Wake up - this week is a true reflection on the SPL versus other leagues

[Greenbank2]

I've watched most of the European qualifying matches involving Scottish clubs.  They have done fine up until this point. But the following is a fact:

 

2nd best in the SPL is leagues below 3rd best in the Eredivisie

3rd best in the SPL is way below the best in Sweden

4th best in the SPL is woefully inferior to the top teams in Greece

5th best in the SPL wouldn't get anywhere near the top 2 Leagues in England.

 

here's another fact, a whacking great percentage of the the players in all there divisions are technically vastly superior to those in the SPL.

 

Watching PSV on Wednesday, every time ANY player got the ball, it was 1-touch and look for a fast paced, crisp pass forward where the receiving player had it under control after a single touch and then moved forward. In our game last night, our backs and midfield constantly rolled the ball backwards or hoofed it up the park. Or their second touch was a tackle. Changing management teams will have zero impact on that because every team in the SPL plays that way - and that is the level of player you get in a global market for the money we have available.

 

Is this just down to money? Partly - but very few people outside our small country are interested in the product, so there will be no more. Is it down to the Ugly's? A big part, because they suck up all the money and any available talent in Scotland. Is it due to our culture and coaching standards? partly but probably less so - but the need to achieve season after season and stay relevant in our own footballing backwater drives most of the behavior.

 

The truth hurts and we got a big dose of it last night. But as usual in a months time it will be forgotten and we will be completely focused on our very poor level domestic game.

[Peebo]

It’s been obvious for years that the standard of Scottish football is terrible.

[Ricardo Quaresma]

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Lord Beni of Gorgie]

Good OP.

 

1 touch and 2 touch football - we need coaches who understand this, promote it, can coach it and improve players.

 

To get better players you need more money, to get more money you need a better TV deal. Please no more Doncaster shite, he merely negotiates what this league is willing to sell.

 

Sky get a poxy 41 games, no wonder our deal is shite, folk moan about the EFL getting so much cash, but they sell 3 times and over the amount of games.

 

Until we are willing to sell our game, probably 3 games a week, and get away from the ideal of 3pm Saturday, we are stuck potless, and have to put up with what the OP describes.

 

Its on the clubs to do this, you are not getting the revenues necessary until you accept it

[EIEIO]

I was pleasantly surprised (****ing delighted post match) when we knocked out Roseborg. However it's hard to disagree.  Would a fit Halkett,  Beni and Haring / Hoff made us better ? yes good enough to beat PAOK, no.

[Turkishcap]

Yep someone is producing skillful players somewhere but not Scotland

 

[Bull's-eye]

These teams are well coached and clearly work on passages of play during the week, the attacking threat these teams show is night and day compared to the way we go about things, I don't even think many of the sides we've seen have been that great defensively, but the don't need to be unfortunately. 

 

The days of passion and drive have long gone, we're poorly coached with zero real strategy imo.

[Hagar the Horrible]

I would like to see a pass that goes to the player. Not to the vicinity he is in, to feet and weighted to be just in front so he can take it in his stride. Never behind him even by a few fet so he has to check back. I would like us to get the ball turn and look for a forward pass rather than need a rash challenge for a second touch. I would like to see more movement by a player off the ball, so it doesn't end up tirelessly passed sideways between our CHs. Kilmarnock and Dundee out smarted us but letting us do what we want in our own half.

 

A pundit last night said we need A mcgegor type to slow things down in midfield. Bejeezus naw. We need a Hartley to drive at them.

 

A quick fix would be summer football so we can be match fitter if not technical. Plus blood and snotter football in the summer would give us  a better TV deal. Plus football tourists.

 

We were rank last night but Hibs and Aberdeen continued embarrassing our nation every single year has to stop.

[Rory Mcilroy]

 

29 minutes ago, Bull's-eye said:

These teams are well coached and clearly work on passages of play during the week, the attacking threat these teams show is night and day compared to the way we go about things, I don't even think many of the sides we've seen have been that great defensively, but the don't need to be unfortunately. 

 

The days of passion and drive have long gone, we're poorly coached with zero real strategy imo.

 

Good post. We're still stuck in the stone ages in Scotland, just look at our tactics in the 2 legs vs PAOK, embarrassing number of long balls, playing defenders in midfield so they can get stuck in etc. It's hard to watch. 

 

Can't think of one foreign coach in the SPFL either, it's all the same jobs for the boys crap. We'll never learn. 

[Geoff Kilpatrick]

Who needs to wake up? Everyone knows Scottish football is shite. The biggest problem is that it can't market itself to save its life. It's why if HMFC had disappeared when administration occurred, the only upside was never having to watch another minute of it again.

[Clark Griswold]

41 minutes ago, Ricardo Quaresma said:

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Der Kaiser]

We know there are levels to players so it makes perfect sense that the same exists at coaching.

 

From my own experience coaching my laddies team, there are vast improvements in how it's done now to how I was coached as a youth player. It still feels though that what we do now was being done in Europe 30 years ago so there is significant catching up to be done.

[DC_92]

This is the big picture.

 

Yet people are still looking around for easy answers like Derek McInnes, Jamie McGrath, Keanu Baccus, Andy Irving etc. etc. as if there is any evidence that any of these guys would have made a jot of difference to us last night.

[Jim Panzee]

6 minutes ago, Rory Mcilroy said:

 

 

Good post. We're still stuck in the stone ages in Scotland, just look at our tactics in the 2 legs vs PAOK, embarrassing number of long balls, playing defenders in midfield so they can get stuck in etc. It's hard to watch. 

 

Can't think of one foreign coach in the SPFL either, it's all the same jobs for the boys crap. We'll never learn. 

The scottish media are also very keen to jump on foreign coaches foolish enough to try their hand here.

 

say what you want about Stendel - slate him for results - fine - but why the media felt the need to waste ink on commenting on the clothes he worse and his hair.?

[Lord Beni of Gorgie]

Even a team at the level of Hacken, were able to feed the ball from centre back to midfield, right then left in about 2 secs with 3 passes, too much for Aberdeen and often last night. Aberdeen had 23 shots to Hackens 15, the difference in quality attempts or clearcut much different. 

 

Aberdeen missed chances they say, totally burying their heads in the sand, ignoring what the opposition did to them at will. 

 

Folk deriding the OP for saying wake up, but clearly not everyone has

[Geoff Kilpatrick]

1 minute ago, Jim Panzee said:

The scottish media are also very keen to jump on foreign coaches foolish enough to try their hand here.

 

say what you want about Stendel - slate him for results - fine - but why the media felt the need to waste ink on commenting on the clothes he worse and his hair.?

'Cos he was "different and you can't have "different" in Scottish fitba' (TM)

[kingantti1874]

OP is correct but no surprise to see statements of fact dismissed.

 

Scottish football is nothing more than a development league for the decent leagues. Every single player or coach in it will either be fired fast or stolen at the first sight of any talent whatsoever

 

[Craig_]

As long as Dermot Desmond siphons off his £30m a year then all is rosy in the garden.

[boag1874]

No lies here - our league is one of the poorest top flight leagues in Europe no question. We have two pretty mediocre but big European teams and 10 diddy teams who every now & then pull out a shock. 
 

Virtually every similar sized European nation has left us in the dust now. There needs to be a concerted effort from all pro clubs & the governing body to actually commit to improving the standard across the board, that won’t happen though because the clubs are out for themselves only & the governing body are spineless, useless cowards 

[kingantti1874]

3 minutes ago, boag1874 said:

No lies here - our league is one of the poorest top flight leagues in Europe no question. We have two pretty mediocre but big European teams and 10 diddy teams who every now & then pull out a shock. 
 

Virtually every similar sized European nation has left us in the dust now. There needs to be a concerted effort from all pro clubs & the governing body to actually commit to improving the standard across the board, that won’t happen though because the clubs are out for themselves only & the governing body are spineless, useless cowards 

yup. I think bordering England is a massive problem as well.  The English game has sucked the life out of Scottish football. 

[boag1874]

11 minutes ago, Jim Panzee said:

The scottish media are also very keen to jump on foreign coaches foolish enough to try their hand here.

 

say what you want about Stendel - slate him for results - fine - but why the media felt the need to waste ink on commenting on the clothes he worse and his hair.?

Unless they’re coming in to manage the OF, then it’s an ambitious appointment. If they’re coming to the rest of us then it’s a risk that will backfire. Could be exactly the same coach & they’ll treat them differently depending on the team. It’s embarrassing.

[Byyy The Light]

1 hour ago, Greenbank2 said:

I've watched most of the European qualifying matches involving Scottish clubs.  They have done fine up until this point. But the following is a fact:

 

2nd best in the SPL is leagues below 3rd best in the Eredivisie

3rd best in the SPL is way below the best in Sweden

4th best in the SPL is woefully inferior to the top teams in Greece

5th best in the SPL wouldn't get anywhere near the top 2 Leagues in England.

 

here's another fact, a whacking great percentage of the the players in all there divisions are technically vastly superior to those in the SPL.

 

Watching PSV on Wednesday, every time ANY player got the ball, it was 1-touch and look for a fast paced, crisp pass forward where the receiving player had it under control after a single touch and then moved forward. In our game last night, our backs and midfield constantly rolled the ball backwards or hoofed it up the park. Or their second touch was a tackle. Changing management teams will have zero impact on that because every team in the SPL plays that way - and that is the level of player you get in a global market for the money we have available.

 

Is this just down to money? Partly - but very few people outside our small country are interested in the product, so there will be no more. Is it down to the Ugly's? A big part, because they suck up all the money and any available talent in Scotland. Is it due to our culture and coaching standards? partly but probably less so - but the need to achieve season after season and stay relevant in our own footballing backwater drives most of the behavior.

 

The truth hurts and we got a big dose of it last night. But as usual in a months time it will be forgotten and we will be completely focused on our very poor level domestic game.

 

3 minutes ago, boag1874 said:

No lies here - our league is one of the poorest top flight leagues in Europe no question. We have two pretty mediocre but big European teams and 10 diddy teams who every now & then pull out a shock. 
 

Virtually every similar sized European nation has left us in the dust now. There needs to be a concerted effort from all pro clubs & the governing body to actually commit to improving the standard across the board, that won’t happen though because the clubs are out for themselves only & the governing body are spineless, useless cowards 

 

Absolutely nailed it.  Folk can run about demanding more belief, be winners, try harder and all that but it's the very definition of howling at the moon when you are presented with the facts about Scottish football's standing in Europe and then Hearts as a club within that.

 

Huge dose of reality needed for a sizeable chunk of our support.

[boag1874]

Just now, kingantti1874 said:

yup. I think bordering England is a massive problem as well.  The English game has sucked the life out of Scottish football. 

It’s undoubtedly an issue. We need to stop comparing ourselves to them too, we’re not going to get near them any time soon the gap gets bigger every year. We should be looking at Sweden/Norway/Demmark and seeing what they do that we don’t with the resources they have.

[All roads lead to Gorgie]

So many mediocre players are made to look good playing in Scotland and our media big them up but as soon as they play in European competitions they get shown up as lacking basic skills. A lot of players arriving from other leagues can look good when they first arrive but I don't now if it's the facilities or the poor coaches here but they soon become as bad as the local players, sometimes worse even! 

We are a backwater for sure with two teams buying their way to local success. 

[Rory Mcilroy]

17 minutes ago, Jim Panzee said:

The scottish media are also very keen to jump on foreign coaches foolish enough to try their hand here.

 

say what you want about Stendel - slate him for results - fine - but why the media felt the need to waste ink on commenting on the clothes he worse and his hair.?

 

Mental eh. They'll fawn over a nut job like Lennon and do their upmost to get him back into a gig. We've got Malky Mackay with his history and not a word said. Yet Stendel's fringe was a bit out of place 😅. 

 

There's almost an arrogance from the media, ex pros etc, in this country that we do football "right" and no pesky outsiders are necessary. Laughable. 

[SomethingAboutObua]

Difficult to produce decent players at the top level when a minimum 50% of the top league start the season putting 10 men behind the ball against the other half of the league.

 

This season already it looks like 10 teams will have to play defence first v the OF home and away 

 

6 teams will play defence first home and away vs AFC, HMFC, HFC

 

That 6 then should be playing something decent against each other. Except come December when teams are settling into where they'll sit in the league, the bottom 4 sides will play defence first against the 10 other teams home and away for the remainder of the season anyway. The teams 6th and 7th are probably in that part of the league down to to playing defensively from the start and likely carry that working style on to remain in the hunt for 6th maybe even 5th

 

Add in you're assuming the top 5 will be A/HM/HFC's. Already looking like that won't be the case with all 3 starting poorly 

[Fozzyonthefence]

1 hour ago, Ricardo Quaresma said:

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

OP makes a lot of good points and you come back with that pointless response!  Well done, good contribution!

[Ricardo Quaresma]

1 minute ago, Fozzyonthefence said:

OP makes a lot of good points and you come back with that pointless response!  Well done, good contribution!

 

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[DG_HMFC]

Every single one of our players should be capable of 1 or 2 touch passing, otherwise they wouldn't be professional footballers. It's all down to the coaches and the demands they out on players. You see the players doing their warm up drills before games where it's all one touch and quick, but as soon as a game starts they don't do any of it

 

Of course better players will do it better, but I can guarantee you a quality manager would have our pool of players much better than they are.

[henryheart]

We will never be able to compete financially with the bigger leagues, so any success for Scottish clubs in Europe will be rare. At the end of the day, it is not important unless we see European success as the benchmark, which is the wrong thing to do. It is about making the best with what we have got and accepting the harsh financial reality.

 

Ultimately, what is important to me is the games I watch against our direct competitors  - other Scottish clubs. Am I being entertained, do I see some exciting action, do I walk away afterwards thinking 'I enjoyed that'. In the main I do, and clearly so do others judged on ticket sales. Speak to non Scots who watch our games and the reaction is generally positive - they enjoy the matchday experience. If you watch some of the top leagues like Italy and Spain and the games can be sterile and devoid of thrills. We may have been well beaten by PAOK but watch any Greek league game and in the main they are dull as dishwater. At the end of the day, we pay our money to be entertained and Scottish football must be doing something right as per head of population more people actually go to games than anywhere else in Europe.

[kingantti1874]

7 minutes ago, henryheart said:

We will never be able to compete financially with the bigger leagues, so any success for Scottish clubs in Europe will be rare. At the end of the day, it is not important unless we see European success as the benchmark, which is the wrong thing to do. It is about making the best with what we have got and accepting the harsh financial reality.

 

Ultimately, what is important to me is the games I watch against our direct competitors  - other Scottish clubs. Am I being entertained, do I see some exciting action, do I walk away afterwards thinking 'I enjoyed that'. In the main I do, and clearly so do others judged on ticket sales. Speak to non Scots who watch our games and the reaction is generally positive - they enjoy the matchday experience. If you watch some of the top leagues like Italy and Spain and the games can be sterile and devoid of thrills. We may have been well beaten by PAOK but watch any Greek league game and in the main they are dull as dishwater. At the end of the day, we pay our money to be entertained and Scottish football must be doing something right as per head of population more people actually go to games than anywhere else in Europe.

Seriously - if beating Motherwell and Dundee is all we are aiming for we should give it up now.

 

Scott football currently isn’t much above Irish football. Standard is absolutely shite

 

let it die. Join another league

[The Old Tolbooth]

I don't buy into the "Finances" stuff as much as others want to, there's a club from the Faroe Islands (Klaskvik) who have Qualified for group European football, they're a bunch of fisherman and waiters etc, but they're also very well drilled in what they do, unlike Scotland's clubs, who are a disaster with the way we're coached. We've also had clubs from Latvia, Ireland, Iceland, Cyprus, Israel etc qualify for group stage football in recent years, it's depressing just how bad we truly are! 

[frankblack]

1 hour ago, Lord Beni of Gorgie said:

Good OP.

 

1 touch and 2 touch football - we need coaches who understand this, promote it, can coach it and improve players.

 

To get better players you need more money, to get more money you need a better TV deal. Please no more Doncaster shite, he merely negotiates what this league is willing to sell.

 

Sky get a poxy 41 games, no wonder our deal is shite, folk moan about the EFL getting so much cash, but they sell 3 times and over the amount of games.

 

Until we are willing to sell our game, probably 3 games a week, and get away from the ideal of 3pm Saturday, we are stuck potless, and have to put up with what the OP describes.

 

Its on the clubs to do this, you are not getting the revenues necessary until you accept it

 

The league is set up to support Celtic and Sevco finish top two with playing each other 4 times.

 

Nothing will improve until that and the god awful split are binned.  However the small shitty clubs who depend on having more away fans than home will never allow change with a 10:2 voting system.

[Howdy Doody Jambo]

The Spl could easily give teams with games in European competitions the weekend league games off to give our teams the best possible chance to prepare 

[Fozzyonthefence]

1 minute ago, henryheart said:

We will never be able to compete financially with the bigger leagues, so any success for Scottish clubs in Europe will be rare. At the end of the day, it is not important unless we see European success as the benchmark, which is the wrong thing to do. It is about making the best with what we have got and accepting the harsh financial reality.

 

Ultimately, what is important to me is the games I watch against our direct competitors  - other Scottish clubs. Am I being entertained, do I see some exciting action, do I walk away afterwards thinking 'I enjoyed that'. In the main I do, and clearly so do others judged on ticket sales. Speak to non Scots who watch our games and the reaction is generally positive - they enjoy the matchday experience. If you watch some of the top leagues like Italy and Spain and the games can be sterile and devoid of thrills. We may have been well beaten by PAOK but watch any Greek league game and in the main they are dull as dishwater. At the end of the day, we pay our money to be entertained and Scottish football must be doing something right as per head of population more people actually go to games than anywhere else in Europe.

Well we were dull as ditch water (it’s ditch not dish!) last night and PAOK were much more entertaining.  I certainly wasn’t entertained against Killie or Dundee either.

 

You’re right though, we can’t compete with the bigger leagues, however, the worrying thing is that we don’t look like we can compete with the supposedly similar / smaller leagues either.  
 

Yes, we’re a vey creditable 10th in the coefficient at the moment.  But let’s be honest it’s a very false 10th largely down to one exceptional / unusual season from Rangers and the only way we can go is down. 

Look at this week as evidence : 

 

4th in Scotland (10th) v 4th in Greece (19th) - should be a game we can at least compete in if not win, but we’re miles off them.

 

3rd in Scotland (10th) v 3rd in Sweden (22nd), based on their 21 games this season, again the Scottish club is well beaten against a team who lost to a Faroes team earlier ffs!

 

I really couldn’t care whether we played another game in Europe, it just seems completely pointless at the moment (apart from the money) and the less I see of European refereeing at Conference level the better.  The 4 refs we have have been horrific / bent, take your pick.  But from a football point of view the last 2 seasons in Europe have been awful.  

[Fozzyonthefence]

9 minutes ago, kingantti1874 said:

Seriously - if beating Motherwell and Dundee is all we are aiming for we should give it up now.

 

Scott football currently isn’t much above Irish football. Standard is absolutely shite

 

let it die. Join another league

Unfortunately that’s pretty much all we have I’m afraid. 
 

Take Rangers and Celtic out and you’re not far wrong. 

Edited September 1, 2023 by Fozzyonthefence

[All roads lead to Gorgie]

2 minutes ago, Howdy Doody Jambo said:

The Spl could easily give teams with games in European competitions the weekend league games off to give our teams the best possible chance to prepare 

I think Hearts have been trying that already and it isn't working ☹️

[Dsjambo]

Interesting comments on here about one and two touch passing etc and something needs to be done to improve the quality of our players. The SFA have been trying to do this for decades. I did my coaching badges in the 80’s and it was all about small sided games, ball control, one touch etc. Our company was involved in some sponsorship of the Hearts academy a few years back and a couple of us were invited to watch a few sessions. The kids were 8 to 10 year olds and everything the coaches did was with the ball, it was all about ball control, passing, movement etc. It looked pretty decent.

Most of the team that played last night weren’t Scottish so it’s clearly not just a Scottish problem. 

[HartleyLegend3]

Don't worry everyone. We will have a big conversation on how to make Scottish football better. 

 

End result will be to make the old firm stronger 💪 They are really important remember.  

[troy]

1 hour ago, Greenbank2 said:

I've watched most of the European qualifying matches involving Scottish clubs.  They have done fine up until this point. But the following is a fact:

 

2nd best in the SPL is leagues below 3rd best in the Eredivisie

3rd best in the SPL is way below the best in Sweden

4th best in the SPL is woefully inferior to the top teams in Greece

5th best in the SPL wouldn't get anywhere near the top 2 Leagues in England.

 

here's another fact, a whacking great percentage of the the players in all there divisions are technically vastly superior to those in the SPL.

 

Watching PSV on Wednesday, every time ANY player got the ball, it was 1-touch and look for a fast paced, crisp pass forward where the receiving player had it under control after a single touch and then moved forward. In our game last night, our backs and midfield constantly rolled the ball backwards or hoofed it up the park. Or their second touch was a tackle. Changing management teams will have zero impact on that because every team in the SPL plays that way - and that is the level of player you get in a global market for the money we have available.

 

Is this just down to money? Partly - but very few people outside our small country are interested in the product, so there will be no more. Is it down to the Ugly's? A big part, because they suck up all the money and any available talent in Scotland. Is it due to our culture and coaching standards? partly but probably less so - but the need to achieve season after season and stay relevant in our own footballing backwater drives most of the behavior.

 

The truth hurts and we got a big dose of it last night. But as usual in a months time it will be forgotten and we will be completely focused on our very poor level domestic game.

Religion has ruined Scottish football both sides of the ugly sisters 

[Jarhead]

A lot of good points being made. 
I don’t like the guid Scottish laddies mentality towards coaches and managers. It’s very parochial but when foreign managers have come in too few have been able to blend the Scottish up and at them culture with the more technical continental culture. 
You’ve got to be careful not to go overboard with this week’s results though. 
They got scudded this time but Rangers beat PSV last year. 
Hibs were up against one of the richest clubs in the world with top players and a top echelon manager. 
Aberdeen, granted that was a bad one. 
As for us, went toe to toe with PAOK at home and could easily have won that game. Away from home, we couldn’t compete with Dundee so was anyone really surprised by last night?

[Fozzyonthefence]

26 minutes ago, Ricardo Quaresma said:

 

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Thought you had me on ignore? 🤔

[Mr Rabbit]

There wasn’t any posts when rangers made it to the final saying we’re a lot better than all these other leagues.

 

The truth of the matter is that our league is underpaid with the TV deal but the results in this round have been poor. We could/ should have done better in our home leg, the sheep should have done better against an average Hacken team and Rangers should be able to compete against PSV like they did last season.

 

Our league already has too many people putting it down, fans of clubs who play in it don’t need to add to it IMO.

[frankblack]

Just now, Dsjambo said:

Interesting comments on here about one and two touch passing etc and something needs to be done to improve the quality of our players. The SFA have been trying to do this for decades. I did my coaching badges in the 80’s and it was all about small sided games, ball control, one touch etc. Our company was involved in some sponsorship of the Hearts academy a few years back and a couple of us were invited to watch a few sessions. The kids were 8 to 10 year olds and everything the coaches did was with the ball, it was all about ball control, passing, movement etc. It looked pretty decent.

Most of the team that played last night weren’t Scottish so it’s clearly not just a Scottish problem. 

 

Our players looked far from properly prepared by the preseason, with players out of shape and needing three touches to control a ball.

 

Those working with the players in training for fitness, conditioning and technique appear far fron adequate.

[jamboinglasgow]

1 hour ago, Turkishcap said:

Yep someone is producing skillful players somewhere but not Scotland

 

 

To be fair, there a lot more skillful youngsters in Scottish football, the trouble is the Premier league and nicking at the age of 16 or 17 (just seen another youngster is off to Burnley from St Mirren.) We are being trawled by English clubs with little back into the game here.

[Dia Liom]

I doubt many of us expected to beat PAOK over two legs.  But getting a balanced squad together and employing good coaches to bring the best out of them should see us give bigger and better teams a decent game.

 

It’s now around two years since we beat celtic. How many years since we beat rangers?  Despite them having much better players, this is a shit record.  We have seen decent hearts teams in the past that could raise their game.  

 

What’s the point of this thread? That we should just pack it in as teams we compete against might have better players? If we want to do anything in europe or domestically, it’s highly likely that we will need to beat better teams.  It is entirely possible to do so.

[hans]

Good post,but most of these technically poor players are not Scottish, l

[Fozzyonthefence]

1 minute ago, Mr Rabbit said:

There wasn’t any posts when rangers made it to the final saying we’re a lot better than all these other leagues.

 

The truth of the matter is that our league is underpaid with the TV deal but the results in this round have been poor. We could/ should have done better in our home leg, the sheep should have done better against an average Hacken team and Rangers should be able to compete against PSV like they did last season.

 

Our league already has too many people putting it down, fans of clubs who play in it don’t need to add to it IMO.

Agree with your first two paragraphs but your third paragraph - our league rightly gets put down because it is dugshite.  At least we could probably handle competitive dugshite but it’s far worse with only 2 teams winning the league for 40 years.  Mickey Mouse dugshite. 

[kingantti1874]

1 minute ago, hans said:

Good post,but most of these technically poor players are not Scottish, l

All of the good Scottish players play elsewhere.  And we replace them with sissies from foreign leagues .

[jambo19]

One factor for me is the league is set up so we have 4 Old Firm games per season.

 

With a 12 team league there's a lot of clubs sets up to camp in with 1p behind the ball. Clubs fighting to stay in the league do everything they can, sit in, time waste, play for set pieces.

 

Create a bigger league where its 1 game home and away and you might get more clubs opening up to compete IMO.

 

Youth players in Scotland are all coached 1 and 2 touch and technique. But the transition is near impossible to First Team and the style is totally different