What Action Should The SFA/SPL Take If Rangers Go Bust??

 

Whilst we all know the implications straight away for the SPL were rangers to go out of business, there are implications that I’m some people may have considered and certain things Scotland may need to do, when what looks like an eventuality comes around.

• Everyone’s been talking about the TV revenue in Scotland; they already receive less than our Championship clubs, and who’s going to buy the TV rights to a Scottish procession for the next 5-10 years? It would be like ESPN buying the league rights to the Lithuanian league.

• One thing people have been banging on about is Rangers getting into Europe this season, but that is the least if their European worries, not just for the Old Firm but Scotland as a whole. Scotland’s UEFA Coefficient is already poor comparatively, Scotland’s’ coefficient is currently 25,686, which sandwiches them between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, not having a competitive Rangers, will certainly see that coefficient slide and slide, to fall possibly below Slovenia and Latvia, the fiscal implication for Scotland and its football for me is too much to comprehend at this time but i seriously worry.

• The last point is the redistribution of wealth in Scotland. Currently the top two struggle to compete with Championship sides, but Celtic and Rangers just about cope particularly with the players already based in Scotland, quite regularly a bidding war ensues between the clubs for domestic players, helping raise capital for those in the 2nd half of the split, and those in the lower leagues. With just one club with a serious budget, they’ll be able to hold the smaller Scottish club over a barrel in transfer negotiations and their incomes will deplete at a drastic rate. This coupled with the decreased TV Revenue and less European money arriving into these smaller clubs pockets could spell absolute disaster for the Scottish leagues. This will leave clubs that are already in trouble due to Rangers’ plight such as Dunferlime in serious trouble of finding themselves in administration.

So how will Scotland sort this situation out, I’ve been mulling this over now for the past couple of days, and it is a task I’m not at all envious off, the people in the corridors of power at the SFA have a decision to make that could make or break the future of Scottish football. But here are my ideas that if they wish to take note feel free.

• They have to revitalize the league and sell their souls for some investment. Beg, steal, borrow, whatever they must do to get some money and distribute around all the clubs.
• They need to find a way of creating competition within the league, there are a few ways of doing this:
A) A Youth draft similar to the MLS and American Sport, get all the best Scottish talent under 20 each year, and draft into the SPL, the newly promoted team picks first and so on, one by one, until the champions and then back over, three times over.

B) Split the league into groups, involving the 2nd division with a play-off final. Groups of between 4 and 5, each team plays each other twice, the top two (or one) go into a play-off structure, where they play home and away legs (ala champions league) with knock-outs resulting in a large final at Hampden Park, This may boost interest in the competition with more chance of a dominating side such as Celtic getting knocked out, adding more drama and intrigue to the league, and a rotating champion rather than one dominating domestic force.

C) The SPL may have to engineer a way of moving Celtic into the English league, like above mean there is a rotating champion which generates more wealth in different clubs, and hopefully improves a few sides enough to increase Scotland’s overall UEFA Coefficient.
These ideas may not be fantastic but supply a bit of out of the box thinking which the SPL desperately need. My favorite idea is B, which I think would generate much more interest and TV Revenue than the others which would boost Scotland on a whole.

Please feel free to comment on my thoughts, and add your own.

Why Wigan MUST Bounce Back Next Season If Relegated …

Before I Begin this post, let me state where i stand with Wigan. I’ve been free lance reporting on Wigan for about 18months now, it is a fantastic club, with a small but fiercely loyal fan base, and I absolutely love the place now. my love for the club comes from my admiration for its great owner Dave Whelan, one thing I’ve learnt at the tender age of 18 and that I’ve forced upon myself as an aspiring journalist and in light of recent events RE: Levesson enquiry, is too report as fairly as possible, therefore any subject I report about I send a copy, so with this in mind all the reports I write on Wigan I have sent a copy to Dave Whelan’s people, and too my surprise, I have received feedback on a few occasions, this sense of a close community is a fantastic concept that many of the ‘big’ clubs in the Premier League’s are losing touch with.

But this personal connection is not the only reason why i believe Wigan should bounce back for the good of football. Over the past 8 seasons Wigan have literally been ‘living’ the dream, but ever the pragmatist Whelan has not let this success get ahead of him, and in house wage cap, an idea Wigan believes should be rolled out across European football, has allowed Wigan to become self financing, just two players allowed over 20k a week, is a fantastic set-up and their involvement in the league shows that clubs DO benefit from living with their means, an example I’ve been banging on about for the last 6 months, is a great institution people haven’t even thought about in the Npower Championship and that’s Leicester City. They have a huge fan base, but now with Thai investors they are living very much beyond their means, what if they lose faith if promotion isn’t gained this year and pull out in the summer? we could face another potential Portsmouth….

This is the key reason why i believe that everyone should back Wigan in the relegation race, everyone who believes in the good of the game should back Wigan to the hilt, and hope their own owner follows suit of Dave Whelan and sets an in-house salary cap, not the 20k he has set but whatever the club believes is the limit. Wigan in the premier league next season would be a victory for common sense, for a true football man, not an Oil tycoon; a man who has took the maximum from the game then put the most back in. A owner who refused to raise ticket prices but instead offer free games, it really is one of very few ‘real’ clubs left in England’s elite and I for one would be deeply saddened to see them drop into the Championship.

p.s. a big thank you to Wigan Athletic who have sent me two tickets for the West Brom game and thanked me for my comments on the club really is a wonderful gesture, and too those reading this, it is my honest opinion and not a kiss arse to a Dave Whelan.

Why This Man Must Be The Next Chelsea Manager

They’ve tried everything. From World Cup Winners, to double Champions league winners. But after Roman Abramovich’s latest blunder, in sacking the world’s greatest young coach, he must now draw his gaze closer to home. To a man who commands respect from the highest within the game. Abramovich needs someone who he knows will come into the club, roll up his sleeves and set standards that have clearly been missing over the last 6 months.

What Moyes can bring to the club is all the skills that are essential to turn Chelsea around. The players at Chelsea had the littlest respect for AVB. They treated him with no dignity, and have found once fond admirers such as myself, now embarrassed by their actions. When he walked through the door they completely forgot the treble he had won just a month before. But the key error was not the players handling of the situation. It was the hiring of Villas-Boas in the first place. Hiring a man who used to show the DVD’s to the players was clearly never going to work. He went from being the deck scrubber one day, to the man guiding the ship the next. It was suicide for a dressing room that was already extremely toxic. It must be grasped back before Chelsea fall into the abyss.

Abramovich is supposed to be an intelligent business man. But I ask myself, would he have made such a poor decision with his oil company? When it comes to football it seems all his business sense goes out the window. He dreamed of ‘Barcelona in blue,’ and hired an old master hand in Ancelotti. He then wanted to rebuild the club, lay down strong foundations for the future. Someone with a large enough ego to command the fragile atmosphere, but hired the young flamboyant Andre Villas-Boas. Right men. Wrong time.

For once I implore Roman to make a sane decision. Moyes’ has done a job tantamount to genius at Goodison Park. I can’t think of another manager who could play such good football at a club with a shoe string budget, but who’s fans demand so much. Just imagine what Moyes could do with the talents of Mata, Sturridge and Lampard. With possible future signings such as; Falcao, Moutinho or Hulk.

The man knows the league inside out and wouldn’t need time to adapt and adjust. His European experience may not compete with a Van Gaal or Mourinho, but in all honesty it looks like next season Chelsea won’t be dining at Europe’s top table at all. Trust me, Moyes is the ideal candidate. He would not see the job as a guaranteed pay off, which I’m assured is the mindset of many coaches on the continent. It would simply be an acknowledgment of the job he’s done at Everton and a chance to showcase his own skills at the highest level.

Financially it also makes perfect sense for Chelsea’s head honcho. Instead of spending ANOTHER £20m on bringing the next ‘Special One’ to the bridge, Moyes would take it for just a small increase on his current Everton wage. In terms of the aforementioned toxic dressing room, if the senior players at Chelsea don’t respect Moyes’ achievements in the game, then there is no hope for Chelsea football club or any future manager.

If Mr. Abramovich needs any more convincing he should just look across the city to his near Neighbour Tottenham Hotspur. Daniel Levy is possibly the sanest chairman in the Premier League (mad to think, I know.) But for anyone who thinks when Harry moves to England that he’ll even contemplate Mourinho or Klinsman is laughable. Moyes will head up Spurs’ wish list too, and will of course accept and relish the chance to do so.

So, I beg you Mr.Abramovich see sense. You can be quick to pull the trigger if things go wrong .But believe me appoint Moyes and you won’t need too, just sit back on your Yacht and watch the silverware flock in…