MurrayWilson

Barton is without doubt a tit of the highest order and rules are rules and he broke them , but the rules regarding betting in football are fuckin ridiculous. To hammer players for betting on games where they can have no direct influence just seems absurd.

And palace may have filled their stadium for the last few seasons but not when they were skint and shit. Money changed everything.

I get what youre saying but the point I'm making is that a fairer tv deal would equal more money for clubs to spend and therefor surely a better standard of player on the park and bigger crowds. Simple demographics mean that crowds will never equal those in England ,leicester is a big place compared to motherwell or Kilmarnock.

Its fine saying clubs with empty stands don't deserve more money but if you remember the 80s youll remember watching match of the day when English clubs in the old first division played in stadiums well short of capacity, only really a few could fill their grounds, money from tv changed everything, how many used to watch crystal palace before they could afford to buy strikers for 30 million quid?

No not because they don't give Ross county enough money, but because they don't give any of us enough money. That includes us.

Definitely true to say that in general Scottish football is shit in comparison to the top leagues, but it never used to be. Up until the end of the 90s Scottish teams punched well above our weight in Europe, then along came the massive injection of tv money into the top leagues and that was the end of that. Whether you like it or not anyone subscribing to sky sports is contributing to the disparity that exists between our clubs and those down south. That's why Chelsea can come and cherry pick our best young prospects, we cant compete with them when it comes to buying the finished article and now we cant even hope to build a team by going down the youth development route. Nothing against Chelsea ,but they were only ever a medium sized club in comparison to Rangers. Football is becoming boring and predictable because of this TV money with a virtual cartel of clubs at the top of the game in Europe destined to stay there for evermore. Never again will an Ajax, Rangers, Red star Belgrade, or Dinamo Kiev win European trophies, the unpredictability of the game has gone and without that whats the point of any sport? In short footballs fucked, it is truly no more than a product, if you watch sky you would honestly believe the game never existed before 1993, tradition and history count for fuck all , all that matters is money. Probably boycotting Sky wouldn't bother them one bit but at least you wouldn't be helping to maintain the power of the few clubs at the top.