Scottish Football

[Finnegan]

not sure saying scottish football is shit is "#LADbanter" but hey ho. 

 

i've never said it was funny, was a good joke, wasn't childish etc, i just said it's true and it winds people up. look at this thread, finners and leicsmac getting their knickers in a twist because someone said scottish football was shit. they said it, got a reaction, they'll say it again. 

 

scottish football is shit in terms of quality, it's depressing to watch in the most part too. i'll give it a go if nothing else is on, like yesterday, and it just backs up the idea that it is shit. 

 

 

There you go, that's exactly what I'm talking about. 

 

Nobody's wound up, nobody's getting their knickers in a twist. Have you seen Grandad go at it? Or Kitchensink in full swing? That's getting wound up. Nobody in here is particularly upset or "trolled." I'm just saying you're being a bit soft.

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

Finners, what we gonna do?

[Stadt]

Scottish football is shit but that's why I occasionally watch it, watching Ryan Mcgivern play in England is painful but in Scotland it's a laugh.

I know Scotland is a small country but attendances are the biggest disappointment in my eyes

[Finnegan]

Finners, what we gonna do?

Roadtrip to Cowdenbeath.

[Guest MattP]

Actually great for the Scottish Championship to have Rangers, Hearts and Hibbies in. Actually adding some excitement to a dead league.

 

I bet it's never happened before where the 2nd tier will probably have a higher average attendance than the 1st tier in a countries season.

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

With regards to average attendances in the SPL, (aside from the obvious demotion of Rangers) I think the figures owe heavily on the clubs considered 'bigger' faring better on the pitch. If Hibs and Hearts (for example) are doing well, they'll quite easily pull in a few more thousand which doesn't sound much but in fact it is considering the size of the league. 

 

When Hibs had a seemingly endless conveyor belt of talent not long back (06/07) their average attendance was bordering on 15,000, compared to just over 11,000 this season. Might not sound much but considering the average of St. Johnstone and Inverness were both less than 4,000 it's not to be sniffed at north of the border.

[Guest MattP]

Irish Celtic fans turning down the Celtic job to be a coach at Villa

[Narborough_fox]

No one will want that Celtic job now Lennon has left. 

 

They'll win the title next year, and be in the Champions League but there's no appeal to Celtic/SPL for a player now. Celtic may well be able to agree a fee with the club but if you were a player at a Championship club why would you want to go there? You don't get paid well, there aren't any 'big' games with Rangers, Herats and Hibs in the Championship and with the current strength of the squad Celtic won't advance far in the Champions League. 

[Manwell Pablo]

Genuine question here...what do you actually get out of it? Does it give you a rush?

I'm genuinely interested in the reasons.

 

People who are starved of attention from an early age try and get reactions anyway they can

[RonnieTodger]

Scottish football is shit but that's why I occasionally watch it, watching Ryan Mcgivern play in England is painful but in Scotland it's a laugh.

I know Scotland is a small country but attendances are the biggest disappointment in my eyes

 

Doesn't Scotland have the best percentage of population attend domestic games in the world?

[Stadt]

Doesn't Scotland have the best percentage of population attend domestic games in the world?

Probably, but clubs take massive followings to cup games and then get 1/2 or even a 1/4 of that at home

[The Doctor]

Doesn't Scotland have the best percentage of population attend domestic games in the world?

 

Because most of it is populated by one man and his dog. The attendances are awful given the size of the cities, the good %age population stat comes from half the country being hills and lakes rather than people.

Edited 4 June 2014 by The Doctor

[Vacamion]

Because most of it is populated by one man and his dog. The attendances are awful given the size of the cities, the good %age population stat comes from half the country being hills and lakes rather than people.

Am I being daft here?

Surely it doesn't matter where people are distributed. The stat just takes into account population and number of clubs, does it not?

If I have misunderstood, please set me straight.

[The Doctor]

Am I being daft here?

Surely it doesn't matter where people are distributed. The stat just takes into account population and number of clubs, does it not?

If I have misunderstood, please set me straight.

 

It's attendances as a total of overall population, but the reason it looks good is because Scotland is sparsely populated - the attendances as a percentage of each cities population would be a lot worse I think.

 

edit: Looking good against other nations of course - if the nation has a greater rural/remote population, then it's going to have a lower % attendance of population, Scotland's population being concentrated in cities, near teams makes it look better. Should have made that clear to start with.

Edited 4 June 2014 by The Doctor

[purpleronnie]

What a finish.

 

Well done Hearts!!!

[Tom17LCFC]

hahahahaha lovely.

[Steve_Walsh5]

I wish I just watched the last 6 minutes instead of sitting through and watching the other 90 minutes of rubbish.

Rangers fans booing at the final whistle

[Corky]

Saw the equaliser.

 

So, Ally, what happened next?

[Stuliasz]

Hibs keeper does a Lonergan against Livingston!

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/scotland/28731459

[Bilo]

The Championship in Scotland could be well worth watching this season for the reasons Matt has cited. The capital city's Old Firm  are in there, Scotland must be the only country in Europe to have no representation from the capital in  their top tier, and there is the very real prospect that attendances, TV audience and outside interest will knock the cakewalk in the division above into a cocked hat. I doubt Rangers will have it all their own way this year, and everyone will be all the better for it.

 

The SPL is dead, but what do you expect? Rangers' demotion hasn't helped, but it's the money enjoyed south of the border that's killed the Scottish domestic game.

 

Fulham, neither a large nor a Premier League club now, have just spent £11m on Ross McCormack while Celtic, undisputed champions of Scotland and CL regulars, have had to sell their goalkeeper to a team that will consider midtable in the Prem a fairly good return. If you think it's hard for Championship and midtable Premier League sides to hold on to their talent, try being a Scottish side. Anybody with an ounce of talent playing the SPFL gets scouted and signed by an English club before you can say Edinburgh Waverley. 

 

The standard is low, the attendances lower but give me a ticket for the Edinburgh derby over any English second tier derby any day of the week. Real, visceral loathing between Hearts and Hibs, or the biannual love-in between Florist and Direby as they daisychain each other over long gone successes under a long dead manager? No contest.

[Voll Blau]

Scotland must be the only country in Europe to have no representation from the capital in  their top tier,

 

Wales doesn't. 

[Bilo]

Wales doesn't. 

 

Good shout, wasn't sure if there was a team from the suburbs in the WPL when I posted that.

[Countesthorpe Fox 1884]

I would the rest of the scottish premier league is on par with our league 1 if im brutally honest

[Vacamion]

The SPL is dead, but what do you expect?

 

It's called the Scottish Premiership since the SPL and the SFL merged into the SPFL last year.

 

 

Whilst I concede that it will take a war or a natural disaster for Celtic not to win the thing, there is plenty to play for for the other teams in the top tier.

 

It's a bit patronising to suggest that the other teams in the top tier, and their fans, have just shrugged "Oh well, let's not give a stuff because the Orcs, the Jam Tarts and the Skag-monkeys are in the league below".

 

I went to a few games last year (in a season when "The Rangers" were in the lower leagues and Hearts were struggling to survive and were certs for relegation) and I can confirm that the teams I saw (the non-Embra, non-Old Firm teams) still really do care about winning and performing.

 

Top flight games still mean a lot up here to the "Diddy" teams, even if the UK-wide media says otherwise.

 

As a bonus, Glasgow remains a lot nicer place to live, work and socialise without Old Firm games, as well. 

[lcfc"weasel"]

Good shout, wasn't sure if there was a team from the suburbs in the WPL when I posted that.

Nearest WPL team to Cardiff is Port Talbot and that's basically Swansea. Most of them are in North East Wales, up near Cheshire and that, plus TNS who play in England.

Back to Scottish football, as has been said, for Celtic to not win the title, an unimaginable something would have to happen. But the competition for other European spots is still rife among the others, with any of 4 or 5 teams having quite a realistic chance. Scottish Championship is definitely the more competitive of the two with 3 of the 5 most successful clubs in Scotland taking part this season and only two able to gain promotion. I think it'll be Rangers and Hibs personally, even with Rangers getting beat by there best friends earlier today.