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Everything posted by Scotty
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Good thing - domestically at least, but from the article, it sounds like they are seeking to implement it in a strange manner where high value contracts are already in place with players, and 13 of the 20 teams are already over, or in some cases well over that figure. The idea is good, but the implementation seems half-arsed, and the ticket money clause also seems wide open to abuse. Also not sure how teams competing in Europe will see it when they cant spend what they want, and may lose ground to the huge European teams who can spend indiscriminately. Cant see it working properly unless there is a Europe-wide cap. Its a bit like describing our own frustrations when a player in Scotland moves from the SPL to the championship or lower and still gets paid more than he can earn in Scotland ...... Most folk know I watch Toronto FC in MLS. MLS is of course, a salary cap league but the cap is set far far lower than the EPL .... $2.95m per team or $56.05m in total. That equates to about £36.4m for the entire league ... a lot less than the £52-£60 million the EPL will set for each individual team over the next three years. Each team can of course have up to 3 designated players who earn over the individual player maximum - like David Beckham, Thierry Henry, and Torsten Frings did for each of the teams I mentioned above, or like Barry Robson or Kenny Miller if you want to make it a bit more Scottish .... but no team can fill their squad with huge wages just because they have the cash to do so .... The biggest reason for this rule in MLS is because of what happened the first time round in the USA when the forerunner of MLS allowed teams like New York Cosmos to fill their teams full of (fading) superstars on ridiculous wages. The crowds did not come out as the sport was not really marketed, or of interest to most Americans, the wages were unsustainable, and "lesser" teams just could not compete and the league finally imploded. This time round, MLS has a number of measures to encourage slow but steady growth that has seen it rise from 10 teams in 1996 to 19 teams in 2013. However it is a lot different than most leagues in the world The league "owns" all of the teams. Each team has an owner-operator who is a shareholder in the league Each team must establish (or already have) a youth Academy as a condition of entry In order to control costs, the league shares revenues and holds the players contracts instead of players being contracted to individual teams. They also have to approve salary negotiations. When a transfer is made to a league outside of MLS (like Maurice Edu to Rangers for example), MLS gets the money and passes about 75% of it to the club, the rest is shared. The club must use that money for development, infrastructure or other things like that. A small proportion of it may be used as "allocation money" for a single year to allow the team to go a bit over the salary cap. Toronto used the Maurice Edu money to replace the artificial grass at BMO field with real grass, and also ploughed some of it into a huge new Soccer Academy complex they built In terms of the salary cap, its complicated but works ..... these are the main bullet points Teams can have a squad of up to 30 players Salary cap is $2.95m (US$) per year, per team The first 20 spots on the squad count against the salary cap Players in spots 21-30 do not count against the cap and are known as off-budget players. You cannot add high earners into those spots to get around the cap. Players in spots 21-24 must earn minimum of $46500 Players in spots 25-30 must earn minimum of $35125 (the league minimum) Players who earn league minimum must be under 24 Generation Adidas players are also "off budget" and can be anywhere in the squad from 1-30. These are players that have not yet graduated from college, but who MLS has signed to a contract. They can still finish college, but are available to teams without a cap hit. They tend to be good players. Maurice Edu, Landon Donovan, Carlos Bocanegra, are a few who came through that system. Generation Adidas players are usually paid more - sometimes a lot more - than spots 21-30 but not count against the cap. Homegrown (Youth players promoted from team Academy). These players generally fit somewhere into 21-30 in the squad but up to 2 per year can be paid more than the 21-30 wage structure and not be counted against the cap. Each team can have up to 3 designated players. The salary cap hit for a DP is $368,750 against your overall total. the player can be paid more (Beckham/Henry were getting $5m per year) but the team owners pay this. A DP coming to a club in mid-season is a cap hit of 50% of the full year total. Teams are encouraged to sign young DPs (to try and get away from the fading superstar image I guess). A player who is 20 or under on a DP contract is only a $150K cap hit, one who is 21-23 is a $200K hit. Interestingly enough, there is talk over here - mainly from fans - about getting rid of the salary cap ... but personally, I would like to see it rise to maybe $5m instead of $3m which would allow teams to sign a strong squad as well as 2 or 3 quality DPs ..... right now, teams with DPs tend to have weaker players further down the squad list as they dont have as much wiggle room in salary .... but that is part of the levelling factor ......
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April fixtures added.
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Cant find up to date revenue figures for this year, but last year, the income was £21.4 million and after costs, it was estimated payouts to clubs were in the region of about £12m over the course of the year which looks fairly consistent with figures I have from a few years ago. Perhaps CaleyD or someone else has more accurate numbers? Assuming the figures are somewhat accurate, that would mean for 2nd place the payout would be in the £1.8m range, dropping to £1.14m for 3rd and £1.02m for 4th so between £700K and £800K difference for 32nd over 3rd/4th, which for ICT (and many other clubs) is a huge incentive. Last year we were 10th and would have pocketed about 660K so whatever we get this year is a huge bonus .... but 2nd would mean more than a million extra compared to last year ......
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cheers .... could have saved a lot of typing if I just waited 10 minutes
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Dont think we get any extra cash from TV coverage of league games ... its all part of the overall prize fund. only cup games where we get a windfall. Finishing second though should be a huge priority as the league is still setup to reward the top two teams with the lions share of the cash !!! not sure if it is exactly the same but it used to break down like this .... 4% went to every club (48% total) the remaining 52% was split based on finishing posittion 01 = 4% + 13% = 17% 02 = 4% + 11% = 15% 03 = 4% + 5.5% = 9.5% 04 = 4% + 4.5% = 8.5% 05 = 4% + 4.0% = 8.0% 06 = 4% + 3.5% = 7.5% 07 = 4% + 3.0% = 7.0% 08 = 4% + 2.5% = 6.5% 09 = 4% + 2.0% = 6.0% 10 = 4% + 1.5% = 5.5% 11 = 4% + 1.0% = 5.0% 12 = 4% + 0.5% = 4.5% (+ parachute payments) same info still on SPL website dated 2009 ./.... http://www.scotprem.com/content/default.asp?page=s2&newsid=7618&back=home
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Just looking at overall post-split fixtures and there are some weird KO times ...... although fixtures now up on SPL website, no little icons for Sky, ESPN or Alba yet. WK34 Fri 7:45pm - DUFC V M'Well Sat 3:00PM - 2 fixtures - definitely not on TV (UEFA blackout period) [Killie/Hearts, St Mirren/Dundee] Sun 12:45pm - Celtic -V- ICT Sun 4:05pm - St J -V- County Mon 7:30pm - Hibs -V- Aberdeen WK35 Fri 7:45pm - County -V- DUFC Sat 12:00pm - St J -V- ICT Sat 3:00PM - 3 fixtures - definitely not on TV (UEFA blackout period) [Aberdeen/Killie, Dundee/Hearts, Hibs/St Mirren] Sun 12:45pm - M'Well -V- Celtic WK36 Sat 3:00PM - 3 fixtures - definitely not on TV (UEFA blackout period) [DUFC/St J, Hearts/St Mirren, ICT/M'Well] Sun 12:00 - County -V- Celtic Sun 3:00PM - 2 fixtures - dont think its a blackout period but cant see those being on TV [Dundee/Aberdeen, Killie/Hibs] WK37 Sat 12:15pm - Celtic -V- St J. Sat 3:00PM - 3 fixtures - definitely not on TV (UEFA blackout period) [Dundee/Killie, ICT/DUFC, St Mirren/Aberdeen] Sun 12:00pm - Hearts -V- Hibs Sun 4:05pm - M'Well -V- County WK38 Sat 3:00PM - 3 fixtures - definitely not on TV (UEFA blackout period) [Aberdeen/Hearts, Hibs/Dundee, Killie/St Mirren] Sun 12:45pm - DUFC -V- Celtic Sun 12:45pm - County -V- ICT Sun 12:45pm - St J. -V- Motherwell
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full list now up on BBC (but still not on SPL site) http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22085472
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Dunfermline now confirmed as being docked 15points : http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22085474
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official ICT site @ http://ictfc.com
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Sad to see him go, he was a big part of this season's success, but wish him well in his future endeavours, especially as he is not going to another team in Scotland.
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Stalemate..................As predictable as bears going for a number two in the forest, this game ended in a no scoring draw. Neither side looked capable of taking control of the game and a draw was a fair reflection of the evening fare. St Johnstone had the majority of possession but we carved out the better opportunities and were denied the winner by a superb save by Mannus from a close range Draper header near the end. A warm evening in Inverness gave way to cold, crisp skies – and sharp movement to match on the field. Mehdi Abeid, on-loan from Newcastle United, had an early pop at goal for Saints which whistled dangerously close to Antonio Reguero’s upright. The young midfielder looked sharp in a bright opening few minutes for Saints before the hosts settled. Owain Tudur Jones produced Caley Thistle’s first attempt at goal and the big Welshman went even closer with a powerful stab from outside the box, tipped wide by Mannus, after 12 minutes. Andrew Shinnie also nodded just over from six yards from Ross Draper’s delivery as the home side began to look dangerous. Saints held enough menace, themselves, though. Steven MacLean won the ball easily from young Inverness defender Danny Devine after a poor touch and slid a pass to Rowan Vine on the left side of the box. Clear chances were thin on the ground but Hibs-bound Liam Craig, earlier booked, made a tremendous surge past Graeme Shinnie into the right of the home box after 25 minutes. As the Saints midfielder – who grabbed the equaliser against Untied – dug in a low cross, Reguero was again sharp down to save. Josh Meekings did a tremendous mopping-up job on Vine as the Perth striker honed in on goal after 38 minutes. It was finely-balanced but Abeid wriggled into space and whipped a tremendous long-range effort only just wide with half-time approaching. Half Time 0-0 Early in the second half, the young French-born Algerian was set up after Vine’s grit and perseverance on the left. Teed up square on goal, Abeid’s low-strike swerved through a ruck of players but was stopped by the one-handed reaction of Reguero. A poor spell for the hosts ended with Tudur Jones’ attempt parried by Mannus and Shinnie then stabbing just over the bar from Billy McKay’s supply after the hour. Soon after, Aaron Doran broke at pace free behind the Saints defence and was about to pull the trigger as Mannus shut him down superbly. The pendulum was swinging in Caley Thistle’s favour as Shinnie swept a shot just over from distance. Saints thought they had opened after 71 minutes but Vine’s finish was in vain with play called back for a foul on Meekings. With ten minutes left, St Johnstoine retained slightly the upper hand and a strike by substitute Nigel Hasselbaink looked net-bound in a crowded box before striking the legs of team-mate Frazer Wright. There was another chance soon afterwards when Hasselbaink was floored by David Raven sharp left of the home box. The otherwise excellent Abeid swung his free-kick far too long. Caley Thistle, though, went agonisingly close with a header from Ross Draper parried by the firm fists of Mannus close-in from a Nick Ross cross. A draw is not the worst result by far as it keeps the Saints at bay, but I doubt many fans or Mr Butcher will be overly impressed by the performance. Highlight for many was the helicopter circling the stadium during the game, it certainly looked more interesting than the game itself and the rousing drumbeat chanting in the second half got many a foot tapping. 5th Apr 2013 Scottish Premier League Tulloch Caledonian Stadium Inverness C.T. 0 - TEAM: Reguero, Raven, G.Shinnie, Devine, Meekings, Doran, Foran, Draper, Tudur-Jones, A.Shinnie (Ross 80), McKay SUBS: Mathieson, Polworth, Taylor, Christie Booked: none Sent Off: none St Johnstone 0 - TEAM: Mannus, MacKay, Davidson (Scobbie 24), Wright, Anderson, Tade (Edwards 66), Abeid, Millar, Craig, Vine (Hasselbaink 77), MacLean SUBS: Tuffey, Cregg, McCracken, Caddis Booked: Craig (17), Abeid (56) Sent Off: none Referee Kevin Clancy Attendance 3744
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Press Release on SPL site: http://www.scotprem.com/content/default.asp?page=s2&newsid=12222
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Matchday thread now open ...... so closing this one
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THE MATCHDAY THREAD Discuss ICT & other games in this thread as they happen Inverness CT -V- St Johnstone PREVIEW 5th April @ 7:45PM, Tulloch Caledonian Stadium Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Go to the Chatroom Media Coverage AUDIO BBC Sportsound Open All Mics [UK Only] BBC Sportsound LIVE Commentary [UK Only] Moray Firth Radio LIVE commentary [UK Only] TEXT ESPN BBC SKY Sporting Life VIDEO LIVE on can also be viewed legally online at http://www.nowtv.com/sports (payment required / UK only) SPL YouTube Channel ICT Official YouTube Channel TEAM LINEUPS
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*** VOTING IN THE POLL ABOVE IS FOR PEOPLE WHO WERE AT THE MATCH ONLY *** If you were at the match, please use the poll above to vote for your top 3 players. As a bit of fun, we have also added an option to rate the referee .... Please make sure you vote for 3 separate players. If you make an error, let us know so we can fix it. PLEASE ONLY VOTE ABOVE IF YOU WERE AT THE GAME Anyone caught trying to cheat the system WILL be banned from voting in ALL site polls...this is your only warning. **NOT at the game ?** As a result of requests received, we have made a slight change to how these threads work for site users who watched the game on TV or listened to the full game live on the radio ....... You too will now be able to cast your votes, but should do it in the thread below, and NOT in the official poll above. Just list the three players of your choosing and award 5,3, or 1 point(s). You can give the ref a mark if you want too ! These votes will NOT be counted in the official total, as we only count votes from those who where actually at the game, but it IS a way for you to participate in the process .... which many people asked for .... a happy medium we hope !!!!!
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from the article: "The BBC imposed 20% budget cuts after the freezing of the licence fee and new obligations to pay for the BBC World Service and the Welsh fourth channel S4C."
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I was being flippant/sarcastic ....... The reason for the cutbacks is the same as any other businesses - RECESSION. See this doc from late 2011: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15186116 and this article from last month: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21977108
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but how much of that goes to BBC Scotland? and how much of that do BBC Scotland give to BBC Radio Scotland, and how much of that trickles down to regional radio? ..... just saying !!! There was a BBC (regional) journalist in our group in Morocco last year and although I am sure she earns a decent sum, it didnt sound like it was all gold chalices and platinum expense cards in regional radio !!! They will probably also need to squirrel away a substantial amount for the class action lawsuits that will come out of Yewtree as well, but thats a different matter .....
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He's in Dingwall, he was crossing his teeth and gritting his fingers !
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so here's the table .... Top 5 now guaranteed a top 6 finish. 6th-9th will fight it out for last spot and even that may be irrelevant if Killie have a good win on Wednesday. Us to win (big) on Fri V St Johnstone (53) County to lose Sat to Hearts (45) St Mirren to win Sat V Motherwell (53) Celtic to lose to Hibs (66) DUFC/Aberdeen - irrelevant Killie to lose to Dundee (41) that would be a good week
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league table as it stands if DUFC see off St Johnstone tonight *assuming Killie beat St Mirren on WED, they would go to 44. So going into fixture 33 it would take 4 specific results for County to f*** it up !!! 66 - Celtic 53 - Motherwell 50 - ICT 45 - County 44 - St Johnstone *44 - Killie 43 - DUFC On the last weekend County lose. A draw is all they need to ensure top six. St Johnstone beat us - they go to 47pts - ahead of County who drop to 5th Killie beat Dundee - they also go above county on 47. county drop to 6th DUFC beat Aberdeen - DUFC leapfrog County onto 46 - county drop to 7th. Personally, I am not up for letting St Johnstone win so as far as I am concerned, we will guarantee them a top six finish before they kick a ball on Saturday !!!!
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they had two ......
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they had two ......
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to stick with the tartan theme .... the Toronto FC supporters group "U-Sector", which I am a member of, designed and issued this scarf for this year ..... it looks pretty good in the photo, but better in real life !!! The club has also gone "plaid" (their words, not mine) with the official scarf for the season (everyone gets one with their season ticket)