For a number of reasons I’ve not been able to write a full column this fortnight but here are some thoughts on matters I’ve sketched down over the past two weeks. Normal service will be resumed shortly.
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Craig Anderson of this parish introduced me to a great new term that he’d seen on Pie and Bovril: crowdwanking.
For those not familiar with the term, it refers to fans that obsess about attendances, primarily the numbers attending their rival’s games.
Suffice to say, it’s a little pathetic. No doubt we all know some of our fans who indulge in a bit of crowdwanking.
There’s a tendency to think attendances are on the wane and Scottish football is slipping into an abyss. You can pick your stats to fit your argument, so here’s my counter:
More people attended the Scottish League Cup final last year than the Coppa Italia final; Hearts average attendance is almost three times that of what it was 30 years ago; every side bar Hibs & Rangers in the Championship has seen an increase in attendances.
Instead of berating other clubs, we should be looking at ways for more people to attend games at all levels of the game. Centralised ticketing and marketing might be a solution.
But until then, less of the crowdwanking, please.
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As a spectacle it’s often derided. It has its critics, both externally and internally and its fans are often made to feel below average.
There are also times when it’s accused of being run in the interest of a few elite characters.
I’m not actually talking about Scottish football, but in fact World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
This week saw the WWE reach one million subscribers to its WWE Network – an online service that allows fans to watch Pay-Per-Views for a fixed monthly cost as well as access to an incredible archive and some original programming, all for £9.99 a month.
Now you might question what that’s got to do with Scottish football, but there’s something to be learned from Vince McMahon’s corporation. For years, WWE has consistently produced good television ratings for networks yet the advertising revenue was not consummate with shows of similar ratings.
Instead of pandering, the corporation innovated. And the Network is the result. Now I’m not for one second suggesting the SPFL launches its own TV station (Roger Mitchell, how we miss thee) but there’s a key lesson here.
Instead of allowing television companies to dictate terms, the WWE has turned the table on them. Could the SPFL not do something similar?
Scottish football will always come off second best if it goes into a head-to-head battle with our neighbours down south, so why do we constantly mirror their every action. Here in Scotland we should be looking to differentiate ourselves at every opportunity.
We are David vs. Goliath. Maybe it’s time we developed a catapult of our own.
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It appears that sideshows are here to stay. It’s clear that’s what the media are interested in.
How many tactical discussions about this week’s League Cup semi finals have you heard? Contrast that with how many debates there have been about the tedious new club/same Rangers guff that have filled our airwaves and filled newspaper columns.
It’s a sad move and one I hope doesn’t continue, but there’s no suggestion that’ll be the case. Whilst I’d love to see Gazzetta dello Sport level of tactical analysis, I fear we’re going to be emulating our American cousins where the build-up to their season’s climax is about deflated balls used in a game that wasn’t even close.
Bread and circuses isn’t it?
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I’ve lamented Sportscene in previous columns. It looked like it was picking up a few times this season, but recently, the show has flatlined.
It’s dull and uninspired stuff. Unbelievably, they seem to have started believing their own hype and are now focused massively on ‘trial by Sportscene’, an utterly tedious platform.
Whilst Michael Stewart has become a good regular pundit, the value of any current professional on the show has to be questioned, so afraid they are of saying anything that may be construed as a criticism.
The sad fact of the matter is that Sportscene isn’t even a pale imitation of Match of the Day, it’s a poor imitation of The Football League Show. And that’s not a place you want to be.
By Duncan McKay