GLF78 - As ever, Eddie gets right to the point and points the way forward.
A Steelman's Slamt
Listen to what we are saying!!!
Every time I concoct one of these pieces of tat I get the feeling of deja vu. It always, always seems I'm moaning about the state of Scottish football, moaning about the Old Firm, or usually moaning about them both!!!! This time, I've had it up to here with a seemingly endless line of "experts" coming up to
Scotland for a few minutes and compiling a programme that will cure all our countries footballing ills.
Over the past wee while we've had Doncaster (who?), Wotte (Who?) and Stewart Regan (Who?) all trying to tell us, guys who've been watching and paying for football for the last 10, 20 30, 40 and more years what needs to happen to make it all right. Regan's 8 point plan to save us from becoming something akin to the League of Wales would be absolutely hilarious if he wasn't being deadly serious about it.
New TV deal won't happen until we (Clubs, sponsors, fans, media) all agree on a strategy.
More Play-Offs definitely, but then, that's not rocket science.
Six Academies of excellence isn't that what the SPL Clubs are supposed to have at the moment?
Cashback money used to fund coaching of schools what about stop frittering big money away on 30 year old Moroccan Left-Backs or Romanian Centre-Halves who are nobodies, and allow the young Scottish reserves get their game and develop?
Change the voting structure of the SPL definitely to one Club 1 vote, disnae matter how big yer Dad is.
One League body won't make much of a difference to the fan in the street.
Summer football / Winter break definitely Winter break, but make sure the kids play their games in the summer.
Under-20's league an absolutely pointless exercise, which would prevent young Scots playing first team football on a regular basis until they were three years older than Wayne Rooney was when he made his Premiership debut!!!
What gives this guy the credentials to make such a sweeping statement? Are his ideas anymore valid than ours? Of course not, indeed I'd argue, it's us who should be given the opportunity to turn this fiasco around.
I'll give you some starters;
Clubs should stop pandering to the Old Firm get back to splitting the gate money, and if they don't want to play ball, send our under 14's to visit Glasgow, and let them pump them 40-0, cause if you don't pay anything for what appears on your stage, then you can't expect any kind of sporting contest
No Scottish Club should be allowed to take a foreigner on loan it's bad enough allowing overseas players to come into our league, sign a contract and take a healthy wedge out of the country, without letting the likes of Keane and Diouf take money on loan. The loan system should be used to develop young home-grown talent to hopefully benefit the national team in years to come, not in a pathetic attempt to win the league title for the nth time!!
Prices should be pegged at £12 and £6 take a leaf out of the Bundesliga. A few years back they slashed admission prices, and almost immediately they were all playing to full houses which generated interest from the media and TV, and more importantly, the more people who visit live matches the more people who will talk about football in their workplaces every day of the week, building an excitement for the next match they would all want to attend.
Restrict the amount of non-Scots in a squad tricky one I know, but we've got to grab this particular thistlefor the benefit of our own kids. It's getting to the stage that even under 19 squads are peppered with non- Scots. It really can't go on.
A maximum wage at each Club apparently UEFA are keen on this idea, which would allow Clubs to naturally find their level and allow them to have realistic targets, and not blow fortunes chasing an impossible dream.
League reconstruction this is a must, and it's all so bloody simple. Deep breath. Premier (and 1st) of 12, playing each other twice, then split. Top 8 play each other another twice for top positions, bottom four take on top four of 1s Division, playing each other twice for four promotion slots. The bottom eight in the 1st play each other twice to find the bottom four. The bottom four play the top four of the 2nd in four one-off games at neutral venues for four promotion places. The same applying to the bottom the 2nd and top of the 3rd. Simples.
Non pro-youth kids play in the Summer almost 2,000 kids/youths play in the Paisley District football league each week, at the same time as St. Mirren play less than a mile away. What other industry would not at least try to attract such a captive audience by playing at different times or indeed months from each other?
Clubs take their ideas from their own fans Hopefully with the Motherwell community initiative, us 'Well fans will have an increasingly vocal say in the running of a club, to which we each give a sizable portion of our disposable income. Boards of Directors have got to listen to their paying punters, and heed what they have to say, because without us, the Clubs are nothing.
Brand of football Clubs have got to realise football is an entertainment. We want to see goals, great saves, goal-mouth scrambles as well as the sublime skills which are on show at times in Scotland. Results are important, but not every week . Entertain the crowd, and the fans will almost certainly come back for more.
It's time we all forgot about listening to what songs some fans sing, or what flags some fans wave, and
concentrate on what really matters, getting our game shipshape. It's a cracking sport, and we're particularly fortunate to have a terrific Club to support who seem to have grasped the importance of the football fan. Yes, my ideas may be a bit mental and maybe complete nonsense, but at least I've taken the time to put mine into
the public domain, can the same be said for the vast silent majority reading this?
Enjoy the fitba, EDDIE STEELMAN
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