The Football.....

[T4tomo]

Yes, but it was money well spent. I can only speak for Blackburn Rovers, but Rovers had Wolves and Derby who had similar financial backers. Fortunately for Rovers Jack Walker enticed Kenny Dalglish out of retirement. Rovers ended up with a far better manager than Wolves or Derby did. So when you say 'bankrolled' were Chelsea's trophies done on the cheap? Have Liverpool won 5 European titles on paying peanuts for players? Have Man City not too wealthy owners? Mmm, I'd say that you think it's ok for big city clubs to buy success, but not for small town clubs to buy success.

I think the point was whether in Scotland or England, the league is pretty much exclusively won by a "rich" club.

Fergie's Aberdeen were an exception, you can argue Clough's Forest were too, (the big spending on Francis etc came after the title)

 

[AndyRM]

My point was that Wolves and Derby were in the old 2nd division, as Blackburn were in 1990 when Jack Walker bought the club and 'massively bankrolled' Rovers. All three clubs had similar financial backing. One spent it wisely, the 2 others didn't!


Question to myself! Do you think a football club from a town, not a city will win the Premier League again one day while not being 'bankrolled'? 🤔

Answer to myself. Most likely not! You need to be 'bankrolled' these days if you're a small town club!

Question. What does 'bankrolled' mean? 🤔

Answer. It's a word used to partly describe a lesser club's success. This word is not used by the way when clubs most think will win trophies win those trophies, as it's not seen as being 'bankrolled', more just 'successful'.


Bankrolled success!!

View attachment 727021

Deserved success!!

View attachment 727022

Blackburn Rovers were Jack Walker's vanity project.

 

[Accy cyclist]

Blackburn Rovers were Jack Walker's vanity project.

It seems that you just can't get over a 'small town' team winning the Premier League. So It was a 'vanity project' you say, but Jack Walker had followed his home town club since boyhood. He did what every Rovers fan would've liked to have done if in his position. Compare him to the foreign investors who financially bankroll the top 4 or 5 Premier League clubs capable of winning anything.

 

[T4tomo]

Dont take the bait @Accy cyclist, he's just on a wind up.

The other half of the games are tonight, but a few slip-ups and points dropped in the championship promotion race last night

 

[AndyRM]

Not really. I have no issue with a "small town" club winning anything, this whole line of discussion came from Scottish football being called a "joke". I was just pointing out that proportionally our league is as "competitive" as the top flight in most other countries, other than the occasional blip.

Anyway, Jack Walker. Total saint who definitely didn't move to a tax haven.

 

[T4tomo]

Not really. I have no issue with a "small town" club winning anything, this whole line of discussion came from Scottish football being called a "joke". I was just pointing out that proportionally our league is as "competitive" as the top flight in most other countries, other than the occasional blip.

Anyway, Jack Walker. Total saint who definitely didn't move to a tax haven.

I cant think of another league that has been dominated by just two clubs for as long as Scotland has. Even when Rangers had to rebirth, Celtic still won it every year. That doesn't make it a joke though.

 

[AndyRM]

I cant think of another league that has been dominated by just two clubs for as long as Scotland has. Even when Rangers had to rebirth, Celtic still won it every year. That doesn't make it a joke though.

Narrowing it to just two does make it much tighter, but I reckon most 'casual' football fans would struggle to name more than the two or three most successful clubs in the top European leagues. And to balance it out they're generally double the size of the Scottish top flight.

One thing that does my head in and definitely makes the league look a bit daft is the ridiculous split we have. The idea was to make every match count, but it really doesn't.

 

[Slick]

Narrowing it to just two does make it much tighter, but I reckon most 'casual' football fans would struggle to name more than the two or three most successful clubs in the top European leagues. And to balance it out they're generally double the size of the Scottish top flight.

One thing that does my head in and definitely makes the league look a bit daft is the ridiculous split we have. The idea was to make every match count, but it really doesn't.

I agree, the split is a laughing stock.

 

[AndyRM]

I agree, the split is a laughing stock.

In an ideal world I'd like to see a top flight of 14 teams, possibly even 16, no split, three automatic relegations spots, two up and one decided via playoff from the Championship. There'd be more variety of opposition and I think the standard overall would improve, as would the enthusiasm for games.

 

[Mike_P]

Lower down the leagues with increasing costs surely a North South split is needed at higher level than the second tier of the National leagues.

 

[T4tomo]

14 team would be about right, 39 games on the "play 3 times" basis, but then you'd have the "we had to play X twice away and only one at home moans...".

you have to have about that many games so the clubs get the gate receipt income.

 

[Slick]

In an ideal world I'd like to see a top flight of 14 teams, possibly even 16, no split, three automatic relegations spots, two up and one decided via playoff from the Championship. There'd be more variety of opposition and I think the standard overall would improve, as would the enthusiasm for games.

Yeah, I don't disagree with that. Looking at the championship, there are certainly enough teams to support 14, and with 3 down, it would give a level of security to the remaining teams. I'm not sure about the enthusiasm, as I think there is an abundance of that already, but if you mean so called smaller teams may be able to fill their stadiums more often, then I agree with that as well.

Selfishly, there needs to be some standard regarding playing surfaces though. I don't think we will ever agree over plastic pitches, which is fine, but my belief is they have no place in top flight football. Also, this situation with Dundee is a farce and whilst I have no desire to see clubs like Dundee fined for being unable to fulfil their fixtures, I do think there should be some mechanism in place to deal with it much earlier to allow an early decision to be taken. The neutral venue is the obvious solution, but again selfishly, I would let the away team play at home, as that would reduce these ridiculous call offs when guys are already on the motorway.

 

[AndyRM]

Yeah, I don't disagree with that. Looking at the championship, there are certainly enough teams to support 14, and with 3 down, it would give a level of security to the remaining teams. I'm not sure about the enthusiasm, as I think there is an abundance of that already, but if you mean so called smaller teams may be able to fill their stadiums more often, then I agree with that as well.

Selfishly, there needs to be some standard regarding playing surfaces though. I don't think we will ever agree over plastic pitches, which is fine, but my belief is they have no place in top flight football. Also, this situation with Dundee is a farce and whilst I have no desire to see clubs like Dundee fined for being unable to fulfil their fixtures, I do think there should be some mechanism in place to deal with it much earlier to allow an early decision to be taken. The neutral venue is the obvious solution, but again selfishly, I would let the away team play at home, as that would reduce these ridiculous call offs when guys are already on the motorway.

By 'enthusiasm' I meant along the lines of there's only so much I can muster for seeing us take on St. Johnstone for the umpteenth time. It's especially boring if you get an all top flight cup run too. Although it was painful to experience, I quite enjoyed our mercifully brief stay in the Championship - got a few grounds ticked off that I'd not been to previously.

Dundee should get hammered for their surface. The owners haven't invested in it at all and it's not up to the standard required. There was a pitch inspection earlier and another due this afternoon apparently.

I don't really care one way or another about the plastic pitch. It amuses me no end that it gets blamed for injuries or when an opponent loses, but strangely everything is fine if a team dares to win at The Theatre of Pies. A hybrid surface would be my preferred option, but they are expensive to install and maintain.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Plastic pitches are essential for smaller clubs to survive.

Unless the bigot sisters want to stop hoovering up the lion's share of the money, sharing it equitably amongst the 42 clubs instead.

No, didn't think so.

 

[AndyRM]

By 'enthusiasm' I meant along the lines of there's only so much I can muster for seeing us take on St. Johnstone for the umpteenth time. It's especially boring if you get an all top flight cup run too. Although it was painful to experience, I quite enjoyed our mercifully brief stay in the Championship - got a few grounds ticked off that I'd not been to previously.

Dundee should get hammered for their surface. The owners haven't invested in it at all and it's not up to the standard required. There was a pitch inspection earlier and another due this afternoon apparently.

I don't really care one way or another about the plastic pitch. It amuses me no end that it gets blamed for injuries or when an opponent loses, but strangely everything is fine if a team dares to win at The Theatre of Pies. A hybrid surface would be my preferred option, but they are expensive to install and maintain.

The second pitch inspection has deemed the surface unplayable so it's off. An absolute farce.

Motherwell were fined £50,000 for the state of their pitch, but a lot of that was because of the damage there was because of the groundshare with Gretna.