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Can we ever imagine a Scotland without the Old Firm?


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2 minutes ago, Ron Aldo said:

At the risk of possibly sounding silly, I've always wondered why that hasn't happened up here.

There's pretty much no money to be made in owning a football club. If I was a millionaire it would seem more appealing to put a few million into a Scottish club to have a go at winning a few titles rather than putting many millions into an English club with the aim to finish 17th or higher.

I have always said if I won £50+ million on Euromillions I would put £20m into the club, expecting zero return, just for a top 6 finish and a cup final appearance.

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Unfortunately while we may dream of removing the clubs from the Scottish football system, they would still exist as entities to follow regardless of where the games were played and therefore so would their fans and the prejudiced views in society

 

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44 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said:

"As well as this there has been a continual failure from anyone – Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen – to systematically believe they could challenge the status quo. All the non-Old Firm pack start off each season with the belief that the best they can do is finish third in the league and maybe win a cup: it is a philosophy which breeds being second-best and not trying to win."

This part is complete bollocks. It's unfathomably simplistic.

Come on Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen, we know you don't have anything like their budget, but TRY HARDER! BELIEVE HARDER!

Maybe when Hearts were a goal up in the 2019 cup final, Hearts could just have BELIEVED HARDER to stop Celtic's eight million pound striker scoring the two goals that cost us the cup.

f**k off, put this shite in the bin.

Bad example considering hearts were ahead in the penalties in the 2020 final.   Wasn't as if we had a multimillion pound goalkeeper in goals either that saved the decisive penalties.  Celtic were there for the taking.

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18 minutes ago, Dons_1988 said:

Would look forward to 90% of sportsound being dedicated to celtics trip to Sunderland and rangers hosting Burnley. 

Imagine Pat Bonner reporting and spraffing shite from Luton :lol: 

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1 minute ago, ropy said:

The clubs won’t disappear.  The best scenario would be for the football fan base in Scotland to be distributed more evenly.  I have no idea how that could begin to happen.

We had the chance to change the rule from 10-2 when the stickies died and the new club formed in L2.  Sadly Aberdeen fucked it for all of us and voted against it with Celtc.  Now stuff like that will never be changed as the "Old Firm" will always vote together.

Best way forward, if keeping two Champions League spots is for a playoff within the 2-5 sides for the other European positions imo.  1 off games where 2nd and 3rd are at home to 4th and 5th with a final at the highest ranked clubs ground.   The Old Firm would always shite themselves though and will never happen. 

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We should squeeze the f**k out of the OF with lots of rules that hamper them so that eventually they’re desperate to leave: 

 

Any sectarian comments or songs, stadium closed for a match.

No first team squads larger than 20 players.

No huddles.

No signings over £1m.

No tv coverage of OF matches.

No friendlies once the season has started.

No signing players from clubs in the same  league.

No OF ex-players allowed to be on tv or radio coverage of Scottish football. 

No weird drinking cup rituals.

No national flags of any description allowed into grounds.

No signing players from clubs in other leagues.

No displays of Celtic or rangers tops, scarves or any colours anywhere outside Glasgow. This includes kids going to their local football training sessions.

The league table is only allowed to ever show OF sides when they have other teams above them, at all other times it’s displayed from 3rd down.

The OF automatically are paired together in the first round of every cup competition they enter.

Away ticket allocation for OF fans are only allowed to be sold to pensioners, women and under 12’s as the rest can’t be trusted to behave.

 

There’s enough clubs that if they showed a backbone and grouped together they could end the OF stranglehold on Scottish football once and for all.
If we can’t chase them out, we’ll breed them out. Or something.

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1 minute ago, PauloPerth said:

We should squeeze the f**k out of the OF with lots of rules that hamper them so that eventually they’re desperate to leave: 

 

Any sectarian comments or songs, stadium closed for a match.

No first team squads larger than 20 players.

No huddles.

No signings over £1m.

No tv coverage of OF matches.

No friendlies once the season has started.

No signing players from clubs in the same  league.

No OF ex-players allowed to be on tv or radio coverage of Scottish football. 

No weird drinking cup rituals.

No national flags of any description allowed into grounds.

No signing players from clubs in other leagues.

No displays of Celtic or rangers tops, scarves or any colours anywhere outside Glasgow. This includes kids going to their local football training sessions.

The league table is only allowed to ever show OF sides when they have other teams above them, at all other times it’s displayed from 3rd down.

The OF automatically are paired together in the first round of every cup competition they enter.

Away ticket allocation for OF fans are only allowed to be sold to pensioners, women and under 12’s as the rest can’t be trusted to behave.

 

There’s enough clubs that if they showed a backbone and grouped together they could end the OF stranglehold on Scottish football once and for all.
If we can’t chase them out, we’ll breed them out. Or something.

This is probably the most authoritarian comment I’ve ever seen on here 

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I would happily take the hit on the league coefficient by having those two bugger off. I'm also fully aware this will never actually happen (and if it did then the 'colts' would remain in their place), but the amount they limit what other teams can accomplish any given season is undeniable.

Tl;dr - I wish, I really do.

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29 minutes ago, Gallo24 said:

Bad example considering hearts were ahead in the penalties in the 2020 final.   Wasn't as if we had a multimillion pound goalkeeper in goals either that saved the decisive penalties.  Celtic were there for the taking.

Yeah, you're right. That completely obliterates the point...

Nobody is saying shock results don't happen. But had Celtic somehow managed to lose to Hearts in that cup final, it would have been a monumental failure on their part. Expecting the other clubs to 'want it more' is facile bullshit.

It's only peddled by Old Firm types who want to convince themselves that their team's successes are in any way meaningful.

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1 minute ago, VincentGuerin said:

Yeah, you're right. That completely obliterates the point...

Nobody is saying shock results don't happen. But had Celtic somehow managed to lose to Hearts in that cup final, it would have been a monumental failure on their part. Expecting the other clubs to 'want it more' is facile bullshit.

It's only peddled by Old Firm types who want to convince themselves that their team's successes are in any way meaningful.

It's like Rangers claiming 55 Scottish titles is respected by anyone apart from themselves and the Scottish media.  

 

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2 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

It's like Rangers claiming 55 Scottish titles is respected by anyone apart from themselves and the Scottish media.  

 

One could praise Hearts, Hibs, and Aberdeen for the frequency with which they finish high up the league and qualify for Europe.

But one can't help but wonder whether East Fife and Peterhead could maybe challenge us more if they just wanted it more and believed a bit more. Shame on them for being so defeatist.

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1 hour ago, VincentGuerin said:

We hear stuff like this all the time, and it's nonsense peddled by our OF sycophant media.

Hearts have a financial advantage over clubs like Ross County etc, but we also operate in a pack where there are a number of clubs with our budget or a lot closer to it than we are to the OF. It's much, much, much more likely in any season that Hearts, Hibs, or Aberdeen will be relegated than it is that anyone can compete with the Old Firm.

It's not even close.

This is true. Without the OF Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen would be considered the big 3 but they are within reach of the others. I don't think people want a completely even playing field but at least one that gives teams a fighting chance. It is not difficult to find a league season when one of these teams don't finish 3rd indicating that in any given season Motherwell, Kilmarnock or Dundee Utd can finish above them.

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4 minutes ago, Gallo24 said:

Happy to be proved wrong but can you show me where people have said that non-OF teams should just "believe" or "want it more"?

"As well as this there has been a continual failure from anyone – Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen – to systematically believe they could challenge the status quo. All the non-Old Firm pack start off each season with the belief that the best they can do is finish third in the league and maybe win a cup: it is a philosophy which breeds being second-best and not trying to win."

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8 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said:

"As well as this there has been a continual failure from anyone – Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen – to systematically believe they could challenge the status quo. All the non-Old Firm pack start off each season with the belief that the best they can do is finish third in the league and maybe win a cup: it is a philosophy which breeds being second-best and not trying to win."

You could quote the plethora of OF posters here who tell us County/Livi/St. Johnstone/Kilmarnock can't win the league because they just don't try hard enough as well.

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Aye the Old Firm is the problem in a country the size of Scotland having 42 ‘Senior’ clubs. 
 

Four clubs in Angus

Four or is it 5 clubs in Fife

Two clubs in the same street FFS

Rangers and Celtic bring 90% of the money into the Scottish game but it’s their fault other clubs play in front of empty stadiums every week

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