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ROBROYSTON

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    Gordon Strachan the voice of scottish fitba

    in Scottish League 1 General Chatter

    Posted

    From the Times yesterday:-

    Ross Graham, the Forfar Athletic chairman, has hit back at claims by Gordon Strachan that the country’s lower-division clubs do not contribute enough to Scottish football.

    In a withering attack on part-time clubs, mainly in Leagues One and Two, Strachan yesterday said that they were only pretending to be professional and that they expected the rest of the league to look after them.

    The former Scotland manager criticised the wages they paid, the crowds they attracted and accused them of failing to produce players, all of which has angered Graham, whose club finished ninth in League One last season.

    “His comments are pretty consistent with somebody that has no experience of working in part-time, lower-league football,” said Graham. “He obviously has no knowledge of how professionally things are done at our level. To call clubs like ours unprofessional is very disrespectful to managers such as Jim Duffy, Jim McInally, Peter Grant, Ray McKinnon, Mark Wilson and Ian Murray, who have played at the highest level and are bringing their professionalism to the lower leagues.”

    Graham said Strachan had wrongly conflated part-time football with a lack of professionalism. “If you have a part-time doctor or a part-time nurse working at a hospital, they’re no less professional than full-timers. It’s the same in football. Regardless of how many hours are worked, there is professionalism right down the four divisions.”

    Strachan called for a rethink of the game’s structure. He said that clubs with no ambition to better themselves should find their level outwith the Scottish Professional Football League instead of expecting support from the SPFL and having a say on its big issues.

    Graham, in response, insists that all the power lies with the Premiership, where an 11-1 majority is required to pass reconstruction proposals. He also vehemently denies that clubs in the bottom two tiers are sponging off the rest. “The distribution money isn’t what keeps part-time clubs alive because such a small percentage of it actually makes it down the leagues,” he said. “It’s contained within the top division. The part-time clubs cut their cloth to suit. If any clubs are going to go bust in this Covid crisis, they are more likely to be full-time than part-time.”

    Graham says that the structure already rewards ambitious clubs and punishes those who have failed to keep up. In recent years, Cove Rangers and Edinburgh City have been promoted to League Two via the pyramid system and have more than held their own.

    The Forfar chairman urges critics not to forget the important role performed by part-time league clubs, economic and socially, in their community. He also suggests that Dundee, of whom Strachan is technical director, have not exactly covered themselves in glory when it comes to professionalism recently. “Arbroath have taken points from them. Alloa have taken points from them. Elgin City beat them in the Challenge Cup. If the professionalism was there, I don’t think clubs like that would have an earthly. The gap between part-time and full-time is not as big as some people think.”

    Strachan’s other major criticism was that clubs in the bottom two tiers had not produced enough talented players, but Graham says that many of the game’s top players would not have fulfilled their potential had they been denied the chance to play league football in the lower divisions.

    “The role part-time clubs play in the transition of young development players into adults performing at the top level is massive. It’s probably the most important transition they will make.

    “Look at the Scotland captain, Andy Robertson, who did it at Queen’s Park. Scott McKenna is another. Both of them will say that their time in lower-league football prepared them for playing at a higher level.”

     

     

    6

    B teams of Big Clubs in Lower Leagues

    in Scottish Football - Fans' Views

    Posted

    38 minutes ago, BACKOFTHENET said:

    We need to put the big teams, under 21 year old sides in the lower divisions. This change is about helping the international side, not about helping the big sides.
    By giving young players early competitive experience, we will develop more players good enough for the international side.
    So we will be able to qualify for and be dark horses for major tournaments.
    France, Germany, Croatia, Spain, and the Netherlands play their big sides b teams in the lower divisions to help develop more young players.  Look at how well Croatia did to reach the World Cup Final. I f we allowed big sides to play reserve teams in the lower leagues, then maybe we could develop more great players like the Croatian league does.
    Scotland should copy this, to maximize the potential of young Scottish players.
    Critics will say, it is unfair take the places of other teams in the league. But I think the priority is the national teams, and the performance of our club sides in European competitions. I think it is idiotic and unpatriotic, to place two or three part time sides league positions, above maximizing the potential of our young Scottish players. Would you rather a party time team 3 or four places higher in the league or Scotland reach a major tournament?
    That is dumb and unpatriotic.
    I like part time Scottish sides, they had to the richness and history of Scottish Sport. I support the part time teams being in the Scottish league, as they can develop players too and give match experience to young players by playing their big sides under 21 sides.
    But the priority is the national side.
    What gets on my nerves is people who say that we should only have 20 teams in the Scottish League, because they do not want loads of part time teams, in the league yet when you put forward the idea of utilising the part time teams in the lower leagues to give games against under 21 sides, suddenly that same person claims we are insulting the smaller sides by playing them.
    When for a decade Scotland had a c divisions where big sides b teams played against part time sides, and when
     
    Also we need the top clubs to be ruthless in developing young players and signing top talent from abroad so our top teams can do well in Europe and make Scotland proud, so we need to have a system where top teams have a gateway for young players to develop in competitive games, maximizing the potential of our young players.
    The development of the national team and our clubs sides performances in Europe is the priority.

     

    Utter Drival. End Off.

    1

    The Leeds Thread

    in Misc Other Fitba Chat

    Posted

    Two away games changed for showing on sky:-

    Our December away fixtures against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest have both been moved back after being selected to be shown live on Sky Sports.

    The trip to face Wolves at Molineux (originally Tuesday December 15) will now take place on Thursday December 17 (7.45pm kick-off), while our visit to Forest’s City Ground (originally Saturday December 26) has been put back to Sunday December 27 (4.30pm kick-off).

    The Football League have also confirmed that further live selections for December will be made in due course.

    This will mean both home games against Preston on saturday the 19th and Derby on the 28th being moved i would think.

    0

    Rugby Union

    in All Other Sports

    Posted

    Leeds Rhinos won the Super League Shield tonight with a 20-16 win at Huddersfield.

    The scores were tied 16-16 with the hooter about to go and Ryan Hall scored to win the game and shield for the Rhinos.

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