Setanta

[brownie]

I'd love to hear Minniejc's view on this.

 

He probably lives next door to the boy that owns Setanta.

[minijc]

Am not too bothered, would love it if ESPN got the rights, gives us the chance to crack in to the American market which wouldna be hard, most Americans are fools and would think we are quality.

[dave_min]

I'd love to hear Minniejc's view on this.

 

Am not too bothered, would love it if ESPN got the rights, gives us the chance to crack in to the American market which wouldna be hard, most Americans are fools and would think we are quality.

 

Woooooossshhh!!

[He-Man]

you could get a couple of mates to roll around in their boxers on your living room floor, save a bit of cash?

 

Hehehehehe, bloody brilliant.  Good one.  Fantastic.

[alfromsleep]

you could get a couple of mates to roll around in their boxers on your living room floor, save a bit of cash?

 

 

Prefer to roll with the guys myself if its in person

[glasgow sheep]

I'm reading on another forum that we, along with the OF originally voted against the Setanta deal as we could see it was built out of horse shit, but the other 9 pushed it through......is this correct?

[Andrew]

I'm reading on another forum that we, along with the OF originally voted against the Setanta deal as we could see it was built out of horse shit, but the other 9 pushed it through......is this correct?

 

Us and the OF voted for Sky which was a slightly worse offer as the payments were spread out more I think. In an article it said that this and that the other small clubs voted for setanta. 

[BobbyBiscuit]

I'm reading on another forum that we, along with the OF originally voted against the Setanta deal as we could see it was built out of horse shit, but the other 9 pushed it through......is this correct?

 

Yes. We were happy to hold out for a deal with Sky on less money as the long term earnings would have been greater and of much less risk.

[glasgow sheep]

ah further into the thread someone has pointed out that afc, sellick and the huns voted against SPL TV.  When that idea collapsed all we had was a shitty offer from the BBC.  

Subsequently both the OF voted against the Sultana deal, with United abstaining, and afc presumably backing the deal.

[TENEMENTFUNSTER]

ah further into the thread someone has pointed out that afc, sellick and the huns voted against SPL TV.  When that idea collapsed all we had was a shitty offer from the BBC.  

Subsequently both the OF voted against the Sultana deal, with United abstaining, and afc presumably backing the deal.

 

I'm sure there was something Roger Mitchell did with the SPL that fucked yet another Sky deal when SPL TV was proposed. Can't mind the ins and outs but Mitchell did for the Sky deal believing that SPL TV was the better option, which it wasn't.

 

Can't remember whether AFC supported the Setanta deal or not but at the time, with just SPL games in their UK portfolio, it wasn't over stretching itself, it's really just been cunted by trying to compete with Sky. A very poor business decision.

[El Padre™]

I'm sure there was something Roger Mitchell did with the SPL that fucked yet another Sky deal when SPL TV was proposed. Can't mind the ins and outs but Mitchell did for the Sky deal believing that SPL TV was the better option, which it wasn't.

 

Can't remember whether AFC supported the Setanta deal or not but at the time, with just SPL games in their UK portfolio, it wasn't over stretching itself, it's really just been cunted by trying to compete with Sky. A very poor business decision.

 

AFC didn't support the Setanta deal, outside of the OF they were the only club to do so. 

[Kowalski]

They've lost the rights to the EPL.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8109954.stm

[TENEMENTFUNSTER]

They've lost the rights to the EPL.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8109954.stm

 

They're toast.

[sheepheid]

They're toast.

 

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.  They provided really good coverage of the SPL and premiership for ex-pat's like masel. 

[tom_widdows]

Have to wonder the effect of possibly not having a proper TV deal in place could have on SPL crowds.

With only BBC brief BBC highlights at the moment (will we even have those if Setanta's footage isnt available) we are almost back to the early 90s (the days when Scotsport was good and sportscene only showed 1 scottish game and 2 premiership games).

Since the only way you can see your club properly will be to turn up at the games can we expect boosted attendances despite the credit crunch and expense?

 

Or will this only lead to more Liverpool, Chelsea, Man United, Arsenal etc shirts being seen wandering around scottish streets? 

 

 

[dave_min]

Have to wonder the effect of possibly not having a proper TV deal in place could have on SPL crowds.

With only BBC brief BBC highlights at the moment (will we even have those if Setanta's footage isnt available) we are almost back to the early 90s (the days when Scotsport was good and sportscene only showed 1 scottish game and 2 premiership games).

Since the only way you can see your club properly will be to turn up at the games can we expect boosted attendances despite the credit crunch and expense?

 

Or will this only lead to more Liverpool, Chelsea, Man United, Arsenal etc shirts being seen wandering around scottish streets? 

 

 

 

Your first scenario sounds amazing, but in reality, it's gonna be the second one isn't it?

[Kowalski]

the days when Scotsport was good

 

Source?

[tom_widdows]

Source?

 

Tom W's memory ages 13-15

[glasgow sheep]

RIP, SPL? Not quite

ON THE SPOT: Michael Grant

THEIR SILENCE has been worth a round of applause. Barely a peep has been heard from Rangers, Celtic or Aberdeen about the implosion of Setanta even if the three of them will have been biting their tongues. At times like this the temptation to say "I told you so" must be extremely difficult to resist.

 

The Old Firm and Aberdeen did tell them so, "them" being the nine other SPL clubs who voted to stay in bed with Setanta last June when Sky had made a counter offer for the rights to show live SPL football. Only those three were sufficiently worried by the risk of the Setanta offer to oppose it. Only those three had an inkling that the economic climate just wasn't right for relying on long-term cheques being promised by a small, vulnerable pay-per-view broadcaster.

 

Yes, Setanta were offering more money - £11 million more - but at least Sky were certain to last the course. There was no doubt that Sky could agree to a deal to 2014 and still be around to honour that commitment. Setanta are close to going down the plughole just 12 months after telling the SPL they would pay £125m. £125m? They couldn't even cough up the £3m they still owe for last season.

 

advertisementThere aren't any winners here. Looking smarter and more perceptive than the others isn't worth a damn to Rangers, Celtic and Aberdeen. Those three are - and will be - as out-of-pocket as all the others from the disappearance of Setanta's money. Nor would it be right to portray the other nine clubs who voted in favour of Setanta - Hearts, Hibs, Dundee United, Kilmarnock, Motherwell, St Mirren, Hamilton, Falkirk and Inverness - as bumbling dimwits because of this embarrassing collapse.

 

The nine of them looked at Setanta and saw a company they'd had a relationship with since 2004, a company which had originally pledged £8.75m per year to the SPL and increased that to £13m per year in 2006. The nine clubs figured that Setanta had been nothing but a good thing for Scottish football from the start. They saw it as a company which deserved the benefit of the doubt. They took the view, not unreasonably, that the £11m difference between the Setanta and Sky offers last year was not something which should be lightly overlooked. Besides, how would it have looked to Setanta if it had two years left on a deal with the SPL and the league had already struck its next deal with Sky?

 

The Old Firm and Aberdeen saw it differently. They saw a small company paying vast sums for the rights to sports events without reaching the subscription levels they needed for their business model to work.

 

For someone such as Sir David Murray, the Rangers owner and chairman, there were doubts from the start. Celtic's chief executive, Peter Lawwell, had shared his initial scepticism about the length and substance of Setanta's offer at the time of that original deal in 2004. "My fear is that we end up in a Nationwide League situation," Murray told the Sunday Herald when the SPL's marriage to Setanta was confirmed five years ago. "I hope it works, because it has to. If it doesn't work that's Scottish football in a right mess. I hope I'm wrong but I have serious reservations." Murray was wrong about that first deal, but, unfortunately, he's been proved right in the end.

 

No doubt there will be headstones in the tabloids and "Scottish football: RIP" headlines. There will indeed be comparisons to the Nationwide League/ITV Digital scenario that Murray alluded to five years ago. That is an exaggeration. The Nationwide League struck a three-year, £315m deal with ITV Digital in 2000 only for poor subscription levels to bring the broadcaster down before £178m of that deal was paid. The problem was that many clubs had spent the money in advance, committing to transfer fees and players' contracts based on cash which never materialised. Cue debts, redundancies and clubs going into administration left, right and centre.

 

So far the SPL is out of pocket only in terms of the £3m most recently owed by Setanta, and even that money has been distributed to the clubs from a central, "rainy day" fund cleverly squirreled away by the league itself. As for the money due from Setanta between now and the end of the deal agreed to 2014, no SPL club has spent any of that. No-one has tied players down on hugely improved deals on the basis of a windfall to come from Setanta. That will prevent this being another ITV Digital.

 

If the early speculation of interest from ESPN and Sky turns out to be correct the damage will be tolerable. Renegotiations will be tense because the SPL is in a weak bargaining position. Salvaging between 60%-90% of the proposed Setanta money from ESPN or Sky, as has been speculated, would be a triumph. Some senior figures within the Scottish game hold little hope of that much being recovered from the Setanta wreckage.

 

What will this mean? First of all, the removal of around £500,000 each club is due from Setanta on August 1. Unless ESPN, Sky or the BBC come in with offers, or Setanta somehow stumbles on to honour some level of ongoing commitment, Scottish football is going to live an austere, hand-to-mouth existence. Several clubs going out of business? Very unlikely. The end of the SPL as we know it? Nonsense.

 

Clubs will simply have to cut their cloth like never before. That means smaller squads filled with poorer players paid much less than their predecessors were on, not to mention lay-offs across the board for everyone from office staff to youth coaches.

 

Scottish football won't die because of Setanta, it will simply be drained of a lot of talented people.

 

 

[Goldie03]

"Clubs will simply have to cut their cloth like never before. That means smaller squads filled with poorer players paid much less than their predecessors were on, not to mention lay-offs across the board for everyone from office staff to youth coaches."

 

Lets bear this in mind when we are moaning about the lack of money being spent and the standard of player we end up with this season

[tom_widdows]

"Clubs will simply have to cut their cloth like never before. That means smaller squads filled with poorer players paid much less than their predecessors were on, not to mention lay-offs across the board for everyone from office staff to youth coaches."

 

Lets bear this in mind when we are moaning about the lack of money being spent and the standard of player we end up with this season

 

I hope players bear this in mind when they (or rather their agents) are making statements along the lines of 'give me more money or im off'

 

 

[Goldie03]

Very true - it works both ways

[He-Man]

I hope players bear this in mind when they (or rather their agents) are making statements along the lines of 'give me more money or im off'

 

 

 

There might not be much money going round the Scottish game but there's still plenty being splashed around in England.

[tom_widdows]

Yes but several clubs have been put into administration in the last few years.

Bournmouth, Rotherham, Southampton, Luton, Chester City, Wrexham, Boston, Leeds, York City, Huddersfied Town, Carlisle United, Stockport County, Port Vale, Swansea

 

Watford , Cardiff & Coventry were only saved at the last minute.

 

Unless they are going to the premiership (and how long will that last?) players are going to have to realise that like the silly house prices, silly footballers wages are coming to an end. Ill be interested to see what Severin picks up at Watford should the deal go through

 

 

 

[baggy89]

"Clubs will simply have to cut their cloth like never before. That means smaller squads filled with poorer players paid much less than their predecessors were on, not to mention lay-offs across the board for everyone from office staff to youth coaches."

 

Lets bear this in mind when we are moaning about the lack of money being spent and the standard of player we end up with this season

 

In Englandshire the youth coach, provided he has the correct qualification, has his wages paid from an FA grant in an effort to encourage all clubs to maintain a youth team, is there something similar in Scotland?

 

What was this SPL TV thing that was mooted previously, perhaps this could be resurrected as a replacement. If it was a two channel subscription service. The OF could continue, during the normal day, to have their TV channels, or perhaps share a channel and the other show "classic" SPL games and/or SFL games or highlights. On a match day one channel could have the OF away game and the other could have the pick of the rest. With a comprehensive highlights package sold to a terrestrial station on the basis of it being shown on a Sunday afternoon/early evening. Perhaps get into bed with Sky for use of HD broadcast facilities. Europa league rights automatically going to SPL TV for games involving Scottish Clubs.

 

I know nothing about sports broadcasting but I'd pay for something like that and if it was done well I see no reason why it couldn't be grown to take over other rights packages and instead of it lining others pockets it could end up making the SPL money  which in turn could be invested back into the Scottish game.

 

I'm sure it's not as easy as that but anything worthwhile never is.