Scottish Football...The Dereliction Thread.

[theblether]

@scotsexpat

A lot to digest................the root of it should be it's only a game, but you know it's far more than that for a lot for people, and for some the football is almost a by product of a cult they have signed up to.

I think a lot of us are heartily scunnered about what has happened to our game over the last 25 years, never mind the last few months. My team, Motherwell, have indicated that we are looking at another potential administration irrespective of the decision that we make in connection with Rangers, damned if we do, damned if we don't.

I remember going to Fir Park when I when Alex Ferguson brought St Mirren for a Scottish Cup tie, 23,000 in our wee stadium, we won 2-1 and the atmosphere was amazing. I saw Dalglish, McGrain, Davie Cooper, and many others work their magic. I was there when Rangers fans invaded the pitch and went on to beat us 5-3, and there the night Andy Lynch scored two own goals in the last 5 minutes, a night when Celtic could have won the Title, but instead went home nursing a 3-0 defeat.

West Brom turned up for a friendly, Willie Pettigrew and Peter Marinello of Motherwell, had a pre-match sprint race against Laurie Cunningham and Cyril Regis, Pettigrew was built like a whippet and he skelped the three of them.

Atmosphere??? Amazing.......Players??? Legendary.......Money??? never spoken about. The players were fans with shirts on.

Now, for many players , the game has all the money in the world , but I can guarantee you..............we were richer back then.

A pretty good summation, bletherer.

The question has to be how did the change happen? Was it Sky money that suddenly changed the face of football? Was it the creation of the SPL?

As a Dons fan of the Fergie era, I can only look back and scratch my head at the way football has changed, on both sides of the border, over the last 30 years.

I remember Aberdeen vs Ipswich, Aberdeen vs Liverpool in late 70's, early 80's. Battles of Britain, evenly matched (on occasions!!) with the vast majority of players on the park being Scots.

You also, at the same time, had kids out playing footie, a la 'Jumpers for Goalposts', trying to emulate the Warks, Millers, Strachans and Dalglish's.

When I am back home nowadays, the closest I see kids to a footie field is the PC screen. The players pulling on the shirts are not fans, they are the new celebrities.

I am not saying it will be easy to change this mindset, but I believe Scottish football is in the perfect position to attempt to address the failings of the last 20 odd years and bring football back to teh people it was originally supposed to be for, the fan.

North or south of the border,it's the same problem.If you're a young,talented Scottish or English footballer,you have to have to have the mental toughness as well as the ability to push on,especially in the UK where most of the top foreign players come for the money.Too many times,I see home grown youngsters playing within their comfort zone...armchair footballers I call them....and not pushing on.They need the hunger to succeed and,for whatever reason, it just isn't there anymore.Whether they're afraid to make a mistake for fear of getting pulled off or turfed out,I don't know.

James McFadden is an example of someone with bundles of talent who should have been a miles better than he is.Maybe the injury two seasons ago put him back but it's so frustrating when you see talent wasted.

I'm a Motherwell fan, you'll know James is our idol..........we were paying old pros £6000 a week and we went into administration, they all left and James got a game. He is enigmatic, but to be enigmatic, you have to be on the pitch in the first place.

These overseas players are robbing our youth of the chance of even being on the pitch.

[spongeman]

Rangers will play in the 3rd division.......when they get back to the Prem who will be left, and can anybody who wins the SPL in the meantime call themselves real champions ?

I d'ont think they can.

[smokie36]

Rangers will play in the 3rd division.......when they get back to the Prem who will be left, and can anybody who wins the SPL in the meantime call themselves real champions ?

I d'ont think they can.

What a ridiculous comment.

The winners of the SPL will have done so without cooking the books....if anything Rangers should be stripped of titles won while they were living in financial fairyland...

[spongeman]

Rangers will play in the 3rd division.......when they get back to the Prem who will be left, and can anybody who wins the SPL in the meantime call themselves real champions ?

I d'ont think they can.

What a ridiculous comment.

The winners of the SPL will have done so without cooking the books....if anything Rangers should be stripped of titles won while they were living in financial fairyland...

Smokie I think you have been smoking something and whatever it is Id like some of it.......Money makes the world go round not sentiment..........It used to be clubs that went bust next it will be whole leagues......starting with the SPL.

[smokie36]

Rangers will play in the 3rd division.......when they get back to the Prem who will be left, and can anybody who wins the SPL in the meantime call themselves real champions ?

I d'ont think they can.

What a ridiculous comment.

The winners of the SPL will have done so without cooking the books....if anything Rangers should be stripped of titles won while they were living in financial fairyland...

Smokie I think you have been smoking something and whatever it is Id like some of it.......Money makes the world go round not sentiment..........It used to be clubs that went bust next it will be whole leagues......starting with the SPL.

If it does happen...which it won't by th way...then it would be well deserved.

The days of the Glasgow mafia strangling the game are over.

I for one could care less about either of those clubs.

[spongeman]

Rangers will play in the 3rd division.......when they get back to the Prem who will be left, and can anybody who wins the SPL in the meantime call themselves real champions ?

I d'ont think they can.

What a ridiculous comment.

The winners of the SPL will have done so without cooking the books....if anything Rangers should be stripped of titles won while they were living in financial fairyland...

Smokie I think you have been smoking something and whatever it is Id like some of it.......Money makes the world go round not sentiment..........It used to be clubs that went bust next it will be whole leagues......starting with the SPL.

If it does happen...which it won't by th way...then it would be well deserved.

The days of the Glasgow mafia strangling the game are over.

I for one could care less about either of those clubs.

I d'ont support either team either, what are the chances of this SPL2 forming ? I still d'ont think the Scottish clubs have thought this through on a financial level.

[SantiSuk]

I haven't followed the detail enough, so apologies for asking some basic questions to play catch-up. What's the SPL2 proposition about and why is it still a possibility now that the new Rangers will start again in Div 3? If the old SPL continues in its present form what happens with the place that Rangers vacates - one more promotion from Div 1? Has the whole affair resulted in any changes of administration that will help Scottish football recover from its malaise. I don't understand all these dark whisperings of corruptions and mafias - is it all about the fact that the Old Firm ran everything or is there more nuance to it than that.

Point me to some journalistic piece that summarises the position for the interested but ill-informed non-Scot if there is one

[mrtoad]

Looks like the JPL is crumbling. Can't see why big TV companies are going to bother with a second rate football league.

[Mossfinn]

I haven't followed the detail enough, so apologies for asking some basic questions to play catch-up. What's the SPL2 proposition about and why is it still a possibility now that the new Rangers will start again in Div 3?

The SPL is due to meet on Monday, when the concept of an "SPL2" is set to be discussed. Under that plan, Rangers would be invited to join with other clubs offered financial incentives to leave the SFL and take part in a new setup. "will introduce a plan for SPL 2 – which would include Rangers – and invite existing Division One members to join."

Intriguingly, the club swiftly amended those words to state an SPL2 "was mooted last week" when it was suggested that it could "swing into action in the event of today's outcome but it is not known if this will be the case".

Given that Rangers are perfectly aware of the precarious financial position of so many SPL clubs, their public utterances must be placed in context. Green said: "From the outset, we made clear we would play where we were told to play and we just want to get back to playing football.

[smokie36]

Thiss whole SPL2 thing will drive even more supporters into disgust and out of the grounds.

[MrRed]

It isn't football but i would like to add my congratulations to Andy Murray on his first grand slam and continuation of his superb performance at the Olympics.

He did have trials with Rangers

A bit of good news for the sweaty's on this sub forum!

[smokie36]

A wonderful triumph for him!

[salty]

Well done Andy Murray. A great day for Scotland,oops sorry he won, for Britian.

Huge prize money. Maybe he could use some of it to pay off the debts the defunct club "forgot" to pay back.

[carmine]

Well done Andy Murray. A great day for Scotland,oops sorry he won, for Britian.

Huge prize money. Maybe he could use some of it to pay off the debts the defunct club "forgot" to pay back.

Oh God, here we go again....

[smokie36]

Important football this evening...can the English please focus on that?

Thanks so much.