RiG

That's an absolute disgrace that we have in TV deal in place based on certain teams being in the top league. Utterly disgusting. Doncaster is a despicable cretin.

Absoluted disgusted by events of the last day or so. I was delighted when I heard that ICT had voted No To New Co in the SPL. I sincerely hope that they are not involved in any way in trying to railroad these proposals through to keep Rangers in SFL1. My interest in Scottish football is, like many others it would seem, hanging by a thread. What happens with Rangers is going to make or break Scottish football as far as I am concerned. I've already refused to renew my season ticket at ICT until I see what happens with "New Rangers". It's about time that people accept that Rangers are, for all intents and purposes, dead. The only way forward now is to get themselves sorted out and prepare an application to see if they will be accepted into SFL3 and start again. Anything else is an absolute insult to the rest of the clubs currently playing in the SPL / SFL who are living, for the most part, within their means. There is absolutely no way that Doncaster and his minions would be trying to force all these measures through if it was ICT or St. Mirren or Ross County who were in the same position. The fact that Rangers seem to be getting preferential treatment is utterly sickening and proves what most of us have suspected all along and that is that Scottish football is geared towards catering for those at the top, and more specifically, Rangers and Celtic. I hope the SFL clubs tell the authorities where they can stick this "proposal".

He never did that because no such move was available to him.

McGregor has said no? First time for everything I guess. EDIT: Allegedly.

Cliched PR puff to calm the Aberdeen fans who were getting frustrated at the fact the transfer took forever to actually be confirmed.

I appreciate that Aberdeen are not at the level where they used to be but the fact is that they can offer him a lot more than we can. Can you honestly say that if you were offered the chance to be paid 2 - 3 times more for doing the same job you wouldn't do it? It's a real disappointment that we have lost such a great player but it's not as if we didn't know his contract was running down. When Foran was offered a new deal why wasn't Hayes?

Is he though? He is moving to a club where he will be getting more money and almost certainly a first team spot week in and week out. He is going to be playing at a familiar level to what he has been playing at for the last couple of seasons and he is still close to whatever "family and friends" support group he may have. He's definitely bettered himself, like it or not. Yes, he could have gone to a bigger club than Aberdeen but clearly no one made the move for him. It was down to Aberdeen and ICT and we're kidding ourselves if we think that most players won't move on for more money. It's a safe and solid move by Hayes rather than an overly ambitious one I think. It's maybe not as much of a step up as Rooney to Birmingham but it is a step up.

As Caley D says the distances travelled by the teams are not identical due to the different fixtures each will play. The numbers calculated are simply based on the fixtures up until the split. Whilst Ross County are further away from most grounds than ICT, their fixtures appear to be against teams that are closer to them. For example, they may be playing Saint Johnstone a couple of times away from home whilst we play Killie which is a longer journey overall.

Here is a graph showing the total miles traveled per club based on the fixtures up until the split: And one of the average miles traveled to an away game by each club: Must learn how to spell traveled...

Difference between Average Attendance against Average Attendance minus Old Firm games: Match Attendances v Celtic: Match Attendances v Rangers: Looking at it, and I'm happy to be corrected, the dwindling numbers seem to be those in the Home end although what their loyalties are could be argued anyway.

Aye probably. I've also collated our average attendances versus each team in the SPL. Will stick them up tomorrow.

Graphics describing the above attached below.

Motherwell likely to say no and Killie looking like doing a U turn after supporters overwhelmingly voted no to NewCo. I know that we moan about losing players to other teams due to lack of resources but I'd rather have a team to support than a bunch of crooks behind the scenes running my team into the ground.

Saint Johnstone have said no as well now! http://www.perthstjohnstonefc.co.uk/newsitemsdetail.php?param=2060

Great news as far as I, and the majority, are concerned. Here's hoping they don't do a U turn on the 4th though. If ICT follow this through I will renew my season ticket even though I'll miss about 4 - 6 games anyway. EDIT: What a great photo of Hayes in that picture by the way!

That was never going to happen though. Any team set up under Hodgson, certainly in recent memory, is not geared towards that type of football. They are well drilled, resolute and defensive. England were always going to play like this at this tournament. Pirlo was magnificent and Mark Lawrenson is a complete walloper.

I did some more number crunching last night looking at ICTs attendances and our average attendance has already fallen by ~ 1,000 between our first season in the SPL and the season just past. Our average attendance not taking into account games against the Old Firm is anywhere between 1,200 - 1,800 less per season which is quite incredible although you still have the potential for skewing with including Aberdeen however it is always the OF who are cited as big attendance boosters.. Essentially, if the TV deal was to be pulled and Rangers were to be booted from the SPL, ICT would need to somehow raise an extra 2,000* fans to remain at the same level we are at now. * TV deal is apparently worth somewhere in the region of 1,000 fans per game and factoring in the drop in average attendance without Rangers at approximately 1,000 if Celtic remain and their support remains as it is. Very approximate by the way.

Pretty much my feeling even if it is somewhat hypocritical.

Take your point Luke but at the same time ICT shouldn't be a fall back option for a player. For what it's worth I don't care what Hayes does if it meant he stays with us.

I think most contracts run our at the end of June. Certainly that's something that has been mentioned in a lot of the papers including the Evening Express as they had to continue their embarrassing climb down about Hayes signing from Aberdeen which changed to he would join when his contract runs out at the end of June (30th).

Strangely enough I just did the same thing for the guy who does the SPL Stats Twitter page (who is also a Killie fan). I found that, based on the distance between grounds and the number of times each team will travel up until the split, ICT will cover 4122 miles, Ross County 3882 miles, Aberdeen 3666 and Killie 3241 miles. The club who will travel the least, up until the split, is Hearts who only have to travel 2084 miles. ICT will travel an average of 294 miles to each away game, Ross County will cover an average of 277 miles, Aberdeen 244 miles, Kilmarnock 203 miles. Hearts and Saint Johnstone will travel an average of 139 and 146 miles respectively. ICT will actually play two less games away from home compared to Kilmarnock who play 16.

He's under contract until the end of June (30th).

Saint Johnstone are also rumored to be joining the No vote...

If all of those four do plan to vote no then yes one more would be needed. Something posted on the SPL Stats Twitter feed: http://pastebin.com/Y0H2A6cj

So that's Hearts, Motherwell, Dundee United and Aberdeen (?) all voting No to NewCo by the looks of things.