SPFL and Covid ( Leagues 1 and 2 to restart )

[Tom Hardy’s Dug]

At the very least I am aware we are negotiating new contracts with our younger players we want to keep.

 

Pennies in the scheme of things but it shows we are not planning on going down to the bare bones

[Stendelnator]

7 minutes ago, **** the SPFL said:

you're guessing at ten million and even if it was that equates to £850k a month and if FoH was to put our £150k or whatever it is now towards it season ticket money and our mystery benefactors will pony up. AB has already stated that she is not too worried about finances.

That was before we were relegated into a league that might not play til January. 

[hmfc_steve]

6 minutes ago, 1874robbo said:

You must be up to about £500 a month now then.

🙂 ... Im selective on negative stories

Edited May 25, 2020 by hmfc_steve

[Deevers]

8 minutes ago, **** the SPFL said:

it certainly does time for the powers that be to start punting interlopers

Most of them oh so obvious.

[David McCaig]

6 minutes ago, Jammy T said:

We can assume I think with the staff on furlough, reduced players wages and out of contract players leaving that our staff costs are 30-40% lower than last year.

 

We will also have other reduced costs with a stadium not needing as high running costs. 
 

We rent Riccarton - I wonder if we have done anything about those costs?

 

On the plus side we are slowly selling season tickets and can find additional many from FOH and we have our benefactors and club shop sales

Presumably Heriot Watt can't charge us when the facility is locked down.

[1874robbo]

1 minute ago, hmfc_steve said:

🙂 ... Im selective on negative tories

Well there’s plenty negatives of them about, or is that a typo 😂

[Lfhearts]

Think it was 750k a month I seem to remember, but that will be reduced with wages coming down re cuts staff leaving etc, no match day costs, police etc, would be interested in what it costs each month when club in effect mothballed.

We should not be paying any rent for Riccarton I would have thought, we should be in a better position than most with FOH money but still a big shortfall.

[Jean Louis Valois]

43 minutes ago, Leveins Battalion said:

This morning the Daily Record or Keith Jackson in particular could of chosen to report how the Foundation of Hearts has gained more that 800 new and increased pledgers.

 

Instead he has ignored that and stated the end is near for Heart of Midlothian.🤣🤣

 

Seriously.

 

Mainstream media is dead.

I know. You would be mistaken for thinking he wants us to go bust. (Sarcastic)

[GinRummy]

1 minute ago, Stendelnator said:

That was before we were relegated into a league that might not play til January. 

Why hang on to this? The guy is basically saying that Budge and her benefactors along with a reduced wage bill and increased FoH money will see us through. You seem determined to counter any positivity with a scenario where we will go bust. Nobody has even mentioned the fact we may be able to terminate contracts under article 12 or the fact that some lower paid employees can benefit from furlough after July. 
 

Budge has publicly stated she won’t leave us in debt, despite her **** ups on the football side I doubt whether she’d just make that up, she doesn’t seem like a liar to me. 

[jock _turd]

59 minutes ago, Deevers said:

I don’t think that Sky would see their name dragged through the court as being acceptable and that is bound to be part of our legal argument I would think. Being linked in any way with an organisation working in a less than legal way and Doncaster and pals being publicly outed for some of the shenanigans that have gone on would be less than palatable to them. I am pretty sure they will have been making their feelings on this abundantly clear to Doncaster and McLennan. A ten million liability might well be quite a stick to bludgeon some of the more thick chairmen  of clubs into line.

 I hope you are right!

[Rabbie_Burns]

4 minutes ago, Deevers said:

Most of them oh so obvious.

 

And ironically in the attempt to undermine they're actually helping to galvanise the support

[jambopilms]

Split into two leagues, the can plays and the can't plays.

The can plays play a full season, the can't plays have half a season starting Jan.

Bottom half of can plays and top half of can't plays form a middle league the following year. 

Obviously depending on how many can and cant teams there are.

[David McCaig]

44 minutes ago, Leveins Battalion said:

This morning the Daily Record or Keith Jackson in particular could of chosen to report how the Foundation of Hearts has gained more that 800 new and increased pledgers.

 

Instead he has ignored that and stated the end is near for Heart of Midlothian.🤣🤣

 

Seriously.

 

Mainstream media is dead.

Keith Jackson and the Daily Record are probably the number one recruiting sergeants for FoH at present.

[Radio Ga Ga]

21 minutes ago, Seymour M Hersh said:

 

This is what happens when you give someone with an IQ about the same as their age a computer and allow them to write things. That clown wasn't even clever enough to get his twitter name correct. 

I'll raise you one of his headlines 'Off the radar wealth' and we all know how that ended up for Deedco, guys a feckin clown best ignore.

[tynietigers]

All in-house staff are on 1/2 pay unless on furlough and with no hospitality there is no need for the 50 servers for any large function and no need for any servers for any daily function. These people aren’t contracted they are just kids that say yes or no to working. You will be surprised how much this all adds up to.

[Mikey1874]

10 hours ago, Bunny Munro said:

The Sun are saying that we are going for a 14-10-10-10 model, for two years, and a vote to take place after one year to keep it or revert back. 

 

They suggest that the championship may block it to spite Inverness. I'm personally concerned about the league 2 clubs blocking it as they prefer 14-14-14.

 

Another article suggests that he spfl are looking at one league of 16 of clubs need mothballed. Or two leagues of 14 with one starting in Jan.

 

Some form of 'Reconstruction' is probably inevitable. 

 

Maybe some clubs prefer to wait a bit longer. 

[bobskeldon]

1 hour ago, Seymour M Hersh said:

 

He's not actually. The poster who suggests only having to play the OF twice each is closer to correct. The arse cheeks know how much of an advantage it is to them to be playing the rest of us 3/4 times each season. Take Hamilton's win at Ibrox, that hurts der hun far more if they are only playing them twice. The current set up still allows for another 6 -9 points to be won most likely. Where the rest of us are taking points off each other, historically,  those two tend to be racking the points up. 

Seymour, you have won a watch! This is the main reason that the OF do NOT want a bigger league which by it's very nature would make things less 'predictable'. Any team in the league can beat either/both of them once in any season, but 3/4 times never, which is why there may be 25-30 points in it sometimes!

[Ethan Hunt]

48 minutes ago, Stendelnator said:

He isn’t wrong though. How does the club survive if we have no income until January at the earliest outside of £150,000 a month? Our wage bill is probably 8x that. 

Clause 12 the players.

[Mikey1874]

6 hours ago, Jambo66 said:

What excites me is the possibility of winning the league.

The current set up is designed to make it as difficult as possible to stop either of the OF from being champions every single year. Having to play the OF 8 times and still be in with a shout is a massive ask. Since 1985 (the last time one of them failed to win the title), we got very close once and quite close in 1998. Aberdeen took it to the last day of the season once. Is that exciting? Not to me.

 

I would take 10 years of mid-table mediocrity to have, overall, a better chance of winning the league just once.

 

We need to get it down to one match at home and one away against each team. We are probably the only country in the world that celebrates the fact that only 2 clubs are allowed to win the league. And I mean "allowed".

 

And before you ask, I do remember before 1976, but not well 😁

 

There hasn't been another team win the league since 1985 due to the money imbalance. Nothing to do with the size of the leagues. 

[Fxxx the SPFL]

24 minutes ago, Stendelnator said:

That was before we were relegated into a league that might not play til January. 

were not being relegated were being expelled

[rory78]

By the looks of it it would appear that only about 16 teams are probably going to be in a position to play in August so why not put them in the league that wants to play and let the rest hold off till January or whenever it is 🤷‍♂️

[husref musemic]

51 minutes ago, Stendelnator said:

He isn’t wrong though. How does the club survive if we have no income until January at the earliest outside of £150,000 a month? Our wage bill is probably 8x that. 

redundancies.

[Jamboelite]

So is it a vote for allowing the resolution today or the actual vote for reconstruction across the leagues?
 

Just want to make sure i know if this shame of a vote is going to fail today or later in the week.

[bigsuperslim1874]

19 hours ago, S Form said:

Says he will give Ann's plan consideration it but if it were Ross County, Hamilton or St Mirren in our place nobody would be talking about it.

Cheers - I suppose he’ll consider it I guess 😂

[Jamboelite]

Just now, husref musemic said:

redundancies.

Which is what chairman seem to be forgetting when voting for their own self interests. Its not just hurting our club in a football sense but staff and families as we will have to let people go.

 

Wankers !! 

[The Old Tolbooth]

1 hour ago, Special Officer Doofy said:

So the timeline today is:

 

AM - 10 Championship clubs Zoom meeting.

 

PM - Presentation of Member’s Resolution to all 42 club.

 

Then they all go off and think about it, before coming back together to vote on the resolution a few days later. Is that correct?

 

If so, then I think the goalposts are about to change, and the resolution will be about the clubs splitting in to who can play a full season, who can play a shortened season behind closed doors, and who can’t play any kind of season behind closed doors and need to mothball.

 

It will then come down to whether or not consensus can be reached on some teams leap frogging each other in either direction to play in the division they are equipped to handle. Maybe this is where the permanent reconstruction teams will get their way? After we temporarily restructure to protect clubs by putting them where they are best placed to survive the crisis for a season, we then permanently restructure the divisions and start again from scratch. Still a minefield, and you have to factor in the stupid embarrassing ten/eleven in a row shit, and SKY deal etc, but I don’t see how else a resolution could tick enough boxes to be be passed.

 

The highlighted part for me, is key. 

 

Will clubs want to be leapfrogged as their fans will be up in arms about it? We could technically see teams like Dundee ending up in the top flight because of something like this, but it would be better for the game if it were to happen this way. 

[SUTOL]

7 minutes ago, Mikey1874 said:

 

There hasn't been another team win the league since 1985 due to the money imbalance. Nothing to do with the size of the leagues. 

 

I'm pretty sure there has always been an imbalance, especially between the OF(f) and the others, but others have won the league when it was larger. 

[rory78]

2 minutes ago, The Old Tolbooth said:

 

The highlighted part for me, is key. 

 

Will clubs want to be leapfrogged as their fans will be up in arms about it? We could technically see teams like Dundee ending up in the top flight because of something like this, but it would be better for the game if it were to happen this way. 

That would be to sensible

[husref musemic]

5 minutes ago, Jamboelite said:

Which is what chairman seem to be forgetting when voting for their own self interests. Its not just hurting our club in a football sense but staff and families as we will have to let people go.

 

Wankers !! 

I'm sure there are chairmen/women about to let the party poppers go if hearts are forced into this.

[Mikey1874]

Just now, SUTOL said:

 

I'm pretty sure there has always been an imbalance, especially between the OF(f) and the others, but others have won the league when it was larger. 

 

I do accept points about playing teams twice etc. In 1998 we didn't win league due to Old Firm results. 

 

But the money imbalance now is off the scale. 

 

Far more significant than size of the leagues. Bigger league might help Celtic rest players for Europe though. 

[DETTY29]

If there is to be any leap frogging, there also has to be extreme penalties if you cannot fulfil your obligations.

 

And again, why is it AB and not the SPFL exec coming showing the strategy, drive and leadership to see this through.

Edited May 25, 2020 by DETTY29

[buzzbomb]

5 minutes ago, Mikey1874 said:

 

I do accept points about playing teams twice etc. In 1998 we didn't win league due to Old Firm results. 

 

But the money imbalance now is off the scale. 

 

Far more significant than size of the leagues. Bigger league might help Celtic rest players for Europe though. 

A larger league probably allows younger players to be blooded more easily

[Nookie Bear]

4 minutes ago, DETTY29 said:

If there is to be any leap frogging, there also has to be extreme penalties if you cannot fulfil your obligations.

 

And again, why is it AB and not the SPFL exec coming showing the strategy, drive and leadership to see this through.

 

Yes, this is becomign a real issue for me.

 

Doncaster (and Petrie, no doubt) just wait for the proposal and then take their instructions from Parkhead as to whether they go with it , or kill it.

[Hagar the Horrible]

10 minutes ago, David McCaig said:

Keith Jackson and the Daily Record are probably the number one recruiting sergeants for FoH at present.

The hatred he has for us is working in our favour, but equallt if he is allowed to publish bull and make it all up and scaremongering, we can do the same,  Ban Redtop Journos for life we dont need them anymore, the print papers are dead anyway?

 

Also by clicking onto their website it triggers the advertising owls to chalk up their add viewing figures which helps assess their worthyness for advertising space?  So if there is a story then there should be a single collective thread for that purpose with the story copied and pasted, and we refer to that, so that the paper only gets 1 hit rather than a couple of hundred?

 

So keeff a "SOURCE" close to JKB says your wife is sleeping with your brother....any comment!  see its easy and I dont even know if you are married or even have a brother, what does it matter in the made up world......so stop writting bollox!

 

Before Wee fergus came in Celtic were an hour from being no celtic,  Before Craig with his off the radar lira came in There was no Rangers, now there is just a fake one.....and fact......where was the collective 100's and thousands OF fans ready to save their clubs?  Where will they be again????????  Where will your rag be this time next year, selling sheds and reporting on missing cats?

[Everybody Loves Baz!]

16 minutes ago, **** the SPFL said:

were not being relegated were being expelled

Hearts fans know this though.

His mask slipped long ago.

[SUTOL]

5 minutes ago, Mikey1874 said:

 

I do accept points about playing teams twice etc. In 1998 we didn't win league due to Old Firm results. 

 

But the money imbalance now is off the scale. 

 

Far more significant than size of the leagues. Bigger league might help Celtic rest players for Europe though. 

 

 

It is, partially due to constant league and cup wins and Euro qualification, which is aided by the smaller league/4 games. 

 

[Koolkeith]

It’s bad enough getting punished through expulsion, never mind being forced to play half a season. Surely the bigger picture will be seen now by clubs and a 14-16 team league will be created. With part time leagues below. 

[Fozzyonthefence]

2 minutes ago, Mikey1874 said:

 

There hasn't been another team win the league since 1985 due to the money imbalance. Nothing to do with the size of the leagues. 

Spot on!  Yet up until 1985, Aberdeen and Dundee Utd won the league 4 times in 6 seasons, despite playing the OF 8 times.  And that was shortly after scrapping the 18 team league because it was uncompetitive and too many meaningless games and Celtic won 9 in a row.

Scottish football was a much better standard all round back then and as a country we produced many more better players than we do now.  Add to the mix, pre Souness, the OF didn’t chuck huge amounts at their players and as a result it was more competitive, more of a level playing field although they still had an advantage through their higher gate receipts (although Rangers were sometimes getting crowds as low as 10,000 back then), and there was no live tv (so no OF advantage there).
 

You can have any size of league you want in Scotland, play teams as many times as you want but it won’t make any difference. 18 might bring the gap down to 3rd place a little some seasons but that’s about it, the financial gap between the OF (Celtic in particular) and the rest is just too big now. 

[ri Alban]

54 minutes ago, Des Lynam said:

Bit like Brexit. 
 

 

Indeed 😊

[indianajones]

Push for reconstruction. 

 

Take them to court at the same time. 

 

They deserve nothing less. 

[Fozzyonthefence]

13 minutes ago, SUTOL said:

 

I'm pretty sure there has always been an imbalance, especially between the OF(f) and the others, but others have won the league when it was larger. 

Others have won it when it was smaller than it currently is.  Had we not blown it at Dens, 5 teams would have won it in the 80’s.

[gavin1985]

On the topic of 16/18 teams once home and away bringing meaningless games. How about watching the same game 3 or 4 times in the league? 
Can I remember an 18 team league, no because I’m only 34. 
Do I want to only have a league where we play each other 3 or 4 times in a season, no I don’t! 
 

Persoanlly I’d rather have these “meaningless” games than watch Hearts play Rangers, Celtic,

Hibs 3/4 times a season.

 

Lets look at Spain, dominated by Barca and Real Madrid yet have a league of 20 teams. How many “meaningless “ games are there in that league??

 

Change the league to once home and away or I’m done for good.

 

Rant over haha

[Nookie Bear]

Just now, buzzbomb said:

A larger league probably allows younger players to be blooded more easily

 

To be honest, i am not sure about this argument. There are plenty of kids playing in the first teams in Scotland but that is down to necessity and lack of money.

 

I think the Holy Grail of football fans is for their team to be made up from 11 kids born within a stone's throw of the ground, but would i want more income to allow us to buy a player who is better than what our academy produces? Hell yes.

 

It is up to the young players to raise their game to get that place.

[SUTOL]

2 minutes ago, Hagar the Horrible said:

The hatred he has for us is working in our favour, but equallt if he is allowed to publish bull and make it all up and scaremongering, we can do the same,  Ban Redtop Journos for life we dont need them anymore, the print papers are dead anyway?

 

Also by clicking onto their website it triggers the advertising owls to chalk up their add viewing figures which helps assess their worthyness for advertising space?  So if there is a story then there should be a single collective thread for that purpose with the story copied and pasted, and we refer to that, so that the paper only gets 1 hit rather than a couple of hundred?

 

So keeff a "SOURCE" close to JKB says your wife is sleeping with your brother....any comment!  see its easy and I dont even know if you are married or even have a brother, what does it matter in the made up world......so stop writting bollox!

 

Before Wee fergus came in Celtic were an hour from being no celtic,  Before Craig with his off the radar lira came in There was no Rangers, now there is just a fake one.....and fact......where was the collective 100's and thousands OF fans ready to save their clubs?  Where will they be again????????  Where will your rag be this time next year, selling sheds and reporting on missing cats?

 

 

Woa, what?

 

The wife of Keith Jackson, the Daily Record sports writer, is sleeping with his brother! 

 

In depth investigation required, I heard from an insider source it was the rest of the sports department she was 'screwing' around with not his brother. Though saying 'she' is probably not the politically correct thing to say these days, though I understand (from a rumour) that is how they now identify. 

 

 

I don't know if any of the above is true. 

 

[Hagar the Horrible]

Just now, Fozzyonthefence said:

Spot on!  Yet up until 1985, Aberdeen and Dundee Utd won the league 4 times in 6 seasons, despite playing the OF 8 times.  And that was shortly after scrapping the 18 team league because it was uncompetitive and too many meaningless games and Celtic won 9 in a row.

Scottish football was a much better standard all round back then and as a country we produced many more better players than we do now.  Add to the mix, pre Souness, the OF didn’t chuck huge amounts at their players and as a result it was more competitive, more of a level playing field although they still had an advantage through their higher gate receipts (although Rangers were sometimes getting crowds as low as 10,000 back then), and there was no live tv (so no OF advantage there).
 

You can have any size of league you want in Scotland, play teams as many times as you want but it won’t make any difference. 18 might bring the gap down to 3rd place a little some seasons but that’s about it, the financial gap between the OF (Celtic in particular) and the rest is just too big now. 

All leagues that have a balance of playing each other home and away, have one thing in common, the top half have a possitive GD the bottom half have a a negative goal diference and the middle roughly zero, and its scalable?  Our league has teams below 4th most years with a negative GD,  which means even having a good season, you are being skelped bigger than the games you win?  We have had third spot with a negative GD?  And qualifying for Europe?  As for the 10 team league, we once played Morton 8 times I dont think we had any more than 3K at the games?   Another note the 18 team league was only 2 points for a win, not 3, and that makes a huge difference?  Stadia has improved, and nobody is complaining about the meaningless games the EPL has mid table, nobody, stick a derby or two in the last few games, then there is nothing meaningless?

[David Black]

8 minutes ago, Hagar the Horrible said:

The hatred he has for us is working in our favour, but equallt if he is allowed to publish bull and make it all up and scaremongering, we can do the same,  Ban Redtop Journos for life we dont need them anymore, the print papers are dead anyway?

 

Also by clicking onto their website it triggers the advertising owls to chalk up their add viewing figures which helps assess their worthyness for advertising space?  So if there is a story then there should be a single collective thread for that purpose with the story copied and pasted, and we refer to that, so that the paper only gets 1 hit rather than a couple of hundred?

 

So keeff a "SOURCE" close to JKB says your wife is sleeping with your brother....any comment!  see its easy and I dont even know if you are married or even have a brother, what does it matter in the made up world......so stop writting bollox!

 

Before Wee fergus came in Celtic were an hour from being no celtic,  Before Craig with his off the radar lira came in There was no Rangers, now there is just a fake one.....and fact......where was the collective 100's and thousands OF fans ready to save their clubs?  Where will they be again????????  Where will your rag be this time next year, selling sheds and reporting on missing cats?

The exact same regarding hits on the EEN website. It is only advertising that keeps these rags afloat. The EEN is already begging for mugs to actually buy the hardcopy. Also install an ad blocker on your PC and you don't even see the ads.

[Hagar the Horrible]

Just now, SUTOL said:

 

 

Woa, what?

 

The wife of Keith Jackson, the Daily Record sports writer, is sleeping with his brother! 

 

In depth investigation required, I heard from an insider source it was the rest of the sports department she was 'screwing' around with not his brother. Though saying 'she' is probably not the politically correct thing to say these days, though I understand (from a rumour) that is how they now identify. 

 

 

I don't know if any of the above is true. 

 

Aparently she broke strict lockdown rules to do it too?

[doctor jambo]

Missed in the fog of war is the players who will have thier careers ended by all of this.

How many full time pro players are going to have their careers utterly destroyed?

Thinking the likes of Jamie Walker.

If Hearts get rid, then where do players such as he go?

The lower leagues are melting away to nothing.

 

[David Black]

3 minutes ago, gavin1985 said:

On the topic of 16/18 teams once home and away bringing meaningless games. How about watching the same game 3 or 4 times in the league? 
Can I remember an 18 team league, no because I’m only 34. 
Do I want to only have a league where we play each other 3 or 4 times in a season, no I don’t! 
 

Persoanlly I’d rather have these “meaningless” games than watch Hearts play Rangers, Celtic,

Hibs 3/4 times a season.

 

Lets look at Spain, dominated by Barca and Real Madrid yet have a league of 20 teams. How many “meaningless “ games are there in that league??

 

Change the league to once home and away or I’m done for good.

 

Rant over haha

I watch a lot of Spanish football when I am there, and whilst many games are meaningless in the sense the clubs are not going to win the league or be relegated, they are not meaningless in that they still give a high standard of entertainment. It allows them to play youngsters who can develop their skills unlike the SPFL. 

[Seymour M Hersh]

2 minutes ago, Hagar the Horrible said:

Aparently she broke strict lockdown rules to do it too?

 

The brother is a Hearts season ticket holder and FoH member as well so his hysterical hatred of us is all making sense now.