BILLY BREMNER MEMORIAL JOIN OUR CAMPAIGN
Date: 12th April 2024
(Photo:@Homesoffootball)
Part 1: Hate Chants?
It was the end of the week after the Scottish Government’s ‘Hate Legislation’, and it was raining outside while I was reading about the fuss being made by those who like to make fuss.
There was a Glasgow derby on the screen delivered by my Virgin package rather than by a doctored Amazon Firestick (which seems a more, and more ubiquitous fan route to premium product).
The game hadn’t even started and the strains of “Up to our knees in Fenian blood” were still echoing around the Ibrox stadium when my telly flashed, rather ironically, “Show Racism the Red Card”.
Yes there were other break-outs over the match and yes there were subsequent ‘Hate’ complaints, I think over 2000.
I don’t know how Chief Miekelson and his team will respond to these.
The words “We’re up to our knees in Fenian Blood, surrender or you’ll die” are not something for Scotland to be proud of or celebrate in song.
If you’ve been on the moon the words really mean “up to our knees in catholic, Irish blood”, give up or we’ll kill you.
Not the most pleasant of ditties and for years it has been conveniently, and wrongly pigeon-holed North of the Wall and somehow conveniently classified and accepted as ‘Sectarianism’ or even ‘90-minute banter’ rather than unacceptable racist bile.
That is what it is.
So what will Cameron, the Chief’s finest chaps and chapesses do to respond to 2000 plus complaints last weekend?
And is, in 2024, a massed crowd singing such an unpleasant group of words, albeit to a fabulous and rousing tune, acceptable to Polis Scotland and to the nation?
And finally what if the words being sung were “Up to our knees in Jewish blood, or Muslim blood, or even Stenhousemuir residents blood?
None are acceptable.
Ever.
But this new recognition of what’s acceptable in Scotland brings a ‘Damned if they do/ Damned if they don’t’ problem to those who police our laws.
Quite simply if Polis Scotland declare singing ‘the Billy Boys’ is a hate crime they just open up a series of cultural clashes they’d rather avoid when it gets sung the next time and the next time.
But if Polis Scotland don’t declare ‘the Billy Boys’ a hate crime they just open up more clashes with people fed up of the song and what it means and the force will eventually have to revisit their stance.
Most fans prefer fan behaviour under Uefa’s Strict Liability.
Two of our clubs are fine with full agreement to play under that to garner European riches but somehow don’t want it at home.
Part 2: Mud and Blame
Dens Park is currently a disgrace.
The fine surface where the late Doug Cowie strutted his stuff is no more.
Yes we live in Scotland, yes it rains, and yes Rangers are right to be grumpy but this wee insight is not just about Scotland’s new ‘Wetland’, aka Dens Park.
It is about infrastructure throughout our game and where it ranks in survival terms.
I fully understand why the majority of our clubs including Dundee underinvest in infrastructure.
It is a particular choice.
(More below and a suggestion or two).
Andy’s Sting in the Tale
1.Grounds for Change
2. Premier Partners?
3. Young Turks Screw Up Final
4. Celtic Showing the Way
5. Israel FA Playing the Politics
6. Does Kellogg’s Point in a New Direction
7. “Gratulerer Stenny”
1. Dundee Pitch for Bigger Leagues Without Knowing It
I may have been called the boss but all my business life was really controlled by a business plan and a rolling set of budget constraints.
Planning and monitoring performance against plan was everything and always.
Dundee and other clubs at threat in a 12-team league have similar, stark, fiscal questions and measurements against plan each and every year.
“Do we spend money on a couple of extra mercenaries and try to stay up or do we invest in things like our playing surface and play Rangers in April”?
A hard and very stark fact is each year in Scotland our league structures dictate that 50% or more of our club’s first requirements in their future planning is avoiding relegation and the carnage it brings to their business plans and future.
At the moment the Tayside team with the substandard pitch having got back into the top league are said to be doing OK and maybe even into the money spinning top 6.
But they are losing circa £2.5M per season just to stand still.
No business can lose money for long.
And Dundee’s close neighbours, Dundee United have financial numbers said to be worse.
How is any of that sustainable in any inter-connected and inter-related game?
The answer is we need comprehensive change.
Our game is set up to make most clubs fail and sooner or later they all do.
Bloody hell they all do.
I can only think of a handful who in my lifetime have never been in deep financial trouble.
And none of them are in our current top table.
We need to make bigger leagues and make the bigger leagues work for us all.
And remind ourselves every day that all clubs are in it together and need to make the business of football work for everyone.
2. Real Sponsors Wanted with Real Money
Many years ago I delivered some projects for the late Hearts owner, Wallace Mercer.
I remember one particular ‘Sponsorship’, he announced to the East of Scotland media like it was a big deal when in reality it was an underwhelming projection of future revenues from future sales with a linked entity.
A charade, yes.
But he had judged that he and the club needed a media boost so it was a big deal even though it was soon forgotten.
That kind of hype still exists.
This week the SPFL announced a ‘NEW SPONSORSHIP DEAL’ with Premier Sports for next season’s Scottish League Cup.
Premier Sports used to be Setanta and yes they failed badly to deliver what they promised to our clubs.
They then went bust, then phoenixed into Premier Sports, and brought revenues that otherwise might not have come to a cash-desperate Scottish game.
Then they sold their souls to a Scandis media co, Viaplay, who somehow had bid for and were surprised to have won Scotland match rights.
Setanta/Premier Sports, as was, were then bought out by Viaplay who had no staff in the British Isles and needed to find a fast solution.
Part of the Scandis new deal as saviours of our game also included the Scottish League Cup and it was on pay per view.
Somehow the financial numbers didn’t work.
Not just, they didn’t work by a mile.
The future projections were so scary they, Viaplay the Scandis, ran away from Scottish football.
Yes, the Scandis, Viaplay, ducked out as fast as they could and Premier Sports, remember they were Setanta first, bought themselves back out for considerably less than they had sold themselves to the Scandis for the year before.
Are you still with me?
This week we were told that Premier Sports were a new sponsor to our game.
I say what goes around comes around and this is still all a mess.
Three Wee Problems with PPV Football North of the Wall
The first is those who subscribe already have enough to pay with existing subscriptions like Sky and Netflix.
The second is the cost-of-living pressure that we all face every day of the week is real and getting worse.
Both are important factors.
But the biggest single most reason comes third and is a future deal breaker.
It is Amazon firesticks.
They are a worldwide problem and every time that premium content sellers, whatever it is, think they have solved the free access issues some teccie software geniuses find a new solution.
Every fan who then has free access tells their pals and non payment spreads quicker than Covid 19.
Hence the Scandis pulling out.
Hence PPV business challenges.
Scottish football needs new and committed sponsors and it is a disgrace that our League Cup does not have a proper, wholesome sponsor and that a revamped, previous failed company is not new money or even real.
Chairman Insight from a top club
“Andy we all agree with you BUT.
Take out betting, and booze and we are struggling to find new significant revenues at local and national levels.
It’s part a reflection on our country and partly because of how our game is structured.
Not an easy job without big changes some of which are outside our control.
3. Fenerbahce Walk Out of Cup Final After 1 Minute
The club were not happy with the Turkish FA for good and long standing reasons, and last week had a fan/member vote to leave the Turkish Leagues, a vote that is still outstanding.
Last Sunday they were forced to play The Turkish Super Cup against arch rivals Galatasaray a few days short of a big Europa League quarter final fixture with Olympiakos which they lost after an even game 3-2 in Piraeus.
So last Sunday they waved two fingers at the Turkish FA and played an under 19 team in a major domestic cup final.
Then, even worse they walked off after a minute or so in a pre-meditated move.
“It’s time for Turkish football to be reset”, said FB’s President Ali Koc to a pre match press conference.
Fenerbahce were subsequently fined 115,000 Euros for the walk-off statement.
More on this one to run and deep down it is about clubs rebelling against club dominated football administrations.
Turkish football is not unique.
4. Celtic Start the Ball Rolling
I was happy for all the kids, not just those who played at what was the Celtic Boys club by the news that progress is being made.
And I thought of two things.
The first is that this move will now breach the dam of clubs who think historical abuse is something they can blame on the past and duck from.
The abused kids deserve a genuine apology and we should support any moves to stop it happening again, ever.
And there should be no hiding places like saying “it was a previous management not us”, or “We’re a new company”. Neither should be offered or accepted.
The second is to ask why someone abused at Celtic should get a higher level of compensation than the kids abused at Forres Mechanics?
This is bigger than just clubs and the SFA and Scottish Government should be part of the solution and future prevention.
5. Do We Have an SFA View?
After over 30,000 deaths and looming starvation, the Palestine Football Authority wrote to Fifa asking for “appropriate” sanctions because of unprecedented international human rights and humanitarian law violations” against Israel.
This week Israel FA’s Shino Zoertz is for some reason in South America drumming up support from their equivalent of Uefa ahead of the Fifa convention.
That’s World Football for you.
It just so happens that our women’s team are due to play Israel Women in the Uefa European Championships on 31st May and 4th June.
I already know what Lise Klaveness Norway’s FA Leader and others like her think.
But I have no idea what our SFA think and think their lack of action is because when real stuff gets debated we revert to the Japanese ‘three monkeys’ mode.
That saddens me.
6. Thin Pickings North of the Wall
The Kellogg’s Company are a hard-nosed, ex client of mine who take basic commodities and turn them into premium-delivering added-value commodities.
Usually adding loads of sugar too, to reel in and hold the punters.
They are clever and ever focused on the bottom line.
This week they announced a kids summer camp football sponsorship and said, “Both Kellogg’s and the English Football League are brands at the hearts of communities up and down the country”.
English!
But to be fair there is also a reciprocal in Scotland and the press release I had read had been tweaked heavy-handedly to mention Celtic and Rangers as a Northern fop. (Typical London PR lack of insight).
Not the worst sponsor, and our game would have been mad not to take the English deal up north. In fact maybe being on the rump end of English Sponsorships for circa 10% of the value might be a good place for our commercial people to start looking for a better future.
8. Norges Favoritt Lag
Well, done retiring Stenny chairman Iain McMenemy and all at the marvellous community club that is Stenhousemuir FC.
Your first league win in 140 years.
Richly deserved.
You are what football is all about and clubs who forget their communities soon lose their souls.
Your league victory made the Norwegian Evening News and even Michael Palin has come out as a fan.
Me too, for everything you do for Larbert, Stenhousemuir, Carronshore and beyond.
Well done the good guys and may we all copy you and learn from your wisdom.
That’s it from me for this week.
If you are not an SFA member, please join.
We need you.
It’s free, always will be and if all `Scottish fans were members we’d see different behaviours managing our game and more respect for the game’s core stakeholder. The ordinary fan.
Andy’s Album of the Week
Beyonce’s “Cowboy Carter”
It’s a fine album and the Houston born singer has just become the first black woman to top the Billboard Country Albums Chart.
She’s also topping the Billboard Charts across all genres.
I’ve been listening to it on Spotify for 2 weeks and now have a real copy.
She was quoted as saying, “It’s the best music I’ve ever made”, and “This isn’t a country album, it’s a Beyonce album”
It is genre breaking and I particularly love her version of Paul Macartney’s Blackbird.
I hadn’t heard about why he wrote it and how it was anti-apartheid.
Well done Macca.
So Cowboy Carter is worth some time and in the meantime here are great versions of ‘Blackbird’ to listen to.
Blackbird, Beyonce BLACKBIIRD (Official Lyric Video) (youtube.com)
Blackbird, The Beatles Blackbird (Remastered 2009) (youtube.com)
And my favourite ever version
Blackbird, aka Lon Dubh, Julie Fowlis Julie Fowlis – Blackbird (Lon-dubh) (youtube.com)
All different, all anti racist.
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