Finished wi fitba??

[TENEMENTFUNSTER]

Given the latest attempt by the Scottish fitba firmament (Mad Vlad is seeming more like a prophet every day), how many of us are genuine about chucking it if the hunco are not punished appropriately? ie enter at Div 3?

 

I am. I am sick fed up of hearing more and more about the extent to which they've swindled and cheated their way to titles and cups dragging every fucker with them to the brink of extinction.

 

I am done with it, it is as corrupt as it is plain shite. Pointless putting good money after bad into a sporting structure that it has been made very clear exists to maintain the aspirations of 2 clubs. It IS over now.

[Jute]

Given the latest attempt by the Scottish fitba firmament (Mad Vlad is seeming more like a prophet every day), how many of us are genuine about chucking it if the hunco are not punished appropriately? ie enter at Div 3?

 

I am. I am sick fed up of hearing more and more about the extent to which they've swindled and cheated their way to titles and cups dragging every fucker with them to the brink of extinction.

 

I am done with it, it is as corrupt as it is plain shite. Pointless putting good money after bad into a sporting structure that it has been made very clear exists to maintain the aspirations of 2 clubs. It IS over now.

 

Pretty much in same boat myself. I cannot see the point of continuing to support a team playing a competition that is clearly rigged to benefit two clubs.

[Madbadteacher]

I see no point in a system/league/assosciation designed purely to maintain a duopoly.

>

I'll give up totally on "scottish" football, wathc the EPL on ESPN here, watch MLS (the Fire are about as inspiring as AFC at times) and NFL.

 

Will probably only come on here for the fun and off topic, assuming sites like this survive?  Hope so 

 

EDIT: Would have come home as a glory hunting cup-final fan (not missed one since 1982!) but not now

[tlg1903]

They dont go to the third division i will not return to any scottish league or cup fixture.  I would perhaps entertain the notion of going to a european game and regardless off sfa involvement in this i would still follow the national side .  I will never stop being an aberdeen fan but club football wise i think i will start looking at Dortmund as my first team.

[Kowalski]

Same for me.  Third division (at most!) or I'm finished with Scottish football.

 

SSC membership will be posted back to the SFA.

[maverick sheep]

certainly couldn't bring myself to contribute money to a rigged 'sport'.

 

That's a very small part of the problem though. Can't avoid OF news. Every day there would be another reminder of this. Going to be very difficult to get over and forget.

 

[dave_min]

If no (meaningful) punishment happens, it'll be just international football from me.

 

Don't really get why you would post your SSC membership back though. Each to their own though.

[octavion]

certainly couldn't bring myself to contribute money to a rigged 'sport'.

 

That's a very small part of the problem though. Can't avoid OF news. Every day there would be another reminder of this. Going to be very difficult to get over and forget.

 

This ....

[Kowalski]

If no (meaningful) punishment happens, it'll be just international football from me.

 

Don't really get why you would post your SSC membership back though. Each to their own though.

 

Fuck the SFA.  They're the ones right in the middle of this charade (if it happens).

 

[dave_min]

Fuck the SFA.  They're the ones right in the middle of this charade (if it happens).

 

Indeed, but the Scottish National team isn't 'Team SFA' - it's meant to be a team that represents you and me et al.

[BrownyBrown]

Ach I was already finished with it anyway, this mess and subsequent handling of it by Scottish football's governing bodies has just contributed further to my general feeling of apathy towards Scottish football. As has been said already, the product is shite without it being completely corrupt altogether.

 

The contempt from those who claim to have the best interests of the nations game at heart is truly staggering. Fuck them and their sham of an organisation. The ba is well and truly fucking burst.

[jmo]

As annoyed as I would be it wouldn't be enough to stop me watching Aberdeen. Watching football is something I enjoy doing and since I have been watching football the Old Firm have had a monopoly over the rest of the league and I've felt it's been rigged, all this is doing is proving my suspicions.

 

 

[dave_min]

That has been cherry picked from just the OF's or teams out with Scotland... Name the last players to be called up from the SFL?

 

 

Feel free to suggest a SFL player who's good enough to get into the National team....

 

Exactly.

 

This goes through, its a MAFIA run FA. This is so serious FIFA & UEFA need to get our national team banned.. (probably not happen) but corruption this evident surely the governing body must act?

 

Nonsense.

[RDU_64]

Given the latest attempt by the Scottish fitba firmament (Mad Vlad is seeming more like a prophet every day), how many of us are genuine about chucking it if the hunco are not punished appropriately? ie enter at Div 3?

 

I am. I am sick fed up of hearing more and more about the extent to which they've swindled and cheated their way to titles and cups dragging every fucker with them to the brink of extinction.

 

I am done with it, it is as corrupt as it is plain shite. Pointless putting good money after bad into a sporting structure that it has been made very clear exists to maintain the aspirations of 2 clubs. It IS over now.

 

Aye pretty much how I feel. Cheated their ways to titles, cups and European football, breaking however many different rules along the way, the demotion should be a formality. Only in Scotland, this debacle would drag on further. It just shows how bloody corrupt the whole of Scottish football really is, if they are kept in. What the fucks the point of turning up if you can cheat your way to titles etc, break every law in the book, get liquadated but you can still stay in the league? They should be booted oot just like any other club before them e.g Gretna, Livingstone, Aidrieonions, Third Lanark. If the newco gets anything more than demoted to the Third Division, then I won't be returning to Scottish football for a very long time.

[BigAl]

Given the fact I've consistantly made my feelings clear on this matter, should come as no surprise that I'm of the opinion that they can ram it, if Huns anything other than Div 3 come season 2012/13

[glasgowdon]

Correct me if I'm wrong but would boycotting SPL games if the SFL allow Rangers into Div. 1 not be a bit silly? Surely this decision would be out of SPL hands?

[Jute]

Correct me if I'm wrong but would boycotting SPL games if the SFL allow Rangers into Div. 1 not be a bit silly? Surely this decision would be out of SPL hands?

 

Newco into division 1 is joint venture between SFA SPL and SFL.

[glasgowdon]

Newco into division 1 is joint venture between SFA SPL and SFL.

 

Ah, been away since Friday. Ta.

[Stewart]

Isn't the First Division thing on the basis of them being voted in to the SPL first?

[Kowalski]

Isn't the First Division thing on the basis of them being voted in to the SPL first?

 

No it appears they are trying to cut some sort of deal to put them into the 1st instead of the 3rd, but as there are no real quotes to the story, fingers crossed it is a load of shite.

[bloo_toon_red]

I agree wholeheartedly with the OP that under the present league structure, nothing less than Div 3 is acceptable to me.

 

But for the purposes of balance, let’s take a different slant on things.  The SFA have been looking at updating the league structure for at least 5 years, and with the McLeish report there is a genuine will within the SFA to take the steps to implement it.  Take Rangers out of the question for a minute – Scotland cannot sustain a 42-team professional football league when between 18-22 of those are actually semi-professional (ie, part-time).

 

Look at the history of promotions and relegations from and to Division 1 over history.  The teams that traditionally come up and go down are the likes of Arbroath, Brechin, Stranraer, Cowdenbeath, they spend at most 3 or 4 years in Div 1 before dropping down again.  They cannot make a concerted push for the top flight unless they go full-time and to take the necessary steps to do that is a massive leap from where they are.

 

The only teams in recent times (last 25 years) to have made the giant leap from Div 2 to the SPL or old Premier Division are Livingston, Gretna, Raith Rovers & Kilmarnock.  Hamilton did also spend a short time in Division 2, St Johnstone and St Mirren may also have.  We all know what happened with Livingston and Gretna – they got to the SPL in an unsustainable way.  Raith Rovers have historically been one of those clubs that teeter on the brink in that they have a decent fanbase but they are a traditional yo-yo club.  Hamilton had their difficulties but sorted themselves out.

 

Basically speaking there is probably a hardcore of about 20-24 teams who can consider themselves as being capable of going full-time.  The Arbroaths, Brechins, Stranraers and Cowdenbeaths of this world do not offer much in terms of boosting standards in a league context.

 

So, given that the Henry McLeish report goes along these lines, the SFL would not exist if the bodies get together and form this set-up.  You would have the Professional League (2x10 or 12), you would then have the regional leagues, and in turn this would open the door for ambitious Highland League, East of Scotland teams to take their places in the new set-up on merit.

 

So what would the point then be in placing “The Rangers” in the Regional Division South when there would be in reality a myriad of other leagues they could be placed in.  Whether we like it or not, at year zero of this new league, “The Rangers” would be considered to have a part to play in that set-up if just for the fact that they are a full-time football club.

 

Under these circumstances, would our desire to see Rangers banished overcome our need to see the game completely re-vamped for the better?

 

[TENEMENTFUNSTER]

Bottom of whatever structure exists at the time BTR. Entry level, nothing else is either fair or just. If that's a central league I'm no fussed.

[maverick sheep]

if the long-called for pyramid structure is to be brought about, then all the more reason for newco to be introduced further down the leagues.

 

Being full-time isn't the issue. A new Gretna could emerge, with hefty financial backing and be full-time for all intents and purposes, but to introduce them at anything other than the bottom rung would be an open admission that success is bought rather than won - as is the case with Rangers. The additional point being that Rangers didn't even have the money to buy that success. They could have afforded to be a full-time club through honest means, yeah, but they didn't operate that way so frankly no punishment is harsh enough. They committed fraud and robbed HMRC of tens or hundreds of millions of pounds and frankly any other club or corporate entity wouldn't even have the option to simply restart all over again at all, let alone with only a token gesture of a demotion.

[bloo_toon_red]

any other club or corporate entity wouldn't even have the option to simply restart all over again at all

Don't kid yourself, it happens every day in business.  But morally, yes, you are correct which is why they need to start at the bottom.  But at the point of league reconstruction, where is the bottom?  In the absence of more information, I see the bottom being "SPL 2" to coin the phrase from before.  That's not to say I agree with that, but there has to be a pretty strong argument in favour of it in terms of punishing Rangers but keeping a certain amount of financial fair-play involved for the other projected 21 member clubs.

 

Form a ruling that any newly-formed club cannot gain promotion to SPL1 for the first two seasons until they can prove their accounts to be in order.  In this case you are opening the door for other newly-formed clubs to apply to enter.  Who's to say a brand new club from East Kilbride, or Stirling, or a merger of junior clubs could not form a new professional entity to join the new league?  If you open up a new market, to new stakeholders, the world is your oyster.  This as opposed to going down the same old road with the same old outdated institutions, who the fuck wants Albion Rovers or East Stirling?  Super League has revolutionised Rugby League down south.  As has the rugby union super-regions.  This problem creates a monumental opportunity for us to turn the whole professional game on its head but it needs to be radical for the good of everyone.  I hate to say it, but it needs to become "americanised".

 

None of us wants another Gretna, Livingston or for that matter Rangers.  Being full-time isn't the only issue, no, but accountability is the fundamental factor.  Wages to turnover ratios would be brought in to ensure clubs are run sustainably and a part-time club shouldn't, can't and wont fit into that structure.

[Superstar Tradesman]

The problem is, the game was on it's arse well before this carry on started.  They have a genuine reason to give the whole shit-shooting-match a revamp which, if done correctly, would not only revitalise the game in Scotland but also give our chances of qualifying for major tournaments a major boost.

 

But they'll not do that, they'll fuck it up with some biscuit-arsed attempt to pander to Newco and drive another nail into the coffin lid.

 

Say what you want about the English bombing out of the Euros last night but you can bet your bottom dollar that they'll be drawing up plans how to address the sitation.  Whereas across the border we're drawing up plans to fuck ourselves up even more.

 

The talk of Newco going into the 1st will just cause more problems than it's worth.  If they win that league and end up back at the top of the SPL we'll be faced with a team that aren't allowed into Europe.

 

Joke league part deux.