Was at the game last night and was later musing over how football will ever be able to attract new followers when we are are doing so much to make it unattractive.
We play games, at very high admission cost, often at night, in the worst weather seasons. Then have to listen to visiting team mangers speak of their pride at playing 7 or more talented professionals at the back to prevent goals – perhaps “staying in the game” or “game management”.
No attempt to be positive or provide any entertainment for their small support who may have paid close to £30 in Christmas week to travel through to watch in one of Europe’s iconic stadiums.
We have the media fawning and chuckling over small town men like the Livingston manager – because he is a ‘character’ – as he tells us we don’t understand how hard it is for his ‘lads’ to play that way – ‘keeping their shape’ etc. No harm to the man but the presence of a club so poorly supported and playing on a plastic pitch is frankly embarrassing to the game here – a criticism you could equally apply to Kilmarnock.
Yet that is the product we are trying to get TV companies to pay more millions for.
We have now also come up with a system that prevents you celebrating a goal – a joyous spontaneous moment – until a committee decides if its ok or not – without any explanation of why? We were told over the PA that it was an offside check. Which the referee is then called over to review on the screen?
This review all took a good long time – while a more subjective call over whether there was a first half handball in the Livi penalty box apparently just took seconds to clear up? We are ridiculed when we offer up conspiracy theories but it is ironic that the authorities have now introduced a definitive technological system that is actually going some way to statistically prove these theories true!
Last night’s game was a tedious affair with few bright moments – it was a better spectacle and more exciting (and nerve shredding) when Livi had a decent go – and it falls for me into the attending through duty category – almost traditional for December midweek games at Celtic Park. Saturday’s game at Pittodrie was even worse. (apparently a much more exciting event on Tuesday night because the home team this time tried to win – who knew!).
We give the players stick – sometimes rightly for letting great crosses flash untouched across the 6 yard box – but it must be hard shift, against a team of giants like Livi, to thread your way through or fire shots into a packed penalty area.
The dip in standard of Scottish football is seriously prejudicing our growth as a club into, for example, becoming a decent Champions League team – in the group stages at least. It’s a league with too many senior clubs sharing a very small pie. If our games – like last Saturday and last night are a hard watch – imagine trying to sell St Johnstone – Hearts or Ross Co v St Mirren. And how do we have a serious league structure with blown up junior teams like Cove Rangers and Kelty looking as good as anyone in the lower leagues.
Nothing stops us turning up and backing our team and I will always be there but it tests the patience sometimes – how many times would you go to the pictures if the films always had the same story, same output and were often pretty dull? And if you had to sit outside on a wet December Wednesday night!
Martin Leadbetter
The regular appointment of Rangers fans to referee their biggest games ( can anyone think of John Beaton without seeing the crown bar photos?) is a great indicator of the type of niche product the SFA are promoting. And now the fans with whistles have new technology to underpin their auld biases – our league’s USP in institutionalised corruption, well, it works fine for FIFA🫣