Martin_T Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 With regard to the on-going debate about Setanta's TV deal with the SPL, it has become apparent that a country of Scotland's size will never generate the income from media, to enable our bigger clubs to compete with even modest sized clubs in the bigger leagues of Europe. With that in mind, is is perhaps time to merge several of the smaller leagues in Europe to gain access to a larger amount of TV income? Scotland has 2 clubs with huge fanbases and another 3 (Hearts, Aberdeen and Hibs) who with a competitive league and investment in infrastructure could realise their potential. Hearts being the proof of that in 2005/6. However these clubs will always be strangled by the fact that we live in a country of only 5 million people where the media rights are worth close to nothing. The solution could well be, to combine the leagues of Holland, Belgium, Portugal and Scotland, all leagues that are currently facing similar problems, to create a league with a much larger market to sell it's media rights to. It is certainly evident to me, that the current set-up in Scotland is stale, un-sustainable and dying a slow death. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moriarty Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Can't see us getting much money from away fans having to toddle over from Lisbon or Amsterdam. Going to a away game would be a novelty for many. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaun.lawson Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 With regard to the on-going debate about Setanta's TV deal with the SPL, it has become apparent that a country of Scotland's size will never generate the income from media, to enable our bigger clubs to compete with even modest sized clubs in the bigger leagues of Europe. With that in mind, is is perhaps time to merge several of the smaller leagues in Europe to gain access to a larger amount of TV income? Scotland has 2 clubs with huge fanbases and another 3 (Hearts, Aberdeen and Hibs) who with a competitive league and investment in infrastructure could realise their potential. Hearts being the proof of that in 2005/6. However these clubs will always be strangled by the fact that we live in a country of only 5 million people where the media rights are worth close to nothing. The solution could well be, to combine the leagues of Holland, Belgium, Portugal and Scotland, all leagues that are currently facing similar problems, to create a league with a much larger market to sell it's media rights to. It is certainly evident to me, that the current set-up in Scotland is stale, un-sustainable and dying a slow death. Do you want to try persuading UEFA and FIFA of that Martin, or shall I? You're not wrong though. It's ironic: a decade or so after the idea of an Atlantic League was first mooted, and you're right. It does make sense. Think of a league with the following clubs involved: Celtic Ajax Amsterdam FC Porto Rangers Benfica PSV Eindhoven Feyenoord Anderlecht Sporting Lisbon FC Bruges Standard Liege AZ Alkmaar Heart of Midlothian Braga FC Twente Enschede Aberdeen Hibernian Gent Nacional Waregem That'd be fun, wouldn't it? Not sure what life would be like for away fans would be like, mind - but TV would surely jump at it, you could have promotion and relegation (with the caveat that no more than one club from any particular country would go down, to be replaced by the most consistent compatriot club below), and as well as all sorts of glamour ties, you'd still have domestic rivalries like Celtic-Rangers, Ajax-Feyenoord, Porto-Benfica, Anderlecht-Bruges or Hearts-Hibs. If only it were that simple though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Only a Game Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 We might well be entering an age where football in Scotland/UK/Europe will radically change. I just cant see it surviving or even having any appeal if we carry on the way we are. I'm not intimately acquainted with any of the other mid range leagues in Europe but it does seem to me to be the way to go for the upper end Scottish league teams. If we're doing that though, what happens to the lower levels of professional football and the grass roots levels. Do clubs like Raith Rovers survive and have a roll to play? What about Motherwell, ICT, Falkirk ? Could they survive with no Old Firm games and no tv money ? Would the likes of Hearts and Hibs need those lower teams to survive or is it better long term if they all go bust? How do we produce young players if there isnt a structure in place at the middle and bottom ends of the national game ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie-Brown Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 I assume that you are unfamiliar with the Champions League & Europa League? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie-Brown Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Wouldn't it be simpler for the Scottish clubs to play in England, the Dutch clubs to play in the Bundesliga, the Portuguese clubs in La Liga, the Belgian clubs in Le Championat etc. if you want to have 'regionalised' leagues instead of strictly national leagues National Leagues and National Asociations are the primary foundation of organised football - there are already international & europe-wide club tournaments and having regionalised tournaments would be to the detriment of the smaller countries footballing independance - either we are a self-sustaining football country or we aren't? or are we a subsidairy of a larger nation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Only a Game Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Wouldn't it be simpler for the Scottish clubs to play in England, the Dutch clubs to play in the Bundesliga, the Portuguese clubs in La Liga, the Belgian clubs in Le Championat etc. if you want to have 'regionalised' leagues instead of strictly national leagues National Leagues and National Asociations are the primary foundation of organised football - there are already international & europe-wide club tournaments and having regionalised tournaments would be to the detriment of the smaller countries footballing independance - either we are a self-sustaining football country or we aren't? or are we a subsidairy of a larger nation? So its either the status quo method thats ailing and slowly killing the game or we pack the whole thing up and have feck all ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie-Brown Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 So its either the status quo method thats ailing and slowly killing the game or we pack the whole thing up and have feck all ? Unrestricted commercialism and dominance by the wealthiest is what is ruining football and killing competition not national leagues - we had national leagues for 100+ years in the UK and 50+ years in Europe before we created the imbalances that we have in the last 15-20 years ..... 22 years ago Dundee Utd & Gothenburg competed in a European final - difficult to imagine that these days - greater distribution of wealth and stronger financial controls both across european competition and within national leagues is the answer to prevent too much monopolisation by the few rather than destroying everything that was good and worked in football for 80% of it's existence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eldar Hadzimehmedovic Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 I started a similar thread a wee while a go that died a death. http://www.hmfckickback.co.uk/showthread.php?t=50936 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie-Brown Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Where do you draw the line & where do you stop? What if the Bundesliga & Series A decide that they can't compete with the English Premiership and La Liga and decide to create a German-Austrian-Italian 'Axis' super league of their own to compete against the English & Spanish leagues - where would the 'Atlantic' league be then - it would again become a 2nd tier league comparison to the BIG Leagues of English, Spanish & Axis countries ....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Grimes Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Unrestricted commercialism and dominance by the wealthiest is what is ruining football and killing competition not national leagues - we had national leagues for 100+ years in the UK and 50+ years in Europe before we created the imbalances that we have in the last 15-20 years ..... 22 years ago Dundee Utd & Gothenburg competed in a European final - difficult to imagine that these days - greater distribution of wealth and stronger financial controls both across european competition and within national leagues is the answer to prevent too much monopolisation by the few rather than destroying everything that was good and worked in football for 80% of it's existence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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