good season with a push for a European place or end up battling relegation. That's the difference and exactly why, in the context of the article, I would assume teams like United aren't listed as clubs who would especially benefit from league expansion at this particular moment in time.

 

Actually, by and large Dundee United have been absolutley dross since their purple patch in the 80's. I don't think they have finished higher than 5th since the formation of the new look SPL, and that has only really been since Levein took over. Time will tell if the guy has left a legacy and if Thomsons son is as bad as chosing managers as his father was. Word is they are shafted in terms of debts (not as bad as Hearts and Killie mind), so I wouldnt be surprised to see them dropping down to the yo-yo type status we supposedly enjoy.

[fatcalf]

You can see how Jay's got through his police exams. He's been brainwashed already. Or maybe kidnapped and held against his will by a busty recruit forcing his hand into places he doesn't want it forced. Where's the real Jay you blaggard.

[Jay]

You can see how Jay's got through his police exams. He's been brainwashed already. Or maybe kidnapped and held against his will by a busty recruit forcing his hand into places he doesn't want it forced. Where's the real Jay you blaggard.

 

 

I wouldn't worry, I've actually come to my senses regarding the police - already e-mailed them last week and told them that I don't want to continue the recruitment process. I'm going to Uni instead, so I can continue being skint and pished without repercussions.

[fatcalf]

 

I wouldn't worry, I've actually come to my senses regarding the police - already e-mailed them last week and told them that I don't want to continue the recruitment process. I'm going to Uni instead, so I can continue being skint and pished without repercussions.

 

A student? Ye gonnae grow a beard tae?

That could also explain siding with a guy who wears leather elbow patches on his tweed jacket.