scotish teams in europe

[maxi1968]

scottish teams have no chanse at all in major european tourniments,this may be the result of the set up in the scottish game.our league set up is not helpfull to any clubs in scotland ,change has been needed for some time.summer football would give clubs more time to prepare for euro qualfiers.but there are too many self intrests involved here for a start our premier league is too restricting and the split is of no use at all as far as im concerned it is a joke.

[opsmonkey]

the problem with your league is the top two, they outstrip and out weigh the rest of the clubs incomes put together..

it seems strange to me that Scotland has produced some truely world class players but the national side or league never progressed as well as they should have done..

[maxi1968]

yes i totally agree the main problem is money the set up is un attractive to brodcasters as the competition is lower than in most other leagues.this all started in the late seventies with the introduction of the premier league.all the smaller clubs thought that playing the big two 4 times a season would generate more income,however the standard of these clubs has steadilly went down over the years .no investment lack of forethought and ultimatlly greed has got us whare we are today.i would love to see dundee unt and aberdeen back to the way they were in the early eghties.they ruled the roost not the old firm those were the days.

[davieboy.rfc]

the split is not good & im in favour of summer football but im lookin forward 2 the champions league i know we wont do much but neither will a lot of teams lets just enjoy being there as a gers fan ive always wanted real madrid, maybe this year...

[maxi1968]

yep its just about being there as we all look forward to the draw it wont matter who we get as you say just enjoy.

[shb367]

Next season sees both SPL winners and runner up having to go through the tricky qualifying stages instead of this season's Rangers going straight into the league.

With our poor performances in Europe etc our EUEFA co-eficient has taken a battering recently

[ghunter]

The future for Scottish clubs in Europe is bleak and will be for quite some time to come. Until the other clubs get their act together Celtic and Rangers will continue to do just enough to beat each other. This means they only really have to raise their game 4 times a year and how could that possibly make either of them any better? They are the best we have got and they are very poor.

Rangers will earn some money to pay off some of their debt but will they be able to strenghten their squad? Celtic have 'strengthened' their squad but they dont seem to be any better than last season.

The loss of revenue from Setanta will just exacerbate the situation, some clubs may not last the season.

Little wonder Scotland got humped so easily by Norway.

On another note - why is it called the champions league when most of the teams that are likely to be in it aren't champions?

[opsmonkey]

because originally when it took over from the European Cup in 1992-93 it was just for champions of the domestic leagues.. its expanded to runners up in 1997-98

[ghunter]

Yes I know that but it is a misnomer surely. It's not a champions competition it's wealthy clubs competition. It is a nonsense that the champions of one country have to pre-qualify and 2nd and even 3rd and placed teams from another country goes straight through to the money - sorry - group stages!

I just object to the pretence, they should just call it what it is - 'The competition for the wealthiest clubs in Europe, the competition that ensures they remain the wealthiest clubs as they get all the money from the TV, sponsors etc and ensuring they are the only ones who can afford to buy the better players and hence remain the best clubs'
Bit of a mouthful I suppose.

We have had this situation in Scotland for a number of years now - Celtic and Rangers win almost everything and they will continue to do so as they have much more money than the rest.
Champions league is the same thing on a bigger scale. Mind you at least it does lead to good, exciting football most of the time unlike the SPL!

[opsmonkey]

due to the numbers of countries now in europe the pre qualifiaction is essential.. clubs have reached the final and won the trophy from the qualifing rounds so it is possible..

your problem is your league setup and that no-one wants to watch it, even in your own country people dont go to games, apart from the old firm..

14'000 is Hearts average gate, Aberdeen count even make 13'000 average

[cad]

14'000 is Hearts average gate, Aberdeen count even make 13'000 average

And they always want 30,000 tickets for finals

[ghunter]

The league set up is a minor part of the problem.
Per head of population, games in Scotland are much better attended than in England but when you have 5 million people as opposed to 50 million then there will obviously be higher attendances and so much greater revenue via ticket sales. Then theres merchandising and TV rights. The TV rights are why the Premiership is enjoying its position in world football. If they were not there then the Premiership would be the same as it used to be, full of the best players in the UK but with virtually no quality foreign players, they would stay in Spain, Italy, Germany and France as they always did in the past. It's the money that makes all the difference.

Oh and it still is not a league of champions! championship winners should always be automatically entered into the group stages, no matter where they are from, the qualifiers should be the runners up.