Bridging The Gap

[For Fecks Sake]

Following on from a similar discussion on last week's off the ball, what are everyones thoughts on what it would take to knock celtic off their perch - is this even a realistic possibility with the current set up of Scottish Football?

 

Football these days is dominated by money (with higher transfer fees and wages usually meaning better quality product) and while other teams try to build squads based on a mixture of youth players, free transfers or paying fees a fraction of the size celtic can (they just paid £4.5m for the 21 year old from Man City for example) all while competing with lower leagues globally with regards to wages on offer, do we just have to accept that we are now pissing into the wind and the size of the gap is just too big now?

 

Yes we ran Celtic close when Delia was in charge however they still ran out convincing winners in the end. Now they have Rodgers in charge he has raised the stakes even higher as last season proved.

 

Would it take the pumping in of tens of millions of pounds to a club to get even near them? Let's be honest that kind of spend is not sustainable as every club that has tried it proves. Unless we conjure up an extremely rich benefactor pumping in copious amounts of money with zero chance of any return. And before any says it Dave Cormack is not that stupid.

 

Personally I believe the gap has become too large now and if Celtic continue to reach the CL and we continue to fail to reach the group stages of the Europa league (another biased and rigged competition pandering to the rich teams) then we will continue to be best of the rest.

 

Probably never happen but if the ugly sisters were to fuck off (to anywhere that would have them) then I reckon we would have a more level playing field than what we currently have which could only improve the Scottish game.

[aberdeen1970]

There needs to be a few teams to up their standard to bridge the gap. One team alone is unlikely to make a huge difference.

 

If a number of teams started taking points off Celtic then the gap overall would close.

 

Unfortunately the administration of Scottish football doesn't help as everything is geared up to satisfy two clubs.

 

A fairer governance model along with an improvement by a few clubs would go a long way.

[fine-n-dandy]

Kari Arnason

[Zander1903]

Following on from a similar discussion on last week's off the ball, what are everyones thoughts on what it would take to knock celtic off their perch - is this even a realistic possibility with the current set up of Scottish Football?

A Plane Crash........there budget makes it virtually impossible to amass the amount of points we'd need to win the title not that we cant dream

[BWG]

The gap cannot be bridged until a complete overhaul of the governing body is done and it's really as simple as that.

[fine-n-dandy]

Momentum is all that is needed. Once a decent side strikes up a wee bit of momentum than it can cause panic in a side like celtic.

 

Wait a minute,, Scottish football we're talking about here lol. IT CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN.

[For Fecks Sake]

The gap cannot be bridged until a complete overhaul of the governing body is done and it's really as simple as that.

Agree that the governing body needs a massive overhaul, however that won't have any real impact on Celtics vastly superior financial clout which will still allow them to buy up the best player in the league as well as being able to pay huge transfer fees.

[aberdeen1970]

That's rubbish

 

Was the administration not the same when Deila was making a mockery of Celtic and their advantages?

 

Way too easy to blame the establishment

I'm not solely blaming the establishment but it's clearly part of the problem.

[fine-n-dandy]

Is there a Squad size limit.

 

I mean an overall squad size limit. This would prevent many teams losing their best players to Celtics bench/reserves

[strachanmcgheegoal]

Playing wise we need to be within 6 points going into the split. Win one and the Hun media would get us the other win/their loss we needed.

 

Off the field which is what it will really take it needs the Tim fans to become complacent and bored*, Rodgers to see the writing on the wall and them to miss the European money not bailing them out a la thon Rocket boy.

 

The ten in a row thing is a godsend in this respect.

[BigDave]

Needs to come from TV/sponsorship money IMO, whilst Leicester was a "freak" result, look at the wages they were paying..

 

The fairer split & TV money down south has moved the game to be closer, of course the big boys sell more tickets and merchandise etc but its not disproportionate like it is up here!

[V for Vendetta]

Gap won't be bridged unless there is a massive change in finances or some sort of cap system.

 

Celtic are signing good players, the new lad from man city sounds like another one.

 

I'm pretty hopeful we can secure 2nd place in style this year but Celtic are just going to get stronger.

[Reed or deed]

It's obvious what we have do do to bridge the gap.

 

Bring back the King.

[Dom Sullivan]

It's obvious what we have do do to bridge the gap.

Bring back the King.

Don't think King Joey would fit into the new strip

[slinkyvagabond]

Hmmm. Wonder why this has been posted?

 

Only thing that will bridge the gap is an improvement in the standard across the board but the finances for that to happen are simply not there at present. Its not just us though the league needs Hearts, Hibs and... Was gonna put Dundee Utd but they appear to be fucked for the foreseeable future.

 

All we can do is aim for consistency, which we've had, and the odd cup.

 

It remains to be seen if we can get to the Europa Groups with the current model we have.

[1903Fitba]

New set of referees

Out with 90% of the folk working at the SFA

[slinkyvagabond]

Lets just be honest the game in Scotland is corrupt from top to bottom, rotten to the core. Corrupt to levels people could never really comprehend.

 

If anyone thinks a proper level playing field would ever be allowed they are living in cuckoo land.

 

Doesnt anyone ever think our demise in the mid 90s was slightly odd? We went, within a few years, from the best run club in Scotland to a complete fuckin shambles. Why?

[manboobs109]

Lets just be honest the game in Scotland is corrupt from top to bottom, rotten to the core. Corrupt to levels people could never really comprehend.

 

If anyone thinks a proper level playing field would ever be allowed they are living in cuckoo land.

 

Doesnt anyone ever think our demise in the mid 90s was slightly odd? We went, within a few years, from the best run club in Scotland to a complete fuckin shambles. Why?

Answer your own question then! I take it you think a cabal of Rangers supporters in the SFA made us appoint shit managers and spunk money on shit players?

[slinkyvagabond]

Manboobs, you have no idea how close you are to the truth.

[Reliablesource]

New set of referees

Out with 90% of the folk working at the SFA

This. Especially the referees.

[Andy_123]

Complete overhaul of the governing body with new people who aren't of a Glasgow only persuasion

 

Celtic to re-appoint Deila

 

Hearts, Hibs, Dundee Utd etc to pull their finger out and actually take points off Celtic, The Rangers (and us, but not really).

[slinkyvagabond]

/Complete overhaul of the governing body with new people who aren't of a Glasgow only persuasion/

 

Agree with that 100% but that will never happen.

[For Fecks Sake]

Hmmm. Wonder why this has been posted?

 

An honest question as I am currently relaxing on holiday by a pool and contemplating what we can (as in Aberdeen FC) realistically expect for this season and going forward.

 

Now, more than at any point in time I can remember, it's as unbalanced a playing field. I agree with the comments above about the governing body needing overhauled but I also believe it's too easy to point to that alone as the problem.

 

FYI my shoulders look awesome with a tan ?

[CraigHill]

A new stadium and 20,000 more fans at each home game.

Changes to governing body and referees making a difference to AFC is a load of shite.

[CraigHill]

Double D.

[slinkyvagabond]

We are in a good position at the moment. Very stable. But all we can expect given the budget gap between Celtic and ourselves is to just keep things ticking along. As I posted already consistency is key.

 

The likes of ourselves, Sevco, Hibs and Hearts will need to start taking points off them though to make it more interesting.

 

What is our playing budget at the moment anyway compared to 5 years ago? Are we spending more and going forward what is likely to be spent?

[For Fecks Sake]

Lets just be honest the game in Scotland is corrupt from top to bottom, rotten to the core. Corrupt to levels people could never really comprehend.

 

If anyone thinks a proper level playing field would ever be allowed they are living in cuckoo land.

 

Doesnt anyone ever think our demise in the mid 90s was slightly odd? We went, within a few years, from the best run club in Scotland to a complete fuckin shambles. Why?

Would be interested in hearing examples of just how deeply corrupted the game is then? Not saying a level of biase doesn't exist but I believe it's overstated and too easy an excuse for fans. These biases never stopped us being successful in the 80's did it?

 

Unfortunately our demise in the 90's can be attributed squarely to Aberdeen FC itself. We had a board with no vision or clue as to how a successful club should be run and a succession of managers who made, if I am honest, a load of dreadful signings.

 

Again would be interested to hear another point of view as has been alluded to above.

[Shinniesta]

To be brutally honest unless a club like ourselves, Hibs or Hearts were bought by an Abramovich type as a vanity type project then winning the league as things currently stand is realistically outwith the reach of non old firm clubs. Champions League money and the uneven split of domestic TV money has basically made the gap too big to bridge. Then when you add in the corruption within our game all aimed at keeping two Glasgow based clubs happy and you realise it's virtually mission impossible.

 

The only hope is that the big clubs in Europe eventually break away and form their own vanity league and that the ugly sisters somehow get to be a part of it and so therefore leave the SPFL. That way you would get a competitive league in Scotland that several teams could realistically win. The downside of a scenario like that is that quality wise the product would be less than it is now as there would be no TV deal and even semi decent players from England and abroad would no longer be interested in playing here due to no games against the old firm.

[Shinniesta]

Not really

If more teams stepped up and beat Deilas Celtic and we didn't collapse we would have won league

They then brought Rodgers in and improved

Celtic did let their standards drop somewhat when Rangers were not in the top league. Now that the tribute act are back Celtic have upped their game and it's hard to see them slipping back to where they were under Delia. Even then in Delia's last season they only lost 3 league games and really should have won the domestic treble but for some dodgy refereeing in the SC semi-final against Caley.

 

Under Delia Celtic were still a clear level or two above everyone else in the country at no point did I ever truly believe we were going to beat them to the league title.

[The Lighthouse]

Bizarre thread tbh.

 

What is the crux of your confusion?

 

Celtic have 50K+ fans at most home games.

 

They earn fortunes from Champions League qualification (despite being horsed by Barca).

 

The Scottish game in general is on its arse. Witness, Sevco against 4th best in Luxembourg, Saints against Lithuanians and us against 7th best in Bosnia.

 

All we can do is recruit the best our meagre budget will allow (in recognition of the fact that we no longer appear to have a worthwhile youth policy) and try to remain as close to Celtic as we can. We did a decent job last season but still fell well short in all 3 competitions. Even in the SC final we were never going to win despite a spirited performance.

 

So to answer the question - no, we can`t bridge the gap.