Robbie Neilson on Sportsound.

[AlphonseCapone]

4 minutes ago, kingantti1874 said:

Because outside rangers and Celtic it’s league 1 standard at best And that’s just a fact.  

 

That's not how facts work. 

[OTT]

13 minutes ago, milky_26 said:

from rough numbers the dundee derby would be on a par with the OF derby at around 9% of dundee population (14k at last derby 150k rough population) using basic figures the edinburgh derby is around 4% (20k and 500k values)

 

Stuff like that really makes me wonder how much potential Hearts actually have. Sadly, capacity increases are the only way to actually test the water on that as far as I can see and that costs megabucks.

 

[geomac]

23 minutes ago, kingantti1874 said:

pulisic isn’t bad 🤦‍♂️

 

He's going to be good, their star man was Donovan - not the Mellow Yellow guy

[graygo]

1 hour ago, busby1985 said:

The MLS will be the biggest football league in the world in 20 years. Everything points to that being the case. 

 

They said that 26 years ago when the USA staged the world cup finals.

[NB GIN]

2 hours ago, Space Pirate said:

Just a couple of wee snippets i picked up. 

" The MLS is a higher standard than the Scottish top flight in my opinion"

"Lawrence won't be going anywhere unless it's crazy money"

 

I must admit, i found the MLS quote quite offensive 😂

 

Take out the old firm it’s miles ahead to be honest 

[Gershwin]

I don't think I'll be listening to the views of anyone who decided to sign Conor Sammon to a three-year contract. 

[Tom Hardy’s Dug]

If there is one manager / head coach that we have had in the last 10 years that shouldn’t polarise right minded Hearts fans it’s Robbie Neilson.

 

Especially with what has happened since.

[Guest ToqueJambo]

Followed the MLS a bit since it started attracting some decent players. Found the lack of atmosphere when watching games very off-putting. Apart from that, it seems to have a few problems before it can be taken seriously or genuinely compete with European leagues:

Wage structure - vast differences in wages within squads which players here wouldn't put up with

Transfer system - still don't understand it, talk about making something very simple incredibly complicated!

Turf pitches - until they play on all or mostly grass pitches they simply won't attract and retain the players top clubs around the world can

 

The main benefit seems to be like in many American sports almost any team can win the title due to the salary caps, etc. That's one thing we could steal from them to make our league more interesting. And I'd be happy with play-offs for the title in Scotland for the same reason.

[3fingersreid]

58 minutes ago, milky_26 said:

from rough numbers the dundee derby would be on a par with the OF derby at around 9% of dundee population (14k at last derby 150k rough population) using basic figures the edinburgh derby is around 4% (20k and 500k values)

Oh well it’s not bollocks 😂😂

[Jee]

1 hour ago, Martin_T said:

Robbie seems to quite regularly talk down the Scottish game. After all he walked out on Hearts for the MK Dons job.

 

Wee money-spinner appears to be a total slaver.

[Guest ToqueJambo]

1 minute ago, Tom Hardy’s Dug said:

If there is one manager / head coach that we have had in the last 10 years that shouldn’t polarise right minded Hearts fans it’s Robbie Neilson.

 

Especially with what has happened since.

 

I hold my hands up and admit I backed Levein for too long, thinking he'd turn things around when injured players came back, but anyone who wanted Neilson out... what a riddy.

[Guest ToqueJambo]

1 hour ago, 3fingersreid said:

I was more taken aback by Jim Spence revealing that CL said the dundee derby ,outside of the celtic rangers derby ,was the biggest in terms of supporters attending in relation to the city’s population . 
I’ll stick my neck out and be prepared to be proven wrong but I think that’s bollocks 

 

Does that Dundee stat just reflect the very unusual situation in Scotland of fairly small cities having two teams? Which in turn is kind of a reflection of how much we love football and remain loyal to our home town teams, rather than merging them or whatever.

 

The OF derby numbers is a poor metric as well. We all know why these clubs get such big crowds for all their games, never mind derbies.

 

 

[Randy Marsh]

38 minutes ago, Gershwin said:

I don't think I'll be listening to the views of anyone who decided to sign Conor Sammon to a three-year contract. 

Agreed.  And for the record, he wasn't 'hounded out' of Hearts.

[Section Q]

2 hours ago, busby1985 said:

The MLS will be the biggest football league in the world in 20 years. Everything points to that being the case. 

😂

[Geoff Kilpatrick]

2 hours ago, busby1985 said:

The MLS will be the biggest football league in the world in 20 years. Everything points to that being the case. 

Pish!

[Geoff Kilpatrick]

1 hour ago, jonnothejambo said:

Outside of the ersecheeks, the Australian A-League is also better than our dross.

Dylan McGowan gets a regular game.

 

It's a no from me.

[Kylejordan]

Having coached, played and watched mls out there it is honestly a crap standard of football. Bar a few superstars like Vela, Ibrahimovic the standard of player is very very poor. When Bradley Wright Phillips is all time scorer you know it isn’t great (not sure if he still is though) 
Not saying the SPL is great but would rather watch and I reckon would be more entertained watching it than the MLS. 

[Jamhammer]

I saw Vancouver Whitecaps v San Jose a couple of years ago and was surprised by the standard. There was beer though so might have been pished.

If there had been beer at Tyney this year I’d be dead

[Jambo92]

Why is Robbie talking about the MLS? I would probably agree across the board that it's a higher standard but not pound for pound, theres some silly wages spent on below average players.  The fact that it is pretty soulless also gives it a negative slant to outsiders.

[cantbeatus]

2 hours ago, 3fingersreid said:

Oh well it’s not bollocks 😂😂

 

 

What Spence said was that CL told him that he thought Dundee is the most footballing city in terms of interest in football outwith Glasgow in the country, he didn't mention the dundee derby itself as there were none when CL was at Utd

[3fingersreid]

9 minutes ago, cantbeatus said:

 

 

What Spence said was that CL told him that he thought Dundee is the most footballing city in terms of interest in football outwith Glasgow in the country, he didn't mention the dundee derby itself as there were none when CL was at Utd

I thought he’d mentioned the dundee derby , my fault for picking it up wrong 👍🏻

[ri Alban]

3 hours ago, jonnothejambo said:

Outside of the ersecheeks, the Australian A-League is also better than our dross.

No it is not. I watch it on BT sports and it's just as pish.

 

And the MLS and ALeague should be better when they have more folk to pick from.

Aussie rules and Rugby league down under are brilliant, tho.

[ri Alban]

1 minute ago, jonnothejambo said:

 

As is the cricket.....

Australia v New Zealand is a good watch.

[SpruceBringsteen]

7 hours ago, BigAlim said:

Not drank in 7 months so no interest in boozers these days

 

I’ve no doubt that the standard in the second and fourth tier in the states will be a major drop off in quality, however having watched a lot of Scottish football in my time I can be pretty certain that the standard of the league is abysmal, I know teams in the MLS will have equally or perhaps more shite players than we do, but surely you’re not suggesting that the star players in that league don’t tip the standard in their favour? A league full of St Mirrens or Motherwells with a top player or two sprinkled in would be a higher standard than what we have currently out with the old firm imo 

 

Aye, didnae really mean you with that comment - it's more that there's folk with no clue all too willing to provide their "expertise" on here.  You're probably not too far wrong I suppose. I think if you put Zlatan (for example) into our line up we'd piss the MLS. I think if you took Zlatan (well no anymore obviously) out of LA Galaxy they'd finish snugly in the bottom 6 in the Scottish Premiership. Suppose we'll never know. 

 

6 hours ago, Dayman said:

As someone who’s in the last year or so played with and against people at both those levels, I can tell you that you’re half wrong, and half right. Its hard to define levels in the American system, so you may just have bad teams near you. I’ve played with a team in the 4th tier who would be east of Scotland level at best, but played against teams that were brilliant. 
 

There is some absolute dross at each level, but without really having a proper league system with promotion/relegation it’s hard to judge the level of each tier.  The npsl is going downhill, and will be replaced by the NISA soon. The 2nd/3rd tier players in America are more like Scottish championship/top league 1 players. 4th tier, be it NISA or NPSL, would walk into the lowland league. The likes of Miami fc or stumptown athletic would compete with the bottom pro teams in Scotland. 

 

Hartford Athletic definitely seemed to be getting their arses felt on a regular basis last season in the second tier. City in the fourth started slow, but by the end of the season were dishing out a few pumpings. Only seen City live in the flesh, but it's far easier at that level to see who can play a bit and who's an absolute no user. Had 3 or 4 handy players and the rest were what you'd call athletes. Plenty of running, hee haw else. 

[Spellczech]

11 hours ago, Space Pirate said:

They have the cash to sign the likes of Ibrahimovic and Rooney but at the same time, they sign Driver and Nicholson. 

I don't know what to make of it. 

 

This is how I see it - Like having an F1 team with Lewis Hamilton turning up at the right tracks, but driving the Reliant Robin from Only Fools...and the mechanics are the Mitchell brothers...

[VALDOS']

I suppose the ill feeling towards Robbie is the fact he left and its been all downhill since, otherwise the guy never done much wrong. Its not really his fault the stream of incompetence that's followed since. 

[Four faces]

So what if it is?In what context was that comparable?Too many people good at saying what is better than the scottish game.Doesn't surprise me coming from a negative persona like neilsons.His fitba was the same.

[Boab]

Glad he’s doing well. Nice bloke. 

[1971fozzy]

12 hours ago, Space Pirate said:

They have the cash to sign the likes of Ibrahimovic and Rooney but at the same time, they sign Driver and Nicholson. 

I don't know what to make of it. 

 

nail on the head. Bizarre isn’t even close to describing it.

Atalanta want Jake Mulraney ffs. 

[Dayman]

4 hours ago, SpruceBringsteen said:

 

Aye, didnae really mean you with that comment - it's more that there's folk with no clue all too willing to provide their "expertise" on here.  You're probably not too far wrong I suppose. I think if you put Zlatan (for example) into our line up we'd piss the MLS. I think if you took Zlatan (well no anymore obviously) out of LA Galaxy they'd finish snugly in the bottom 6 in the Scottish Premiership. Suppose we'll never know. 

 

 

Hartford Athletic definitely seemed to be getting their arses felt on a regular basis last season in the second tier. City in the fourth started slow, but by the end of the season were dishing out a few pumpings. Only seen City live in the flesh, but it's far easier at that level to see who can play a bit and who's an absolute no user. Had 3 or 4 handy players and the rest were what you'd call athletes. Plenty of running, hee haw else. 

Yeah it’s pretty strange. In each team there’s some professional level players, and some who can barely do a keepy up but are ridiculously athletic. At least there’s some kind of merit over there though. In Scotland it’s basically just an old boys club and you get signed if your mates the coach. 

[Taffin]

9 hours ago, Kylejordan said:

Having coached, played and watched mls out there it is honestly a crap standard of football. Bar a few superstars like Vela, Ibrahimovic the standard of player is very very poor. When Bradley Wright Phillips is all time scorer you know it isn’t great (not sure if he still is though) 
Not saying the SPL is great but would rather watch and I reckon would be more entertained watching it than the MLS. 

 

But having Kris Boyd as your all time top scorer is great?

[AGoodLaugh]

14 hours ago, busby1985 said:

The MLS will be the biggest football league in the world in 20 years. Everything points to that being the case. 

Not unless they relax their rules for signing players, which to be fair they may well do. 

[hmfc_liam06]

SPFL v MLS is always a weird debate.

[busby1985]

4 minutes ago, hmfc_liam06 said:

SPFL v MLS is always a weird debate.

Agreed. SPFL v EPL is also weird. Total different planets. For what it is worth, I think the Scottish leagues do very well all things considered. 

[Ray Gin]

16 hours ago, 12XU said:

MLS - he has no idea - I attended a match a few years ago - dreadful stuff 

 

MLS has attacted top players like Henry, Ibrahimovic, Villa, Schweinsteiger, Lampard, Cole, Ljundberg etc.

 

[hmfc_liam06]

3 hours ago, busby1985 said:

Agreed. SPFL v EPL is also weird. Total different planets. For what it is worth, I think the Scottish leagues do very well all things considered. 

 

Both have their good and bad. But some people genuinely seem to get properly offended by even hinting at MLS being comparable. 

[Stupid Sexy Flanders]

18 hours ago, kingantti1874 said:

Because outside rangers and Celtic it’s league 1 standard at best And that’s just a fact.  

 

That doesn't make sense. You're saying Hearts/Hibs/Aberdeen etc aren't any better than Raith, Airdrie or Montrose?

[TheSandpit]

19 hours ago, 12XU said:

MLS - he has no idea - I attended a match a few years ago - dreadful stuff 

To be fair it's highly subjective depending on the teams involved. There are some lesser players making up the rosters but overall standards are better than they were and there's a high level of fitness which makes the games quite energetic. I enjoyed watching a lot of it last season. 

 

As for RN, he's better off focusing on proving himself - Levein puppet, failed badly at MK Don's, winning the Scottish Championship with the beat team and biggest spend. Meh. 

[Ray Gin]

2 minutes ago, TheSandpit said:

To be fair it's highly subjective depending on the teams involved. There are some lesser players making up the rosters but overall standards are better than they were and there's a high level of fitness which makes the games quite energetic. I enjoyed watching a lot of it last season. 

 

As for RN, he's better off focusing on proving himself - Levein puppet, failed badly at MK Don's, winning the Scottish Championship with the beat team and biggest spend. Meh. 

 

RN absolutely pumped the Championship for us with the huns and Hibs in it and is completely steamrollering it again with Utd. He also finished 3rd with us in his first season in the Premiership and left while we were 2nd place. I reckon he's proving himself rather well.

 

 

[TheSandpit]

1 minute ago, Ray Gin said:

 

RN absolutely pumped the Championship for us with the huns and Hibs in it and is completely steamrollering it again with Utd. He also finished 3rd with us in his first season in the Premiership and left while we were 2nd place. I reckon he's proving himself rather well.

 

 

Neither Rangers nor Hibs were great shakes at the time, Rangers particularly were a shambles. 

 

I'm not saying he's a bad manager just unproven and after 3 jobs that's kind of a worry. 

[Ray Gin]

Just now, TheSandpit said:

Neither Rangers nor Hibs were great shakes at the time, Rangers particularly were a shambles. 

 

I'm not saying he's a bad manager just unproven and after 3 jobs that's kind of a worry. 

 

2 of those 3 jobs he's done extremely well.

[annushorribilis III]

2 minutes ago, Ray Gin said:

 

RN absolutely pumped the Championship for us with the huns and Hibs in it and is completely steamrollering it again with Utd. He also finished 3rd with us in his first season in the Premiership and left while we were 2nd place. I reckon he's proving himself rather well.

 

 

Totally agree.

We'll never know the real reason he left but he did well not in just getting Hearts back to the top division but performing  well - despite an absolute shit show of a squad. 

[annushorribilis III]

2 minutes ago, TheSandpit said:

Neither Rangers nor Hibs were great shakes at the time, Rangers particularly were a shambles. 

 

I'm not saying he's a bad manager just unproven and after 3 jobs that's kind of a worry. 

That is just not true.  Romped the championship and had Hearts performing well.

[Saint Jambo]

This story might just be a write up of the interview but I found it interesting (doesn't mention MLS).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51139883

 

I don't really get people's ongoing hostility to Neilson. Maybe just part of the bigger picture for some people that anything that happened whilst Levein was at the club has to be trashed.

[Bridge of Djoum]

21 hours ago, SpruceBringsteen said:

I'm sorry likes, but the MLS is not of a higher standard than the Scottish Premier. It's no even an argument. 10 absolute doughnuts and a superstar in each team. Perry Kitchen gets a game ffs. 

 

Edit: A team wants/wanted to buy Jake Mulraney. For money. 

Indeed.

 

I went to a good few NYCFC games when they played at Yankee Stadium. Every time I wished a game of Baseball would break out instead. I ****** hate Baseball.

[SpruceBringsteen]

8 minutes ago, Bridge of Djoum said:

Indeed.

 

I went to a good few NYCFC games when they played at Yankee Stadium. Every time I wished a game of Baseball would break out instead. I ****** hate Baseball.

 

Now you're a Rhode Island Reds lifelong you'll need to get on the supporters bus for the full Hartford City experience of drinking bad lager in a car park. Although being a Leith man... 

[Maple Leaf]

1 hour ago, Saint Jambo said:

This story might just be a write up of the interview but I found it interesting (doesn't mention MLS).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51139883

 

I don't really get people's ongoing hostility to Neilson. Maybe just part of the bigger picture for some people that anything that happened whilst Levein was at the club has to be trashed.

 

A cup game at Tynecastle in 2016 where we were leading 2-0 with 10 minutes to go might have something to do with it.

[TheTrumpet]

1 hour ago, Saint Jambo said:

This story might just be a write up of the interview but I found it interesting (doesn't mention MLS).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51139883

 

I don't really get people's ongoing hostility to Neilson. Maybe just part of the bigger picture for some people that anything that happened whilst Levein was at the club has to be trashed.

I thought that was a really good article/interview. Neilson comes across very well, and the owners sound like good people. Be very interesting to see how Utd do when they come up.

[Bridge of Djoum]

27 minutes ago, SpruceBringsteen said:

 

Now you're a Rhode Island Reds lifelong you'll need to get on the supporters bus for the full Hartford City experience of drinking bad lager in a car park. Although being a Leith man... 

I didn't realize I could drink indoors until my late 20's.

 

Any good PBR hotspots near you?

[queensferryjambo]

23 hours ago, Space Pirate said:

Just a couple of wee snippets i picked up. 

" The MLS is a higher standard than the Scottish top flight in my opinion"

"Lawrence won't be going anywhere unless it's crazy money"

 

I must admit, i found the MLS quote quite offensive 😂

 

 

 

I have no idea if Robbie is right about the MLS but lets face it the MLS should be a better standard considering the cash thrown about compared to Scotland.

 

He is also correct on Shankland someone will have to pay good money for him.

 

Basically when it comes to football it's all about money.