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[Shaki]

"We continually look in awe at what's happened in England. The English Premier League is an absolutely fantastic product." - Peter Lawwell (Asshole)

A fantastic product. Football is dead.

[delboy]

thing is if the old firm came to England, teams will have to suffer. even if they went into league 2, would that mean promotion from the conference would be suspended which would pretty fucking piss me off big time. a more realistic solution is probably something on the lines of the atlantic league idea thats been doing the rounds a while now. still not ideal but i think the pros would just about outweigh the cons - it makes sense to lump those nations with 2 or 3 teams clearly of a bigger stature than the rest in one league together. but i'm still not convinced its the way forward and maybe the old firm just have accept where they are and get on with it.

i've no doubts they could compete in the EPL but it seems unfair that english clubs should have to suffer as a result of clubs from another country being too big to play in their own league. having said that the welsh clubs are allowed to play in england so why shouldnt the scots?

conclusively i havent got a fucking clue as to the solution!

[Lucky Rathen]

Zander Diamond having surgery, out til Christmas....

Dons want Diamond for Christmas | Scottish Premier League | Football News from TEAMtalk

I love the last paragpraph of the story:

"We hope Sone will pack up his bags and get himself back here for the weekend, ready for training on Monday, and ready to destroy Hearts on the Saturday."

Not face or play against Hearts. DESTROY!!!!!!!!!!

[Trigger]

Originally Posted by delboy

thing is if the old firm came to England, teams will have to suffer. even if they went into league 2, would that mean promotion from the conference would be suspended which would pretty fucking piss me off big time.

Exactly. The only benefit to anyone from this is to Rangers and Celtic, there aren't really any serious advantages for the EPL or the teams. The bargaining chip the Old Firm have is the derby games would be associated with the EPL. Not such a bad selling point but on the grand scale of things but does the Premiership need it? Not really, it is a fantastic league without the Old Firm game. I also reckon the trouble the Rangers fans caused in Manchester a couple of years ago kyboshed any glimmer of hope they had of getting any sort of move to England.

Anyhoo, Scotland on TV tomorrow morning if we have a team to put out. Langers will be up front at this rate if anyone else drops out!

[Original Spies]

So, why is it just the Scottish league that this is being proposed as happening to? Ajax dominited their league for years and years, and whilst they have slipped since the turn of the century, they were still arguably too big for their own league for a long time. La Liga has it's own old firm in the domination of Barca and Real. La Liga is more competitive than ever right now, but there's still a history of domination and a gulf between the top 2 and the rest of the division. As has been said, this will only benefit the Old Firm. It really won't be the saving grace for the SPL, as TV coverage and investors will completely lose interest in what will be considered a very minor league when the only 2 successful sides jump ship, if it were to happen. If the role was reversed, I'm sure Scotland wouldn't be too thrilled to have an English side chucked in near enough to the top flight, dominate TV coverage and easily surpass the mid table fodder who have been slogging away for years.

Reports on this suggest the outrage from the OF that the bottom club in the EPL makes over 15 times more revenue than either of the Old Firm, which is why they are so keen to jump ship. Still, as xenophobic as it probably appears, I can't see any English football supporter being in favour of the Old Firm coming to play in our garden because they are "too big" for their own.


The other option was an "Atlantic League", featuring clubs from around Europe who have also hit this 'glass ceiling' in their division. Fine, chuck them into that. It sounds like a complete disaster, which will be nothing but a good thing for those who have no interest in Ringers and Selltic. I have no idea who else is apparently lined up to be in that. I'm sure if you looked at every top flight in Europe, you would see a history of a small group of teams dominating the success, making it a completely redundant case, and an outcry of "Why aren't we in it then" from every top 2/3/4 club around the globe.

I can't really see why they almost feel they deserve this right to play bigger and better football? Both teams were embarassing in Europe last season for what are apparently big clubs, Rangers more so, who look set for a repeat this season.

Small clubs with big stadiums.

[Scorge]

If I was in charge of Scottish football and were allowed to establish my reich, the OF would be booted out and it would be 2 leagues of 20. 3 up, 3 down, and a play off system to let any junior/HL sides have a crack at getting in.

I can dream.

[Scorge]

Also, ROFL HARRIS:

BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | T | Tranmere | Tranmere sack Barnes and McAteer

[idol_wild]

Kenny Miller looks like a fat lesbian.

[scottyboy]

Originally Posted by Original Spies

So, why is it just the Scottish league that this is being proposed as happening to? Ajax dominited their league for years and years, and whilst they have slipped since the turn of the century, they were still arguably too big for their own league for a long time. La Liga has it's own old firm in the domination of Barca and Real. La Liga is more competitive than ever right now, but there's still a history of domination and a gulf between the top 2 and the rest of the division. As has been said, this will only benefit the Old Firm. It really won't be the saving grace for the SPL, as TV coverage and investors will completely lose interest in what will be considered a very minor league when the only 2 successful sides jump ship, if it were to happen. If the role was reversed, I'm sure Scotland wouldn't be too thrilled to have an English side chucked in near enough to the top flight, dominate TV coverage and easily surpass the mid table fodder who have been slogging away for years.

Reports on this suggest the outrage from the OF that the bottom club in the EPL makes over 15 times more revenue than either of the Old Firm, which is why they are so keen to jump ship. Still, as xenophobic as it probably appears, I can't see any English football supporter being in favour of the Old Firm coming to play in our garden because they are "too big" for their own.


The other option was an "Atlantic League", featuring clubs from around Europe who have also hit this 'glass ceiling' in their division. Fine, chuck them into that. It sounds like a complete disaster, which will be nothing but a good thing for those who have no interest in Ringers and Selltic. I have no idea who else is apparently lined up to be in that. I'm sure if you looked at every top flight in Europe, you would see a history of a small group of teams dominating the success, making it a completely redundant case, and an outcry of "Why aren't we in it then" from every top 2/3/4 club around the globe.

I can't really see why they almost feel they deserve this right to play bigger and better football? Both teams were embarassing in Europe last season for what are apparently big clubs, Rangers more so, who look set for a repeat this season.

Small clubs with big stadiums.

Have you actually read the article to which Carrots referred? It's about Celtic's indication that "they would consider joining the lowest level of the English League with the aim of playing in its Premier League". So your complaints regarding them being allowed in or near the top flight from the start are moot.

I'm sure the purists will hate this but I think Celtic as a business should be allowed access to the English league as a market. They would not be "small clubs with big stadiums" if they could get into the EPL and they have indicated a willingness to start at the bottom. There are obvious geographical reasons as to why Scottish teams might (and why Welsh teams do) play in the English league, and I guess I wouldn't be opposed to Ajax playing in Germany or whatever. It's probably never been previously considered because football has never been as commercially minded or global as it now is, but like it or not that's changed.

[Lucky Rathen]

Originally Posted by scottyboy

Have you actually read the article to which Carrots referred? It's about Celtic's indication that "they would consider joining the lowest level of the English League with the aim of playing in its Premier League". So your complaints regarding them being allowed in or near the top flight from the start are moot.

I'm sure the purists will hate this but I think Celtic as a business should be allowed access to the English league as a market. They would not be "small clubs with big stadiums" if they could get into the EPL and they have indicated a willingness to start at the bottom. There are obvious geographical reasons as to why Scottish teams might (and why Welsh teams do) play in the English league, and I guess I wouldn't be opposed to Ajax playing in Germany or whatever. It's probably never been previously considered because football has never been as commercially minded or global as it now is, but like it or not that's changed.

From some reason that made me chuckle.

The original Atlantic League plan about 10 years ago was for Rangers, Celtic, Benfica, Sporting, Ajax, PSV and a the top two teams from the Danish, Norwegian and Swedish leagues.