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Stonewall

AUSTRALIA


Joined September 25th 2008

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Comment by Stonewall
on The Scottish Problem

September 25th 2008 12:22
Wooderbeen,

You're missing the point by so far that I'm wondering if you're either doing so deliberately or just really not grapsing the fundamentals.
I didn't, at any point, say that the standard in Scotland is ludicrous. I agreed that it was inferior to the English league but then thats hardly the same thing is it?
The Scottish league is absolutely lower in standard but then it would be, we are after all talking about a country that has roughly the same population as North London and its largest city has a population slightly less than that of Sheffield.
No one would expect countries of a similar population, say Denmark or Slovakia (both round about 5 million) to have a league that competes with the EPL so why do you choose to pick Scotland as a point of comparison?
In fact if we look at these countries , maybe you should congratulate Scotland for punching above their weight ? Scottish clubs clearly perform better in Europe than clubs from any other small nation. I would have thought that this would be something to congratulate them on rather than deride them ?
As for your point about Champions league qualification, Wooderbeen, there are 12 year olds that grasp this concept fairly well so I'm not going to labour it, suffice I say that the Champions League like most cross-boundary competitions is supposed to be respresentative of the full spectrum of nations within the conference, not just the top ranked.
Take the World Cup, by your logic we wouldnt bother letting teams like Saudi Arabia and Senegal play, we'd just get the top 32 ranked nations in the world and select them. It just doesnt work like that and its incredibly nieve of you to think otherwise.
As to the "ludicrous" nature of Scottish football, I have a question for you. Do you know what Celtic's record has been against English opposition in the 10 years of European football. I'll tell you. Only Manchester United has beaten them , and even then only at Old Trafford. They were beaten in Glasgow as were Blackburn, as were Liverpool. So my question is, if Scottish football is so bad, how can that happen. They cant all have had off days?
As for your question of Scottish teams playing in England. FIFA have made it very clear that they will not allow it, as have UEFA. It will never happen so why discuss it?

Comment by Stonewall
on The Scottish Problem

September 25th 2008 04:34
The internet is a thing of wonder, it has, however, it flaws. One of the most significant of those flaws is that it allows any old ill-informed punter to vent spleen on any subject that troubles them. In essence, it allows the luxury of opinion without the burden of thought. And so to Wooderbeen.
Before we turn to the inaccuracies lets look first at the elements of his piece that are just, quite simply, made up...."find solace in knowing that every week they are watching the very best footballers in the world. In Scotland they are not, no matter what they claim." - Show me one, just one Scottish media outlet, one Scottish fan site that suggests that the football watching public north of the border believe that they are watching "the very best footballers in the world". You won’t find one because no one thinks that. So, to baseless point Number 2.
"Despite the incoherent bleating about Celtic’s good European record or the massive Rangers fan base, let’s get one thing perfectly clear. Scottish football and its top division are justifiably derided in England because it was, is, and always will be a joke." - Brilliant. Just a quick pointer here, if you're going to say "lets get one thing perfectly clear", its generally considered conventional to back that up with a statement of proven fact, a statistic, or perhaps some detail to refute an incorrect assumption. What you’ve done is no different from me saying "Lets get one thing perfectly clear; the author of "the Scottish problem" article is a clueless tube." It’s not really making anything clear, it’s just an opinion.
If you wanted to ‘get something clear’ then you really needed to say why……Eg. despite both teams making a UEFA Cup Final in the last 8 years, despite Celtic making the final sixteen of the CL the last two years running, Scottish teams are still a joke because…….and you see its that ‘because’ thing that you’re missing. Not only does it make you look like you shouldn’t really be let loose near a keyboard that doesn’t have pictures on it, it also renders your entire point ridiculous.
Now, your next brain explosion was the fantastic, “The Glasgow teams can afford to be mediocre because their opposition is poor and they know that they really only have to finish above one single team to ensure Premier League victory”, before rattling on with some old nonsense about Tore Andre Flo and 12 million.
Do you honestly think that the highest fee paid for a player in Scotland is “only” 12 million because Celtic and Rangers lack ambition or because they can “afford to be mediocre”. Here are some facts, enjoy them as you’re clearly not a man who spends too much time worrying about facts. A Championship winning team will earn (at 2007 estimates) 46 million quid for the following year in Premier League TV money alone. This means that, this year, a team like Stoke, playing in a stadium with half the capacity of Celtic Park, with a worldwide support that’s perhaps less than 5% of that enjoyed by Celtic will earn around 50 million from TV money. Celtic will earn around 2 million, that’s right I haven’t dropped a zero by accident, 2 million in domestic TV money this year.
The only reason that Celtic and Rangers can even afford to spend 4 million here or 5 million there on a player is because their gates, their European income and their large support can finance those deals.
Look, no one is suggesting that the English league is not streets ahead of the SPL, of course it is; it has the largest global TV audience, a domestic population of 50 million (ten times that of Scotland) and consequently the money and glamour to appeal to players like Robinho and Berbatov.
That being acknowledged I just don’t know what your point is? The English Premier League is better than the Scottish Premier League……what a breakthrough, Sportswriter of the Year Award coming your way.
Or is it that English teams have more money than Scottish teams?......again, your intellect astounds.
Or is it perhaps, the lack of competition in the SPL? There are 12 teams in the SPL and only two have a hope of winning it. In other words 16.67% of the teams in the SPL have a chance at the title. There are 20 teams in the EPL, and only 4 teams with a realistic chance of winning it, or, put another way 20% of the teams are capable of winning. We can see therefore that the English Premier league is, statistically, 3.33 percent more competitive than the Scottish one. Startling.
I look forward to your next missive Wooderbeen but do us all a favour and sit down before hand, put on some relaxing music, clear your mind……….and have a right good think. It’ll make things more fun for all of us.