What is the answer?

[jagsfan57]

On 28/07/2023 at 21:09, TheScarf said:

No TV company would touch Scottish football if there was only 2 Old Firms instead of 4. The SPFL would never change the format and risk that. 

They can create as many old firm games as they want for tv and their fans would tune in. 

[lubo_blaha]

On 28/07/2023 at 21:09, TheScarf said:

No TV company would touch Scottish football if there was only 2 Old Firms instead of 4. The SPFL would never change the format and risk that. 

You could have a two-legged ‘Super Cup’ between the first and second placed teams to kick off the season.

[kennie makevin]

On 30/07/2023 at 11:30, lubo_blaha said:

You could have a two-legged ‘Super Cup’ between the first and second placed teams to kick off the season.

Or even better have them draw each other in the first available Scottish Cup and League Cup round. Two League games , two cup ties every season with the added bonus of preventing ever again the cancer that is an 'Old Firm cup final'.

Edited July 31, 2023 by kennie makevin

[realmadrid]

There are odd results all over Europe at this stage

The Swedish teams have had a nightmare this season

Rosenborg could not beat Crusaders 

Basel lost at home to a team from Kazakhstan

A team from the Faroe Islands beat Ferencvaros in the champions league

We all moan football is too predictable at times, this is all good.

The system its self while designed to keep the top 4 or 5 the same for ever is also designed to keep the rest of the nations moving up and down for ever.  , where we are is as good as it will get and we will drop back to the early 20s at some point before a recovery again in time.

Edited July 31, 2023 by realmadrid

[ahemps]

22 hours ago, realmadrid said:

There are odd results all over Europe at this stage

The Swedish teams have had a nightmare this season

Rosenborg could not beat Crusaders 

Basel lost at home to a team from Kazakhstan

A team from the Faroe Islands beat Ferencvaros in the champions league

We all moan football is too predictable at times, this is all good.

The system its self while designed to keep the top 4 or 5 the same for ever is also designed to keep the rest of the nations moving up and down for ever.  , where we are is as good as it will get and we will drop back to the early 20s at some point before a recovery again in time.

It is the early rounds though, still not really giving much hope for football to be more competitive is it?

The conference league has been a good addition and I think from next year there is no more drop downs after the group stages which will help the Europa and Conference winners be a bit more variable. 

[realmadrid]

32 minutes ago, ahemps said:

It is the early rounds though, still not really giving much hope for football to be more competitive is it?

The conference league has been a good addition and I think from next year there is no more drop downs after the group stages which will help the Europa and Conference winners be a bit more variable. 

The point i am trying to make is that people seem to think its just Scottish teams that struggle at this stage of the competition, its happening all over with teams from larger leagues and with bigger budgets going out or dropping down a competition. Also being realistic we are not the 9th biggest league in UEFA so are punching well over our weight.

Unfortunately when the main competitions start the chances of surprise results drop significantly  

[craigkillie]

Seems like we've found it.

[Stylish Kid]

So one thing I just want to clear up - I know Scottish teams have to enter Europe generally early but there never seems to be this wailing and gnashing of teeth from EPL teams over "not being match fit"

 

Is this issue because we aren't on top of our conditioning and make excuses or is it because we generally have to play against teams in Europe who are more advanced in their seasons?

[ahemps]

11 hours ago, Stylish Kid said:

So one thing I just want to clear up - I know Scottish teams have to enter Europe generally early but there never seems to be this wailing and gnashing of teeth from EPL teams over "not being match fit"

 

Is this issue because we aren't on top of our conditioning and make excuses or is it because we generally have to play against teams in Europe who are more advanced in their seasons?

Burnley were still using the excuse their 2 early Europa league qualifying rounds had a detrimental impact on them in March the year they were in Europe (they stayed up that year but got relegated the next without Europe)

In the SPFL Rangers and Hibs lost their opening games, Aberdeen drew while Celtic were not as convincing as you'd expect on their opening fixtures. When the difference between the teams isn't that big I think playing teams who have already had some competitive fixtures can be a bit of a disadvantage.

The EPL complain about the fixture scheduling a lot.

[HibeeJibee]

Being halfway through certainly proved the difference for Rosenborg, and starting a fortnight earlier certainly gave Lucerne and Servette the edge, eh?

[Stylish Kid]

On 18/08/2023 at 10:34, ahemps said:

The EPL complain about the fixture scheduling a lot.

I think theirs tends to be more general and comes from greed - they don't want to play League Cup, and "congestion" is a cipher for "we don't want our players playing international football"

19 hours ago, HibeeJibee said:

Being halfway through certainly proved the difference for Rosenborg, and starting a fortnight earlier certainly gave Lucerne and Servette the edge, eh?

If Devlin hadn't scored in injury time, I think Rosenborg would have edged it in ET. Both teams looked dead on their feet, but IMO only Rosenborg looked like they'd have coped with another 30 mins 

[2426255]

Shit week for Scottish clubs. I had the Hearts game on, but after PAOK scored their 2nd switched over to watch Aberdeen. It was a fun, open ended game to watch but still a poor outcome. 

I'm not doom and gloom personally, I have long ago set my expectations very low for Scottish teams in European competitions. Thank f**k for the National Team though.

[Connor7]

Hearts and Hibs outcomes were expected. Maybe not as comfortable as they ended up. 
 

Rangers - Outcome expected, however didn’t expect the 2nd leg pumping

 

Aberdeen - got to feel disappointed. Won’t get a better chance to qualify for EL group stage. The boy Sadiq is a player, but missed opportunity. 
 

 

Edited August 31, 2023 by Connor7

[badgerthewitness]

Summer

Fitba

[Monkey Tennis]

10 minutes ago, badgerthewitness said:

Summer

Fitba

Is

A

Terrible

Idea

[badgerthewitness]

7 minutes ago, Monkey Tennis said:

Is

A

Terrible

Idea

I was taking the piss. 

[Monkey Tennis]

3 minutes ago, badgerthewitness said:

I was taking the piss. 

Yes, I thought you might be.  

It doesn't make any difference.  Summer football is a terrible idea, whether proposed in all sincerity, or otherwise.

[velo army]

1 hour ago, Monkey Tennis said:

Yes, I thought you might be.  

It doesn't make any difference.  Summer football is a terrible idea, whether proposed in all sincerity, or otherwise.

Behave.

It's not perfect, but it's certainly not a "terrible idea".

I think scottish teams bringing in coaches who can set up teams for European matches might be more immediately effective than summer football right now, but playing at a time of year where we don't need undersoil heating and people are more easily persuaded to sit outside watching football seems pretty sensible to me.

As you can tell, I'm a proponent of summer football. I'll concede that finishing the season in November isn't ideal, but neither is playing in the depths of winter. I think attendances for clubs outwith the top division would be higher which would increase revenue and hence the quality. I also think that TV deals would be better given we wouldn't be competing for audiences for english games.

Many positives, I feel.

[Monkey Tennis]

5 hours ago, velo army said:

Behave.

It's not perfect, but it's certainly not a "terrible idea".

I think scottish teams bringing in coaches who can set up teams for European matches might be more immediately effective than summer football right now, but playing at a time of year where we don't need undersoil heating and people are more easily persuaded to sit outside watching football seems pretty sensible to me.

As you can tell, I'm a proponent of summer football. I'll concede that finishing the season in November isn't ideal, but neither is playing in the depths of winter. I think attendances for clubs outwith the top division would be higher which would increase revenue and hence the quality. I also think that TV deals would be better given we wouldn't be competing for audiences for english games.

Many positives, I feel.

Is there evidence that gates are markedly higher during the warmer months that we do currently play games in?

If so, I've not seen it.  

Personally, I'd be less likely to attend during summer months when other things might compete for my attention.  I also think we really need our football during the winter months, to sustain us when life can otherwise be pretty grim.  I find the winter breaks we often have in the top flight bloody stupid. 

 

[velo army]

29 minutes ago, Monkey Tennis said:

Is there evidence that gates are markedly higher during the warmer months that we do currently play games in?

If so, I've not seen it.  

Personally, I'd be less likely to attend during summer months when other things might compete for my attention.  I also think we really need our football during the winter months, to sustain us when life can otherwise be pretty grim.  I find the winter breaks we often have in the top flight bloody stupid. 

 

Aye I hear you on the winter sans fitba being bleak, although I'll remind you of this if Queens are bottom in January and you're getting scudded every week. .

Any evidence of football being watched more in summer months than winter would currently be irrelevant to my argument due to the sunny days bookending the season (if you have something to play for then more will go in the run-in, I imagine).