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Saw this on the BBC website http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/29683379. Taarabt of QPR getting paid between £60k and £70k a week and can't be bothered to train properly and keep himself fit enough to play. His annual salary is not far off ICT's total annual turnover. Whilst not wanting to get into a debate about just how much the very top players are worth, there is clearly a huge amount of money in the game squandered on wages which are not justifiable. Put into perspective, if Taarabt's wages were instead given to ICT, the club could offer free admission to all games and double the players wages - if that didn't bring in the crowds, I don't know what would! We can tinker around at the edges to try and improve things but the root problem is the current pattern of distribution of money in the game. I know some will argue that what we have is what market forces dictate, but as with the economy of society in general, there is a need to redistribute some of the wealth for the wider common good. It may be that the big audience for football world wide is a TV audience who want to watch Barcelona, Bayern, Man Utd etc, but the fact remains that these clubs are dependent on the grass roots to develop the players who the big clubs buy. The distribution of money within the game gives absurd amounts of money to a very significant number of players in the big leagues (and not just the elite teams) and this seriously threatens the viability of the game at lower levels. This can't be good for the long term future of the game at any level, but the trouble is that the power is in the hands of those making mega bucks in the short term. Things need to change but sadly, I can't see it happening.

I don't think people are becoming disinterested in football....you just have to look at how much of it is on TV to appreciate that the interest is there. In Scotland, I think that people have become bored with the way the product is delivered....i.e. League and Cup structures which mean clubs can easily end up playing each other 4/5/6 times a season. Missing a game against Celtic is no big deal because you know another will be along in a few weeks, or having already seen your team play against Motherwell means you may not be that bothered about missing one later in the season. The biggest argument against increasing the size of the league in the past was having to divide the pot up further. As the SPFL is a single organisation now, then that is no longer a factor. You can keep the financial structure and move the league cut off points to adjust the size quite easily. Get rid of the Challenge Cup and League Cup in their current form and replace it with a single cup that has regional qualifiers that then splits into two separate cup tournaments....one cup for those who finish top half of qualifiers and one for those who finish in the bottom half. By doing that you counter any reduction in games from having larger leagues AND you get a lot more "Derby" type matches where fan travel is reduced and you get a larger variety of opposition. Yes, there's other factors...and you need to look at them all. When dealing with situations like this I believe the way to tackle them is to (where practical/possible) seek to remove the obstacles....and where you can't remove them, try and take best advantage of them. TV....it's probably the one "obstacle" we're not going to get rid of, so let's fully embrace it make it work as much as possible in our favour. Look at what sports like Super League Rugby and Darts are doing in this country where they are getting more TV coverage than ever before and still packing out arenas. Study it, learn from it and emulate it. While we're at it....tell the broadcasters they need to pay fair compensation for the rights to move games, especially to the more ridiculous times.....then use that additional income to reduce ticket prices to encourage people to still come along to these matches. Weather? I'm not fussed one way or the other by Summer or Winter football....but I see nothing wrong in giving it a go, so why not? If nothing else it removes this ridiculous scenario we have at present where clubs have most games in the worst month for weather (we have 7 games in January)....and lets not forget, this is the month of the year when people are also likely to have the least amount of disposable income. In World Cup/Euro seasons you simply add a week or two to each end of the season and take a summer break.....we already have to adjust things with a winter timetable, so I don't see the difference. Ticket pricing? As I've said already, I don't believe this is the main contributing factor and ICTFC's situation would certainly back that up. What I do know is that the only way clubs will ever be able to reduce prices is if they reduce spending or increase income. If you need to increase income to allow you to reduce prices then the only thing you can do is increase numbers attending. We all know that ticket discounting doesn't result in enough of an increase in crowds to cover the cost of doing it. That means you have to do other stuff to make the whole product more appealing and accessible. IMO, the clubs (individually) are all doing what they can. The product on the park is pretty decent, IMO, there's just a lot of repetition and stuff that pisses people off...like late moving of games to illogical times and unnecessary crowd regulations which stifle atmosphere. It therefore falls to the SPFL to stop fannying around with short term, self serving, self preservation ideals and actually start doing the things that the customer (present and future) have some interest in. In addition to the above, I also agree with Davie's point about the main stream media constantly pitching the game in a negative light. Speaking to journalists after our match v Aberdeen they were raving about how great a game it had been. When I asked why they would make the couple of mistakes made in the game the main talking point when they held that view (and that's exactly what they did do) instead of concentrating on it being a great game, the answer was "that's not what sells papers". The BBC "Price of Football" survey is the best (worst?) example of that and serves no useful purpose. Two reasons why I say that....firstly, it provides no context to the information it provides....secondly, it puts emphasis on an issue which is (certainly, IMO) is a minor factor whilst pointing the finger of blame at individual clubs who ARE actually trying hard and fighting not only to encourage people to games, but for their mere existence as costs increase and income decreases due to factors that are beyond their control.

County will beat Rangers in the playoffs. If that proves to be the end of season scenario count me as a staunch County fan..

It may be in his genes ?! He is only a young lad and he will learn from the experience. The first yellow was unlucky and was probably on the back of 2 previous niggles. The second was a rush of blood to the head. He barely touched the player but he did go in studs up. He has not exactly got the role models playing beside him though !! But - Nicky Ross / Aaron Doran - have oft been criticised for not getting stuck in so wee Ryan has dispelled that belief. Plus he is a winner and winners battle. And just another sign that you can overplay and over rely on youngsters. Learning any trade is about making mistakes.

Loved the highlights...Mannie! S w e e t ! We seemed to be hanging on at the end with a bit of desperation showing. Ibra- from the highlights he does seem possibly to not yet be fit enough for Mr. J Hughes. Slowish like. Or maybe it's that he may not be frenetic enough? However, I did note that he has a rather deceiving loping style which probably allows him to cover a good dad of ground. Big guy, though. Do you think he will fit in ? Does Mr Collum not think that a wee talking to and a warning may be all that he needs to calm down some players as a FIRST STEP eh?

And we are not even allowed one drum into St Mirren! So much for atmosphere in the SPFL!!! Oh dear.

Well that is due to the Merger.

Well the most entertaining bit (or bite) of the day was the "Fly in the Pie" incident pre-match in the Alamo. Personally I do not understand all the controversy as I have enjoyed at least one fly in my pie every time that I have been there, especially when the Beer Garden is open. The main positives to take from the game is that we were solid at the back, we were in complete control when we had 11 and never really looked like getting beat when we went down to 10 men. Wee Billy looked like the all action forward of old and Ibra looks like a player of similar ilk. If he had been playing for Midden he would have been Zebra. The three points are gratefully received but the game itself was simply dire. There was few chances at either end, our final pass is still terrible and Middens shooting was thankfully woeful. But the person who totally spoiled the fare was that idiot Gollum in the middle. The standard of refereeing in the League this season has been very poor but that was a ridiculous performance. Apparently wee Ryan got a second booking for unsporting behaviour - WTF!! Deano had a better day and actually looked commanding with one excellent finger tip bottom corner save. He was helped by a far more solid back four and there was NO tippy-tappy on display. Need to see the highlights but it did look like a Tremarco handball late on. Now Ross a Draper has a go at refs and his reputation in the Record and then is lucky not to be our second sending off with a number of CLUMSY, needless tackles/shoves. Tansey was my MOM by a country mile. He looked like the only "footballer" on the pitch. He also slotted home a beaut of a spot kick. Plus I don't know what the junkies were whingeing about as Warren almost had his shirt taken off. But it was really good to watch the Billy McKay of old. He was really unlucky not to score although one was a near to sitter. But he ran the line and chased everything and has evidently been buoyed by the arrival of Ibra - who looks like a cloning of Dean McDonald and Eric Obdiambo - hopefully turns out to be better. He does look in the McKay mould BUT I am unsure as to how they will play as a pairing. He certainly has movement and pace. He should have passed at the death but went fer goal. Some may say that he was being greedy but that may be the sign of a goal scorer. And Yogi's substitution were tactically spot on. So it was pretty dire entertainment but another three point away day.

It puts it into perspective though when you see that Scottish football as a whole is paying more for tickets than many of Europes top teams. No wonder crowds are falling.