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Post by Gin & Tonic on Dec 7, 2015 11:35:28 GMT -5
Our Scottish Cup game against Hearts is a 5:30pm kick off on a Saturday, oooooooft.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2015 18:14:04 GMT -5
The SPFL has announced an exciting new format for the Scottish League Cup including competitive group football in July, a ground-breaking bonus point system, a new broadcast partner bringing more live TV games and increased revenues for clubs, and the re-introduction of a winter break.
Taking effect from summer 2016, the new format will see eight groups of five teams play each other once each in a round-robin format across five July dates (16th, 20th, 23th, 27th & 30th). New broadcast partner BT Sport will show six group stage games live, within a total of 13 matches to be broadcast from next season. This new 80-game group stage will involve all 38 teams not involved in UEFA qualifiers plus winners of this season’s Highland League and Lowland League.
The group stage uses the traditional three points for a win and one point for a draw model however in another innovation all drawn matches will go straight to a penalty shoot-out whereby the winner of the penalty shoot-out will be awarded a bonus point, believed to be a first in world football. The bonus point system is designed to create greater excitement around every match as well as providing more points variations to increase the number of meaningful games throughout the group stages. The eight group winners and four best runners-up progress to the second round, when they are joined by the four UEFA qualifying clubs and the competition reverts to traditional knockout format.
The SPFL is delighted to announce that BT Sport will become the exclusive live TV broadcaster of the League Cup from summer 2016. BT Sport will screen six games from the Group Stage in July and a further seven games from the knockout rounds for each of Seasons 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20. BT Sport’s new contract will increase the money available for all the clubs significantly.
Another benefit of the new format will be that it allows the re-introduction of a two-weekend winter break for Ladbrokes Premiership clubs during January 2017.
SPFL Chief Executive Neil Doncaster said: “The new format of the Scottish League Cup marks an exciting new chapter for the competition and sees Scottish football leading the way with a number of innovations.
“Fans, the media and clubs alike have expressed a desire for competitive summer football which will be delivered from next July while the ground-breaking bonus point system should add incentive to teams and excitement for supporters.
“We are delighted to welcome BT Sport as our exclusive League Cup TV broadcast partner and to have their support for the new format. Our agreement with BT Sport delivers a huge increase in the number of games being shown live as well as providing increased competition prizemoney for clubs.
“The new format has also enabled the re-introduction of a winter break for Ladbrokes Premiership clubs. We are consulting with Ladbrokes Championship, League 1 and League 2 clubs to establish whether they also favour a winter break in their respective divisions.”
Simon Green, head of BT Sport, said: “BT Sport is thrilled to deepen its connection to Scottish football through this new long-term deal. Our team looks forward to bringing fans an exciting and innovative new competition from July 2016. Today’s agreement expands our summer programming line-up while also giving Scottish football fans an exciting new summer football competition.”
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Post by globe on Dec 9, 2015 3:20:36 GMT -5
Boy I work with tells me that group games were quite poorly attended when they did this in the 70s; that's going to be even worse now that most clubs don't let you into cup games with your season ticket any longer.
As for the winter break. When exactly is our winter? The last time we had this break, there were loads of games off after the break and I remember United ended up playing about 6 or 7 games in a two week period. What are the chances Celtic head away to the US or the Middle East to play a game during this break? Doncaster please just fuck off.
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Post by globe on Dec 9, 2015 3:20:48 GMT -5
Oh aye, BT Sport can GTF ana.
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Post by Gin & Tonic on Dec 9, 2015 6:28:39 GMT -5
Not entirely convinced by the format in the slightest. I thought the main teams who were wanting earlier competitive games were the ones playing in Europe, and they aren't even involved in this group stage anyway? Not a fan of this extra point for winning on penalties either, something which is essentially a total lottery can make the difference in a team qualifying or not for the latter stages. Surely if they were insistent on bringing in bonus points they should have done something similar to rugby, eg score 3 or more goals and get an extra point or something along those lines.
The extra money and guaranteed fixtures against Premier League teams can only be a positive for the smaller clubs though, think it's something like £8M across 4 seasons. Extra income for them can't be a bad thing surely.
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Post by Gin & Tonic on Dec 12, 2015 13:17:30 GMT -5
Hearts retaining their title as dirtiest bastards in the league today. 25 fouls, Mark Reynolds broken nose and Graeme Shinnie requiring stiches. Quite how they finished that match with 11 men I'm not entirely sure.
Good to get the win though (bizarre circumstances, wtf was McGhee doing?) to see us 7 clear of them and only a point behind Celtic. Good time to put some pressure on them as they have some tricky fixtures coming up and we should be looking to pick up maximum points from our next 3 (Killie away, Caley and Partick at home).
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2015 18:09:45 GMT -5
Gutted to lose a goal so late although a draw was probably a fair result. I don't know why but it's always a feisty affair when we go to Easter Road. Today was no exception with a barrage of dirty challenges (mostly from Hibs players) and a smattering of arseholes form both sets of fans. Absolute scenes when Miller's goal went in. Looking forward to Sevco next week.
No surprise to see Ian Murray get the boot. St Mirren have been comically bad this season. I'm not sure if they or Dundee United are having a worse season.
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Post by matt on Dec 15, 2015 13:09:19 GMT -5
Gutted to lose a goal so late although a draw was probably a fair result. I don't know why but it's always a feisty affair when we go to Easter Road. Today was no exception with a barrage of dirty challenges (mostly from Hibs players) and a smattering of arseholes form both sets of fans. Absolute scenes when Miller's goal went in. Looking forward to Sevco next week. No surprise to see Ian Murray get the boot. St Mirren have been comically bad this season. I'm not sure if they or Dundee United are having a worse season. Dunno why they hired Murray in the first place - probably only me being biased as he talked shite about Caley on Sportscene once. But being so unproven and lacking any credentials - I have no idea why clubs have to do this constantly. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2015 13:30:27 GMT -5
Gutted to lose a goal so late although a draw was probably a fair result. I don't know why but it's always a feisty affair when we go to Easter Road. Today was no exception with a barrage of dirty challenges (mostly from Hibs players) and a smattering of arseholes form both sets of fans. Absolute scenes when Miller's goal went in. Looking forward to Sevco next week. No surprise to see Ian Murray get the boot. St Mirren have been comically bad this season. I'm not sure if they or Dundee United are having a worse season. Dunno why they hired Murray in the first place - probably only me being biased as he talked shite about Caley on Sportscene once. But being so unproven and lacking any credentials - I have no idea why clubs have to do this constantly. His 'credentials' were basically doing an alright job at Dumbarton. That was it. In hindsight, it was a a disastrous appointment and I think his managerial career could be over already. I think they probably should have kept Gary Teale on as manager. I can't believe that Barry Ferguson is the favourite though. The man is an utter dobber and could finish off the relegation job that Murray started, which would be a real shame...  |
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Post by matt on Dec 15, 2015 16:07:20 GMT -5
Dunno why they hired Murray in the first place - probably only me being biased as he talked shite about Caley on Sportscene once. But being so unproven and lacking any credentials - I have no idea why clubs have to do this constantly. His 'credentials' were basically doing an alright job at Dumbarton. That was it. In hindsight, it was a a disastrous appointment and I think his managerial career could be over already. I think they probably should have kept Gary Teale on as manager. I can't believe that Barry Ferguson is the favourite though. The man is an utter dobber and could finish off the relegation job that Murray started, which would be a real shame... Surely they couldn't be so stupid to hire that twerp? God help the St Mirren fans for having such an imbecile as chairman of the club whoever it is. |
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Post by globe on Dec 16, 2015 3:38:55 GMT -5
Jackie might be looking for another job soon, maybe Saints can hire him.
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Post by matt on Dec 17, 2015 11:27:47 GMT -5
www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/35124555Would a 16 team league be good? The discrepancy between the bottom of the Scottish Premier League and the top few teams in the Championship isn't that drastic in my opinion. Scottish Cup final proved that much of these match ups are often even handed no? @wadfalkirk
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2015 19:43:22 GMT -5
www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/35124555Would a 16 team league be good? The discrepancy between the bottom of the Scottish Premier League and the top few teams in the Championship isn't that drastic in my opinion. Scottish Cup final proved that much of these match ups are often even handed no? @wadfalkirk I've always liked the idea of a larger league, mainly to stop each team playing each at least other four times every season. I don't think there is that much difference between a lot of teams ranked ~8 down to ~16. Even Dunfermline in League 1 managed to beat Dundee fairly comfortably early on this season. Likewise, we outplayed Patrick on the same day but were then handed our arses to us by Ross County in the next round. The cup final was pretty evenly matched but cup finals often are, especially with all the pressure on the favourites. Gretna took one of the best Hearts teams of the modern era to penalties back in 2006. Hamilton's victory over Hibs in the playoffs a couple of seasons ago is another example of this, despite the game being weighted heavily in the Premiership team's favour. |
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Post by matt on Dec 18, 2015 20:02:23 GMT -5
www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/35124555Would a 16 team league be good? The discrepancy between the bottom of the Scottish Premier League and the top few teams in the Championship isn't that drastic in my opinion. Scottish Cup final proved that much of these match ups are often even handed no? @wadfalkirk I've always liked the idea of a larger league, mainly to stop each team playing each at least other four times every season. I don't think there is that much difference between a lot of teams ranked ~8 down to ~16. Even Dunfermline in League 1 managed to beat Dundee fairly comfortably early on this season. Likewise, we outplayed Patrick on the same day but were then handed our arses to us by Ross County in the next round. The cup final was pretty evenly matched but cup finals often are, especially with all the pressure on the favourites. Gretna took one of the best Hearts teams of the modern era to penalties back in 2006. Hamilton's victory over Hibs in the playoffs a couple of seasons ago is another example of this, despite the game being weighted heavily in the Premiership team's favour. Yes, the whole playing clubs four times thing gets tedious - it would certainly freshen everything up. |
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Post by Gin & Tonic on Dec 19, 2015 9:26:17 GMT -5
Excellent result for The Bairns  Agent Danny Rogers with the 92nd minute penalty save the icing on the cake. |
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Post by kingcrawler on Dec 19, 2015 10:01:35 GMT -5
Gutted to lose a goal so late although a draw was probably a fair result. I don't know why but it's always a feisty affair when we go to Easter Road. Today was no exception with a barrage of dirty challenges (mostly from Hibs players) and a smattering of arseholes form both sets of fans. Absolute scenes when Miller's goal went in. Looking forward to Sevco next week. No surprise to see Ian Murray get the boot. St Mirren have been comically bad this season. I'm not sure if they or Dundee United are having a worse season. Dunno why they hired Murray in the first place - probably only me being biased as he talked shite about Caley on Sportscene once. But being so unproven and lacking any credentials - I have no idea why clubs have to do this constantly. I dunno about that, Ian Murray did a fantastic job in his first two seasons at Dumbarton. When he came in in November they had something like 5 points and ended up finishing 7th with 43 points. In his second season they finished 5th, just 4 points off the play-offs, which for a part-time team is a brilliant achievement. They played a really attacking system in those two seasons, winning games 3-2, 4-3 etc. and were the second highest scorers in the league. Obviously there was the odd hammering given how open they were but that's to be expected really. For some reason he decided to try and play a more defensive system in his third season and it just didn't work anywhere near as well. It stopped all their attacking threat but they were still conceding just as many. They also seemed to sign a few experienced players that season like Lee Mair, Mark Wilson and David Van Zanten, none of whom impressed. To be fair to Murray, they still stayed up comfortably that season. Going by Dumbarton fans opinions it seems like Murray brought a really professional approach to Dumbarton when he came in and essentially ran them like a full time club. At St. Mirren he couldn't make that impression and didn't seem to know how to change things. Another thing worth pointing out is that in his first two seasons at Dumbarton he had Jack Ross as his assistant and he seems to be pretty well respected as a coach. However, he left to join Hearts at the end of Murray's second season and Murray went without an assistant for his third season, with only Mark Spalding as a coach. Dumbarton fans don't seem to rate Spalding and it's quite telling that Murray brought Spalding to St. Mirren as his assistant but Spalding was let go after only a few months there with the experienced Alex Miller being brought in. When Murray left Dumbarton fans didn't seem too upset which given the huge success he had there in his first couple of seasons says a lot. When he left I thought it was a good appointment for St. Mirren but equally I think Dumbarton appointed a better manager in Stevie Aitken, although I thought Dumbarton might be doing slightly better than they are just now. |
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Post by Gin & Tonic on Dec 19, 2015 12:01:48 GMT -5
Couldn't have asked for a better set of results from Scottish football today, excellent stuff. Dons cruise to an easy win, Celtic lose, St J and Hearts drop points, Rangers lose, Hibs win, United concede a calamity of a last minute equaliser.  |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2015 13:33:53 GMT -5
Game of the season! Cracking atmosphere from start to finish, with some absolute brilliant entertainment on show. Neither of the penalties should have been awarded which once again shows how much of a cock Collum is. Kevin O'Hara was exceptional today and was incredibly unlucky not to score. It's hard to believe that was only his second start -he has a big future ahead of him! Aside from him, My other standouts were Rogers and Vaulks, both of whom were instrumental in today's victory.
This is turning into the prefect weekend. Us beating Sevco, Celtic losing, Leicester extending their lead at the top and Man United continuing to struggle. All that combined with last night's Star Wars showing and a free TV as a work gift, I'd just like to say, Merry fucking Christmas!
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Post by matt on Dec 19, 2015 13:52:55 GMT -5
Dunno why they hired Murray in the first place - probably only me being biased as he talked shite about Caley on Sportscene once. But being so unproven and lacking any credentials - I have no idea why clubs have to do this constantly. I dunno about that, Ian Murray did a fantastic job in his first two seasons at Dumbarton. When he came in in November they had something like 5 points and ended up finishing 7th with 43 points. In his second season they finished 5th, just 4 points off the play-offs, which for a part-time team is a brilliant achievement. They played a really attacking system in those two seasons, winning games 3-2, 4-3 etc. and were the second highest scorers in the league. Obviously there was the odd hammering given how open they were but that's to be expected really. For some reason he decided to try and play a more defensive system in his third season and it just didn't work anywhere near as well. It stopped all their attacking threat but they were still conceding just as many. They also seemed to sign a few experienced players that season like Lee Mair, Mark Wilson and David Van Zanten, none of whom impressed. To be fair to Murray, they still stayed up comfortably that season. Going by Dumbarton fans opinions it seems like Murray brought a really professional approach to Dumbarton when he came in and essentially ran them like a full time club. At St. Mirren he couldn't make that impression and didn't seem to know how to change things. Another thing worth pointing out is that in his first two seasons at Dumbarton he had Jack Ross as his assistant and he seems to be pretty well respected as a coach. However, he left to join Hearts at the end of Murray's second season and Murray went without an assistant for his third season, with only Mark Spalding as a coach. Dumbarton fans don't seem to rate Spalding and it's quite telling that Murray brought Spalding to St. Mirren as his assistant but Spalding was let go after only a few months there with the experienced Alex Miller being brought in. When Murray left Dumbarton fans didn't seem too upset which given the huge success he had there in his first couple of seasons says a lot. When he left I thought it was a good appointment for St. Mirren but equally I think Dumbarton appointed a better manager in Stevie Aitken, although I thought Dumbarton might be doing slightly better than they are just now. I had no idea that Miller had been back taken to St Mirren - I remember he managed Aberdeen back in the late 90s, and he also was assistant at Liverpool around the time of Houllier/Benitez. He's got top level experience and knows St Mirren well too, so made sense that an inexperienced guy like Murray got him. Alex Rae seems like a decent choice though - should have a bit more knowledge and experience to his game this time around since the Dundee job a few years back (didn't have the coaching qualifications and was a player-manager). |
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Post by kingcrawler on Dec 19, 2015 16:33:00 GMT -5
I dunno about that, Ian Murray did a fantastic job in his first two seasons at Dumbarton. When he came in in November they had something like 5 points and ended up finishing 7th with 43 points. In his second season they finished 5th, just 4 points off the play-offs, which for a part-time team is a brilliant achievement. They played a really attacking system in those two seasons, winning games 3-2, 4-3 etc. and were the second highest scorers in the league. Obviously there was the odd hammering given how open they were but that's to be expected really. For some reason he decided to try and play a more defensive system in his third season and it just didn't work anywhere near as well. It stopped all their attacking threat but they were still conceding just as many. They also seemed to sign a few experienced players that season like Lee Mair, Mark Wilson and David Van Zanten, none of whom impressed. To be fair to Murray, they still stayed up comfortably that season. Going by Dumbarton fans opinions it seems like Murray brought a really professional approach to Dumbarton when he came in and essentially ran them like a full time club. At St. Mirren he couldn't make that impression and didn't seem to know how to change things. Another thing worth pointing out is that in his first two seasons at Dumbarton he had Jack Ross as his assistant and he seems to be pretty well respected as a coach. However, he left to join Hearts at the end of Murray's second season and Murray went without an assistant for his third season, with only Mark Spalding as a coach. Dumbarton fans don't seem to rate Spalding and it's quite telling that Murray brought Spalding to St. Mirren as his assistant but Spalding was let go after only a few months there with the experienced Alex Miller being brought in. When Murray left Dumbarton fans didn't seem too upset which given the huge success he had there in his first couple of seasons says a lot. When he left I thought it was a good appointment for St. Mirren but equally I think Dumbarton appointed a better manager in Stevie Aitken, although I thought Dumbarton might be doing slightly better than they are just now. I had no idea that Miller had been back taken to St Mirren - I remember he managed Aberdeen back in the late 90s, and he also was assistant at Liverpool around the time of Houllier/Benitez. He's got top level experience and knows St Mirren well too, so made sense that an inexperienced guy like Murray got him. Alex Rae seems like a decent choice though - should have a bit more knowledge and experience to his game this time around since the Dundee job a few years back (didn't have the coaching qualifications and was a player-manager). From what I read earlier it seemed like Alex Miller wasn't actually in the dugout for St. Mirren today so seems like he might be away already. |
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Post by kingcrawler on Dec 19, 2015 17:48:59 GMT -5
Good to see globe taking United's recent form well |
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Post by matt on Dec 19, 2015 19:54:40 GMT -5
I also can't see Deila staying on as Celtic boss beyond this season. I actually personally like Deila - certainly more than that tool Neil Lennon, I just think he went to the wrong club. He did a great job at Stromgodset even for a small league like Norway's, but I don't know, maybe it's a cultural difference where he isn't suited to coaching knobheads like the Celtic squad.
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Post by matt on Dec 20, 2015 13:39:30 GMT -5
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Post by globe on Dec 21, 2015 3:38:18 GMT -5
Good to see globe taking United's recent form well Haha WTF? That boy is way far too well spoken to be from Dundee! |
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Post by matt on Dec 22, 2015 23:17:27 GMT -5
Good to see globe taking United's recent form well Haha WTF? That boy is way far too well spoken to be from Dundee! Do you think Utd will go down? I haven't watched them live this year, but are there signs of recovery? |
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Nov 4, 2024 5:04:30 GMT -5