Harry Chibber

Let's be clear - the SPL will not get a bigger TV deal by admitting Dundee, Ross County, Caley and Partick Thistle. The combined average gate of these four clubs this season is around 12,000 - even if every single one of these people signed up to ESPN HD it would be a paltry ammount. No significant number of customers are going to sign up for pay TV to watch sides like us, Dunfermline, Partick etc. All ESPN, Sky et al are interested in is showing Rangers and Celtic games as they are the only one's that will attract significant audiences. Maybe (a big maybe) if Aberdeen or one of the Edinburgh clubs made a sustained title push (like Hearts in 2005/06) they might get an audience but the clubs outside the 'Big Five' are insigificant. Setanta's viewing figures for games like us v Accies last season or St Mirren v Falkirk were notoriously low. I don't think he is aiming this directly at the fans of the promoted clubs but the idea of a 16 team league having more appeal as a product to the general population & international fans. At the moment 12 teams playing each other 4 times + during the season is repetitive and unnecessary. More teams = more variety of stadiums, managers opinions, fans and most importantly (for Sky & ESPN) opponents for the OF. The playoffs would also produce greater interest at the end of the season and have more movement between leagues because at the moment 1 up 1 down is stale and offering no differentiation to the SPL product. At the end of the day we need to try something because at the moment the SPL is dire viewing and clubs are failing financialy because of it.

She'd love that.

Good old catholic boab Decent signing for them, shame he'll be suspended every second game. I imagine he'll be brought in to play centre half

still deciding on whether it's worth the week of abuse I'd get from the mrs for not going bathroom tile shopping

think you're going a bit overboard mate, Tm4tj asked the question in his OP so everyone has a right to give their opinion... There is a lot worse threads than this so I'm suprised you've sparked up here.... all I said is he needs to contribute more before he is worthy of high praise. He we still be encouraged and given full support on the football pitch Caley D - I don't think it's the same as Juanjo with Sanchez. Juanjo would always have some sort of impact on a game (good or bad) you were guarenteed to have some incident he was involved in throughout the 90 mins to talk about after and that's almost the exact opposite with Sanchez.. he can be annonomous and for the position he's playing that shouldn't be the case.

I'm not his biggest fan. If you ask any footballer their ideal position (if they had the skill and talent to do so) what position on the park they'd like to play it would be "in behind the striker", reason being.. this role requires the least amount of running out of any position on the park. You can basically sit and watch play go past for 89 minutes and then play a decent through ball or score a goal and you're the hero. It is also the position that some of the most renound players in the world have played i.e Del Piero, Riquelme, Zidane, Totti, Zola, Le Tissier etc. The way that Tel has us set up allows us the novelty of this type of player but for me if Sanchez wants to continue playing there then he needs to contribute more goals and more assists.... making himself a nuisance to defenders isn't enough

Campaigned for this a couple of years ago... I'd love to see a 16 team SPL and I'm delighted to see that there is action being taken to promote the idea. Whether the idea will be passed is another thing I wouldn't be suprised if sky tv & ESPN have said to the SPL that unless they change the product then they wont continue to show the games... if they get involved then it might be the push needed to change old traditional and greedy view points

That was a blessing..... Dorrans looked very comfortable at this level, and justifiably got MoM. Great win for Levein's first game in charge. Think he might last a bit longer in the job than Burley did. If McFadden was playing last night we would have scored 10.... at least From what I remember of it, there was a game last night where lots of players were running infront of me and then a big roar after one of them put a ball in a net :P :D Czechs were terrible and there for the taking, I wish Levein had been more positive and gone 4-4-2 or at least played an attacking midfielder in behind Miller but instead it was a flat 5 man midfield, which didn't offer much in the way of excitement. He might not wanted to give too much away before we play them in the group stage but it was clear that as soon as Rosicky left the pitch they carried no threat and the replacement for Peter Cech looked ropey... bring back Jan Koller!!! IHE must have loved watching Robson & Dorrans play on the alternative side from what they prefer... I know he's well into that sort of thing. Job done, first international friendly won at Hampden since 1996. 1 game 1 win for Levein and we have 1 up on our potential rivals for the Euro qualifiers Boyd got a cheer when he came on.. I couldn't decide so kept my mouth shut... had a few beers in the Clockwork where I seen the King Beastie watched the queues of people waiting to get the train back to Glasgow, while I toddled along to my flat (5 mins from the ground) :P

More of an embarrassing stain! Azer. get their first point of the campaign, despite having 10 men for 60 minutes. Oh dear. Yeh shocking result but we beat them 4-0 away so it evens itself out. Austria & Belarus next, which will decide if we qualifty ... and his fatigue :(

To make it worse James McCarthy has just come on for Ireland to join his equally judas mate McGeady :angry:

The pitch is absolutely shocking.. a few really good performances but an absolutely terrrible result. Stark is a numpty McDonald in particular looks a cut above, IMO he was unlucky not to make the full squad

:023: :lol: 0-1 Azerbaijan

Line up Martin(Leeds) Caddis(Tic) Perry(Gers) Scobbie(Falkirk) Easton(Burnley/Hamilton) Coutts(P.N.E) McDonald(Burnley) Arfield(Falkirk) Maguire(Dons/Killie) Murphy(Well) Goodwillie(D.Utd) Subs include the likes of Hanlon (Hibs), Wlson (Rangers), Wotherspoon (Hibs), Griffiths (Dundee) I'll be suprised if it's not a cricket score tonight, that has to be one of the strongest U21 teams we've had in a long long time... could it be Scotland are about to have a purple patch????

possibly, I'll still be buying one though. U21's wearing the stip just now, looks alright, better with short sleeves

It's definitely better than the diadora attempts, infact probably best scotland strip since umbro were on the scene but I'm disappointed after seeing the expected strips from P&B forum i.e. ... looking at it again, it's not that different from the one I posted up, I think if you take away the numbers (which no one will have anyway) it will probably make the strip look a lot better

It's decent but could have been a lot better... wtf is wrong with having a normal collar??

Steven Fletcher out with broken bone in hand .. looks like Miller and Boyd upfront

:) :023: :023: I think it was the unncertainty that was getting me annoyed more than anything... delighted we've got something in place and now we can actually plan for the future. Get Hayes signed!!!

I would have taken the other option and instead of "missing a hand shake" I'd have put my fist through his face.... can you get sent off before a match kicks off???

Famous last words but that has to be one of the worst Czech lineups in the last 20 years... + Roman Bednar is injured They are still calling up Rudi Skacel ffs... I'm looking forward to Wednesday, should be a cracking day :)

:huh:

Man City fans chant after Terry gives away a foul: "same old Terry always cheating" B)

racist banter.

bang out of order

I am with you on that one Yngwie. You had that option but instead you chose to press reply :)