Prospective league reconstruction

[inspector]

I find it very ironic that Neil Lennon can state that there are too many meetings of Rangers and Celtic in a single league season. Considering the fact that both clubs want a 10 team league and the certainty that they will meet at least 4 times a season , what the hell does he expect?

Your team advocated the prospective change , live with it

[Charlie-Brown]

WARNING: A LONG RANT!

 

Those that advocate a ten team league simply cannot see beyond their own selfish perspective as to what they prefer or perceive to be in the interest of their club. They don't appear to see or at least accept the following

 

1. Too many repetitive fixtures weakens the attractiveness of those fixtures - they will counter (in a Hearts context) that they don't see any weakening demand for games against Hibs, Rangers, Celtic etc and openly state THEY would much rather see those teams 4 or more times per season than only playing them twice each with other games against diddy teams Raith, Partick or Dundee making up the fixtures. They state this despite Supporters Polls (supporters of all clubs) all strongly and overwhelmingly against a 10 team division and stating too many multiple fixtures against the same opponents every season as the reason why.

 

2. They state that this is what TV Companies want as a 10 team SPL gives the best chance of ensuring 4 x Rangers, Celtic, Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen Dundee Utd playing each other during the season as these are the games that people want to watch and they want to broadcast they also state that their clubs are reliant on TV money as a big percentage of their clubs income so whilst a bigger league might be nice in theory the cold financial reality is that the clubs need the TV money and must deliver a league format that satisfies the TV companies to ensure the maximum amount of TV cash is received. Despite the apparent fact that the amount of live-TV games plus moving games to early or Sunday kick off times to accommodate TV is having a negative effect on SPL attendance levels.

 

What the TV companies and proponents of a 10 team format seemingly ignore is the simple to grasp economic principle that greater value is attached to a product if it is made more scarce than it is than if it is less scarce and more frequently available or commonplace. In football terms you can restate this as fixtures would have a higher value and anticipation level if they were more scarce compared to making them commonplace and a regular feature of the fixture-list every few weeks. On this point I don't think it's inaccurate to say that their is greater demand and anticipation for games between say Manchester Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs & Man City because they are only playing each other twice per season in the Premier League, once each home & away than if they were playing each other 4 times per season plus any Cup meetings as we are proposing for the 6 biggest Scottish clubs.

 

The over familiarity & repetitive nature of fixtures makes them less valuable in terms of anticipation & demand from supporters, sponsors, advertisers & hospitality if they are occuring every few weeks than if they are scarcer and more perceived highlights of the fixture list as happens in England as opposed to Scotland. It is easier to build the games up more & attach value to them IF they are fewer.

 

3. They say the product would be weaker & more diluted if the league was expanded to include more SFL clubs - what they actually mean is that THEIR CLUB would receive less money if it was split 1/16th or 1/18th compared to 1/10th or 1/12th as they receive just now - they also say that they have no interest in watching diddy teams like Partick, Raith or Dunfy at the expense of games against bigger rivals whilst at the same time contradictarily arguing that league size or opponents are unimportant or should be to supporting HMFC / other team and that Supporters shouldn't really be reconsidering their support on the basis of any league reconstruction.

 

Of course if you increase the league size each teams split of the money would become proportionally smaller and complain there isn't enough good teams to expand they league size but of course the flip side to that is by including these other teams in the top league their crowds and finances would be increased relative to what they get now outside the top flight so notionally they would be getting stronger.

 

What supporters of the top ten proposals really mean is that they think the Scottish league doesn't have enough good teams but are damned if they want want to see other clubs made stronger to be able to compete at the expense of THEIR TEAM receiving less money or less big games to help give a leg up to the other teams. They fail to see the contradiction in their own argument and that the lower teams will never rise to a higher level if we continue to create a big gulf and disparity between those teams in the SPL and those outside it and even within the SPL itself due to the less than fair of consistent way the money is divided.

 

Scottish football will NEVER reverse the decline & improve whilst the "what's in it for me & my team" mentality is prevalent amongst club chairmen and those supporters who are happy to proceed with small league formats that perpetuate disparity and weaken the Scottish game and prevent improvement for the majority and also those who are willing to accept TV deals that continue to help weaken supporter interest and attendance levels.

[Footballfirst]

I picked up on the following quote from the Pie and Bovril site earlier this week

 

"Seperately, Jim Jeffries has just been on the Radio Borders Sports Show. During the opening segment (Review of the week) he was asked if he'd seen the Arsenal v Barcelona game. In fact not only had he seen it, he'd been there... as himself and the Hearts Board had enjoyed the game from an executive box - at the invitation "of a gentlemen called Ralph Topping" ... A bit of the old carrot to accompany the stick?

 

To be fair to Jeffries, he was asked about reconstruction later and and said he still opposed 10-team SPL. He'd prefer the status-quo or 14-team SPL, if a big division was no an option. It got a big confused however when he continued that regardless, he wanted to get away from 4-times-playing and go back to home-and-away: 'perhaps with another tournament created to make-up the games' "

From that it certainly looks like the SPL are seeking to bring the Hearts Board "on board"

[Craig Herbertson]

WARNING: A LONG RANT!

 

Those that advocate a ten team league simply cannot see beyond their own selfish perspective as to what they prefer or perceive to be in the interest of their club. They don't appear to see or at least accept the following

 

1. Too many repetitive fixtures weakens the attractiveness of those fixtures - they will counter (in a Hearts context) that they don't see any weakening demand for games against Hibs, Rangers, Celtic etc and openly state THEY would much rather see those teams 4 or more times per season than only playing them twice each with other games against diddy teams Raith, Partick or Dundee making up the fixtures. They state this despite Supporters Polls (supporters of all clubs) all strongly and overwhelmingly against a 10 team division and stating too many multiple fixtures against the same opponents every season as the reason why.

 

2. They state that this is what TV Companies want as a 10 team SPL gives the best chance of ensuring 4 x Rangers, Celtic, Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen Dundee Utd playing each other during the season as these are the games that people want to watch and they want to broadcast they also state that their clubs are reliant on TV money as a big percentage of their clubs income so whilst a bigger league might be nice in theory the cold financial reality is that the clubs need the TV money and must deliver a league format that satisfies the TV companies to ensure the maximum amount of TV cash is received. Despite the apparent fact that the amount of live-TV games plus moving games to early or Sunday kick off times to accommodate TV is having a negative effect on SPL attendance levels.

 

What the TV companies and proponents of a 10 team format seemingly ignore is the simple to grasp economic principle that greater value is attached to a product if it is made more scarce than it is than if it is less scarce and more frequently available or commonplace. In football terms you can restate this as fixtures would have a higher value and anticipation level if they were more scarce compared to making them commonplace and a regular feature of the fixture-list every few weeks. On this point I don't think it's inaccurate to say that their is greater demand and anticipation for games between say Manchester Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs & Man City because they are only playing each other twice per season in the Premier League, once each home & away than if they were playing each other 4 times per season plus any Cup meetings as we are proposing for the 6 biggest Scottish clubs.

 

The over familiarity & repetitive nature of fixtures makes them less valuable in terms of anticipation & demand from supporters, sponsors, advertisers & hospitality if they are occuring every few weeks than if they are scarcer and more perceived highlights of the fixture list as happens in England as opposed to Scotland. It is easier to build the games up more & attach value to them IF they are fewer.

 

3. They say the product would be weaker & more diluted if the league was expanded to include more SFL clubs - what they actually mean is that THEIR CLUB would receive less money if it was split 1/16th or 1/18th compared to 1/10th or 1/12th as they receive just now - they also say that they have no interest in watching diddy teams like Partick, Raith or Dunfy at the expense of games against bigger rivals whilst at the same time contradictarily arguing that league size or opponents are unimportant or should be to supporting HMFC / other team and that Supporters shouldn't really be reconsidering their support on the basis of any league reconstruction.

 

Of course if you increase the league size each teams split of the money would become proportionally smaller and complain there isn't enough good teams to expand they league size but of course the flip side to that is by including these other teams in the top league their crowds and finances would be increased relative to what they get now outside the top flight so notionally they would be getting stronger.

 

What supporters of the top ten proposals really mean is that they think the Scottish league doesn't have enough good teams but are damned if they want want to see other clubs made stronger to be able to compete at the expense of THEIR TEAM receiving less money or less big games to help give a leg up to the other teams. They fail to see the contradiction in their own argument and that the lower teams will never rise to a higher level if we continue to create a big gulf and disparity between those teams in the SPL and those outside it and even within the SPL itself due to the less than fair of consistent way the money is divided.

 

Scottish football will NEVER reverse the decline & improve whilst the "what's in it for me & my team" mentality is prevalent amongst club chairmen and those supporters who are happy to proceed with small league formats that perpetuate disparity and weaken the Scottish game and prevent improvement for the majority and also those who are willing to accept TV deals that continue to help weaken supporter interest and attendance levels.

 

Spot on

[Five to One]

WARNING: A LONG RANT!

 

Those that advocate a ten team league simply cannot see beyond their own selfish perspective as to what they prefer or perceive to be in the interest of their club. They don't appear to see or at least accept the following

 

1. Too many repetitive fixtures weakens the attractiveness of those fixtures - they will counter (in a Hearts context) that they don't see any weakening demand for games against Hibs, Rangers, Celtic etc and openly state THEY would much rather see those teams 4 or more times per season than only playing them twice each with other games against diddy teams Raith, Partick or Dundee making up the fixtures. They state this despite Supporters Polls (supporters of all clubs) all strongly and overwhelmingly against a 10 team division and stating too many multiple fixtures against the same opponents every season as the reason why.

 

2. They state that this is what TV Companies want as a 10 team SPL gives the best chance of ensuring 4 x Rangers, Celtic, Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen Dundee Utd playing each other during the season as these are the games that people want to watch and they want to broadcast they also state that their clubs are reliant on TV money as a big percentage of their clubs income so whilst a bigger league might be nice in theory the cold financial reality is that the clubs need the TV money and must deliver a league format that satisfies the TV companies to ensure the maximum amount of TV cash is received. Despite the apparent fact that the amount of live-TV games plus moving games to early or Sunday kick off times to accommodate TV is having a negative effect on SPL attendance levels.

 

What the TV companies and proponents of a 10 team format seemingly ignore is the simple to grasp economic principle that greater value is attached to a product if it is made more scarce than it is than if it is less scarce and more frequently available or commonplace. In football terms you can restate this as fixtures would have a higher value and anticipation level if they were more scarce compared to making them commonplace and a regular feature of the fixture-list every few weeks. On this point I don't think it's inaccurate to say that their is greater demand and anticipation for games between say Manchester Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs & Man City because they are only playing each other twice per season in the Premier League, once each home & away than if they were playing each other 4 times per season plus any Cup meetings as we are proposing for the 6 biggest Scottish clubs.

 

The over familiarity & repetitive nature of fixtures makes them less valuable in terms of anticipation & demand from supporters, sponsors, advertisers & hospitality if they are occuring every few weeks than if they are scarcer and more perceived highlights of the fixture list as happens in England as opposed to Scotland. It is easier to build the games up more & attach value to them IF they are fewer.

 

3. They say the product would be weaker & more diluted if the league was expanded to include more SFL clubs - what they actually mean is that THEIR CLUB would receive less money if it was split 1/16th or 1/18th compared to 1/10th or 1/12th as they receive just now - they also say that they have no interest in watching diddy teams like Partick, Raith or Dunfy at the expense of games against bigger rivals whilst at the same time contradictarily arguing that league size or opponents are unimportant or should be to supporting HMFC / other team and that Supporters shouldn't really be reconsidering their support on the basis of any league reconstruction.

 

Of course if you increase the league size each teams split of the money would become proportionally smaller and complain there isn't enough good teams to expand they league size but of course the flip side to that is by including these other teams in the top league their crowds and finances would be increased relative to what they get now outside the top flight so notionally they would be getting stronger.

 

What supporters of the top ten proposals really mean is that they think the Scottish league doesn't have enough good teams but are damned if they want want to see other clubs made stronger to be able to compete at the expense of THEIR TEAM receiving less money or less big games to help give a leg up to the other teams. They fail to see the contradiction in their own argument and that the lower teams will never rise to a higher level if we continue to create a big gulf and disparity between those teams in the SPL and those outside it and even within the SPL itself due to the less than fair of consistent way the money is divided.

 

Scottish football will NEVER reverse the decline & improve whilst the "what's in it for me & my team" mentality is prevalent amongst club chairmen and those supporters who are happy to proceed with small league formats that perpetuate disparity and weaken the Scottish game and prevent improvement for the majority and also those who are willing to accept TV deals that continue to help weaken supporter interest and attendance levels.

 

If only you were in charge of the SPL. Very little has been written about what the old firm fans want? Perhaps they don't care, but seems to me they're the only fans who will be taken seriously. A petition from provincial fans will do very little I think.

[Chester™]

If only you were in charge of the SPL. Very little has been written about what the old firm fans want? Perhaps they don't care, but seems to me they're the only fans who will be taken seriously. A petition from provincial fans will do very little I think.

 

They are the provincial fans.

 

As for what OF fans want, if other fora can be used as a guide, they dont want ten either. Most ive seen want either the 14 or 16 option.

[colinmaroon]

A large percentage of the TV audience watch OF games hoping for a "car crash".

 

Of course, SKY/ESPN are quite happy with this situation. Viewing figures/subscribers is all that matters to them.

[Five to One]

So frustrating as fans we can do nothing to prevent this madness.

[Marvin]

If only you were in charge of the SPL. Very little has been written about what the old firm fans want? Perhaps they don't care, but seems to me they're the only fans who will be taken seriously. A petition from provincial fans will do very little I think.

 

My celtic supporting work colleague is dead against the 10 team league. as a rather sensible OF fan he feels the same as the majority of the the Scottish fans in that the 10 team league is a step backwards.