craigkillie

Dave Cormack also saying that season ticket holders will be able to watch televised games as part of their ticket cost. I'd suggest that leans towards the idea that Sky have capped the number of viewers for their televised games, not the non-televised ones. I'm sure it will come out soon, although perhaps the clubs won't mind this misinformation being spread for a wee while if it convinces a few more folk to buy season tickets.

I think it's conceivably the case that this is only about games covered by Sky. I agree this would make perfect sense. It allows home clubs to sell full season tickets but ensures that clubs don't end up in competition with Sky.

The proposal to end the season (from April, not March) came from the SPFL Board, of which he is a member alongside various representatives from different divisions. It was claimed at the time that this was based on requests from several clubs, particularly those in the lower leagues, and that was borne out by the fact that the vast majority of the clubs voted in favour of it. The current proposal is directly linked to that, in the sense that the April paper included a commitment to explore league reconstruction. Therefore the idea of at least discussing league reconstruction was the will of all of the clubs who voted in favour of that proposal (in addition to many of those who voted against it). Budge was put in charge of that committee, which ultimately made a pigs ear of the whole thing to the extent that they couldn't even reach enough agreement to produce a proposal that the clubs could vote on. It's worth noting that there were several other committees meeting at the same time on a number of issues as part of the SFA/SPFL Joint Response Group, and Doncaster himself was chairing the one related to broadcasting rights. Possibly he now has a bit more time on his hands now that he's sorted that out.

It's not his job to "believe" anything - it's his job to act on the will of the clubs. He can certainly recommend things, but the SPFL is a club led organisation and if they disagree then they'll vote it down.

Also confirms that the season ticket will be valid for 19 actual in-person games, which I think is a great idea. I think Hearts have done similar.

There's real vibes of a frustrated boss from Doncaster here. Asks Budge on two separate occasions to see if she can propose a sensible reconstruction plan, then gets so exasperated by her utterly hopeless incompetence than he steps in himself to try and get something sorted. I suspect he'll get a bunch of different answers from the clubs about what would work for them, so I'm not convinced it's going to make it more likely to happen, but at least there's a bit of flexibility compared to Budge's weird insistence on acting as though she held the power here.

I assume you mean the 2020/21 Scottish Cup here? If so, the preliminary rounds would normally take start in August, but that's obviously not going to happen given that none of the teams who usually participate in them will be able to play by then. I'm also not sure why it would be a big deal if the 2019/20 tournament finishes after the 2020/21 one has started.

This has nothing to do with Ofcom - they involve themselves with the "crown jewels" sporting events, which the government require to be broadcast on domestic TV (eg the World Cup, European Championships). UEFA have a rule about broadcast blackout windows and each national association can decide whether they want to put forward a window. I have no idea why you think the government would be even slightly bothered about whether football matches were broadcast at 3pm on a Saturday or not.

Ewan Murray is full of shite at the best of times, wouldn't be surprised if he's got the wrong end of the stick somewhere given that absolutely nobody else has reported that.

No, it has nothing to do with the government. UEFA allow individual nations to pick a window within which they prevent broadcasts - the intention is to protect matchday attendances within that country.

The 3pm rule is nothing to do with Sky - it's the national FAs who decide on that.

I think the phrase "sell a package to season ticket holders to watch all home games" is easy to misinterpret, but I'm pretty sure it means "sell a season ticket package which allows fans to watch streamed games". I very much doubt that anyone is charging extra for this. Ross County have already confirmed that this is how it will work for them - the virtual season ticket will entitle you to watch the streamed games and then to attend games in person once you are allowed to do so.

Your argument was that there are different players and squads, nothing to do with the amount of time between games.

When Isma Goncalves and Conor Newton scored in the 2013 League Cup final did you celebrate it a bit less because both of them didn't sign until after you'd played in the first three rounds?

The main purpose of winning the Scottish Cup isn't to provide a route to Europe, it's winning the Scottish Cup. If my team had made it to the Scottish Cup semi-final then I'd be pretty keen for it to go ahead so that we had the chance of winning it.

He doesn't "think" anything, that's the problem.

Did you not read the quote in my post where a Scottish government minister said that group training would not be permitted. If group training isn't even permitted then how on earth could you expect football to be played?

UEFA rules allow each association to nominate a window in which TV broadcasters are not allowed to show football (from any country) within their region. The UK nations are amongst a handful (perhaps even the only ones) who still choose to do this, and picked 2:45-5:15 on a Saturday. That was waived temporarily during the coronavirus, which is why BT have been able to broadcast Bundesliga on a Saturday afternoon. This streaming income is essentially replacing ticket sales in an attempt to mitigate some of the costs that clubs will incur by putting games on behind closed doors, so I don't think it will be distributed in that way - it's not being operated centrally, each club will be selling their own packages.

The Scottish Government literally banned all football activity until June 10th. https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/football/hearts/scottish-football-suspension-extended-until-june-10-medical-advice-paints-gloomy-picture-timely-resumption-201920-season-2535084 “Mr FitzPatrick stated that these restrictions were unlikely to be lifted for at least 13 weeks and that NHS Scotland had been placed on an emergency footing until at least 10 June 2020. Mr FitzPatrick indicated that no group training would be permitted before the legal restrictions are lifted and noted the medical advice that competitive matches could not take place for about six weeks after training and conditioning recommences."

Doncaster hasn't "admitted" anything at all - I don't think he's commented on broadcasting rights once, certainly not that I've seen. And I would expect them to be repaid money for last season given that last season was unable to be played finish - the total TV deal was worth something like £18m a year, so if you're not getting a chunk of what you paid for then you're going to be refunded for that. Given the ban of 3 months and counting on football being played in this country, it would be impossible for the SPFL not to breach either last season's TV contract or the upcoming five-year TV contract.

You're not suggesting that the entirely neutral Ann Budge might not be 100% truthful, surely?

I have no particular worries about Killie's financial situation. I can't imagine it's amazing, just like it won't be for any club, but we used the furlough scheme, and had lots of players out of contract this summer anyway. We also sold a player for £2m last summer and have a chairman who appears to be willing to put money in if need be. I don't believe you are posting in good faith here whatsoever. You have repeatedly claimed (despite having no evidence for it) that you think Sky will be wanting to renegotiate the TV deal, even if the SPFL adhere to it to the letter. Now you are suggesting that if they do start the season on time it will be fine, and if they don't then they're only going to want to renegotiate the first year of it. I don't see why that would be the case - if the deal is breached then they would surely be entirely within their rights to rip up the whole thing. Obviously there would still be some TV deal, but there would be no guarantee it would be anything like the same value. You've also added in some conspiracy theory stuff about Celtic fans on the board, a line which you must be raging has got absolutely no traction, even from your own fans or Rangers fans, in the 300 previous times you've alluded to it.

Sky have exclusive broadcasting rights for the top flight, which is the only league which seems to be guaranteed to start back up. While I think Sky will probably allow clubs to stream games which are behind closed doors, I think they may well have more of an issue with rival broadcasters showing them. BBC may well continue broadcasting Championship matches as they did last season, but the finances involved are unlikely to be make or break in terms of the league restarting.

I cook a lot and I tend to think I'm fairly good at it and that most of the meals I eat are pretty healthy as a result. That doesn't mean I never eat takeaway food though, and I'd say the amount that I do eat has increased during lockdown because I'm not able to go out to restaurants. OK, it's very rarely McDonalds, and I don't think I've had anything from there beyond a milkshake in years, but the idea that folk going to McDonalds are all lazy slobs who don't know how to cook properly seems a bit unfair. There's a sandwich shop near my work that I'd happily go and queue for half an hour to get something out of if/when it reopens, but that doesn't mean I don't know how to make sandwiches.

We should have written off £150m over five years to avoid a penalty clause of as little as £1.5m? And are you proposing playing the 2019/20 Premiership season during the 2020/21 season, which is what they're planning to do with the Scottish Cup? Can you see any issue with that?