stu2910

Would be interesting to know if there's actually any relevance in being Bronze/Silver/Gold/Platinum. If we can be Bronze in the top flight it's clearly not that important. I guess stadium grades will maybe have an impact on those that are chosen for cup neutral venues, Scotland youths etc. Can't see how the rest would have any actual impact though other than a pat on the back. On a side note, it's an absolute joke what has happened with the pyramid play off. IMO, under no circumstances should a club ever be refused promotion on any of these criteria, especially when there are clubs at the level they are trying to reach and even the one higher than that that have the same level of award. I know it says they were given a chance to apply for a grace period, but that should just be in place regardless. The current farce just makes a mockery of the whole system. Same goes for the next level down as I see that the Midland league that is full of Dundee and Angus clubs, which feeds into the Highland League playoff has never actually managed to produce a champion that is allowed to compete in the playoff. I appreciate there are probably a fair few of the clubs that look at away trips to Wick and decide they're better staying put, but when you've no idea what teams are genuinely in line for promotion it's hard to keep an interest.

Is there anything that explains what’s required for each tier? Youth, legal and ground are reasonably self explanatory, but first team?! Also what the relevance is when RC passed them all but were refused.

That's a bit out of nowhere. So essentially this would mean that the operation of the club and all first team activities would generally move to the stadium, while youths and girls would use riverside, with the community able to use both. Would suggest no long term future for Gardyne unless I'm missing something. Though reading it again it suggests that we are unlikely to build training facilities at the stadium and at riverside...so seems weird to be in the planning stages of both side by side unless we are basically hedging our bets in case one is rejected.

That would feel better. As a 31 year old, the concept of being so positive about both Dundee and Scotland makes me feel queasy.

You're up against Dundee, one of us has to be successful however bizarre that seems... Watch as we pip you to 5th and then get denied a UEFA license for the pitch or something.

Would love for that to happen but I'd imagine they'd still rather send him to a bigger club down south than back here to play, in all likelihood, 2 European matches. Hopefully even if he's not fit he gets a chance to come back for the Killie game to say bye. It's something that we never managed to do with Gowser and potentially Kerr by the look of it - whatever people's thoughts on those 2 they at least earned that. On Beck though, outside the mental era of the early 2000s, have we ever had a player make such an impact in so few games?

Spending choices will be influenced by promotion, but I only mentioned promotion in the sense that we would all try to “sell” our clubs to people that don’t go to games. I think we should maybe leave this one here before we derail this thread which is about journalism apparently.

So we should just not try to grow the league because people can spend their money how they like? Do you work for the SFA? Surely the whole point of advertising is encouraging people to spend their money differently.

I knew it had been a bit skewed but that’s ridiculous. Even if it’s replaced with an average game against, say, Hibs, we are looking at easily 4000 less tickets sold. Even if we’d only had 2 extra derbies to bring it up to 4 and 5, that’s potentially £150k-£200k in lost revenue. Imagine what that could pay for, oh yeh, a fine.

Deserving is always a dangerous word to use, but yes, Scottish clubs need the money more than English ones in general. Scottish table tennis needs the money more than Scottish football. I need the money more than Scottish table tennis. Someone using a food bank needs the money more than me. Given the discussion was about reallocating money already being spent on football, on a football forum, I’m not sure bringing anything else in to it was overly relevant.

Not even sure what point you’re trying to make with that, but yeh we probably should. Or literally anything that isn’t just chucking at some of the biggest business in the world that wouldn’t miss it.

It’s not taking a moral high ground. It’s questioning how we can encourage others to consider why they put so much time and money into a sport in a different country when they could have much more impact with that input on their own doorstep.

I’d love to be proven wrong but I just don’t see Sharp or Robertson having any future here. Robertson looks great and has good technique but influences the game very little. He would have ripped up league 1 in that Falkirk team. I don’t think randomly bringing him in for the toughest games makes a lot of sense. Sharp maybe can reach the level required but he’s never going to get a chance to do that here. Both need a full season of being regular starters at Championship level really, but that division is so cut throat at both ends that finding someone that will give them that chance is a bit challenging. The likes of Airdrie are maybe a decent bet.

Overlooking the derbies drives me insane. The Edinburgh Derby is absolutely the 2nd biggest game in the country and should be given that profile. Even if you accept that Aberdeen v Rangers etc has appeal, the Dundee Derby has got to be in our top 5 biggest matches, certainly in terms of spectacle if not always quality - regularly a full house and the 0-0 draw we had last season ended a run of 28 matches without one. The idea that these games are ever overlooked is just mindblowing. They are among our very few opportunities to show the best of our game without 2 clubs. Imagine the heads gone down south if the Manchester Derby wasn't on TV.

That's all fair. I think to try to bring this to an end will we try to agree on something: Scottish football is marketed terribly, particularly with the focus on 2 clubs, but is also screwed over by being one of only 3 national football associations who's national broadcaster is also the national broadcaster for a much bigger league.