Null & Void or an 18 Game Season?

[vikingTON]

I suspect that Championship clubs might argue differently but until we actually get a fucking statement instead of endless cloak and dagger nonsense it's all speculation.

[latapythelegend]

6 minutes ago, virginton said:

Many SPFL clubs expected fans to be at grounds at some point during the season. IIRC our now departed and not at all missed chief executive stated that he expected fans to return by January. Many if not most clubs drank that Kool-Aid at all levels and I was critical of it at the time. The three lower leagues should never have started in the first place.

There's a huge difference between being able to 'complete' a season - to literally fulfil 27 league fixtures - and it being a prudent financial decision for a SPFL football club when fans do not in fact return to games at all. There has been no indication that Championship clubs were struggling to fulfil fixtures, but that does not mean that they weren't running at a substantial loss to do so. There is no 'lie' at all then because those are two separate points.

If you think that Championship clubs have been free to 'fritter away' an extra £350k by playing and not parking their arse on furlough then you'll have to show where exactly that money has gone. Alloa or indeed Morton are not swimming in megabucks additions as a result of the government grant, so the massive advantage that you have claimed does not in fact exist.

So you'd find it believable that a lower end Championship club has wage a wage bill totalling £350k from the start of January up until (as it stands) April? Pish.

Wages are the only substantial expenditure that differs between clubs in the Championship and Leagues 1 & 2 as it stands. 

[roman_bairn]

People debating on here what’s fair for Championship clubs when it’s League One and Two that’s been shafted due to misdemeanours of clubs in the higher divisions.
Just about says it all.....

[vikingTON]

20 minutes ago, latapythelegend said:

So you'd find it believable that a lower end Championship club has wage a wage bill totalling £350k from the start of January up until (as it stands) April? Pish.

Wages are the only substantial expenditure that differs between clubs in the Championship and Leagues 1 & 2 as it stands. 

You still haven't shown me what this £350k has been frittered on to give Championship clubs a huge advantage over lower league clubs going into a play-off.

Literally every club is in still nominal range of the promotion playoffs never mind 9th and the significant potential windfall of prize money and/or top flight football, so you'll have to explain why exactly they're holding back on big gun signings now if things are as simplistic and rosey as you believe.

Edited February 24, 2021 by vikingTON

[latapythelegend]

3 minutes ago, virginton said:

You still haven't shown me what this £350k has been frittered on to give Championship clubs a huge advantage. 

Literally every club is in still nominal range of the promotion playoffs never mind 9th and the significant potential windfall of prize money and/or top flight football, so you'll have to explain why exactly they're holding back on big gun signings now if things are as simplistic and rosey as you believe.

What they spend there money on isn't really something I can comment on however if they do not spend £350K on wages - the only thing League 1 and 2 clubs are saving on at the moment - then there is still a substantial amount of cash left over. It doesn't matter how that many it being spent. It is still some form of financial advantage.

[vikingTON]

6 minutes ago, latapythelegend said:

What they spend there money on isn't really something I can comment on 

That'll be an 'I don't know' then.

Quote

 if they do not spend £350K on wages - the only thing League 1 and 2 clubs are saving on at the moment - then there is still a substantial amount of cash left over.

Not if they were already running up a loss between October 2020 and the government scheme being announced due to the complete absence of fans. 

Quote

It doesn't matter how that many it being spent. It is still some form of financial advantage.

Your claim was that it massively tipped the odds in favour of the Championship club in a play-off. In what way does having a (mythical) figure of £350k resting in a club banking account influence the outcome of a four-way play-off? Are they going to bribe the officials?

The only way that it could hand a massive advantage to the 9th placed club is if it had already been used to fund a much better squad. There's not a scrap of evidence to show that this is the case though. The 9th placed side will therefore more likely be relegated than not, as is the case in any other year. 

Edited February 24, 2021 by vikingTON

[latapythelegend]

8 minutes ago, virginton said:

That'll be an 'I don't know' then.

Not if they were already running up a loss between October 2020 and the government scheme being announced due to the complete absence of fans. 

Your claim was that it massively tipped the odds in favour of the Championship club in a play-off. In what way does having a (mythical) figure of £350k resting in a club banking account influence the outcome of a four-way play-off? Are they going to bribe the officials?

The only way that it could hand a massive advantage to the 9th placed club is if it had already been used to fund a much better squad. There's not a scrap of evidence to show that this is the case though. The 9th placed side will therefore more likely be relegated than not, as is the case in any other year. 

Every club was playing from October until January, not just the poor little championship teams. That is irrelevant.

Your next point has literally been plucked out of thin air. I don't see where I mentioned any immediate sporting advantage in the play-offs if they happened.  God only knows where that bribing comment came from. 

[theoriginalhedge]

2 hours ago, Marshmallo said:

It would also give a club in League Two with another influential chairman who are chucking money at their squad 4 more games to try and overtake the clubs ahead of them rather than being flushed into the Highland League.

Getting rid of players and replacing them isn't exactly chucking money at the squad . It is what most clubs do to try to improve their situation. 

Influential chairman??? 

[vikingTON]

51 minutes ago, latapythelegend said:

Every club was playing from October until January, not just the poor little championship teams. That is irrelevant.

It's not even remotely 'irrelevant' to the question of where all the money has gone, that you think clubs are sitting on to maintain a huge competitive advantage. It has gone on plugging the financial hole of running an utterly ridiculous season BCD. 

Quote

Your next point has literally been plucked out of thin air. I don't see where I mentioned any immediate sporting advantage in the play-offs if they happened.

4 hours ago, latapythelegend said:

The odds are massively tipped in their favour with an extra £350k to fritter away this year. 

 

[Guest The Phoenix]

The argument as to whether or not the Championship Clubs would have any say in agreeing to play offs  if SPFL1 played out an 18 (or 22) game season is irrelevant if at least 8 of the 10 SPFL1 Clubs don't agree to the reduction in the first instance. 

[latapythelegend]

6 minutes ago, virginton said:

It's not even remotely 'irrelevant' to the question of where all the money has gone, that you think clubs are sitting on to maintain a huge competitive advantage. It has gone on plugging the financial hole of running an utterly ridiculous season BCD. 

 

So with League 1 & 2 clubs also plugging similar black holes which less than a third of the same handout, wages apart, where is the massive difference in expenditure? 

[Sergeant Wilson]

The Falkirk Paragons of virtue never cease to amaze. They'd be manning the Championship drawbridge and pouring boiling oil on L1 &2 if they'd managed to hang on to a place in the 2nd tier.

[Newbornbairn]

I'll pour boiling oil on you you old fart.

[Sergeant Wilson]

14 minutes ago, NewBornBairn said:

I'll pour boiling oil on you you old fart.

[Mybitchunderprotest]

At first I wondered if it was just me, now having read through a lot of these posts I realise that it most likely is just me.
I could no longer give a f**k about what happens with leagues. End them, play 18 games, play 22 games, promote clubs, relegate other clubs. Get it in the fucking bin.

The season has been a fucking write off and I've pretty much forgotten about it already.

[David W]

14 minutes ago, Mybitchunderprotest said:

At first I wondered if it was just me, now having read through a lot of these posts I realise that it most likely is just me.
I could no longer give a f**k about what happens with leagues. End them, play 18 games, play 22 games, promote clubs, relegate other clubs. Get it in the fucking bin.

The season has been a fucking write off and I've pretty much forgotten about it already.

I have absolutely no interest in completing a season either. It has probably been even worse for a Clyde fan (even if you ignore the fact we have been absolute garbage) as our second game was postponed, then we had two consecutive Saturdays off due to Covid (have the SFA investigated that yet?) and the new year game v Thistle also postponed. We've a bunch of players, raw loanees and League 2 jobbers on inexplicably long contracts, that I have no interest in watching. Then you add random groups of kids running around our stadium, and club chaplains who can't be bothered going to games and it's been an absolute shambles of a campaign.

It has just been stop start, the experience of watching games has been diabolical and I genuinely couldn't care less what happens in the next couple of months.

[vikingTON]

1 hour ago, latapythelegend said:

So with League 1 & 2 clubs also plugging similar black holes which less than a third of the same handout, wages apart, where is the massive difference in expenditure? 

Your claim was that Championship clubs would enjoy a massive advantage this season: they quite clearly do not.That the SG grant is likely to make them less fucked over financially by this ridiculous farce of a campaign than before does not make them any more competitive on the park this April/May than a League One club that has been using furlough + its own £150k grant to keep the lights on. So your claim is bollocks then. 

[George Parr]

1 hour ago, David W said:

I have absolutely no interest in completing a season either. It has probably been even worse for a Clyde fan (even if you ignore the fact we have been absolute garbage) as our second game was postponed, then we had two consecutive Saturdays off due to Covid (have the SFA investigated that yet?) and the new year game v Thistle also postponed. We've a bunch of players, raw loanees and League 2 jobbers on inexplicably long contracts, that I have no interest in watching. Then you add random groups of kids running around our stadium, and club chaplains who can't be bothered going to games and it's been an absolute shambles of a campaign.

It has just been stop start, the experience of watching games has been diabolical and I genuinely couldn't care less what happens in the next couple of months.

Could more or less copy and paste this post for my experience re Dumbarton.

I think we managed one Saturday afternoon home game in the entire season - just so depressing. I struggle to even recall our final league position before the shutdown or many of our players' names.

I totally get that the clubs and most fans will aim to salvage what they can from this season and get playing again but I'd be content to let it die and start afresh from August.

[Life on Marrs?]

Put me firmly in the, 'scrap this whole season' camp & start again from scratch in July/August. 

I've lost all interest & when I read the authorities were looking at resuming this seasons scottish cup in the first half of next season, they are obviously planning for scraping leagues 1 & 2 also. 

Yes, there would be winners, Alloa, Forfar, Brechin etc & losers Falkirk(again) Q. Park, Kelty, as things stand.

Understandably, Falkirk fans seem to be the only ones that want to resume. With the vaccine there's light at the end of the tunnel, fans could all be back next year & we won't all be hemorrhaging money when it's tight enough. 

 

Edited February 24, 2021 by Life on Marrs?

[Ranaldo Bairn]

2 hours ago, Mybitchunderprotest said:

At first I wondered if it was just me, now having read through a lot of these posts I realise that it most likely is just me.
I could no longer give a f**k about what happens with leagues. End them, play 18 games, play 22 games, promote clubs, relegate other clubs. Get it in the fucking bin.

The season has been a fucking write off and I've pretty much forgotten about it already.

A Dumbarton fan mentioned Calumn Morrison to me and I had to genuinely think hard to recall who he was - our bloody top scorer! 

That's how much of an impact this season has made.