[hibeejim21]

Souness and david murray's " revolution" helped kill the game up here, the scotland team was doing better,attendances were good,aberdeen and utd had their best sides and won trophies and most importantly quality was spread through the league better.

When murrays pals at the bank couldn't give him any more free money they had to up the ante and start ripping off hector. The SFA are absolutely up to their necks in it all both with oldco and newco and a lot of folk have had enough of their bent antics and arent coming back.

exeters also right about the effect english games on sky have had too,my eldest is more interested in the big EPL games than anything coming out of scotland. And no 16 team top flights going to change that.

[Fredstersafool]

To be honest Jim I can't remember that last EPL game I watched that I said wooft what a game that was.

[HerefordBull]

Aye you are right Fred. However it is all relative...... top class attackers come up against top class defenders and goalkeepers and can cancel each other out leading to a fairly drab affair. In Scotland and other leagues you see less skill and mistakes but this can lead to more exciting games.

[Fredstersafool]

The quality in the EPL isn't as good as it was either though,

[0762]

Agreed totally with hibeejim. I have young family members and their friends who regard hibs and hearts as junior football sides. They have a local interest in their results but that's it. The football chat is about epl matches and top euro footie and the shirts worn are barca, real madrid, bayern, man utd etc. Also waken up re the quality of scottish football. Some of the defending highlighted on bbc sportscene is absolutely woeful and it's consistent as well. There are some matches I've watched that highlight schools style defending but the prob is we're watching pro players - a joke!

[HerefordBull]

I think you'll find we said Scottish Football was crap on more than one occasion earlier in the thread 0762.....no need to wake up....we know where it is at ....but how to fix it, that is the question.   

[0762]

I should've added my target re waking up was really many media pundits who really piss me off and try to sell us a pup exeterhibby - i hear the same upbeat shit at the start of every season! I honestly don't think there is a fully fixable solution tbf. There's only a compromised one but hopefully the optimum option that suits clubs and fans.

[hibeejim21]

The quality in the EPL isn't as good as it was either though,

Maybe so mate,but my teenage son and his pals talk about epl all the time and my boy is already trying to wangle his way to a epl game in Newcastle (hes still too young). Him and his pals talk more about the game down there. Scottish football might well be done for irrespective,a game enjoyed by the hardcore. Its nothing to be scared of,the old firms glory days are gone and their crowds will dwindle too.

[St Charles Owl]

You guys always refer to the Scandanavian leagues as a comparison to Scotland and I think this is a fair comparison except for one thing, they don't have the EPL on their doorstep nor all over their TVs. The fact that the provider of tv coverage of the Scottish game is the same provider of the EPL means even if you watch Sky for the Scottish games, you will see stuff about the EPL all the time. Not a lot you can do about this though at the moment.

But I also think there is one other aspect of the Scottish game that hurts it, and thats competition. I did a little research and came up with the following comparison:

Sweden - 16 teams - 10k average attendance - 10 team won title since 1993
Norway - 16 teams - 7k average attendance - 6 teams won title since 1993
Denmark - 12 teams - 8k average attendance - 6 teams won title since 1993
Finland - 12 teams - <6k average attendance - 8 teams won title since 1993
Scotland - 12 teams - 9k average attendance - 2 teams won title since 1993

I doubt this info comes as a surprise to you but it does illustrate the lack of a competitive league that exists in Scotland. This isn't the fault of Celtic or Rangers either, it is what it is, but unless the competitive nature of the league improves I think there will always be apathy towards it from fans. When every season starts with everyone knowing and more importantly everyone saying that realistically only 2 teams (currently only 1) can win the league, then it completely diminishes the competition right from the off. I have no solution to this but I do think its a problem!!

[HerefordBull]

SCO , yes no surprises......apart from Celtic, Rangers and Hearts at present all other sides would be very grateful of 9K. An interesting average figure would be what it is without these 3. Aberdeen get there occasionally as do we but look at the averages for all the other top teams and generally you are looking at 2 - 4K

Celtic and Rangers cannot be blamed directly per se but the aura built up round them  by the local TV, radio and press at the expense of coverage to all other clubs has a lot to do with it. Even over the last 3 years when Rangers have been outside the top flight the media is still full of them. I almost fell off the sofa the other day when the "i" gave a little snippet about Partick Thistle ! The Mail this Sunday will have the usual 2 page spread on each of their games plus a page or two story about something going on around the 2 clubs . All other clubs will get the usual few lines if they are lucky.....unless they are playing one of these 2 of course.  

They have over the years cherry picked other clubs best talent as they know these clubs cannot match the wages offered by the Glasgow 2.
This has dropped a little in recent times as English Clubs come in for the same type of player and of course finances have dried up a little especially for sevco . I could name a string of our talent which has disappeared down the M8 ....not all of whom played much ( eg: Riordan) but it stopped us from using them.

I'm afraid this situation cannot change in the present format as teams getting 3K per home game cannot match the wages of a club that get 35 - 50K per game, many of whom are season ticket holders so the club can invest this finance early in the season. Therefore all the better players end up with Celtic and Rangers. You cannot blame the players as they only have a limited playing time and never knowing when a serious injury may end it all.

The best thing that could happen this season is Aberdeen or Hearts challenge and win the Premiership title but I'm not holding my breath. Secondly, Rangers don't get promoted and have to spend further time in the championship......however if this looks on the cards watch out for immediate League reconstruction..........
.........after all Scottish Football is not possible without Celtic and Rangers in the top flight......how sad.    

One thing Celtic, Rangers, their fans and media have is belief .......that they are good.....its only when they come up against a decent footballing side reality sets in .........Celtics Euro adventures highlight this but still the media look for excuses as to what happened but they seem to miss the point.....poor sides in terrible leagues that make them look good and give a false impression which they have created between themselves. After all if you tell someone often enough they are good eventually they will believe you.