Diamond Scot
-
Posts
1,945 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
7
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Tartan Army Message Board News
Media Demo
Posts posted by Diamond Scot
-
-
2 hours ago, slasher said:
I don’t know why Viaplay bother. That game today was of no interest to anyone other than a Celtic fan.
On a side note was surprised to see Thistles result yesterday after watching them struggle at Cappielow last week and now a decent draw for them as well!
Unfortunetly the viewing figures will be significantly higher with only Celtic fans watching. (Or Rangers)
Ultimately broadcasters run a business and in Scotland thats the model that works.
When TV decides not to even bother showing the Edinburgh derby etc you know the writing is on the wall.
Wont ever happen but its the authorites that should be influencing this. Make it part of the selling of the rights that only a certain number of games can involve the OF. Its the authorities that are meant to have the good of the overall game, not the broadcasters.
Im not sure how it works with TV money anymore. Are clubs paid pro rata depending on which round they get to or are they still paid directly if their game is choosen to be on TV? If its the latter then its another thing non OF clubs so be banding together to pressure the authorities on.
-
1 hour ago, vanderark14 said:
Hearts at home is a tasty tie for Airdrie
Likely be a step too far but who knows. Should be a good crowd and possibly TV money.
-
A topic thats been talked about lots on here but started this thread to not derail others.
Something needs to change in the mindset of Scottish football. Ive no idea what realistically can be done though.
The "demands" on managers nowadays contributes to them not taking chances with younger players. Its got to the point of madness though.
Other clubs are guilty aswell but taking the OF as an example of the issue.
Rangers playing a part time side who arent pulling up any trees in the 4th division away from home. Full strength team put out. Only 2 youngsters on the bench. Neither get on despite Rangers being 3 nil up.
Celtic playing a highland league side at home. Full strength side put out. (Possible centre back being the exception, Polish 22 year old). 2 youngsters put on but only when 4 nil up.
If a manager cant trust a young player or 2 to start these games then when are they likely to be trusted to play?
The size of the squads is defo an issue. If teams have 27 - 30 fully experienced players on decent wages then these players will expect to play in cup games. Even when being rotated. This leaves no room for younger players.
Down in England clubs reguarly trust younger players in the league cup and early rounds of FA cup. Why is it so different up here?
Problem isnt unique to OF but other clubs do tend to play youth although its probably out of neccesity rather than choice.
-
Called Airdrie beating St Johnstone when draw was made.
Financially an away tie at one of the OF would be great in the next round but theres still a good few teams in the hat id fancy us giving a good game at home.
-
1 hour ago, JECK said:
It was a wild statement -5 times the amount we do. Absolute mince actually. Robbie and Roy Keane, absolutely in the past 30 years. I’m not having Damien Duff at all as elite - have a look at his stats. In no way shape or form at this moment in time is Evan Ferguson an elite player.
Damien Duff was signed for 17 million by Chelsea where he played 81 times and won 2 leagues. He played over 450 in one of the top leagues in Europe. We would have killed for a player of the calibre of Duff.
Dennis Irwin is one of Man Utds all time full backs. Shay Given was a top class GK. John Oshea won 5 league titles and a european cup at Man Utd. Even Richard Dunne ans Seamus Coleman had really good careers in the EPL.
We are only now starting to produce players who establish themselves at that level.
-
1 hour ago, scotlad said:
How are you defining elite players? RoI have had better sides than us for most of this century (not exactly difficult!) but off the top of my head in the past 30 years the only players they have produced that I would describe as 'elite' are Damien Duff, Shay Given, Robbie Keane, Roy Keane and possibly Evan Ferguson.
They have produced good players, i.e. guys who could hold down places in EPL teams, but not that many I would call elite, which, for me, is someone who plays regularly for a top European team challenging for league titles and European honours.
Id define elite the same as you. Players who have reguarly held down starting positions at the top clubs in the best leagues. Probably the big 6 in England.
We have basically had Fletcher and Robertson. McTominay possibly falls into this catergory aswell. All our other players who have moved to top sides have failed to establish themselves.
Even Fletcher and McTomminay were / are on the fringes on the main starting 11. Guys like Duff and and 2 Keanes were key players in successful sides.
We are certainly getting better at producing players of a higher standard. Having a core group of players in the best leagues makes a huge difference. The successful ROI sides if the early 2000s had the elite players as above and then were littered with solid EPL players.
-
5 minutes ago, gonzohiggy said:
Pitches can be an issue but I think that’s too easy an out for clubs. If clubs chose to invest in a forward thinking manager, they would need to invest in a pitch aligned with that. Motherwell, hibs, rangers are playing on bowling greens even in January.
Im not saying its the only reason but it is a factor.
Even with a good pitch, its alot harder to play patient passing build up football when the wind is howling, the rain is falling and its close to freezing.
I dont like it but I can see why managers in Scotland opt for physical over technical.
Summer football negates some of the positives of a physical style and makes a technical style more beneficial.
-
54 minutes ago, gonzohiggy said:
We should definitely do better. I firmly believe that the players are there and I also think the performance schools are fantastic for player development.
Where I think we fall down in player development is:
1) the players at youth level are taught to play out from the back, possession based style with ball on ground generally. The best ones then get in and around first team level but the game they meet at that level is totally different and they are ill prepared. I’ve seen every club in the premiership this season in person and other than Celtic, the only team who passed the ball on the ground were Dundee. Every other team is filled with 6ft plus guys built like brick s**t house but who are limited football players. These players are often not Scottish. This tendency towards brawn before brain in my opinion prevents enough technical young players getting a chance but also even when they do they aren’t getting experience of playing football the right way at the top level. Going a step beyond, this is why our clubs have traditionally struggled in Europe - they can’t keep the ball and the kick and rush style doesn’t work against the slower European build up.
2) the clubs don’t place enough emphasis on playing their young players. Many would rather bring in someone from England on loan than give one of their own a shot. I’ve seen it with Kilmarnock this season - brought Andy Dallas on loan from Barnsley when 18 y/o Bobby Wales was already there. The league or SFA even needs to mandate the use of homegrown players in match day squads more than currently. Forget the B team nonsense.
no doubt lots more issues than these but both frustrate the life out of me.
Totally agree however one thing thats often overlooked for the cause if this is when we play.
In Scotland there is a very small window when both the pitches and weather are good. Most of the season is spent playing in the wind / rain or when the pitches have suffered from the cold or getting churned up. None of that is ideal for passing the ball around.
I believe one of the many benefits of summer football would be a better style of football being adopted by managers. Managers are paid to win and currently the best chances of that are by getting the ball up the pitch asap.
-
1 hour ago, mccaughey85 said:
Most Countries our size don't produce lots of elite players anyways and never will. I am not expecting us to produce lots of elite players. What I want is a few more Frasers, Armstrongs and hickeys. We produce these level of guys in all positions who can cut it at epl level then we should stand a chance at going to more tournaments.
The way we produce these guys is by getting our best talent playing proper competitive football at a young age. Currently our best players have come from the route I am suggesting. The evidence overwhelmingly supports that route.
Most European countries our size do produce elite players.
Countries nearest to our population in order. Croatia, Ireland, Norway, Finland, Slovakia, Denmark, Bulgaria, Serbia, Switzerland.
Only Finland havent really had any elite players playing in the last 20 years. Possibly Bulgaria. Elite being somebody who plays reguarly for one of the top 4 or 5 teams in Engalnd, Spain, Italy or Germany.
Why do Ireland produce so many more elite players than Scotland? Thats probably the nearest we have to a country the size and culture of ours. Ireland ship pretty much all their players to England at the earliest opportunity and they have produced about 5 times the number of elite players than we have in the last 30 years.
-
4 hours ago, mccaughey85 said:
If being at a top club gives you the best chance of success how has it failed our youth players so badly? The youth prospects we sent down were considered some of the best talents with the best potential yet they consistently failed when placed into elite clubs youth set ups
This point only stands up if you have examples of the opposite happening. We dont produce elite players regardless of the route.
The only guys to reguarly hold down a starting position at an elite club in the last 20 odd years are Fletcher and Robertson.
As others have said, its different for every player, 1st team football is very important. I dont think anybody is saying its not important however just playing football will only take you so far. You need people to learn off and they are in much greater numbers at clubs in big leagues.
-
As much as its frustrating that we have to qualify through the strongest section, I view it like I do the champions league. The competition shouldnt be about having the best X number of teams in Europe / the world.
Its meant to represent World football. Part of the reason why the Champions League has lost alot of appeal to me is that it now largely serves 4 leagues.
-
56 minutes ago, mccaughey85 said:
Pick out any top club in Europe and look through their team. You will find most of their players either played lower league football or played in a relatively weak European league when they were young players. Very few come through at elite clubs. Haaland and debruyne both prove my point. Both played in relatively weak European leagues before moving up a level.
Elite clubs have youth set ups because they can sell a player on for a small fee to smaller clubs and reap back some money invested in the set up meanwhile if one or two develop into top players they don't miss out. It's just a case of them hoovering up young talents so they don't potentially miss out on someone special.
Not really ethical in my opinion but money talks and the elite clubs have stupid amounts of money these days.
James Forrest was never good enough to make the step up. If doak is good enough for a top club then he would excel at Celtic in the spl and then move up a level. Theres absolutely no evidence to suggest he's too good for the spl or that he wouldn't benefit from a season or two in the spl. Lots of Celtic players have gone onto big things after spending a few seasons there. Ppl need to calm it down on doak. The lads done relatively nothing in his career to suggest he will make it at Liverpool or any top club.
Alot of ppl in here would turn their nose up at doak going to Celtic or the English championship which is strange and slightly delusional to think he is already too good for that level when he hasn't really done anything in his career so far.
Im sorry but you are just wrong regarding top players for elite clubs. I randomly picked Bayern Munich and 7 out of their starting 11 in the Champions League came through at clubs playing in the top leagues. Now this will vary from club to club however its nowhere near the 80% you state.
You say that elite clubs have youth setups because they can hoard players but thats not the question I asked. I asked why the clubs all play in the youth leagues. Up until this season they could buy as many players as they wanted and then just loan them out to clubs to get what you are saying is rhe best development route. So why werent they doing it. Why werent all the lower leagues and non elite leagues of Europe literally littered with players from the elite leagues? If thats the best way for players to develop why would any club not go down this route?
Look at pretty much any sport and the countries that have the best setups, invest the most into coaching and technology etc tend to always get the best results. Take cycling just as an example. Every country in the world has access to bikes amd yet the UK consistently get gold medals. Why? Because we have the best facilites and coaches.
Why would football be any different. For every Andy Robertson that drops down the leagues and gets game time there will be thousands who either drop out the game or never make it to any decent level.
Being at a big club is not a guarentee of success however it does give you the best platform to fulfil your potential. This combined with a good loan move to get adult football is the ideal situation imo.
-
17 minutes ago, mccaughey85 said:
I say yes it does to the first question you ask, the vast majority of elite players developed by playing against lesser players before making the move up. The stats show that to be true.
Your pulling out the odd individual player who didn't play lower league as an example. Foden is an exception.
The vast majority of top players played in lower leagues or weaker European leagues before heading to an elite club.
It's probably well over 80 percent of the top 200 players in the world came through that route. Elite clubs don't often produce top players because they can't afford to risk giving them chances in games where it's unacceptable for them to lose.
I still don't understand the Armstrong point. I am not suggesting he should of played v England and its irrelevant wether him playing spl contributed to his mistake. I am not suggesting young players spend their entire careers stagnating in the spl or English championship. Armstrong moved on from the spl and onto a better league. He managed to do this because he spent his younger years learning and developing rather than being in some epl youth set up getting no proper experience.
If you feel big epl clubs youth set ups are the best environment for our young players then why has only 1 in 20 years made the grade(mctominay)?
You can have all the dedicated fitness and nutrition plans and dvd video analysis etc but nothing will beat playing competitive football every week against grown men.
It's basically given us all of our best players and it confuses the hell out of me why ppl want our best talents wasting away in youth set ups that have proven not to work.
Would you say 1 player in 20 years is worthwhile?
We havent produced top players regardless of what route they have taken. Fletcher and Robertson are our only really top players in the last 20 or so years. Both took very different routes.
Im not sure your 80% estimate is anywhere near being accurate. Alot obviously depends on what country you grew up in. If you take the top 5 in last years ballon dor (if we are looking at the elite players). Messi, Mbappe and Rodri have only ever played in top leagues. Haaland and DeBrunye both played in their countries league before moving to a top league when still young.
If youth football has little value then why does it exist. If all the top clubs believed that then why wouldnt they just sign players and send them out to lower leagues and foreign leagues of a lesser standard? The reward for producing elite talent is massive so why would every single big club in the world have these academies and spend so much money on coaching, nuturion, analysis etc when they could just loan players to Ross County?
I fully believe that loans benefit players. I think Doak should go out on loan however he is totally correct in leaving Celtic to go to Liverpool to increase his chances of getting to the elite level rather than being the next James Forrest (who has made a good living out of football)
-
1 hour ago, mccaughey85 said:
Darren Fletcher came through nearly 20 years ago!!
In the last 20 years it's been mctominay and gilmour, thats it and even gilmour isn't really a great example. He has only just started to make the grade in the epl after a failing at Chelsea and Norwich.
Fair enough I agree rangers have hardly been great at bringing through young Scottish talent but the point was more about gilmour playing football at 18/19/20. I think he would be further ahead in his development had he played English championship or spl for a few seasons. Thats my opinion and I suppose we will never know but what we do know is that only 1 other young player in 20 plus years has been a success at an elite club after coming through their youth set up.
Does that not tell you everything you need to know about whats best for our young players.
Also my argument isn't about necessarily staying in Scotland. I don't care if our young players play league1 or English championship etc. As long as it's first team football that has a proper competitive edge. You ever watched highlights of youth football, it's rubbish. I doubt it even compares well to the Scottish championship.
Not sure what your rambling on about with the Armstrong point. He made a mistake v England that anyone could make. The experience he gained at utd and Celtic is what helped him become an epl player. It's about incremental steps, he got experience at utd playing every week and then played for a huge club(Celtic) where the pressure was massive. That development was what allowed him to go on and do well for Southampton. If anything hes another example of why playing lower league football develops a young player.
Not sure I get your point about Ben doak either. Wouldn't you rather he got experience every week at 17/18 even if it's English championship or spl? To me that would be better for him than not playing. The defenders in the English championship would be massively better than the youth players he's playing against in the epl youth leagues.
Most of the greatest attacking talents spent a season or 2 playing lower league football developing their skills against lesser opponents before stepping up a level.
Guys like robben, mane, ibrahimovic etc all spent seasons getting experience in weaker leagues like the Austrian or Dutch leagues.
I always laugh when ppl think someone like doak is too good to play spl or English championship. I know the excitement goes to ppls heads in here when a talent like doak or gilmour comes along but if you think these guys are guaranteed to be superstars and are too good to slum it at a lower level for a few seasons learning their trade then you are massively mistaken.
I would say 80 percent of world class players in the last 30 years spent time playing in weaker leagues before they stepped up a level. It's what helps them develop and gain experience.
I also find it strange you are using Ben doak and Celtic as an example of bypassing the Scottish league. Celtic have had a constant conveyor belt of young players who played there and then went onto bigger things.
Van dijk, dembele, Armstrong, Tierney, frimpong, Édouard, juranovic.
Personally I would love to see doak go back on loan to Celtic for a season. I think it would help him develop and hone his game. He's very raw and doesn't always have a great end product. Its highly unlikely he becomes a first team regular at Liverpool until improvements are made to his game.
It all depends on what you mean by development. Would a young player gain more experience playing at a lower level? Of course they would. Would that experience help them forge a career in football? More than likely yes. However does playing with and against lesser players help you become an elite player? Thats more questionable.
My point about Armstrong is that even though he had loads of experience with Utd and Celtic, and yes that experience was what put him in the Scotland side, that the level of experience most likely contributed to him making the mistake against England.
Why do players often struggle to make the step up from a lesser league to a better league? Its because everything in the better league is slightly better. Players are fitter, faster, move the ball faster and with more accuracy, more techincal and tactical and punish mistakes.
My point being that playing competitive football from a young age isnt the only factor and can lead to bad habits. Foden being kept at City is an example where they didnt want him to learn bad habits. Training with the 1st team and getting the odd minute was deemed a better path to elite level.
Im all for loan spells to the Championship etc but one of the main things for a young player is to be in an enviroment where they are given every possible advantage. Big EPL clubs have vast resources. Gilmour talks about things like a dedicated tailored fitness and nutrition plan, individual learning cards highlighting things he needed to work on etc, a weekly DVD showing his performance and comparing movements and things to established players etc. None of that was in place at Rangers because it costs alot of money.
-
4 hours ago, mccaughey85 said:
Step up from what? He wasnt playing any first team football at Chelsea or rangers. Maybe the training facilities, youth coaching etc, were a step up from rangers but if he had gotten regular first team football at rangers then would he have developed more than playing youth football at chelsea? Imo he would be much further along in his development had he played a couple of seasons at rangers or in the English championship.
Can you maybe explain why none of our other young players benefit from the so called "step up" that elite clubs provide?
Only mctominay has made the grade in 20 years out of dozens of youngsters.
Elite clubs fail to develop our young players. That's a statistical fact and it surprises me ppl still insist that they should go to these clubs and waste away in their youth set ups.
I could understand the reasoning behind it if there were even a handful of success stories but it's the lower league route that is were our best players have come from.
I also don't see gilmour as anything special yet either. I have seen him look terrible for Norwich and chelsea and he has only really started to excel for Brighton recently. He still has much to prove and personally I think Chelsea stunted his development and only now that hes at a lower epl club is he starting to get the proper first team experience that will turn him into a good player.
Also I doubt gilmour was ever going to slate the Chelsea youth set up while he was in it which is when the video was made.
This debate comes uo every now and then with people on one side pointing to the likes of Robertson and Tierney and those on the other pointing at the likes of Fletcher, McTom and Gilmour.
Just taking Gilmour as an example, I am convinced he wouldnt even have become a 1st team regular at Rangers. Neither OF team are any good at bringing through youth but Rangers in particular have a horrific record.
If you stay in Scotland then theres probably a much higher chance of you becoming a football but imo if you want to be an elite footballer then your chances are significantly improved by getting elite coaching and playing alongside elite people your age and then eventually training and playing with elite players.
An example I always give when talking about the importance of playing at a higher standard is somebody like Stuart Armstrong and the mistake he made against England. At that time he was considered to be a very good player. Had something like 125 appearences for Dundee Utd and 60 odd for Celtic under his belt. He was an established football player however the choice of pass he made was a by product of the oppositon he was used to playing against. Losing the ball the way he did would come to nothing 99% of the time in Scotland but in the EPL it gets punished. Only through getting punished do players learn. Im totally convinced that if the same Stuart Armstrong (in terms of talent) had played 50 games in the EPL he doesnt do that pass.
Ben Doak might have had 50 appearences for Celtic by now but none of them would have been against defenders of a decent standard. So he looks like a superstar going past people with ease. Until he comes up against a proper defender in Europe or for Scotland and all of a sudden none of the stuff he normally does works.
-
3 hours ago, Hertsscot said:
Mbappe would be good but I'm not sure we can afford his wages!
Ever thought about using EBTs?
-
How does everybody feel about their teams season so far.
Airdrie have slightly exceeded my expectations. I said pre season that I thought we would stay up as we play good football but that squad size might affect us.
We have shown that we can give all the teams a game in the division and look to have opened up abit of a gap to 9th and 10th although it can change very quickly in the Championship. Outside chance of playoffs but id settle for mid table and keep building next year.
-
1 hour ago, Bzzzz said:
Even Gazza managed to learn enough Italian to get by, if he can then... IMO there's no real excuse for "not adjusting" when you're a rich young person with everything on a plate... I'd LOVE to see more Scottish players go abroad, Lewis Ferguson has shown how it CAN be done, maybe we're no as shite as we're constantly told we are!?
A few of my mates have moved abroad and loved it.
The reason why I havent are things like wanting to be close to family etc but these day to day concerns are largely taken away if you have money. Ie if a parent falls ill you could private jet back in a couple of hours.
-
3 hours ago, Orraloon said:
🤣🤣🤣
It's pretty difficult for any player to score against teams he has never played against. 🤣
I said standard of teams though which is kind of my point. Shankland has never scored at a higher standard because he hasnt proven to anybody in the game that he is at that standard. He moved to Belgium and didnt perform. He has only ever really scored at Scottish domestic level. Adams has scored goals against the best teams in one of the top 3 leagues in the world.
If we were purely looking at goalscoring stats then guys like Kenny Deuchar would have got caps back in the day. The level you are scoring at matters and should be taken into account.
As I keep saying though, its just one of many factors. One thing to consider though is people are paid loads of money to scout and recommend players. If Shankland is a much better player than Adams then why hasnt an EPL or Championship side snapped him up. It would only take between 3 and 5 million which is buttons to some of these sides.
-
13 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:
It is pretty irrelevant in the grand sheme of things though. Turn the clock back a few years and we had EPL striker Oli McBurnie whilst Wales had Keifor Moore who had largely bummed around in lower leagues. McBurnie no international goals whilst Moore has 12. David Healy of Northern Ireland was a lower leagye journeyman but in international football he was deadly scoring even more international goals than Law and Dalglish.
Anybody can choose random players to suit their agenda though. It is a fact more EPL players have scored international goals than Championship or league 1. I could say Harry Kane scored more than David Healy but that doesnt really move along the debate does it.
Better players play in better leagues. Thats common sense. Now of course that doesnt always translate to performing well at international level and isnt the be all and end all. However its a good starting point for judging a players general ability.
Adams is a low end EPL / top end Championship level player. Dykes and Shankland are probably mid level Championship players. They all have different strengths and weaknesses though and Clarke will play them in the games / moments that play to their stengths.
-
1 hour ago, N4Footsoldier said:
My constant gripe with Adams is his lack of finishing. I know it's not the role of our strikers primarily to score goals, but I can think of quite a few guilt-edged chances missed where he should have found the back of the net.
If we look at the teams he has scored against (Faroe Islands, Luxembourg, Moldova, Armenia) - fair enough he scored v Denmark but even that was a 1 on 1 with the keeper, you could easily argue he won't be able to make the difference for us against top teams (who are more clinical that us), when against better defences, goalkeepers and with fewer chances.
I do think Adams on form has a better all round game than Dykes, and allows us to play more expansively using his pace and mobility to get the ball into his feet in good areas rather than route one which seems like the Plan A Dykes solution.
At the end of the day we know our limitations in this position.
If you take the top 10 teams that Adams and Shankland have scored against in the career then Adams record is levels above Shankland
Its not fair or accurate to not look at the whole picture. Adams has scored goals against the likes of Man City, Chelsea, Newcastle etc so he has the ability to score against top teams. If anything using this criteria goes against Shankland as I imagine the best he has scored against will be Rangers or Celtic.
In terms of starts Shankland is probably 4th choice. In terms of coming on a sub when we need a goal he is 1st choice. For that reason if we only take 3 strikers, he will be one of them and Brown will miss out.
-
7 hours ago, csinclair said:
Something hasn't seemed right this season with Adams. Everything seemed to point towards him leaving for an EPL club last summer and it never materialised. Now Martin isn't giving him regular minutes but whenever he does he seems to have an impact. There's rumours Wolves will come back in for him and ironically Shankland has been tipped for Southampton
Its not an unusual situation when a club get relegated and a player looks to be moving on. The manager, especially a new manager makes plans without the player so is often not included if the deal breaks down.
Generally a manager will want to move forward with players who want to be at the club. If its suspected that Adams will mive in January theres little value in having him start in front of somebody who is going to be there after January.
-
3 hours ago, duncan II said:
The huns must be told to fuck off. They should be charged with bringing the game into disrepute. Get them so far to fuck. A disgrace their witch hunt is being enabled by the media. Why are the other clubs not outraged? Every one of them has had decisions go against them much worse than this. It wasn't even a wrong decision! Get them to fuck.
You hit the nail on the head. Why are other clubs not outraged?
Thats not Rangers fault that other clubs just accept bad decisions or incompetence. These clubs should step up their game.
Again I stress that how Rangers go about things is wrong.
You say the decision isnt even wrong but sometimes its not about the outcome. Its the process to get to the outcome. There is a reason why processes are in place. Checks and balances.
On the face of it the ref and VAR have decided that it wasnt a handball. I understand that VAR made this decision very quickly. Ive yet to hear anybody that doesnt think it was a handball. 30 mins later somebody has released the offside pictures. Whether Sima was offside or not is irrelevent if that wasnt part of the decision making at the time. Even if the outcome eventually might have been no penalty.
Rangers are entitled to ask for clarity. If the ref and VAR dont think it was a penalty then thats something the ref bosses will deal with. Its similar to the disallowed McTominay goal where the ref seemed to award one thing when in fact it was another. Once everything was cleared up then people moved on. Were Scotland wrong to ask for clarity on that?
-
2 hours ago, vanderark14 said:
This is the only part we disagree on. Are you suggesting every club should throw the toys out of the pram and pressure referees in such a public manner?
If so, I think this is totally wrong. No club should ever pressure officials in the manner Rangers have in recent weeks. Private conversations perhaps.
I used to think being able to hear what refs and VAR is saying is the way forward but now I am not because if a ref said something incorrect or the VAR said something wrong....................we would see an even bigger witch hunt
I dont think we are actually in disagreement. I dont agree with the public nature of how Rangers go about things but I do think they are correct to seek answers.
Its not Rangers concern about wrongful decisions against other clubs, even if in some cases the decisions benefited Rangers. Theres obviously a balancing act. Im not suggesting clubs demand meetings with the SFA for every ref mistake however when its a case where a process hasnt been followed, a blatant inconsistency etc then imo its a clubs responsibility to seek answers.
Ive watched a good few Aberdeen games this season, both domestically and in Europe and can think of at least 3 or 4 cases where id expect them to be demanding written / formal answers.
Calling for refs heads / not to do clubs games etc is totally wrong and is part of the playing to the masses thing thats out of order.
Scottish cup 2023/24
in Football related - Discussion of non TA football
Posted
I totally agree, its a nonsence that shouldnt have been allowed to happen however rather than just blame the SFA / SPFL or OF, I prefer to look at what clubs could or should be doing to try and improve it.
If teams still get money for their games being selected for TV in cup games then non OF clubs should be putting pressure on the authorities to insert a clause into the TV deals. Otherwise the OF are almost guarenteed to make extra money each round based purely on their fanbase and not the quality of the tie.
I watched "Brawn" recently. The F1 documentary. Theres abit about all the teams coming together to wrestle control away from F1 and the FIA. In my opinion if the 10 non OF teams and maybe some of the top Championship teams like Dundee Utd etc formed a group and had a collective bargaining position then so much could be done to advance the game.