Sport in Glasgow | News & Developments

[Boards]

Shocked at how the season has started. Utter shite. Embarrassing. Scottish football at an all-time low

[Due East]

Originally Posted by Boards

Shocked at how the season has started. Utter shite. Embarrassing. Scottish football at an all-time low

Yip. I really hate to sound like one of the shite talk radio show callers, but we have definitely entered a dismal new era. Celtic and Rangers both deserved to get pumped tonight.

I'll not be in a rush to hand over £29 (or whatever they are charging) to watch a league game at Parkhead this season. Can't justify it with that level of quality on display.

[marzepans]

Originally Posted by Due East

Yip. I really hate to sound like one of the shite talk radio show callers, but we have definitely entered a dismal new era. Celtic and Rangers both deserved to get pumped tonight.

I'll not be in a rush to hand over £29 (or whatever they are charging) to watch a league game at Parkhead this season. Can't justify it with that level of quality on display.

Count yourself lucky. Some of us have already forked out season ticket money

[Glasgow 2097]

Is this Scottish football's watershed moment? It should be.

Is this the the time to realise Celtic and Rangers' European exploits of 2003 and 2008, and the national team's victories over France in Euro 2008 qualifying, were just anomalies, rather than true indicators of where our game was slowly heading? It should be.

Is this the time to realise that we no longer have the money to buy foreign players of sufficient quality to mask the fact that our youth structure produces startlingly few young players with acceptable levels of skill and stamina - a category whose numbers become vanishingly small when you remove those who start pissing their careers away the moment they receive a Player of the Month award and think that "they've made it" - and begin rebuilding the entire game's structure, methodically, technically and culturally, from the very bottom rung? It should be.

The restructuring of the SFA in the close season wasn't the solution to our problems, but it at least removed some of the long-standing vested interests which always blocked progress in the past. Only time will tell if the new structure can effect real change. These problems are decades in the making, and they'll take a comparable length of time to fix.

[marzepans]

Given Platini's comments about Sion's flouting of the rules I reckon Celtic will be reinstated to the Europa League next Tuesday

[G1p]

If the results from last night stand the effects will include:-

1) Loss of millions in gate receipts, TV royalties etc.
2) Loss of income to stadium staff, security, police etc. as result of reduction in games
3) Loss of business at Glasgow Airport from outgoing/incoming teams, travelling support etc.
4) Loss of trade in city hotels from visiting fans
5) Reduction in tourism spending in the city
and so on

The negative effects of the city's economy will run in to tens of millions.

And some people say it is only a game!

[Glasgow 2097]

Sion drew Atletico Madrid, Udinese and Rennes.

Taking the simplistic view of Celtic taking Sion's place without the draw being redone from scratch, I wouldn't fancy this Celtic team home or away against any of that lot.

[Strukyboy]

Imagine the economic boost to the city if Celtic and Rangers were allowed to play in English 1st Division.

It would be amazing!

[MAXIMO1]

Originally Posted by Glasgow 2097

Sion drew Atletico Madrid, Udinese and Rennes.

Taking the simplistic view of Celtic taking Sion's place without the draw being redone from scratch, I wouldn't fancy this Celtic team home or away against any of that lot.

True, but it's still far better than no European football for another season.

Rennes is a practically home game for me into the bargain

[M_Riaz]

BBC

Celtic get Europa League lifeline after Sion expelled

Celtic have been reinstated in the Europa League after Uefa expelled Sion from the competition.
Sion, who are likely to appeal the verdict, fielded several ineligible players during their 3-1 aggregate win over Celtic in the play-off round.
A Celtic spokesman said: "We have been advised by Uefa that the two protests relating to the matches against FC Sion have been upheld.
"As a result of which each match has been forfeited in favour of Celtic."
Sion president Christian Constantin had been confident of winning the case Celtic will therefore take Sion's place in Group I, which also features Atletico Madrid, Rennes and Udinese

[M_Riaz]

Herald

Glasgow to host Rugby's World Sevens series for two years

Glasgow's Scotstoun Stadium will in May host the IRB Sevens World Series in place of Murrayfield, organisers announced today.
The penultimate tournament in the nine-event series will switch from the SRU headquarters which has previously been the host to Scotstoun as Glasgow steps up preparations for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

IRB vice-chairman Bill Beaumont said: "Scotland is the home of sevens and today's announcement represents a further boost for the sport as we count down to the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and rugby's return to the Olympic Games stage in Rio in 2016.

"We are confident that the Scottish Rugby's commitment to deliver a spectacular round of the HSBC Sevens World Series in Glasgow in 2012 and 2013 will be a huge success and engage new fans throughout Glasgow, across Scotland and from further afield."

Scotstoun Stadium, home to the Glasgow Warriors team from next season, will see 16 teams from across the world competing on May 5 and 6, with 15,000 fans expected to attend.

The game of sevens is widely believed to have been invented in the Scottish Border town of Melrose in 1883

[gorgu]

The warriors got 9000 fans into fir hill the other day, wonder when the last time PT got that many fans into the stadium?

Also WTF are they gonna do next year for the warriors games at Scotstoun? isn't the capacity only 6000 or something like that?

[Glasgow 2097]

Only the home game against Edinburgh will be adversely affected, as no other fixture will even threaten to draw crowds of 5000+. Until the 1872 Cup game, the Warriors' highest gate of the season was 3940. Attendances will drop back to that level for the rest of the season, with the possible exception of a home playoff tie.

[M_Riaz]

Aviva



Aviva International Match

Kelvin Hall, Glasgow

Saturday 28th January

[bestbud]

Not just any old event. The last ever international athletics meeting that the Kelvinhall will see.

[gorgu]

Originally Posted by Glasgow 2097

Only the home game against Edinburgh will be adversely affected, as no other fixture will even threaten to draw crowds of 5000+. Until the 1872 Cup game, the Warriors' highest gate of the season was 3940. Attendances will drop back to that level for the rest of the season, with the possible exception of a home playoff tie.

Not sure you are right there seems the warriors are starting to attract a decent crowd, if the results keep going that way i reckon the heineken cup games and the run up TO the playoffs will attract 5000+

[Beardyman]

Originally Posted by Glasgow 2097

Sion drew Atletico Madrid, Udinese and Rennes.

Taking the simplistic view of Celtic taking Sion's place without the draw being redone from scratch, I wouldn't fancy this Celtic team home or away against any of that lot.

They did OK in the end

[legslikeaspider]

Originally Posted by gorgu

Not sure you are right there seems the warriors are starting to attract a decent crowd, if the results keep going that way i reckon the heineken cup games and the run up TO the playoffs will attract 5000+

Rugby fans: I am interested to know to what extent the relative success of Glasgow and Edinburgh this season in the 'domestic' league and European competition is the result of regression to the mean after several seasons of (at best) mediocrity? Conversely, how much of it is due to better playing staff, coaching, investment and the like?

Its good to hear that attendance is rising at Glasgow and Edinburgh. Strikes me that for a while the two professional teams in Scotland struggled for an identity following the sidelining of the traditional clubs such as Melrose, West of Scotland, Boroughmuir etc around whom the domestic game traditionally revolved.

[Glasgow 2097]

Originally Posted by legslikeaspider

Rugby fans: I am interested to know to what extent the relative success of Glasgow and Edinburgh this season in the 'domestic' league and European competition is the result of regression to the mean after several seasons of (at best) mediocrity? Conversely, how much of it is due to better playing staff, coaching, investment and the like?

Its good to hear that attendance is rising at Glasgow and Edinburgh. Strikes me that for a while the two professional teams in Scotland struggled for an identity following the sidelining of the traditional clubs such as Melrose, West of Scotland, Boroughmuir etc around whom the domestic game traditionally revolved.

I think the improved showings this season by both clubs - even allowing for the fact that Edinburgh are still hovering near the bottom of the Pro12 table with only 4 wins from 12 - are actually a marked improvement on the mean performance level, which has been characterised by near-constant mediocrity more or less since their inception as professional outfits. Edinburgh's second-place finish in 08/09, and Glasgow's semi-final playoff appearance in 09/10, are really the only highlights of more than a decade of Scottish participation in the Celtic League's various incarnations. Both teams were rewarded for their showings in the respective seasons by having their funding slashed and their best players flogged off to English and French clubs by the SRU, meaning that momentum was impossible to maintain from one season to the next. With the change in personnel at the top level of the SRU, and the apparent desire to focus properly on the club teams rather than seeing the national side as the be-all and end-all, things may be changing for the better. Glasgow have seen the return of several players this season who were previously considered too expensive to keep.

It's great that the national side can attract 67,000 people to Murrayfield for Six Nations games in February and March, but it's sickening that most of those people demonstrate throughout the rest of the year that they couldn't care less about rugby in this country. Kevin Ferrie hit the nail on the head in a recent article in The Herald:

I suggested that what he had actually encountered were real sports fans, those who are none too concerned about the rights and wrongs of any decisions, largely judging them on which team they have been awarded to, while believing they can make a difference through the noise and nature of their backing.

They differ substantially from the traditional Murrayfield attendee, who would never contemplate buying a season ticket for either Edinburgh or Glasgow Warriors but turns up at the national stadium once or twice a year for reunions with old pals, the match offering little more than an incidental back-drop.

With regard to the conflict between the new professional sides and the longstanding amateur clubs, many tomes could be written about Scottish rugby's inept transition to professionalism in the late 1990s. In typically Scottish fashion, self-defeating infighting was the order of the day, and we're still paying the price for it.

[legslikeaspider]

Good to hear some things are going right in Scottish domestic rugby at last. I've only been to Murrayfield on a handful of occasions (and to the cheap seats) so can't comment on the stereotype of the typical attendee but its nice to hear that there are a fair few 'genuine' fans at Glasgow and Edinburgh games. Outside of the old firm, aberdeen, dufc, hearts and hibs, they can't be far off the best attended sports teams in Scotland. With sustained success, their popularity can only grow. If they keep playing on Friday nights next season, I would look forward to popping over to Scotstoun to watch - just a short hop through the tunnel for me.