Scottish Premiership (and SPFL in general) 2016/17

[Illgresi]

I've made a thread about this before, and understandably, it's been shut down. I'd like to give it one last go before I give up completely. I know there are fans of Scottish teams around here, and I'd love for any Celtic/Rangers nonsense to be kept out of here (unless of course it's relevent). In other words; please give it a chance!

In my opinion, Scottish football is the up-and-coming league in europe. In the four years since Rangers went into liquidation, we have had seven different winners of the domestic cup competitions, and (Celtic excluded) a general rise in attendances. My team Aberdeen have run Celtic closely in the past two seasons, and in the past year we have seen a resurgent Hearts. Hibernian have won the Scottish Cup for the first time in 114 years. Rangers have been promoted to the Premiership for the first time since they were reformed in the bottom division.

I feel we are set for an epic year of football. Unfortunately, we have some complete idiots running the SFA (this is my opinion, but I doubt any Scottish football fans will disagree). However, I'd love for a place where we can discuss Scottish football.

I'd like this to be a positive thread, because hell knows it, our governing body won't big us up!

 

[Derek W]

We're you down at the glebe Sunday past? You were very comfortable but I spoke to a couple of the brechin players who enjoyed chasing the ball! I'm still finalising my photos from the game but should have them online either tonight or tomorrow.

All the best in the Europa League qualifiers.

 

[Illgresi]

Would be interested to see your photos!

Have seen the goals on RedTV. Wasn't there, but by all accounts Brechin seemed tougher than last years friendly. Excited and nervous for Thursday, no way to really know how good this team are.

For example Kairat are still lower ranked than Aberdeen, yet they've had millions invested in their squad. We still were the better team though, and should have beaten them.

I'm driving from Perth to the game Thursday if you fancy something else in red and white!? ;D

 

[Derek W]

I haven't seen the goals other than when i took a photo of them

It wasn't really difficult for us to be better this season than last as last year Ray McKinnon left part of the way through preseason for Darren Dods to come in with only half a dozen players signed. With the early game against Aberdeen that was the first time many of the players had been on the pitch together! For the second year running our first choice keeper was on holiday so Paddy O Neil was between the sticks and to be fair to him he did have a few really good reaction saves otherwise it would have been a lot more and closer to the 8 - 2 drubbing of last year!

Don't get me wrong we created a couple of chances but not really enough to trouble either of your keepers. From a Brechin point of view I saw some good movement from our front three and the guys that i spoke to certainly agreed we wouldn't be coming up against quality like Aberdeen in the league campaign at least. It'll be interesting to see how we get on in the revamped league cup against St Johnstone, Falkirk, Elgin and Stirling Albion though.

Would i not need to have already got a ticket for Thursday? Not expecting it to be a full stadium but I know how you big league boys enjoy a ticket only gate

 

[Illgresi]

I don't wish this to sound derogatory, but I think the Brechin game has become a common fixture, and we send you players now and then; do you like your club's relationship with Aberdeen?

Personally, you play in red and white, so you're automatically better than Montrose/Forfar/Arbroath.

Would i not need to have already got a ticket for Thursday? Not expecting it to be a full stadium but I know how you big league boys enjoy a ticket only gate

Aye, but I'm a season ticket, so I could sort you out if you were game..

 

[Derek W]

I don't wish this to sound derogatory, but I think the Brechin game has become a common fixture, and we send you players now and then; do you like your club's relationship with Aberdeen?

Personally, you play in red and white, so you're automatically better than Montrose/Forfar/Arbroath.



Aye, but I'm a season ticket, so I could sort you out if you were game..

Not derogatory in the slightest. Stewart Milne built the David H Will Stand years ago after he negotiated a deal for it to happen. I know that the development teams of Aberdeen and Dundee United both use the Glebe for their fixtures as well as Forfar's when there's adverse weather. We've had numerous players from both Aberdeen and Dundee United (a couple from Dundee as well) on loan. The relationship between us and the big teams are really good. You guys get to see players in more competitive games than the development league and we get a better quality player than what we can afford. Win win if you ask me. In Sunday's game I think the arrangement was we pay for your team bus down and we keep the remains of the gate money. So based on the 1200 odd folk that were there we're probably looking at a boost of about 7 - 9k. We've got Raith Rovers next week which is our 'compensation' tie from them nicking our manager last season but I doubt we'd get a crowd as big as the Aberdeen one.

 

[WithMyApologies]

I feel we are set for an epic year of football. Unfortunately, we have some complete idiots running the SFA (this is my opinion, but I doubt any Scottish football fans will disagree). However, I'd love for a place where we can discuss Scottish football.

I'd like this to be a positive thread, because hell knows it, our governing body won't big us up!

Hopefully I'm wrong, but these are my predictions/thoughts:

Scottish Football will never improve unless there is a major shakeup of the whole thing. This includes the ruling body and the league formats.

For starters, there is still a pointless split in the league fixtures, which means that before the season has even started it has caused animosity between clubs and the ruling bodies.

We will still have stadiums being policed with an iron fist and allowing fans to have no fun at all. "You're singing a song?? How dare you, sit down and shut up" Is pretty much how it goes.

Teams will defend in numbers and look to hoof the ball up the park at any given opportunity.

Fans of the so-called smaller clubs will continue to only fill their stadium when one of either Rangers or Celtic are in town, but continue to complain that they have no money and cannot compete due to a lack of finances.

There will be so much hatred between rival fans this season that the whole country may well just implode!

 

[Derek W]

Hopefully I'm wrong, but these are my predictions/thoughts:

Scottish Football will never improve unless there is a major shakeup of the whole thing. This includes the ruling body and the league formats.

For starters, there is still a pointless split in the league fixtures, which means that before the season has even started it has caused animosity between clubs and the ruling bodies.

We will still have stadiums being policed with an iron fist and allowing fans to have no fun at all. "You're singing a song?? How dare you, sit down and shut up" Is pretty much how it goes.

Teams will defend in numbers and look to hoof the ball up the park at any given opportunity.

Fans of the so-called smaller clubs will continue to only fill their stadium when one of either Rangers or Celtic are in town, but continue to complain that they have no money and cannot compete due to a lack of finances.

There will be so much hatred between rival fans this season that the whole country may well just implode!

There has been talk of increasing the number of teams in the league but I can't remember when the earliest they could implement things. I would certainly favour a league structure similar to the top leagues in europe where you only play each team once at home and once away. But i doubt that would ever happen.

There has been the restructuring of the league and challenge cups this season which the latter has been viewed as farcical (intro of playing against u20s (premiership squads) along with a random match for teams in wales and NI in latter rounds! Saying that I know the reasoning behind it but as far as I'm aware its not public knowledge so can't elaborate much.

Illgresi, think I'll just watch the Poland match on Thursday as much it would be good to see Aberdeen play again. However I did witness my worst game of football up at Pittodrie when i was at uni. A preseason game against Rapid Vienna.......nothing rapid about it apart from the exit i made from the stadium afterwards

 

[WithMyApologies]

If the clubs could agree to split all monies equally, then playing each team twice a season could work. TV revenue, gate receipts etc.

I would personally like to see a 16 team top league, a 16 team second league, then a 10 team bottom league.

 

[semi-pro waster]

I'm hopeful that Hearts will build on last season and have another good season with Robbie Neilson at the helm. I would have enjoyed last season even more if Aberdeen had maintained their challenge for a bit longer but they did well anyway.

I'd like for there to be a thread on Scottish football throughout the season so if we can keep it positive and without name calling or people trying to cause trouble that should be possible.

 

[Illgresi]

Hopefully I'm wrong, but these are my predictions/thoughts:

Scottish Football will never improve unless there is a major shakeup of the whole thing. This includes the ruling body and the league formats.

For starters, there is still a pointless split in the league fixtures, which means that before the season has even started it has caused animosity between clubs and the ruling bodies.

We will still have stadiums being policed with an iron fist and allowing fans to have no fun at all. "You're singing a song?? How dare you, sit down and shut up" Is pretty much how it goes.

Teams will defend in numbers and look to hoof the ball up the park at any given opportunity.

Fans of the so-called smaller clubs will continue to only fill their stadium when one of either Rangers or Celtic are in town, but continue to complain that they have no money and cannot compete due to a lack of finances.

There will be so much hatred between rival fans this season that the whole country may well just implode!

For probably the first time, the split worked rather well last season. It helped keep things exciting right up until near the end of the season.

I agree about authorities trying to suck the fun out of the game. The sanitising of football is one of my main gripes about the game in the present. It's a difficult one for the authorities to deal with. That said, I doubt if the useless chumps that run our game even care. The recent restructuring into the SPFL which included renaming the leagues Premiership, Championship,... etc is cringeworthy and tells you all you need to know about the way the game is run here.

That said, I have to disagree with the hoof the ball comment. Far fewer teams (in the first tier at least) try these tactics any more. There has been a real push in the past 5 or so years of teams trying to get the ball down and play. That isn't to say teams don't come to Pittodrie and sit with ten men behind the ball, but most at least try to break with pace instead of leaving a big lump of a striker up.

Illgresi, think I'll just watch the Poland match on Thursday as much it would be good to see Aberdeen play again. However I did witness my worst game of football up at Pittodrie when i was at uni. A preseason game against Rapid Vienna.......nothing rapid about it apart from the exit i made from the stadium afterwards

No bother, was a pretty nerve-racking game to be honest. A significantly better team than you would believe given they were semi-pro. At least a top-end Scottish 2nd tier standard. They defended resolutely and their keeper had a stormer; though our fitness showed towards the end of the game with Hayes and McGinn running them ragged. In truth we were far from our peak performance, and it should have been 5-1 with two perfectly good goals inexplicably dissallowed. A bit more luck and it could have been a cricket score. I just hope the away goal doesn't come back to bite us. Might have to have a whisky or two on Thursday evening while I watch!

I watched the highlights of our potential next round opponents (Ventspils 2 - 0 Vikingur), and Fola Esch look better than both!

If the clubs could agree to split all monies equally, then playing each team twice a season could work. TV revenue, gate receipts etc.

I would personally like to see a 16 team top league, a 16 team second league, then a 10 team bottom league.

Unfortunately, the authorities would never go for a league system that would permit only two Celtic vs Rangers games a season. If it was up to them they'd have a league of two.

Strongly disagree with splitting gate receipts as well.

I would personally like to see two top leagues of 16 teams, although imo both leagues would have to be professional to have any credibility and I don't think we have that many professional clubs do we? I'd then drop the bottom division, and jump right into a semi-pro regionalised system.

 

[WithMyApologies]

Scottish teams Europa Leauge results from tonight:

Aberdeen 3 - 0 Ventspils - Three late goals secure a victory for Aberdeen. They should be through.
Birkirkara 0 - 0 Hearts - Hearts should win the return leg and get through.
Hibernian 0 - 1 Brondby IF - Neil Lennon sent off in his first competitive game. Great to have him back in Scottish football isn't it? That's probably Hibs out of Europe already as well.

The 3rd round draw takes place later today.

 

[semi-pro waster]

Reasonably happy with a 0-0 and hoping that Hearts can score at Tynecastle, the match reports suggested they were well on top for most of the game.

Well done to Aberdeen, it would take a monumental collapse for them not to go through now.

I think Hibs probably had the toughest draw so were unlucky in that sense. Lennon obviously hasn't lost his combative nature though.

 

[Evo8]

My team Aberdeen have run Celtic closely in the past two seasons

17 and 15 points isn't that close considering we only lost 4 games in the whole of last season.

I'm a Celtic fan btw and our result on Tuesday wasn't too clever but we'll surely turn it round if Ambrose doesn't play. Rodgers has to take some of the blame though, play a guy that scored 40 goals last season at right mid/wing and continue to play Ambrose? Christie looked way out of his depth too.

 

[Illgresi]

Scottish teams Europa Leauge results from tonight:

Aberdeen 3 - 0 Ventspils - Three late goals secure a victory for Aberdeen. They should be through.
Birkirkara 0 - 0 Hearts - Hearts should win the return leg and get through.
Hibernian 0 - 1 Brondby IF - Neil Lennon sent off in his first competitive game. Great to have him back in Scottish football isn't it? That's probably Hibs out of Europe already as well.

The 3rd round draw takes place later today.

Aberdeen or Ventspils vs Maribor or Levski Sofia

Hearts or Birkirkara vs Krasnodar

Hertha Berliin vs Hibs or Brondby

On the face of it, I think Aberdeen have the kindest draw here. I can't believe for a second that either are as good as Rijeka or Groningen, and neither are as good as Kairat Almaty (whom we really should have beaten last year).

Good luck to Hearts fans (if they make it through) travelling to Krasnodar; not a region I'd particularly like visiting.

If Hibs beat Brondby (by all accounts they played quite well and were unlucky), I think it's safe to say they'll struggle against Hertha.

Would be great if all three go through.

Reasonably happy with a 0-0 and hoping that Hearts can score at Tynecastle, the match reports suggested they were well on top for most of the game.

Well done to Aberdeen, it would take a monumental collapse for them not to go through now.

I think Hibs probably had the toughest draw so were unlucky in that sense. Lennon obviously hasn't lost his combative nature though.

To be quite honest, Ventspils looked significantly poorer than Fola Esch. I think the result in Luxembourg clearly hit home with the players as their attitude last night was superb. Hopefully they've learned their lesson and take the correct attitude over there next season.

17 and 15 points isn't that close considering we only lost 4 games in the whole of last season.

I'm a Celtic fan btw and our result on Tuesday wasn't too clever but we'll surely turn it round if Ambrose doesn't play. Rodgers has to take some of the blame though, play a guy that scored 40 goals last season at right mid/wing and continue to play Ambrose? Christie looked way out of his depth too.

The points gap is misleading though, given that you didn't officially win the league until the 8th of May, at which point our players were clearly on the beach.

We've strengthened our depth this summer with more options up front which also provide us more tactical options. I think we've been guilty of only have a plan A recently, and that should change. I fully expect us to close the gap again this coming season.

 

[WithMyApologies]

A nice two nil victory for Rangers today, away at Motherwell.

Motherwell started the game well and made a couple of chances from which they should really have scored. Rangers still need to tighten up at the back, but going forward looked like a continuation of last season really, which is pleasing.

Happy with the result considering we've only played one pre-season game so far.

 

[Illgresi]

Feel like Motherwell came out looking for a draw in the second half. So negative it was dreadful. Not like Mark McGhee to be so tactically inept... Thought Rangers had a lot of good attacking movement, but better teams will punish that defence. Rather looking forward to Aberdeen Rangers games on the basis of that evidence.

Not sure why Chris Sutton was so far up Krancjar's behind. I thought he was absolutely torrid when he came on. Was good to hear Michael Stewart put him in his place numerous times (Sutton that is).

 

[Evo8]

Good friendly win for Celtic today and the safe standing apparently went down quite well.

Need to get it right on Wednesday as the draw in the next round has been pretty kind.

I can't see Hearts, Hibs or Aberdeen going any further than the next round unfortunately.

 

[Derek W]

We had our final pre-season last Tuesday. We beat an under 20s Dundee side with Kane Hemmings, Andrew Black and Jordi Teusse in it by a solitary goal.

Tonight is our first game in the revamped League Cup against Stirling Albion who beat Falkirk just this Saturday past. Other than our Captain Paul McLean being out we've got a full squad to choose from. Should be a tight game but as always hoping for a Brechin win

 

[Derek W]

A two one win will do