The Official Scottish Football Thread

[Driver101]

The Gretna part was really good and did highlight how much we all ignored what we all knew would happen. It sounded as if they had a blast along the way.

I think some teams have learned, but some haven't. Rangers going bust did make a lot of clubs think hard about their finances.There's still teams who can't balance the books and still keep spending, but it does sound as if most teams are doing better.

I just don't trust BT Sport. My worry is they end up going down the pan. They seem very much like Setanta in paying more than they can afford and don't have the best games. Hardly anyone watches BT sport and they've got UEFA breathing down their necks for the poor Champions league viewing numbers.

I've never understood why Sky pay so much for English football either.

I don't think Lennon had much options. His stock was low after Bolton and he needed to revive his own career.

[Strocky]

Don Veloci said:

Away from the big boys I liked Stuart Cosgrove's opinion and summary of Mileson's Gretna. Happy to see a journo put across exactly how I felt.

I remember the Dumfries area flooding with Gretna shirts and many glory hunters with little or no connection to the the town (a bit like a mini version of Old Firm Exodus I guess) looking down on Little Queen of the South.

Oh, how I laughed when it imploded! I'm not laughing at Mileson's unfortunate demise, the implosion would still have happened eventually when his pot run dry in the most unsustainable of unsustainable business models.

Administration of Hearts, Dundee, Motherwell, nearly Celtic (Years before TV Disaster), Livingston. Liquidation of Rangers and Gretna. Will lesson's slowly be learned?

I like to think Queen of the South is run on "spend only the money we have".

I believe Budge and Dempster are working to achieve stability in Edinburgh, although Hibs are probably taking a punt beyond their means with Lennon to get back to the big table.

I thought he went OTT about Gretna, how can it be a "ponzi scheme" if the only guy who lost money was the owner?

[Strocky]

Driver101 said:

The Gretna part was really good and did highlight how much we all ignored what we all knew would happen. It sounded as if they had a blast along the way.

I think some teams have learned, but some haven't. Rangers going bust did make a lot of clubs think hard about their finances.There's still teams who can't balance the books and still keep spending, but it does sound as if most teams are doing better.

I just don't trust BT Sport. My worry is they end up going down the pan. They seem very much like Setanta in paying more than they can afford and don't have the best games. Hardly anyone watches BT sport and they've got UEFA breathing down their necks for the poor Champions league viewing numbers.

I've never understood why Sky pay so much for English football either.

I don't think Lennon had much options. His stock was low after Bolton and he needed to revive his own career.

BT Sports parent company have very deep pockets, they'll not be going anywhere
Also their presentation is miles better than the parochial Sky output

[Driver101]

Strocky said:

I thought he went OTT about Gretna, how can it be a "ponzi scheme" if the only guy who lost money was the owner?

Gretna went bust owing quite a few million. The league also had to fund them to finish off the league campaign.

[Driver101]

Strocky said:

BT Sports parent company have very deep pockets, they'll not be going anywhere
Also their presentation is miles better than the parochial Sky output

I appreciate that BT have a lots of money behind them, but they've not been slow in chopping off loss making parts of the business before.

They are under pressure to sell off Open reach.

They just don't have the demand and far too many people have Kodi boxes now.

[Don Veloci]

Strocky said:

I thought he went OTT about Gretna, how can it be a "ponzi scheme" if the only guy who lost money was the owner?

I guess he just got into a rant flow and didn't consider the meaning of the phrase. Possibly his general style but I've not listened to Radio Scotland for a long time.

No sympathy for the glory hunting mob that sprung up for any form of losses that might have incurred. I do wonder if any local businesses did suffer though at the end in not getting paid for services provided.

[technodup]

Don Veloci said:

I guess he just got into a rant flow and didn't consider the meaning of the phrase. Possibly his general style

Pompous, bombastic, name dropping gobste?

Aye, that's his style alright.

[moanthebairns]

Driver101 said:

Strocky said:

I thought he went OTT about Gretna, how can it be a "ponzi scheme" if the only guy who lost money was the owner?

Gretna went bust owing quite a few million. The league also had to fund them to finish off the league campaign.

That was the problem, it was all very well coming out of his pockets but when his health took a turn for the worse there was no plan or funds to pay back those who had been promised money. Falkirk remains the only club in Scotland to pay back their debts in full once they went into administration.

It must have been a great ride for a non league club but when you leave families out of pocket that's when it ends. The wages they were paying were astronomical, I remember the first division and a fair few Falkirk players at the time being plundered. Take a drop in football standards, but we will pay you £3,000 a week. It was what rangers should have done, with a mixture of youth. Cherry pick the best first division players, a few ageing pros from the top flight and fling in youth. It was some team on paper and to watch though.

[Terzo123]

moanthebairns said:

........The only thing they have done is listen to fans and rightfully demote Rangers to the bottom of Scottish football.......

They weren't demoted.

[moanthebairns]

Terzo123 said:

moanthebairns said:

........The only thing they have done is listen to fans and rightfully demote Rangers to the bottom of Scottish football.......

They weren't demoted.

ok, they had to reapply. But petty arguments aside and piss takings, rangers are still rangers. On the wind up and technically they are a new club. But can we get over that tbh cause history matters very little in football once a new season starts.

[Strocky]

technodup said:

Don Veloci said:

I guess he just got into a rant flow and didn't consider the meaning of the phrase. Possibly his general style

Pompous, bombastic, name dropping gobste?

Aye, that's his style alright.

And not in thrall to the "succulent lamb" or the "wealth off the radar" set

[FN2TypeR]

Don Veloci said:

I like to think Queen of the South is run on "spend only the money we have".

I believe Budge and Dempster are working to achieve stability in Edinburgh, although Hibs are probably taking a punt beyond their means with Lennon to get back to the big table.

Who is there left in the Championship to stop them now Hearts and Rangers are out of the way though?

Then again, they can always find a way to Hibs it at the last hurdle I guess.

[Driver101]

I thought Scotland played well last night. I appreciate it was Malta, but they've given teams a hard time.

There was a few dodgy decisions. Until the replay I did think it was a penalty. I've no idea how Martin missed the ball and fell in such a clumsy manner. There appeared to be no other reason than being chopped down. To be fair to him he wasn't looking for a penalty. The ref got it so wrong.

[Don Veloci]

FN2TypeR said:

Who is there left in the Championship to stop them now Hearts and Rangers are out of the way though?

Then again, they can always find a way to Hibs it at the last hurdle I guess.

"Hibs it" is exactly what I was thinking. Falkirk are always there abouts over the distance and I don't actually think Dundee Utd will be too far away. So, beat to first place and mess up the playoffs. It's the Hibs way.

Edited by Don Veloci on Tuesday 6th September 09:32

[gregd]

Driver101 said:

I thought Scotland played well last night. I appreciate it was Malta, but they've given teams a hard time.

There was a few dodgy decisions. Until the replay I did think it was a penalty. I've no idea how Martin missed the ball and fell in such a clumsy manner. There appeared to be no other reason than being chopped down. To be fair to him he wasn't looking for a penalty. The ref got it so wrong.

Terrible decision that but you could kind of see how he gave it. The other defender got a slight touch that took it away from Martin and the ref figured Martin missed it because of a (non-existent) challenge. Good performance from the Scots and a potential banana skin avoided. As an Englishman I enjoyed this far more than our game. I'm a Sheff Wed fan and with two of our lads playing (Bannan had a great game and hopefully Fletcher's goal will raise his confidence) I'll try and tune into more Scotland matches this campaign.

[Edinburger]

Don Veloci said:

FN2TypeR said:

Who is there left in the Championship to stop them now Hearts and Rangers are out of the way though?

Then again, they can always find a way to Hibs it at the last hurdle I guess.

"Hibs it" is exactly what I was thinking. Falkirk are always there abouts over the distance and I don't actually think Dundee Utd will be too far away. So, beat to first place and mess up the playoffs. It's the Hibs way.

Edited by Don Veloci on Tuesday 6th September 09:32

This "Hibsed it" thing is getting a bit boring to be honest.

Look at last season, we made it to the play offs of the league and to the final of both major cups.

We've retained a very promising young team, added promising signings, attracted a high quality manager, sold over 10K season tickets and if you believe what Mr Petrie says we have one of the healthiest bank balances in Scottish football.

Oh, and we're playing good football.

Bring it on I say!

[Don Veloci]

Edinburger said:

This "Hibsed it" thing is getting a bit boring to be honest.

Look at last season, we made it to the play offs of the league and to the final of both major cups.

We've retained a very promising young team, added promising signings, attracted a high quality manager, sold over 10K season tickets and if you believe what Mr Petrie says we have one of the healthiest bank balances in Scottish football.

Oh, and we're playing good football.

Bring it on I say!

Us non Hibs fans are going to continue enjoying that little phrase though.

I hope you're correct. That's how I want Scottish teams run preferably with a conveyor belt of Scottish talent coming through at all levels. The cream will rise and just maybe the national side will get back into a cycle of at least qualifying for majors some time before I'm deid.

At my club level us little people will enjoy our little victories. Although I'm not sure how Queens managed to win 3-1 in the diddy cup I'd much rather they take a chunk of league points off Hibs and the rest over a season and keep looking up rather than anywhere else.

[simoid]

Edinburger said:

This "Hibsed it" thing is getting a bit boring to be honest.

Look at last season, we made it to the play offs of the league and to the final of both major cups.

We've retained a very promising young team, added promising signings, attracted a high quality manager, sold over 10K season tickets and if you believe what Mr Petrie says we have one of the healthiest bank balances in Scottish football.

Oh, and we're playing good football.

Bring it on I say!

A football club having a healthy bank balance is quite pointless when it could be invested more effectively.

Says the Rangers fan...

[Edinburger]

Masaive gulf between Celtic and The Rangers today.

[Driver101]

Edinburger said:

Masaive gulf between Celtic and The Rangers today.

It was rather predictable to be honest. I don't know how many people had bet on 5-1. A lot predicted that score.