Discussion
not a hearts fan (partick thistle fan) but follow scottish football closely and to me it looks like hearts are going into meltdown. Ever since they got rid of burley last season things behind the scenes have dramatically dived, tho interestingly on the field i think they have achieved much in splitting the old firm for first time in years. romanov had a team et end of last season that could have acheived so much this season but you can now see the tinkerings off the park are affectibng things on, despite beinf second they are miles behind celtic and out of europe very early too. cant see hearts staying second by end of season either if things continue the way they are. a big disapiontment from the neutrals of scottish football and they sae hearts as the team to upset the old firm.
negative creep said:
does seem a shame, as Scottish footie desperatley needs someone to break the old firm stranglehold
People talk about 'the stronghold' of the old firm, yet since the start of the premiership how many different team other than Man Utd and Arsenal have won the league in England?.
There are stronghold teams in every country > Holland - Ajax,PSV,Feyenoord. France - Lyon. Spain - Barca,Real Madrid. Italy - AC Milan,Juventus (well maybe not this season or next
). Germany - Bayern Munich. Norway - Rosenborg. It does my head in when people forget this, at the moment Rangers are sitting 4th in SPL, and came only 3rd last season (bugger as I spend a fortune going to watch them every week), so its hardly a two team league, there are some good wee teams up here (namely Hibs, Hearts, Killie) yet this generalisation about scottish football is poorly guided . If the SPL leams recieved even a 1/4 of the money that the bottom of the league English prem teams get then Scottish football would be a whole different ball-game altogether, and teams could hold onto there young scottish talent that is now being ground out at clubs all over the country.
hhhmmm, i think that increasingly as the old firm reduce their unrealistic and unsustainable wage bills that a few of the other teams will regularly split the old firm at the end of the season but think the spl will only have old firm champions for a good few years to come. but its definately a start and a head the right direction to make spl competitive from top to bottom
the real way to make the spl a superior league would be to make the spl a 16 team league, each team playing others twice, this would stop the congestion from international weekends and european matches and stop the mundanity of playing someone at least 4 times in a season. there are 5 or 6 teams in the first who could easily transition to the spl currently. also making 2 relegation places would ensure less meaningless games at end of season.
the only way that i think the old firm are unhealthy for scottish football is the way the capture the great talent from other clubs and let them rot on the bench, just so they are not playing against them.
the real way to make the spl a superior league would be to make the spl a 16 team league, each team playing others twice, this would stop the congestion from international weekends and european matches and stop the mundanity of playing someone at least 4 times in a season. there are 5 or 6 teams in the first who could easily transition to the spl currently. also making 2 relegation places would ensure less meaningless games at end of season.
the only way that i think the old firm are unhealthy for scottish football is the way the capture the great talent from other clubs and let them rot on the bench, just so they are not playing against them.
discodavor said:
hhhmmm, i think that increasingly as the old firm reduce their unrealistic and unsustainable wage bills that a few of the other teams will regularly split the old firm at the end of the season but think the spl will only have old firm champions for a good few years to come. but its definately a start and a head the right direction to make spl competitive from top to bottom
the real way to make the spl a superior league would be to make the spl a 16 team league, each team playing others twice, this would stop the congestion from international weekends and european matches and stop the mundanity of playing someone at least 4 times in a season. there are 5 or 6 teams in the first who could easily transition to the spl currently. also making 2 relegation places would ensure less meaningless games at end of season.
the only way that i think the old firm are unhealthy for scottish football is the way the capture the great talent from other clubs and let them rot on the bench, just so they are not playing against them.
the real way to make the spl a superior league would be to make the spl a 16 team league, each team playing others twice, this would stop the congestion from international weekends and european matches and stop the mundanity of playing someone at least 4 times in a season. there are 5 or 6 teams in the first who could easily transition to the spl currently. also making 2 relegation places would ensure less meaningless games at end of season.
the only way that i think the old firm are unhealthy for scottish football is the way the capture the great talent from other clubs and let them rot on the bench, just so they are not playing against them.
On the rot comment I agree, with no more higher a case that Derek Riordan's at Celtic.
I also agree about the 16 team league, I remember a few seasons back Rangers having to play St Johnstone 6 times!, in the one season. That is nothing short of farcical, and wouldn't even be seen in Schools football.
The gap is also lessening, painfully quickly for Rangers at the moment however they do have the facillities to get out of there current woeful form i.e Main bulk of the squad is under 25yrs of age, and they have by far the best training facilities in Scotland.
The trend of improving training facilities , and squad ages getting younger is also becoming common throughout Scotland, Hearts share V.Good facilities with Edinburgh Uni, and also have a crop of younger players (incl a few million lithuanian's lol), Hibs have also aquired improved facilities and have an excellent young team which on their day can beat any team in the league. Celtic (boo) also have a crop of Scottish players and are currently building new training faciliies, and increasingly its a trend seen through the SPL clubs at least i.e Kilmarnock, Aberdeen. However it is noted that the teams nearer the bottom of the league Dunfermline/DUFC aren't quite up to scratch with this trend (maybe this is why they are struggling at the moment?).
ultimately improving training facilities and spending money on youth is going to be the only viable option for teams to compete and make money (look at the maount of youngsters hibs have sold off over last 5 seasons, irony is that if they kept those players their squad would be fantastic, a real catch 22 for clubs these days)
itsmymumscar said:
Hearts share V.Good facilities with Edinburgh Uni
You mean Heriot-Watt Uni. The best of the Edinburgh Uni's
Despite the turmoil at Hearts, I think a lot of fans would probably have been more interested in seeing Hearts lift a cup last season despite complete meltdown going on in the background.
In contrast if Romanov hadn't bought the club, then they'd be renting Murrayfield once a week and Gorgie Road would be cluttered with tower cranes and building supplies by now.
Financial stability or team stability?
cj_eds said:
itsmymumscar said:
Hearts share V.Good facilities with Edinburgh Uni
You mean Heriot-Watt Uni. The best of the Edinburgh Uni's
Despite the turmoil at Hearts, I think a lot of fans would probably have been more interested in seeing Hearts lift a cup last season despite complete meltdown going on in the background.
In contrast if Romanov hadn't bought the club, then they'd be renting Murrayfield once a week and Gorgie Road would be cluttered with tower cranes and building supplies by now.
Financial stability or team stability?
Is it really team stability?. How many players do Hearts have on Loan at present?, when was the last time Hearts actually bought a player?
Also hasn't Romanov just shifted Hearts debt into his own Lithuanian bank, so in theory if Hearts get rid of Romanov, it will cost them millions as he controls their debt. Also some of the Hearts players are on 'old firm' wages, this is surely unsustainable as Hearts havn't played in europe for ....a while?. This can only mean that the debt is mounting, in Romanovs bank.
The majority of Hearts fans cannot see the woods for the trees, and quite frankly they would have been celebrating a lot more last season if Romanov hadn't gone off like an american soldiers gun, and 'sacked' Burley.
Still if they are happy winning the Scottish cup every decade or so, fair enough.
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