dutch & belgian leagues to merge

[kila]

1 hour ago, Cruyff Turn said:

Whether you like the OF or not, they make us money and the League would be considerably devalued and much poorer without them. That is a stonewall fact of life.

 

It would probably be more competitive, but it would be shit and the standard of player, crowds and the revenue would significantly decrease. Many clubs in Scotland would not survive and that would mean we would struggle to remain with a top flight of professional players having a knock on effect across our entire game and society as a whole.

 

So, absolutely ****ing no way in a billion years should we allow the OF to leave this league. They are Scottish clubs and they belong here in Scotland, whether you like it or not.

 

Yes - league needs restructured so it is fairer for the smaller teams to try compete with the Old Firm (18 teams, home and away for example)

 

Also think EL/CL earnings should have a levy from the group stage on, and that helps stabilise the Scottish leagues, grass roots etc.

 

But I wonder how many Old Firm fans outside of Glasgow might support their local team instead if the Old Firm were away in some European league with high ticket prices etc etc.

 

[Jambo, Goodbye]

2 hours ago, Johnny Sandiego said:

Would be well up for the Old Firm pissing off and joining any league they want. No colt teams left in Scotland either, a clean break with them out of here.

 

Think that would make the football here much more enjoyable. We would all have much more chance of winning stuff and winning teams in theory should bring out more supporters. 

 

We would have to accept the TV money would dry up and some teams who depend on the OF away fans to keep them afloat would have to adapt. Short term pain for long term gain though.

 

That would destroy scottish football. They wouldn't be "pissing off". They'd be playing better opposition with more money just along the M8.

 

If you think it's bad now, any hint of a decent youth player or signing and he'd be signing for them within a transfer window. 

 

Plus their glory hunting support would increase. The rest would struggle. 

 

Now if they were liquidated,  that would improve scottish football! 

[Locky]

Not sure where I stand on this in regards to Scottish football, but can see it being a precedent for further amalgamations of leagues.

 

This league would be a cracking league if it went ahead, but where I think the real problem lies is Champions League qualification. Ajax and PSV are obviously the real forces in Dutch football, but the Belgian league has been very competitive in recent years, with the likes of Anderlecht, Standard, Genk, Gent and Club Brugge all playing Group Stage football, I think there's even a couple of others. All it will take is for one of these teams to hit a snag and they'll be roaring and greeting about how they wish they were in the old leagues where there was less competition for titles and CL spots.

 

I can see the benefits for many other nations to consider such moves also. For example, a Scandinavian Super League might appeal to the bigger clubs in that part of the World. Even the former Yugoslavian states combined would make a very competitive league, but with the hooligan element I guess it would never happen. The likes of Young Boys, Basel and Salzburg could be better off playing in Germany etc. But again, they'd miss out on essentially guaranteed European qualification and titles.

 

I don't really see an alternative for Scottish football that benefits us. Logistically, England is the only option, but other than more money, what could we really benefit out of? Merging with any other nation throws up a lot of logistical issues which would totally kill fan culture.

 

Problem is these days, too many clubs in too many countries have gone mental trying to dine at the big table, and many more have gone under trying to get there too. Most countries in Europe are monopolies or duopolies, with little competitiveness, and a very dull looking list of champions. They want their cake and to eat it too though. Celtic are a prime case of that. They want to be treated like a European heavyweight, and love people to talk them up as being big enough to challenge in a top league like England, but ultimately, they love their comfort blanket of the Scottish Premiership. They're quite happy to stroll the title by 'X' amount of points every season if it means they get a chance at earning millions in the Champions League.

 

Most European leagues are sadly ****ed for the time being.

[hueyview]

4 hours ago, davemclaren said:

I doubt that The Dutch and Belgium international teams are merging. 

So true....   No matter how rank Scotland can be at periods, its still the National team.......

[FarmerTweedy]

4 hours ago, Masonic said:

from what i understand only the top teams will be put in a "super league" the fa should follow suit and swallow up the spfl and stick us in with the english and welsh clubs dont have the exact plan in terms of how it would work but would be good imo. could also do away with the rank rotten national team anaw and just have a team GB.

 

its not quite the super league with barca real man utd bayern psg juventus etc but that might no be too far around the corner either

Absolutely ****ing terrible idea.

[JJ93]

I agree re British league but not national teams. Same with rugby .. keep it separate but British football would only benefit us. 

[Mikey1874]

2 hours ago, Rods said:

This will never happen to many moving parts.

 

I think that European leagues are coming soon.

 

(A little confusing post, but...)

 

They said a Euro League was coming 20 years ago. 

 

The fact they have painfully come up with new Europa League 2 proposals and voted down changes for now to Champions League suggests it's a fair way away. 

[A_A wehatethehibs]

Would be 100% happy if Hearts binned the GFA and went our own way. It is a tin pot organisation. 
 

Join the English football association and see if we can maybe slot in somewhere, maybe the national conference or possibly League 2. Try and get promoted from there. Edinburgh would be a terrific away day weekend for the English fans plus every game would be a Scotland vs England derby. It would be great entertainment for the whole country and increase interest in English lower league football which would become British Football an altogether stronger thing. 

 

Bin the SFA ? Absolutely 100% behind that in terms of our football club. More

than happy to walk away from the shambolic blazers. I would also be delighted to support a team GB but it will never happen so our national team will still be in the hands of the blazers and in terminal decline. But that doesn’t mean Hearts can’t walk away and be a Scottish Cardiff City equivalent. Maybe eventually that would have a knock on effect of improvement of standard of Scottish players 

[Mikey1874]

Tough on fans having to travel 

[Unknown user]

I doubt it, they've been talking about it for years and need the support of the associations and member clubs, which they don't have. Nothing's changed since the last time as far as I can tell.

 

"Hey, how do you fancy your league being devalued, lower crowds, less sponsorship money and lower tv deals?"

 

"Haud me back!"

[Unknown user]

Oh, and **** team GB!

[Cruyff Turn]

1 hour ago, Nookie Bear said:

Spot on. 
 

And it’s not as if their verminous fans, or the sycophantic media, would leave with them either. 

Exactly.

 

The majority of Scottish Football fans support the OF, they are consumers. No fan money, no TV deals, nothing.

 

No club is going to be able to charge 25 quid a ticket to watch Scottish Football, the crowds would disappear because the standard would drop to Scots League 1 level as they couldn’t afford to pay players more than £600 quid a week tops. All our youngsters would go to England and the majority of Scottish Clubs, including some current SPFL clubs would have to go Part-Time. It would be the death of Scottish Football and it would take Hearts down with it.

 

1 hour ago, kila said:

 

Yes - league needs restructured so it is fairer for the smaller teams to try compete with the Old Firm (18 teams, home and away for example)

 

Also think EL/CL earnings should have a levy from the group stage on, and that helps stabilise the Scottish leagues, grass roots etc.

 

But I wonder how many Old Firm fans outside of Glasgow might support their local team instead if the Old Firm were away in some European league with high ticket prices etc etc.

 

Nah, we’d be dead mate. We couldn’t survive the loss of income that would leave with the OF. The biggest clubs would be effected the most as we have more liabilities and we simply couldn’t keep at the same level we are now. We’d be utterly ****ed.

 

The only way for Scottish football to survive is as you say, reconstruction and reconstruction of UEFA comps making the whole thing fairer.

 

People say we can’t win the league here. Not true, had we won all the games we should have won this season, we’d only have lost to Celtic and we drew with Rangers, we should be near the top of the league as things stand. That is purely our own doing, nothing to do with them. 

 

The OF go and they take all the coin with them to another Country and we’d be left with nothing. That’s just the way it is sadly. 

[Bull's-eye]

Imagine sitting round a table/propped at a bar negotiating with any of the morons that are in charge of the Scottish game....😃😃😃

 

I wish Holland and Belgium the best of luck with attempting something radical for the benefit of the game in their respective countries. 

 

Now back in Scotland 🤪🤪🤪🤪🍺🍺🍺🍺🤡🤡🤡🤡

[graygo]

5 hours ago, Masonic said:

might actually get to go to a tourny if we done that

 

Nothing to stop you going to a tourny now, you won't get to see any Scottish players but then you wouldn't get to see any if it was a team GB anyway.

[Rods]

53 minutes ago, Mikey1874 said:

 

(A little confusing post, but...)

 

They said a Euro League was coming 20 years ago. 

 

The fact they have painfully come up with new Europa League 2 proposals and voted down changes for now to Champions League suggests it's a fair way away. 

 

Europa League 2 is a prelude to the European leagues I think anyway.

 

Moving parts as in so many teams involved not everybody will be happy and therfore vote against the move. Also how does it get past uefa? I was under the impression they had a cross border policy.

[Jenks]

6 hours ago, johnthomas said:

Yea go team GB !

Stop your nonsense

**** team GB.

[Tokyo Drifter]

6 hours ago, Masonic said:

from what i understand only the top teams will be put in a "super league" the fa should follow suit and swallow up the spfl and stick us in with the english and welsh clubs dont have the exact plan in terms of how it would work but would be good imo. could also do away with the rank rotten national team anaw and just have a team GB.

 

its not quite the super league with barca real man utd bayern psg juventus etc but that might no be too far around the corner either

The EPA/FA don't need us. We missed the boat on this. There was talk a decade ago about a mooted tie-up between Scotland, Holland and a few other countries. Since Belgium's rise to the top of the pile - national teams and club sides - we've been left behind. Best we could hope for would be some kind of Nordic league which would bring in FC Copenhagen, Malmo, AIK, Brondby etc.

[Bazzas right boot]

4 hours ago, Cruyff Turn said:

Whether you like the OF or not, they make us money and the League would be considerably devalued and much poorer without them. That is a stonewall fact of life.

 

It would probably be more competitive, but it would be shit and the standard of player, crowds and the revenue would significantly decrease. Many clubs in Scotland would not survive and that would mean we would struggle to remain with a top flight of professional players having a knock on effect across our entire game and society as a whole.

 

So, absolutely ****ing no way in a billion years should we allow the OF to leave this league. They are Scottish clubs and they belong here in Scotland, whether you like it or not.

 

 

Not sure on the finance part tbh. 

 

Most money goes to them, so if our deal was considerbly worse all other clubs are the same.  Depending on the % drop. 

I seen at some point they get around 50% of all the TV money for example. 

 

If that was the case, then a TV deal 50% less would leave us the same as now. 

A TV deal 30 or 40% worse overall  would actually be better, despite  the cash drop. 

 

Would depend on the numbers tho. 

 

Also, crowds would jump up on average if teams win and challenge for more cups. 

Teams winning the championship show this or getting to semis of cups. 

 

Could also argue Scotland has too many clubs and losing some and having a restructure wouldn't be all bad. 

 

As you say tho, no chance of them leaving. 

 

If they did I think it would be good, although I can see the danger if theyjoined the Epl in terms of thier appeal widening, joining a Atlantic league or such would be perfect for us.

 

Joining the EPL would be a particular danger.

 

[1971fozzy]

7 hours ago, davemclaren said:

Yeah seems very tentative. If it was to happen you could envisage the OF wanting to join. 

Id drive them there

[Robert Lazar]

I know naff all about irish football but there must be a handful of teams that would compete for the top 6 in Scotland?

How many of them have decent stadiums? 

Might be worth considering some sort of merge there. 

I'm all up for new ideas cos the spfl is stale as.

[Cruyff Turn]

38 minutes ago, Smith's right boot said:

 

 

Not sure on the finance part tbh. 

 

Most money goes to them, so if our deal was considerbly worse all other clubs are the same.  Depending on the % drop. 

I seen at some point they get around 50% of all the TV money for example. 

 

If that was the case, then a TV deal 50% less would leave us the same as now. 

A TV deal 30 or 40% worse overall  would actually be better, despite  the cash drop. 

 

Would depend on the numbers tho. 

 

Also, crowds would jump up on average if teams win and challenge for more cups. 

Teams winning the championship show this or getting to semis of cups. 

 

Could also argue Scotland has too many clubs and losing some and having a restructure wouldn't be all bad. 

 

As you say tho, no chance of them leaving. 

 

If they did I think it would be good, although I can see the danger if theyjoined the Epl in terms of thier appeal widening, joining a Atlantic league or such would be perfect for us.

 

Joining the EPL would be a particular danger.

 

It would be the apocalypse for us if the OF left.

 

We wouldn’t get a TV deal with Sky or BT if the OF left.  Not a chance. Not for millions per year. Maybe a public broadcaster might chuck us a few 100k a year to share between us if we were lucky. 

 

There’d be no big company sponsors. Why would Ladbrokes or Diageo for example pay for sponsorships when nobody’s watching? 

 

Revenue for us would go down at least 70% from what it is now. 

 

We wouldn’t be able to operate at the level we do now with different youth levels, a woman’s team and all the staff we have paying £10 quid an hour.

 

A kid at 16 gets the chance to sign pro terms for Hearts for 100 quid a week, a top team wage of 800-1k a week in a Post non-OF SPFL or, alternatively go and work as a tradie for £25 bucks an hour or get a degree as a Lawyer and earn £400 an hour. No-ones going to be picking football.

 

All the good kids would be off to English clubs straight away, like they do if they come from Wales and N.Ireland and we’d have nothing to produce or sell to keep an Academy open. It wouldn’t even be worth having it.

 

The bigger clubs left with the bigger operating costs would suffer the most, us in particular. 

 

For the rest of the clubs that make up the league, they would become Part Time.

 

Hamilton, St Mirren etc.. pay about £600-£1k a week for first team players now, if they lose 60-80% of their revenue, they’d be paying £200 quid a week, who‘d want to work for that a week? It’s not even worth the hassle. All the Pro’s would be offski to England or abroad to make a living.

 

So even if we could offer a full time profession, other SPFL clubs could not and we need them.

 

Fans wouldn’t pay to watch Sunday league standard crap when the two biggest Scottish Clubs with all the best Scottish  players were playing EPL football. Future generations would support Rangers or Celtic.

 

You think 12,000 people a week would pay £25 quid a game or £400 quid a season to watch a bunch of part timers booting shite out of each other? 

 

Come on man. 

 

I don’t like the OF but the fact is that without them and the interest and revenue they generate, Scottish Football is ****ed financially. 

 

That is the unfortunate reality. 

[grumpyespana]

7 hours ago, Randy Marsh said:

Fingers crossed.  And none of their colt teams allowed to stay here.

They have that in Spain ie Real Madrid B & Sevilla B teams in the lower leagues but I think they cannot go up to the top league. 

[Holyrood_Hearts]

8 hours ago, Masonic said:

from what i understand only the top teams will be put in a "super league" the fa should follow suit and swallow up the spfl and stick us in with the english and welsh clubs dont have the exact plan in terms of how it would work but would be good imo. could also do away with the rank rotten national team anaw and just have a team GB.

 

its not quite the super league with barca real man utd bayern psg juventus etc but that might no be too far around the corner either

Where to start with this? Jesus!

 

[Dusk_Till_Dawn]

12 minutes ago, Cruyff Turn said:

It would be the apocalypse for us if the OF left.

 

We wouldn’t get a TV deal with Sky or BT if the OF left.  Not a chance. Not for millions per year. Maybe a public broadcaster might chuck us a few 100k a year to share between us if we were lucky. 

 

There’d be no big company sponsors. Why would Ladbrokes or Diageo for example pay for sponsorships when nobody’s watching? 

 

Revenue for us would go down at least 70% from what it is now. 

 

We wouldn’t be able to operate at the level we do now with different youth levels, a woman’s team and all the staff we have paying £10 quid an hour.

 

A kid at 16 gets the chance to sign pro terms for Hearts for 100 quid a week, a top team wage of 800-1k a week in a Post non-OF SPFL or, alternatively go and work as a tradie for £25 bucks an hour or get a degree as a Lawyer and earn £400 an hour. No-ones going to be picking football.

 

All the good kids would be off to English clubs straight away, like they do if they come from Wales and N.Ireland and we’d have nothing to produce or sell to keep an Academy open. It wouldn’t even be worth having it.

 

The bigger clubs left with the bigger operating costs would suffer the most, us in particular. 

 

For the rest of the clubs that make up the league, they would become Part Time.

 

Hamilton, St Mirren etc.. pay about £600-£1k a week for first team players now, if they lose 60-80% of their revenue, they’d be paying £200 quid a week, who‘d want to work for that a week? It’s not even worth the hassle. All the Pro’s would be offski to England or abroad to make a living.

 

So even if we could offer a full time profession, other SPFL clubs could not and we need them.

 

Fans wouldn’t pay to watch Sunday league standard crap when the two biggest Scottish Clubs with all the best Scottish  players were playing EPL football. Future generations would support Rangers or Celtic.

 

You think 12,000 people a week would pay £25 quid a game or £400 quid a season to watch a bunch of part timers booting shite out of each other? 

 

Come on man. 

 

I don’t like the OF but the fact is that without them and the interest and revenue they generate, Scottish Football is ****ed financially. 

 

That is the unfortunate reality. 

Scottish football would just have to operate differently and cut its cloth. The OF mask how small time Scottish football is and quite honestly, the best academy products up here should already be trying to move elsewhere if they’ve got any ambition. 

[SpruceBringsteen]

Appreciate the OP was a massive troll, but imagine actually merging and playing the likes of Gillingham and Exeter every other week.

 

[Bazzas right boot]

48 minutes ago, Cruyff Turn said:

It would be the apocalypse for us if the OF left.

 

We wouldn’t get a TV deal with Sky or BT if the OF left.  Not a chance. Not for millions per year. Maybe a public broadcaster might chuck us a few 100k a year to share between us if we were lucky. 

 

There’d be no big company sponsors. Why would Ladbrokes or Diageo for example pay for sponsorships when nobody’s watching? 

 

Revenue for us would go down at least 70% from what it is now. 

 

We wouldn’t be able to operate at the level we do now with different youth levels, a woman’s team and all the staff we have paying £10 quid an hour.

 

A kid at 16 gets the chance to sign pro terms for Hearts for 100 quid a week, a top team wage of 800-1k a week in a Post non-OF SPFL or, alternatively go and work as a tradie for £25 bucks an hour or get a degree as a Lawyer and earn £400 an hour. No-ones going to be picking football.

 

All the good kids would be off to English clubs straight away, like they do if they come from Wales and N.Ireland and we’d have nothing to produce or sell to keep an Academy open. It wouldn’t even be worth having it.

 

The bigger clubs left with the bigger operating costs would suffer the most, us in particular. 

 

For the rest of the clubs that make up the league, they would become Part Time.

 

Hamilton, St Mirren etc.. pay about £600-£1k a week for first team players now, if they lose 60-80% of their revenue, they’d be paying £200 quid a week, who‘d want to work for that a week? It’s not even worth the hassle. All the Pro’s would be offski to England or abroad to make a living.

 

So even if we could offer a full time profession, other SPFL clubs could not and we need them.

 

Fans wouldn’t pay to watch Sunday league standard crap when the two biggest Scottish Clubs with all the best Scottish  players were playing EPL football. Future generations would support Rangers or Celtic.

 

You think 12,000 people a week would pay £25 quid a game or £400 quid a season to watch a bunch of part timers booting shite out of each other? 

 

Come on man. 

 

I don’t like the OF but the fact is that without them and the interest and revenue they generate, Scottish Football is ****ed financially. 

 

That is the unfortunate reality. 

 

 

The truth is probably somewhere in between tbh. 

 

 

On top of my previous points, If leagues in Switzerland, Denmark amongst other smaller countries etc can get a TV deal no idea why Scotland can't. 

 

[davemclaren]

2 hours ago, Zlatanable said:

Struggling to see how merging those two leagues would make much difference. They wouldn't be that bigger, and the money for tv rights would be simpler, but not obviously much larger.

 

And it would probably lose Champions League places. 

 

I want to find out more about this reorganisation in 2024 though, > 'We now also want to anticipate the reform of European football from 2024.'

Indeed. After Germany, France, Italy and Spain you need more than two countries to merge leagues to get a similar size. That’s excluding Russia, Turkey, Poland and Ukraine in Eastern Europe. 

[luckydug]

4 hours ago, Cruyff Turn said:

It would be the apocalypse for us if the OF left.

 

We wouldn’t get a TV deal with Sky or BT if the OF left.  Not a chance. Not for millions per year. Maybe a public broadcaster might chuck us a few 100k a year to share between us if we were lucky. 

 

There’d be no big company sponsors. Why would Ladbrokes or Diageo for example pay for sponsorships when nobody’s watching? 

 

Revenue for us would go down at least 70% from what it is now. 

 

We wouldn’t be able to operate at the level we do now with different youth levels, a woman’s team and all the staff we have paying £10 quid an hour.

 

A kid at 16 gets the chance to sign pro terms for Hearts for 100 quid a week, a top team wage of 800-1k a week in a Post non-OF SPFL or, alternatively go and work as a tradie for £25 bucks an hour or get a degree as a Lawyer and earn £400 an hour. No-ones going to be picking football.

 

All the good kids would be off to English clubs straight away, like they do if they come from Wales and N.Ireland and we’d have nothing to produce or sell to keep an Academy open. It wouldn’t even be worth having it.

 

The bigger clubs left with the bigger operating costs would suffer the most, us in particular. 

 

For the rest of the clubs that make up the league, they would become Part Time.

 

Hamilton, St Mirren etc.. pay about £600-£1k a week for first team players now, if they lose 60-80% of their revenue, they’d be paying £200 quid a week, who‘d want to work for that a week? It’s not even worth the hassle. All the Pro’s would be offski to England or abroad to make a living.

 

So even if we could offer a full time profession, other SPFL clubs could not and we need them.

 

Fans wouldn’t pay to watch Sunday league standard crap when the two biggest Scottish Clubs with all the best Scottish  players were playing EPL football. Future generations would support Rangers or Celtic.

 

You think 12,000 people a week would pay £25 quid a game or £400 quid a season to watch a bunch of part timers booting shite out of each other? 

 

Come on man. 

 

I don’t like the OF but the fact is that without them and the interest and revenue they generate, Scottish Football is ****ed financially. 

 

That is the unfortunate reality. 

I see you have very strong opinions on this matter.

These facts you state.

Have they been properly researched  or is this just your opinion ?

 

 

[Francis Albert]

5 hours ago, Dusk_Till_Dawn said:

Scottish football would just have to operate differently and cut its cloth. The OF mask how small time Scottish football is and quite honestly, the best academy products up here should already be trying to move elsewhere if they’ve got any ambition. 

Even stripping out OF crowds home and away Scotland has one of the highest attendances relative to population in Europe. It is not "small time" unless you swallow myths put about by the OF and their sycophantic media.

[queensferryjambo]

14 hours ago, 8ac said:

Belgium and Holland merging the top leagues. Why not top 4 from each of these countries joining Hearts,Celtic, Rangers and Aberdeen for a 12 team North European Super League. Potentially massive financial benefit 

 

What? Why would you miss out the 2nd best team in Scotland?

 

Neil Lennon's words not mine  

[FruitJuice]

3 minutes ago, queensferryjambo said:

 

What? Why would you miss out the 2nd best team in Scotland?

 

Neil Lennon's words not mine  

Exactly!  It shouldn't just be about money, and the first Scottish side to play in Europe should be involved out of respect for their contribution to European and world football.  If it wasnt for hibs we wouldn't be playing midweek evenings.  How would we deal with the backlog of fixtures due to games getting postponed in winter if Hibs hadn't invented floodlights?  Without taking all that into account, they should be included for also inventing scoreboards and the internet.  No Hibs involved would show that it's all about money rather than what really matters...

All that and they still get treated like shite. It's no fair! 

[martoon]

It surprises me that the French League is regarded as part of a "top five".

 

True, PSG are loaded but that alone doesnt make it a good league. Certainly doesn't make the wee clubs in their top division any more attractive to an outside audience, let alone disinterested locals.

 

Neymar can't get out quickly enough, apparently. Easy money, in large quantities, but games v. Toulouse, Rennes, Angers...must have limited appeal; even to a diving, money grabbing little châteaux like him.

Edited October 24, 2019 by martoon

[queensferryjambo]

2 hours ago, FruitJuice said:

Exactly!  It shouldn't just be about money, and the first Scottish side to play in Europe should be involved out of respect for their contribution to European and world football. 

 

100% correct.

 

Any team that taught the entire nation of Brazil to play football could never be left out.

[Cruyff Turn]

6 hours ago, luckydug said:

I see you have very strong opinions on this matter.

These facts you state.

Have they been properly researched  or is this just your opinion ?

 

 

I can understand that some fellow supporters will view everything through maroon tinted specs and clearly don’t want to admit to themselves without the OF, there is little or no money in Scottish Football.

 

It doesn’t take a Professor in Economics to work out if you get rid off your two biggest Assets, their consumers base, along with the TV revenue and the sponsors that come with that, you’re going to lose a hell of a lot of money. 

 

10 hours ago, Smith's right boot said:

 

 

The truth is probably somewhere in between tbh. 

 

 

On top of my previous points, If leagues in Switzerland, Denmark amongst other smaller countries etc can get a TV deal no idea why Scotland can't. 

 

The difference being that those nations host the entire fan base of those teams.

 

What percentage of Scottish Football supporters follow the OF? It’s a majority percentage by a fair distance, at the very least. 

 

Scottish Football is a business, like it or not the OF are the two biggest assets in that business. Their fan base are the majority of consumers. 

 

The only reason that SPFL games are watched in other Countries is because of the OF. 

 

The OF Derby is one of the planets biggest football matches.

 

And you would be happy to take that coin out of our pocket and give it to England, purely based on spite because you don’t like them? 

[FarmerTweedy]

19 hours ago, FruitJuice said:

I hope they both feck off tomorrow and leave the rest of us to enjoy a real competition.  They two feck up everything.  Not just football wise but also our whole culture.  Imagine our country if those two didn't exist.  Bliss!

They would still exist though, and they'd be getting more media coverage than ever, and probably attracting even more fans than ever, while the remaining Scottish setup's coverage would shrink to something akin to that of the junior leagues. 

[indianajones]

Shouldn't be allowed imo. 

[Randy Marsh]

Just now, Cruyff Turn said:

I can understand that some fellow supporters will view everything through maroon tinted specs and clearly don’t want to admit to themselves without the OF, there is little or no money in Scottish Football.

 

It doesn’t take a Professor in Economics to work out if you get rid off your two biggest Assets, their consumers base, along with the TV revenue and the sponsors that come with that, you’re going to lose a hell of a lot of money. 

 

The difference being that those nations host the entire fan base of those teams.

 

What percentage of Scottish Football supporters follow the OF? It’s a majority percentage by a fair distance, at the very least. 

 

Scottish Football is a business, like it or not the OF are the two biggest assets in that business. Their fan base are the majority of consumers. 

 

The only reason that SPFL games are watched in other Countries is because of the OF. 

 

The OF Derby is one of the planets biggest football matches.

 

And you would be happy to take that coin out of our pocket and give it to England, purely based on spite because you don’t like them? 

Don't really get your last point as we kind of already subsidize the EPL in Scotland with folk buying Sky Sports packages.  Our TV deal is awful anyway and I don't believe this decreased during Rangers 4 year absence from the SPL.

 

Attendance's actually hold up really well in Scotland even if you take the Old Firm out.  And would likely increase with a far more competitive league.  It would probably then be on par with a Swedish or Norwegian top flight which wouldn't be a bad thing at all.  Clubs would just need to cut their cloth accordingly as Dusk till Dawn said.  A restructuring of two top leagues of 16/18 and a regional pyramid system underneath would be the way to go.

 

No offence but your posts sound like the sort of pish Neil Doncaster would spout.

[redjambo]

26 minutes ago, indianajones said:

Shouldn't be allowed imo. 

 

Why?

[Cruyff Turn]

7 minutes ago, Randy Marsh said:

Don't really get your last point as we kind of already subsidize the EPL in Scotland with folk buying Sky Sports packages.  Our TV deal is awful anyway and I don't believe this decreased during Rangers 4 year absence from the SPL.

 

Attendance's actually hold up really well in Scotland even if you take the Old Firm out.  And would likely increase with a far more competitive league.  It would probably then be on par with a Swedish or Norwegian top flight which wouldn't be a bad thing at all.  Clubs would just need to cut their cloth accordingly as Dusk till Dawn said.  A restructuring of two top leagues of 16/18 and a regional pyramid system underneath would be the way to go.

 

No offence but your posts sound like the sort of pish Neil Doncaster would spout.

It didn’t decrease because they still had Celtic and they were showing Rangers playing in the lower divisions.

 

Attendances hold up taking Rangers and Celtic our, no they don’t. 

 

“Cut their cloth accordingly” - bullshit cliche. 

 

No no offence but your post sounds like another blinkered fan unwilling to accept reality. 

[Bazzas right boot]

1 hour ago, Cruyff Turn said:

I can understand that some fellow supporters will view everything through maroon tinted specs and clearly don’t want to admit to themselves without the OF, there is little or no money in Scottish Football.

 

It doesn’t take a Professor in Economics to work out if you get rid off your two biggest Assets, their consumers base, along with the TV revenue and the sponsors that come with that, you’re going to lose a hell of a lot of money. 

 

The difference being that those nations host the entire fan base of those teams.

 

What percentage of Scottish Football supporters follow the OF? It’s a majority percentage by a fair distance, at the very least. 

 

Scottish Football is a business, like it or not the OF are the two biggest assets in that business. Their fan base are the majority of consumers. 

 

The only reason that SPFL games are watched in other Countries is because of the OF. 

 

The OF Derby is one of the planets biggest football matches.

 

And you would be happy to take that coin out of our pocket and give it to England, purely based on spite because you don’t like them? 

 

 

Nah my point is all the money they bring goes to them, so losing them means little in terms of finance. 

 

I read a while back that 50% of sponsorship money goes to the OF, so any deal could be Litterally half and we'd be as is. 

It may even have been 60% at some point. 

The of game brings money to the OF. 

They feature in almost every game. 

The money isn't shared as much like in England. 

 

 

Our game is under valued imo and the league would be fine without the OF. 

 

As a Hearts fan, better imo as we'd win more and be involved in bigger and more important games more frequently. 

 

 

[Mikey1874]

On 23/10/2019 at 19:22, Robert Lazar said:

I know naff all about irish football but there must be a handful of teams that would compete for the top 6 in Scotland?

How many of them have decent stadiums? 

Might be worth considering some sort of merge there. 

I'm all up for new ideas cos the spfl is stale as.

 

The 2 Irish leagues have had talks about a merger.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50179427

[Dunks]

1 hour ago, Mikey1874 said:

 

The 2 Irish leagues have had talks about a merger.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50179427

 

Makes sense for the two parts to merge, so the football will follow.

 

Rugby, Hurling and Gaelic Football are already 'All Ireland' I'm sure, so should be straight forward. Plus, once the National teams merge, it frees up Michael O'Neill to move to Hearts

 

[Fly the Saltire]

There are plans for Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland leagues to merge and promoters think they can attract up to £50m a year in TV rights.

However unlikely to be an all Ireland side until such time as there is political unification.

However no chance  of team GB as thanks to Brexit the UK union is dissolving rather than getting together.

Also joining lower English lower leagues is a non starter as English clubs will not give up their TV gravy train and who wants to see Hearts v Hartlepool rather than games against Aberdeen, Hibs etc

 

[Fly the Saltire]

Whether we like it or not Old Firm are world wide brands and secure international tv deals for Scottish football.

The problem is that the UK tv companies undervalue Scottish football compared to small independent countries in Europe who manage to get much better deals like Norway, Denmark or Austria who all have lots of German and English live TV coverage as competition.