GLF 72: JC has plenty of observations about Scottish football.
Onlooker
Points Win Prizes - So let's reward teams for winning games - 4 points for a win, 2 points for a score draw, 1 point for a goalless draw.Simple!!!
SPL Loanees - Sorry, not a fan of this system - why should we take & keep fit players who will come back & haunt us & who have no intention of signing up.Elliott managed about one goal in his spell & Sheridan has similar total at time of writing. Loanees from clubs outside the SPl are OK if there's a chance they are decent & might take pay cut and sign for us. I realise in the present financial climate this is convenient but I reckon it should be scrapped.
SPL Joke League - Unfortunately I've quite a problem trying to explain to my English & continental friends how a side can finish with more points yet end up lower in the table at the end of a season, let alone how a club can play away three times to another club & not have an equal number of home & away fixtures.Parochial at best - total joke more like it yet we put up with it. Only the Swiss have a similar set up.
McF & McC - Both Faddy & Roscoe had stints at our gaff, with the latter not fully appreciated for what he did for us last season by some fans and slated for being too selfish & not a team player.Personally I think we were a deal better when he played as he seemed to create space for others.We no longer have that asset bar Jamie Murphy who seems to be only a fringe player in McGhee's plans.Both James & Ross have got Scots managers out of holes with vital international goals in their appearances - not bad going for a provincial (diddy) team to have two talismans once on their books!
Fair Price? - The cost of going to a game - £35 for a soft seat at Scotland v Iceland saw about ten thousand left empty.Twenty-five & twenty quid for Hoops brigade saw only eight thousand show up at Fir Park.Kirkcaldy cost me £14 when I went with Queens Park; just over a thousand locals bothered to go.Carlisle cost £14 & the rail fare is cheaper & time on train a deal quicker.West Brom took £23 when I went with Pompey.Middlesborough hiked their price up £3 to £26; not surprised they get low crowds.Queens Park cost £11 & Pollok charge £5, both of which I visit fairly regularly.£46 plus handling fee for Man Utd v Portsmouth midweek, with The Geordies not far behind at £30 plus fee for Monday night TV game. £14 including travel to and from Schalke & £8 for MSV Duisburg - and you can stand at both stadiums & 70-page programme free at Schalke.
Meltdown - Setanta collapse will dramatically affect our finances, did we really learn anything from our traumatic period in administration?Live within our means - if it means youth then so be it.
Loyalty - Afraid that's just for us supporters, players are little better than mercenaries.Similarly managers & those on the board are only there for their own ego trips, grandiosemen & gratification.Support remains constant.
Lights Out At Livi - So does anyone apart from drummer boy and his chums really care if the franchise club folds - nah, didn't think so ............
McGhee - Thanks & bye, ambitious Mark departs - no surprise his first comments at his new post concern his failure to end up in the East End of Glasgow.Better you concentrate on who pays your salary Mark.His litany on Sellic was becoming extremely waring to me personally in his second year at Motherwell.
Deportation - How apt Malcolm goes to Convict Isle.Sorry, I don't subscribe to theory you have to support anyone wearing a Motherwell strip - a bad person/player is still a bad person/player in our strip or not. Good riddance and don't bother returning.
Ancell To Gannon - The span of managers I've seen at Fir Park, 18 in 46 years.The good, bad & totally indifferent - Ancell, Howitt, McLeod, Wallace, McLean's, Davies, Eck, Butcher, Mo'zz. No wonder we achieve little - it's under 3 years per gaffer, with new players arriving each time we change boss.
John Creighton
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