The Nick of this Division

[Derry Alli]

United are steamrollin' this division and they're absolutely shite. 

[Distant Doonhamer]

4 hours ago, virginton said:

Yesterday's Scottish Cup results have crystallised a thought that I've been developing for quite some time. Dunfermline getting papped out by Stranraer, Queen of the South losing at home to fourth tier opponents, Partick scraping past an East of Scotland side, Arbroath being held by Junior permadiddies and of course Morton being sent to Brora for a likely disastrous cup exit next week: none of those results should have been a shock at all to anyone who regularly watches this division. It's fucking abysmal in terms of both the overall quality of the teams as well as the standard of play. There were multiple teams who were bad enough to merit relegation from this level last season and this time round you would need at least five automatic spots to flush out all the dross.; and the once genuine gulf in quality between the second and third tiers no longer exists either. So is this Championship of 2019/20 the worst in the history of Scottish football since the 18-20 team divisions were abolished in the 1970s? What or who is responsible for piss poor performance levels and how can it be resolved? Is a financial model based on guilt tripping fans to pay fully £20 a skull to watch two completely useless rabbles most weeks sustainable in the long term, or should prices be dropped to reflect the plummeting quality on display?

Discuss.

in all honesty there is a lot of truth in this. The standard is dire.

[The Mantis]

When ICT won this division for the first time in 2004 it was much stronger than it is now imo. Wyness had gone to Hearts but we still had Wilson, Munro, Tokely, Duncan, McBain, Ritchie, Golabek, Mann, Bingham, Hislop. We edged it from Clyde but it was a strong league with Falkirk, both Saints and County all challenging. We reached a Scottish Cup semi, after winning at St Mirren and premier Motherwell, and took premier Dunfermline to a replay.

None of the current ICT team would get in this team, and yet we're lying third.

We won it more recently in 2010 when we had Rooney, Hayes, Odhiambo, Munro, Tokely, Bulvitis, Golabek, Esson, Duncan, Ross, McBain, Proctor, Foran. This team won it more comfortably but it still had Dundee, Thistle, Pars and County in it. We knocked Premier club Motherwell out of the Cup 2-0.

When you come down from the premier after a few years absence you notice the drop in standard but I think the same applies when you go up if you've been away for a few seasons. No doubt in my mind the standard is dropping all the time at all levels.

Edited November 24, 2019 by The Mantis

[Alert Mongoose]

IMO.

[The Ghost of B A R P]

Amusing to see one or two struggling to agree with our Viking brother when he makes an absolutely incontestable point... the general standard of football/player in this league is atrocious. Yesterday merely drew attention to what most folk watching already know.

[ArabFundamentalist]

30 minutes ago, Dele said:

United are steamrollin' this division and they're absolutely shite. 

Behave yourself.

[Derry Alli]

4 minutes ago, ArabFundamentalist said:

Behave yourself.

OK. 'Steamrollin'' was a bit strong. 

Will settle for 'running away with'. 

[RandomGuy.]

41 minutes ago, ArabFundamentalist said:

The top league is shite too tbf.

How would you know?

[craigkillie]

3 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

How would you know?

To be fair, the top flight St Mirren side, who his own club embarrassingly failed to score a single penalty against last season, thus condeming them to a FOURTH consecutive season in the second tier, were not a particularly good team. Still better than United across the two legs, of course.

[ScottishZizou]

Everyone is just obsessed with calling everything shite. People say it about everything. People say the English Championship is over rated shite. The Scottish Premiership is apparently shite. Bottom of the Premier League in england is also shite apparently. People say it about players who were actually alright, particularly with the national team. Dundee United are top of the league and they are alleged shite. Apparently EVERYONE except the old firm is shite. I'd be curious to see what people don't think is shite. 

The Thread creator does have a point that on a relative basis the second tier is possibly declining. 

[Derry Alli]

10 minutes ago, ScottishZizou said:

I'd be curious to see what people don't think is shite. 

Certainly not your greetin' faced shite post. 

[UpInTheAyr]

The nick of this division  last season definitely played a part in propping us up to a fourth place finish  so I'm  fine with it continuing this season.

[RandomGuy.]

Just now, Snafu said:

Hello RG , paying us a visit or having a look around scoping out the place for next season?

 

Like to pop in every so often.

FWIW our last title winning team had Jody Morris, Paul Sheerin, peak Hardie, Jason Scotland, and then Peter MacDonald and Steven Milne at the top of their game, they'd stroll this league.

[ScottishZizou]

6 minutes ago, Dele said:

Certainly not your greetin' faced shite post. 

That was funny. You are a funny guy. 

[Benjamin_Nevis]

Was actually chatting to a mate about this today. I did briefly consider the Scottish Cup results may have been significantly down to Juniors slightly less resembling pub league teams but eventually concluded that Scottish League football is fucking shite. 

Probably doesn't help that in my youth the old First Division had some terrific teams and players that would easily make the Top Six of the top division nowadays. The season around 95/96 (i think) where Dunfermline won a thrilling league campaign, and the Dabs beat Partick in the play-off had a really strong league. Morton who only just missed out on the last day iirc seemed to have a constant stream of talented young players and seemed to be involved in a goalfest almost every week. The Dabs had held onto Billy McKinlay, even Dundee had a decent side which made a cup final and was actually decent to watch. Dunfermline were magnificent that season. I think the two Dens games alone were 4-4 and 2-4. Great days. 

Now it's just turgid overpriced shite.

[Fuctifano]

On 09/03/2019 at 20:43, Tarmo Kink said:

Ross County can add ‘skooshing’ the worst Championship of all time alongside their other paltry achievements, such as winning the Plastic Diddy Insurance Cup and the seaside leagues. We’ve been around less than a quarter of their existence and have won the Scottish Cup, played in Europe and finished 3rd in the country. Despite operating on a lower budget, we’ve finished above them 20 times out of 25.

 

Absolute minter for the Dingwall Oil Merchants. The inferior neighbours.

 

Last year ^^^

 

On 04/03/2017 at 23:57, die hard doonhamer said:

 

The title of the thread sounds a little dramatic, but I am really starting to think that this is one of the worst quality seasons in the second tier ever.

 

Queens: Went on a run of 13 games without a win, including 7 consecutive defeats.

Raith: Are on a run of 15 games without a win, which included 6 consecutive defeats.

Ayr: Had a run of 16 games without a win, with 4 consecutive defeats.

St Mirren: Opened up with a run of 15 games without a win, including 6 consecutive defeats.

 

Add to this Dunfermline and Dumbarton, though neither have had such long runs between victories, they still find themselves in amongst the other 4.

 

Has there ever been another year where so many teams have been so poor?

 

Discuss.

^^^ 2 years ago

Same as it ever was.

NB I agree with @ScottishZizou that the part time and non league teams have probably got relatively better. Teams like my own and the other FT teams  in this league are definitely weaker than we should be. I can remember SFO before P&B when Thistle won the league in 2001-02 with 60-odd points and it being declared the worst First Division ever... yet Thistle fans online would now apparently kill for players from that team in today's squad 

Nostalgia is a wonderful thing.

Edited November 24, 2019 by Fuctifano

[Robertolichtie]

Been surprised at how small the gap is between the full timers and Arbroath. 

Last time we were in this division you could see a massive gap between us and some of the teams, apart from Ayr no one has really played us off the park or hammered us so far.

[Hammer Jag]

5 hours ago, Andrew Wells said:

Morton SHOULD see them off, but I honestly don't see us getting past Brora away from home. And Queen of the South going out to Queen's Park hardly makes things look great either. Neither does Stranraer putting Dunfermline out. Hell, Partick's result doesn't even inspire confidence.

For what it's worth, I don't actually buy it, but please stop with the "this is because Morton had a bad day" bullshit. It's not.

Morton’s bad day?

Try bad 30 odd years (and counting).

[captainkev]

1 hour ago, craigkillie said:

To be fair, the top flight St Mirren side, who his own club embarrassingly failed to score a single penalty against last season, thus condeming them to a FOURTH consecutive season in the second tier, were not a particularly good team. Still better than United across the two legs, of course.

To be pedantic, we actually did score a penalty against St. Mirren in the playoff final second leg, to very briefly go 1-0 up.

We just didn't bother about scoring in the shootout later...

[Ayr_United_1910]

2 hours ago, Distant Doonhamer said:

in all honesty there is a lot of truth in this. The standard is dire.

100%.

I don't think it is unique to the Championship though, I feel that the standard of the game, as a whole, has gradually declined.

I would also agree regarding the pricing.  +/-£20 to watch this level is too expensive.