Will anyone actually watch an SPL game next season?

[The Treasurer]

The problem with the thread in general is that there is too much football on TV, full stop. It is no surprise, therefore, that people will pick and choose what games to watch. I stopped watching Champions League a couple of years ago and watched very few English games outwith Man Utd as well as almost no Scottish games outside of Hearts. Just let me know the scores from the rest.

Agree with most of your post Geoff (apart from the Man U bit !!).

I remember years ago, pre Sky, that a live game was seen as a big must see event regardless of who was playing.

I don't go out of my way not to watch games, but I rarely make a big effort to watch games either (except for West Ham of course ).

So in answer to the OP. I'll watch any games if I'm near a TV but I won't arrange my day around the TV schedule just to catch any live fixtures

[BM1874]

Can't think of much else worse than watching all of Celtic's fixtures. Well, maybe all of Rangers' fixtures.

 

This is sadly so true

 

Look At Celtics first 4/5 games

 

Not a single saturday 3pm kick off.

 

Every single match on the television

An absolute joke. I'm sure that aberdeen vs dundee united or motherwell is played in the first few weeks but not on tv, its a match i probably would watch aswell, but celtic are of course priority then moan about lack of competitors

 

[Zen Jambo]

If people are worried about supporting the Scottish game maybe their money would be better spent going to see another team when Hearts are not playing.

 

All this drivel about problems with the game due to people not watching it on the telly....please.

 

Remember when people actually went to games and were not brought up being spoon fed warm diarrhea by Sky television and thier bullhick pundits?

[Busby8]

 

Is anyone who's just gone 'nah' actually going to respond to some of the counter points made?

 

Do you know what annoys me? People pretending that Scottish football was SO much better back in the day. Bollocks. It's had two periods in over 100 years where teams challenged the Old Firm for the title on a regular basis, and both those occasions lasted for around 15 years.

 

The difference, as has been pointed out, is that there is now much more choice for football viewing. That's fair enough, but don't shit on our product just because it doesn't stand up to Spain, Italy or England? How could it? We're a nation of five million people. We're supposedly a proud nation but I don't see much example of that when it comes to our football, despite the fact that we have the largest percentage of the population attending football matches of any country in Europe.

 

There is so much wrong with Scottish League football that after watching it for around 55 years I would now walk away without hesitation if it weren't for Hearts.

 

If I went into too much detail here I'd probably get a ban for overloading the servers, but one thing I can tell you is that every gripe I have can be traced back to the two sectarian bile producing institutions from the west.

[BRAVEHEART1874]

No not that there were many hearts games on anyways !!! will be interested in Alba championship games but won't be adding appeal to any non hearts weegie games by watching them

[XB52]

If there is a live game on in the pub I'll watch it and will watch the 'highlights' on Sportscene, same as I always have. I don't have sky sports or bt sports so never watch a game in the house anyway.

[i8hibsh]

All this "I watch it as i'm Scottish" nonsense is pathetic. I am Scottish and despise every other team and could not care about them. the SPL is a tribal thing. I support an Edinburgh team. People should most definitely watch their team every week but no-one is obligated to watch any other team.

[Paolo]

All this "I watch it as i'm Scottish" nonsense is pathetic. I am Scottish and despise every other team and could not care about them. the SPL is a tribal thing. I support an Edinburgh team. People should most definitely watch their team every week but no-one is obligated to watch any other team.

 

I am with you.

 

I don't pretend to like or enjoy something, or support someone just because he/they is/are Scottish.

 

If someone or something is total shit, or I dislike it, or have no interest, I won't to watch them/it.

 

The only team I am bothered about is Hearts, so that is the only Scottish games I will watch.

 

I barely care about the National side, either, at the moment, unless there is a Hearts interest.

[i8hibsh]

Liking something purely because it is Scottish is as wrong as liking something purely for their colour.

[Paolo]

Liking something purely because it is Scottish is as wrong as liking something purely for their colour.

 

Whenever there is a tennis tournament on, I use to get moaned at if I did not want Murray to win.

 

"But he's Scottish" was usually their first response.

[Marvin]

I remember some time ago when in Majorca. St J. were playing Dundee live on Setanta (I did say "sometime ago") so we asked if it could be switched on. It was a lunchtime ko iirc and apart from 3 or 4 other people it was just us in the bar. So the barman duly obliged and switched from Sky Sports to the Tayside derby. It was that bad a game we emptied the bar and the first minute the barman went turned his back we all snuck out and ran away

[i8hibsh]

Whenever there is a tennis tournament on, Iniaes to get moaned at if I did not want Murray to win.

 

"But he's Scottish" was usually their first response.

 

I support him as he is white.

 

I support him as he is Scottish.

 

Both supremacist views imo.

[Tasavallan]

Now here's a funny thing to say on an HMFC forum - I am a Hearts supporter and I do not like watching football if Hearts are not one of the teams. I need to have a wager on a team to make watching interesting or I'll get bored and have to go do something, I will watch MOTD on iPlayer but that is about my limit.

 

Ergo, I will likely not watch any SPL fixtures next season. I did not watch Sportscene last season as I cannot stand BBC Scotland's amateurish coverage. I suspect I will keep in touch through the SPFL website, otherwise it will be the Championship only for me.

 

 

Mon the Hearts

[PsychocAndy]

I support him as he is white.

 

I support him as he is Scottish.

 

Both supremacist views imo.

 

I'm not one to run to Teacher and clipe but this nearly made me do it.

 

I don't care the race, religion or football team a Scottish Internationalist supports, they represent the Scottish people, whether you like it or not, and we are mocked and ridiculed from other nations and get faint praise when they do well.

I would say this about all high profile sports but they don't interest me. Fitbaw does and "both" my teams have been in transition since I started following football and if I want to watch how Scottish players are getting on, that is not a "supremacist" view, its a fitbaw view.

[rudi]

 

May stretch to a Dundee derby but I couldn not give the smallest of shites about it without us.

No one will be watching ANY SPL game next season or for the foreseeable future, it's impossible unless a boozer is showing re-runs of old SPL games which I doubt will draw in the crowds.

[Del1812]

I support him as he is white.

 

I support him as he is Scottish.

 

Both supremacist views imo.

 

[Don Draper]

All this "I watch it as i'm Scottish" nonsense is pathetic. I am Scottish and despise every other team and could not care about them. the SPL is a tribal thing. I support an Edinburgh team. People should most definitely watch their team every week but no-one is obligated to watch any other team.

 

You've missed the point.

 

Not for the first time, mind.

[FWJ]

I support Hearts and I like football. I also like watching football and I like going to football matches - so sometimes I go to watch other teams play football.

[Stupid Sexy Flanders]

 

 

You've missed the point.

 

Not for the first time, mind.

 

I'm pretty sure he does it on purpose, must have been bored this afternoon.

[TDF01]

The Scottish Premiership really isn't that bad a standard for the size of our country and the amount of money that goes into it. The crowds are impressive compared to almost any nation our size as well.

 

Maybe if people shook off the usual Scottish mentality of disparaging and pouring cold water over everything and just took an interest they'd realise this.

 

Disagree. Scotland used to produce more quality players and the SPFL equivalent was way more competitive.

 

Size of country is an excuse, but look how small Switzerland is. The national team are always usually a strong side and the league teams regularly playing in Europa or Champions league.

[Paolo]

Disagree. Scotland used to produce more quality players and the SPFL equivalent was way more competitive.

 

Size of country is an excuse, but look how small Switzerland is. The national team are always usually a strong side and the league teams regularly playing in Europa or Champions league.

 

Uruguay also has a smaller population.

[jamboinglasgow]

All this "I watch it as i'm Scottish" nonsense is pathetic. I am Scottish and despise every other team and could not care about them. the SPL is a tribal thing. I support an Edinburgh team. People should most definitely watch their team every week but no-one is obligated to watch any other team.

 

But purely from a Hearts point, the more people who watch Scottish football on tv, the greater the viewing figures, the bigger appeal and money from bigger sponsors, the bigger amount the SPFL can get from tv companies, which means more money for clubs (which includes Hearts.) Of course you dont have to watch Scottish football if you dont want to, no one is putting a gun to your head, but the stubbornness of people to refuse that it has any appeal and put it down in the mud continually actually affects Hearts. The reason the EPL gets so much money is that it knows how to self-promote, to hype itself up even if the product on show doesn't live up to it. So people around the world buy into it tv deals get bigger and bigger.

 

But this has always been the problem with Scottish football, self interest. From the old firm and their protectionist practices, the SFA and SPFL and refusal to change, sky refusal to use to put effort into making a better production of Scottish football on tv and instead doing what is cheapest, the non-old firm clubs refusing to change things as it requires a collective effort, and so on. One classic example is Hibs at the end of last season, last game of the season they turn the cameras away from Easter Road as they had gone over the allocated tv games for the sake of a couple tickets despite the fact that a game between two teams where loser is in the play-off so give an exciting example of Scottish football which can be used to sell it to new sponsors, they did what they did for tangible benefit to Hibs rather than a longer term benefit of Scottish football.

[Del1812]

But purely from a Hearts point, the more people who watch Scottish football on tv, the greater the viewing figures, the bigger appeal and money from bigger sponsors, the bigger amount the SPFL can get from tv companies, which means more money for clubs (which includes Hearts.) Of course you dont have to watch Scottish football if you dont want to, no one is putting a gun to your head, but the stubbornness of people to refuse that it has any appeal and put it down in the mud continually actually affects Hearts. The reason the EPL gets so much money is that it knows how to self-promote, to hype itself up even if the product on show doesn't live up to it. So people around the world buy into it tv deals get bigger and bigger.

 

But this has always been the problem with Scottish football, self interest. From the old firm and their protectionist practices, the SFA and SPFL and refusal to change, sky refusal to use to put effort into making a better production of Scottish football on tv and instead doing what is cheapest, the non-old firm clubs refusing to change things as it requires a collective effort, and so on. One classic example is Hibs at the end of last season, last game of the season they turn the cameras away from Easter Road as they had gone over the allocated tv games for the sake of a couple tickets despite the fact that a game between two teams where loser is in the play-off so give an exciting example of Scottish football which can be used to sell it to new sponsors, they did what they did for tangible benefit to Hibs rather than a longer term benefit of Scottish football.

 

This, this, a million times this!

[colinmaroon]

But purely from a Hearts point, the more people who watch Scottish football on tv, the greater the viewing figures, the bigger appeal and money from bigger sponsors, the bigger amount the SPFL can get from tv companies, which means more money for clubs (which includes Hearts.) Of course you dont have to watch Scottish football if you dont want to, no one is putting a gun to your head, but the stubbornness of people to refuse that it has any appeal and put it down in the mud continually actually affects Hearts. The reason the EPL gets so much money is that it knows how to self-promote, to hype itself up even if the product on show doesn't live up to it. So people around the world buy into it tv deals get bigger and bigger.

 

But this has always been the problem with Scottish football, self interest. From the old firm and their protectionist practices, the SFA and SPFL and refusal to change, sky refusal to use to put effort into making a better production of Scottish football on tv and instead doing what is cheapest, the non-old firm clubs refusing to change things as it requires a collective effort, and so on. One classic example is Hibs at the end of last season, last game of the season they turn the cameras away from Easter Road as they had gone over the allocated tv games for the sake of a couple tickets despite the fact that a game between two teams where loser is in the play-off so give an exciting example of Scottish football which can be used to sell it to new sponsors, they did what they did for tangible benefit to Hibs rather than a longer term benefit of Scottish football.

 

 

Look how that turned out - and they reaped what they sowed!

[Del1812]

People are chucking out random examples of other countries which do better, as if that somehow justifies another argument. Besides, you cannot use Uruguay as an example until you have a great knowledge of the league and how it fares to regards to the rest of South American football and what the overall standard is between those leagues in relation to Europe. Remember, we're talking about the Scottish league, not the national squad. Because if we are making such correlations then we'd have to say that, actually, the English league is pretty pish because look at their national team. See? Doesn't make sense in this context.

 

People are saying Scotland used to be such a good nation and the teams used to be better. Yes they did, of course. The idea of Aberdeen winning a European trophy now is just bonkers. However, football has benefited tremendously from globalisation and now kids from all over the world want to be footballers. That type of mentality doesn't didn't exist even 30 years ago. Now these countries with 50 million people are developing a love for the game. We have our proud history but it doesn't do us in much stead when we get down to it in the present day. There's no doubt we still underachieve with regards to their national team because we have a higher percentage of football fans more than any other country, but it's nowhere near what some people would have you believe.

[Anderson5]

Outwith Hearts matches I won't watch it any more or any less than I did last season. Games between Celtic, sheep, Dundee Utd and maybe Motherwell will be watched. Everything else will be avoided.

[Del1812]

But purely from a Hearts point, the more people who watch Scottish football on tv, the greater the viewing figures, the bigger appeal and money from bigger sponsors, the bigger amount the SPFL can get from tv companies, which means more money for clubs (which includes Hearts.) Of course you dont have to watch Scottish football if you dont want to, no one is putting a gun to your head, but the stubbornness of people to refuse that it has any appeal and put it down in the mud continually actually affects Hearts. The reason the EPL gets so much money is that it knows how to self-promote, to hype itself up even if the product on show doesn't live up to it. So people around the world buy into it tv deals get bigger and bigger.

 

But this has always been the problem with Scottish football, self interest. From the old firm and their protectionist practices, the SFA and SPFL and refusal to change, sky refusal to use to put effort into making a better production of Scottish football on tv and instead doing what is cheapest, the non-old firm clubs refusing to change things as it requires a collective effort, and so on. One classic example is Hibs at the end of last season, last game of the season they turn the cameras away from Easter Road as they had gone over the allocated tv games for the sake of a couple tickets despite the fact that a game between two teams where loser is in the play-off so give an exciting example of Scottish football which can be used to sell it to new sponsors, they did what they did for tangible benefit to Hibs rather than a longer term benefit of Scottish football.

 

A friend of mine was doing marketing in Aberdeen and asked the club if they would be prepared to set aside 20 tickets every couple of months or so that could be given to international or English students who went to Aberdeen and Robert Gordon universities. The club turned them down. The two reasons were 1) they didn't want to sell tickets cheaper than the season ticket price, 2) they didn't want to set any aside in case they sold out and could sell them full price.

 

The second reason . However, you can see the thinking behind the first reason. You don't want to piss off your loyal fanbase who've shelled out for those tickets. But my friend had made it very clear to them that students would be given tickets only once and then given the details of how to go most weeks. In the long term this could be more beneficial to the club, but they refused to look further than the end of their nose. Besides, if you are open and honest with your fans and say "we're gonna give some tickets away because it'll bring more money in the long term" then people tend not to be as pissed off.

 

Hibs - and maybe Hearts, I'm not sure - also have a habit of turning away tourists on match days in August because they aren't on any "list" of previous buyers. Now I know this is to stop hooligans getting entry, but you think some common sense could be used.

 

Scottish football, from the SFA right down to the fans, just wants to bury itself, I'm afraid.

[Geoff Kilpatrick]

The cheerleaders are still missing the point. There is still too much football on the TV!

[rossthejambo]

 

The cheerleaders are still missing the point. There is still too much football on the TV!

 

In your opinion.

 

[Geoff Kilpatrick]

 

 

 

In your opinion.

True, in my opinion. As others have said though, a live game used to be an event in itself. Now it is a viewing choice.

[jambonian]

I rarely watch a live match nowadays. I remember when, as others have said, people used to see a match as an event, now, there's too many games so it's diluted. Sure, there is still the odd match i'll watch but I prefer watching highlights.

Fans in Scotland pay the same monthly subscription as those south of the border so the game up here should be better promoted. The amount of cash clubs get down south from Sky is outrageous and it should be spread out more evenly. Our football won't improve as there is a Iack of funds, we don't even have a sponsor for our league. I haven't even watched Champions League football in years, it's utter tripe. Same teams getting millions year after year, rich get richer an stuff the rest of us. Champions League for champions, not 2/3/4 placed teams. Can't stand seeing folk wandering around Scotland wearing tops of Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal and the rest, the latest "fashionable club" being Man City, fake fans, fake football thanks to the English broadcasting company that is Sky.

[Nookie Bear]

I rarely watch a live match nowadays. I remember when, as others have said, people used to see a match as an event, now, there's too many games so it's diluted. Sure, there is still the odd match i'll watch but I prefer watching highlights.

Fans in Scotland pay the same monthly subscription as those south of the border so the game up here should be better promoted. The amount of cash clubs get down south from Sky is outrageous and it should be spread out more evenly. Our football won't improve as there is a Iack of funds, we don't even have a sponsor for our league. I haven't even watched Champions League football in years, it's utter tripe. Same teams getting millions year after year, rich get richer an stuff the rest of us. Champions League for champions, not 2/3/4 placed teams. Can't stand seeing folk wandering around Scotland wearing tops of Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal and the rest, the latest "fashionable club" being Man City, fake fans, fake football thanks to the English broadcasting company that is Sky.

 

 

^^^ gets it ^^^