Motherwell v Llanelli

While most of us are enjoying the warm summer weather, for others the work continues. Jim Gannon, new manager at SPL side Motherwell faces the second big test of his managerial spell at the Lanarkshire club as he gets ready for the start of Motherwell’s European adventure

In tonights Europa League first qualifying round tie, Welsh side Llanelli come to Motherwell, or, more precisely Airdrie’s Excelsior Stadium. The Tinmen are perhaps feeling confident of a win given the turmoil and upheaval currently happening at the club.

Since former manager Mark McGhee left for Aberdeen, Motherwell have lost no less than 7 players from its roster, while speculation about two more, Stephen Hughes and Paul Quinn continues.

With the demise of Setanta and their TV revenue, worth an estimated £1m to clubs like Motherwell comes a period of financial assessment and reorganisation, but there is no denying that, while the club having recovered well since the dark days of administration back in 2002, Motherwell may need to sell before they can buy. The sale of David Clarkson to Bristol City (for anywhere between £600k and £800k depending which report you believe) gives Gannon a transfer budget to spend on rebuilding for next season and may well stop the hemorrhaging of the past few weeks.

That Motherwell have a potentially tricky tie was highlighted perfectly last Saturday as the Steelmen went down 3-1 away to Welsh side Rhyl (a former Welsh Premiership winner back in 2004). Gannon should certainly not underestimate their opposition tonight. With only just enough ‘experienced’ players to field a full XI, the U19 squad will be called upon to fill the ranks, with youngsters Steven Saunders and Jonathan Page looking to make their European debut.

Team News, courtesy of the BBC

]]> http://www.insideleft.net/archives/2251/feed http://www.insideleft.net/archives/2247 http://www.insideleft.net/archives/2247#comments Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:34:07 +0000 Seb Gevers http://www.insideleft.net/?p=2247 Well, it’s official. Setanta UK are consigned to the “Televised Football Book of Remembrance” along with other greats such as Saint & Greavsie (and another now defunct show they once presented, On the Ball), our very own Scotsport and the occasional episode of Andy Camerons Cup Final Cavalcade.

Now, I never got Setanta so I can’t really comment on the quality of their programme output or, more importantly, the quality of their female presenters. In other words, I won’t miss them all that much. To me, Setanta are like a distant aunt that emigrated to Australia years ago, the one you’ve only heard about but never actually met and who has just died without leaving you any money.

But clearly the SPL, and its constituent teams will we wailing over Setanta’s demise with all the gusto of Italian widows at a particularly upsetting funeral. The average loss in revenue per club has been estimated by David Glen of PriceWaterhouseCoopers at approximately £1m per club, a sum that represents anywhere up to 30% of an SPL club’s revenue. While some clubs - in particular Hearts and Kilmarnock, two clubs with sizeable debts - will struggle without this revenue, others will manage. Earlier this week, Aberdeen Director of Football Willie Miller announced that the loss of Setanta (and the associated revenue) means the club will not be able to spend money to bring in new players.

Even for the Old Firm, for whom closure of the club’s TV stations they operated under a joint venture with the defunct Irish broadcaster has been the only visible sign of trouble, a brave decision needs to be made about investing in players.

Unlike the rest of the league, the Old Firm has greater access to sources of income: the Champions League. Based on figures from FIFA from last years Champions League, a club qualifying for the tournament earns £2.5m, with an additional £2m for reaching the group stages. In addition, each game a team wins earns them money (£513k), as does a draw (£250k). The prize money rises after that, based on how far a team goes and how much advertising revenue and ticket sales the teams and the tournament as a whole generates.

But to get there, squads need to be strengthened, and strengthening means money. For a club like Celtic, who, according to figures in the PriceWaterhouseCooper report for season 2007/08, had a wage bill of approximately £39m, spending money on transfers - of the scale needed to attract the best talent north - will only increase that wage bill and expose their risk should they not qualify for the group stages of the Champions League. And attracting players north continues to be a problem even for the Old Firm as reports in the media continue to circulate about the financial state of the game in Scotland, as well as the appeal of Scottish football in general.

The future viability of the Scottish Premier League depends on two things: getting a new television deal in conjunction with a period of financial prudence and austerity.

The SPL are working hard to find a new partner for the coming season. Both ESPN (who bought the EPL games from Setanta) and Sky (who own the other 5 football ‘packages’) are said to be interested, but the extent of their interest (i.e. probably only the Old Firm games) will lead to either a reduced offer or worse - none at all.

And either scenario is a potential headache for the SPL and for the fans that now face the real possibility of not seeing their teams games televised next season.

One possible outcome of a new deal not appearing is that the Old Firm (arguably the crown jewels in any future television deal) would force through a rule change that would allow teams to negotiate their own TV deals and screen their games through their own dedicated club television channels. It might also lead to the resurrection of the SPL’s own television station, a concept proposed five years ago by outgoing SPL chief Robert Mitchell (incidentally the same Robert Mitchell who earlier this week said that the Scottish football has no appeal outside of Scotland) and vetoed at the time by Rangers and Celtic.

Whatever happens, Scottish football is holding its breath.

Should a new deal not arrive - and it needs to arrive soon - many clubs could well be forced to make drastic changes as they learn to adapt in the difficult environment they have found themselves in. Reducing squad sizes (as Caley have done following their relegation to the First Division), making wage cuts and risk forcing many players down to The Championship and League 1, or increasing ticket prices, effectively pushing the cost of backing the wrong horse in the TV broadcasting race onto the very people who have neither a vote nor a voice in all of this: you and me. The fans.

1. Our teams to progress a bit further in Europe than last season.

Last season was utter mince for our sides in Europe. Motherwell, Queen of the South, Hibernian and Rangers - in a particularly arse-clenching way - failed to get past their first opponents. Celtic, our Champions League representatives, at least contrived not to lose their home games, preferring instead to lose away from home and the critical eyes of their own fans.

Much sagely stroking of beards followed the elimination of our finest, together with lengthy articles in the press and blogworld about the state of Scottish football. Look, when even Rangers can’t get past some pish Lithuanian side, or Motherwell past some French duffers, things are surely very dire. So, number one on our wish list is for the hope for greater things in Europe this year. We’re not sure about Aberdeen or Hearts who both face some tough opposition, possibly, but surely to God Motherwell and Falkirk at the very least should progress to the next round.

2. To go through a season without one team getting into financial trouble.

It seems we can’t go through a season without one club hitting one financial calamity or another. This season we had worrysome reports about the future financial viability of Stranraer and Clyde, Livingston and Stirling Albion. In the Premier League, we recently lost Gretna, while Dundee United and Falkirk both received advances on the prize money they where due (based on final league position) to keep them going for a bit longer. With Setanta finally going under in a mountain of unpaid bills and overoptimistic subscription targets, it’s sadly unavoidable that we’ll probably be hearing about one or two more clubs who will have to cut back in order to make ends meet.

One manager in particular who won’t be too happy with these possible cutbacks is new Aberdeen manager Mark McGhee. Back on 13th June, Aberdeen director of football Willie Miller promised McGhee that the demise of Setanta would not be affect the transfer budget available to McGhee to strengthen the squad. However, in today’s Evening Express we read that, contrary to this earlier promise, Aberdeen can’t afford transfer fees as a result of the doubts around the SPL’s television rights. It’s hardly an auspicious start to the season for Aberdeen, but, then again, it’s probably going to be much the same story for the rest of the league too.

Although it looks like the SPL rights will be bought (most likely by Sky), the size of the deal looks to be well below what was originally promised, with some sources claiming that at least £35m will be shaved off the deal, representing roughly £2m per club.

3. The emergence of the next Kenny Dalglish

You’ve got to wonder where he’s going to come from, but if finances to bring in players from outside are going to be on the short side, it’s from the youth teams and the academies that the next bright talent may well have to emerge. Sure, we all know that as soon as a player is getting raved about they’ll be snapped up by Celtic and Rangers, never to be seen again, but as Hamilton have proved with James McCarthy, sometimes they unearth a player not dazzled by the bright lights of Ibrox or Parkhead. The fact he’s chosen to play for the Republic of Ireland and not Scotland highlights another huge problem (i.e. our scouting abilities) but nevertheless, he’s a great wee player playing in the Scottish Leagues who has been attracting a lot of attention from clubs south of the border.

Some of the other young players currently playing around Scotland include John Fleck, Chris MaGuire, Scott Arfield, Paul Caddis and David Goodwillie, players all featuring in the current Scotland U21 side.

The SFA are this year also investing heavily in the Soccer One project which hopes to encourage football in schools, as well as offering assistance to volunteers to get their coaching badges.  Whether or not this scheme will produce another Kenny Dalglish remains to be seen, but we hope that this season we’re going to see some of these young players become regulars in their club sides.

4. Scotland to qualify for the World Cup

We’re nearly there, but once again we need to rely on a series of fortuitous results to get us to the promised land. Fate has already dealt Burley’s troops a good hand, namely Norway and Iceland dropping points at the expense of the already qualified Dutch and the tricky Macedonians in our Group 9 games.

But while Scotland can look forward to playing both the Netherlands and Norway in the next few months in the hope that neither side will put up much resistance as they’ve got nothing really to play for, the key game is against Macedonia on the 5th September. A victory there will virtually assure Scotland of finishing second in the group. All we have to do then is score, and score like our life (or, in this case qualification) depended on it. Qualification as the best Second Placed team depends largely on the auld enemy, England. You see, Scotland currently lie second from bottom in the ranking of second placed teams, two points clear of Croatia, who share a group with runaway leaders England.

To make matters more complicated, Croatia is currently equal second with the Ukraine, another team that England has left to play. Assuming Scotland doesn’t slip up against Macedonia (the game is at Hampden), we need England to do us a favour and thrash both Croatia and the Ukraine.

5. A serious debate about the future of Scottish football

We’ve mentioned it before, but former First Minister Henry McLeish has invited fans of all teams to contribute towards a discussion about the state of the game north of the border and, more importantly, what to do about it. I recent years we’ve had many initiatives to try and make things a little more exciting (such as the league split, a 10, then 12 team SPL, SPL2 and so on), yet Scottish football remains as stuck as it’s ever done. Our club sides perform badly in Europe, our national side struggles through each qualifying campaign, and our best players are no longer being sold to Liverpool, Manchester United or Arsenal, but to sides in the Championship or League 1.

What has gone wrong? Does football north of the border need more teams, or less? Would the 6+5 rule make any difference? Should we ditch the Third Division in place of two massive 16 team leagues? Would sending the Old Firm packing to the English leagues improve things? Or is Scottish football just perfect the way it is?

Questions, questions, questions. Questions that need an answer real soon! McLeish is on the case, but words need to be followed up with practical actions, otherwise it’s just more hot air.

6. Someone else to win the SPL

It’s not going to happen, but this is a wish list right, so allow me some latitude here.

It’s hard to see anyone breaking the Old Firm dominance this season or indeed any season anytime soon, but if we had to put our money on one team to perhaps cause the biggest shock in world football since records began, we have to go with Hearts. The team improved tremendously last season, partly to do with the lack of interference from owner Romanov, but mostly thanks to the canny management of Csaba Laszlo, the SPL Manager of the Year 2008/09. His achievements have not gone unnoticed: his name has been linked to possible moves down south. The trouble with Hearts of course is in their finances. The club has a massive debt and reported a £3.5m operating loss in season 2007/08, and with an owner whose main source of income is his investment bank, money might be tight this year as the clubs creditors (themselves in trouble) are circling above Tynecastle looking for their money back.

7. Someone else to finish second for a change

Ok, so we’re agreed that no team outside of Glasgow will win the league. The next best thing then is for another team to finish second, a phenomenon known in Scotland as ‘splitting the Old Firm“. Like a total solar eclipse, or a good Chick Young article, it happens relatively rarely. Hearts where the last team in the current SPL setup to manage this, in season 2005/06, with Motherwell and Aberdeen the only other teams coming between the Old Firm since the advent of the Scottish Premier League in 1975.

8. Another exciting end to the season

You can say what you like about the league split, that crazy moment in mid-April when the league, erm, splits into two, with the teams in each half playing each other one more time. Sure, it’s had it’s critics - mainly to do with the fact that some clubs are handed unequal amount of home and away matches, that sometimes (as happened the past two seasons) the team finishing 7th actually had more points than the team in sixth - but the last two seasons we’ve seen some exciting last-day fixtures that decide both the winners and the losers.

The nature of the competition being such that nearly every team, with the exception of Motherwell and Kilmarnock has something to play for come the last day of the season: Rangers and Celtic could both win the league, while there where three teams needing results to remain in the division. In addition, because the teams post-split are pretty much of similar skill levels, the fixtures are better balanced, making for more exciting and hard-fought games.

Motherwell wont have to travel too far for their two games. They’ve been drawn against Welsh side Llanelli, while Falkirk will play Vaduz of Liechtenstein at the second qualifying stage.

Compared to Motherwell, Llannelli are a side with considerable European pedigree. As champions of the Welsh Premier League, the Tinmen entered the first qualifying round of last years Champions League where, over two legs they lost out to Latvian side FK Ventspils. Prior to that, Llanelli went out in the first round of the 2007/08 InterToto Cup. Drawn against Lithuanian side FK Vetra and losing 3-1 in the first leg, the Welsh side managed to win 5-3 at home, but went out on the away goals rule. Their longest European run came in the 2006/07 Uefa Cup when they got through their first qualifying round draw against Swedish side team Gefle IF, but then went lost 6-1 on aggregate to Danish side Odense BK.

Llannelli finished second last year, losing only three games at home last season, while scoring 98 goals along the way. Interestingly enough, a former player of the Welsh side is one John ‘Jock’ Stein who signed for the then non-league side in 1950 from Cowdenbeath. His career didn’t last long - homesickness soon had him back in Glasgow courtesy of a £1,200 (approximately £30,000 in today’s money) transfer to Celtic. The ties will be played on July 2nd and July 9th, with the Scottish leg being played at Airdrie’s Excelsior Stadium - by that time, Motherwell will hopefully have appointed a manager..

Another side heading into their first ever European game are Falkirk. Narrowly avoiding relegation on the final day of the season, the Bairns nevertheless managed to qualify for the Europa League on account of their appearance in the Scottish Cup Final in May. Despite losing 1-0 on the day, as Champions Rangers had already qualified for Europe via the Champions League, thus allowing Falkirk to take their place (this is somewhat similar to how Queen of the South got into Europe last year).

Falkirk, like Motherwell, are still looking for a manager, but by the time their game will be played on the 16th July, Eddie May and former player Steven Pressley should be installed as the new management team. For the Bairns, a trip in to the heart of Europe has them taking on the only full-time professional football team in the country - FC Vaduz of Liechtenstein. Despite being relegated at the end of the Swiss football season, “The Residenzler” are no slouches when it comes to European football, having been regular competitors in both the Uefa and Cup Winners Cup since 1992. Livingston struggled past the Liechtensteiners on away goals back in the 2002/03 Uefa Cup, so Falkirk should not take this fixture lying down. FC Vaduz qualified for the Europa League on account of their victory in the Liechtenstein Cup, a competition they have won every year since 1998, and 26 times before that.

Scotland has two other representatives in the Europa Cup this season: Aberdeen are seeded for the third qualifying draw, along with IFK Gothenburg, PSV Eindhoven, AS Roma and English EPL side Fulham. Hearts will know their opponents on the 7th August. Awaiting last years third placed team are such giants of the European game as Ajax, Benfica, Lazio and last years Uefa Cup and Uefa Super Cup winners Zenit St Petersburg. Also included in the draw are two English sides, Everton and Aston Villa.

We can only hope that this years Scottish representation will last longer than last year, when all the teams where knocked out in the first round of their respective competitions. We’ll see who the Dons and the Jambos get, but baring an act of God, surely Motherwell and Falkirk will progress?

Let us know what you think!

Clyde, relegated from the First Division last season, have been forced to release pretty much their entire squad as a cost cutting measure. Today they’ll begin to build a new squad for next season as John Brown and Dougie Bell invite over 60 players to the Broadwood for a series of open trials. Stranraer, also relegated last season are in desperate need of funds to secure their survival while Stirling Albion are raising money and awareness to purchase the club and run it as Scotland’s first truly supporter-owned club.

In the First division, Livingston are facing a day-to-day survival challenge as chairman Angelo Massone continues to play a cat-and-mouse game with the clubs creditors. And with the rights to show the SPL games also being up for tender following Setanta’s failure to meet its latest payment, there’s a fair few clubs and supporters anxiously watching the news and hope their club is not one of those affected by the drop in revenue the loss of the Setanta deal would mean.

And some clubs appear to be in hotter water than others. According to Equifax, a financial information supplier, Hearts, Hamilton and Motherwell are “technically insolvent and would struggle if all creditors came at once to demand the money owed”.

But it’s not all bad news. Far, far away from all this gloom and despair, the crisis has not been felt in the Highland League as the new season is going to start with three new teams joining up.

There had been talk for some time of expanding the Highland League partly to protect the league from shrinking as teams consider leaving to join the Scottish Football League (Cove Rangers missed out last year in favour of Annan Athletic), and partly to give the more successful  junior sides a chance to break through to the senior ranks.

On the 25th February this year, following a long selection process,  Formartine United, Turriff United and Strathspey Thistle where accepted into the league (an application from a fourth team, Banks O’ Dee,  was unsuccessful).

Founded in 1947 in Udny, a town about 12 miles to the north of Aberdeen, Formartine United, play their home games at North Lodge Park in nearby Pitmedden. The club have been busy getting ready for the step up to the highland League with the addition of floodlights and a new stand, not to mention a raft of new signings. Joining the club to add considerable experience to the side are Stuart Mackay from Scottish second division side Peterhead, Stuart Cumming, who has played in the Scottish league with Montrose and Elgin City and Patrick Vigurs, brother of Ross County’s Ian Vigurs. Patrick joins from Elgin City. Formartine United open their season with an away day at Rothes, before playing their first home game against Cove Rangers the following week. Formartine’s season will be overshadowed however by the tragic death of Tom Goodwin, a product of the club’s U19’s who died in a road accident earlier this month.

Of the three new teams, Turriff United are the only one to begin life in the new league with a home fixture. They welcome Brora Rangers to The Haughs. For new manager Kris Hunt, who takes over from Jim Wills, it’ll be back to familiar grounds - before playing for his previous club Maud, Hunt was a noted striker with another Highland League side, Fraserburgh. The management team has also been strengthened with the addition of former Rothes manager Graham McBeath as Hunt’s assistant.

Granton on Spey lies approximately 40 miles south of Inverness with a population of just over 2,000. Its local football team, and the second team accepted into the all-new 18 team setup setup, Strathspey Thistle, where founded in 1993, yet very nearly lost their place in the League before a ball had even been kicked in earnest: facing eviction from their Seafield Park ground in Grantown after local planners recommended that redevelopment of their ground be turned down, Highland councellors stepped in to approve the plans that included a permanent hospitality suite, additional lights and two new 150-seater stands. Commonsense has been brought to bear - had the recommendation been followed, the future of the club would have been put in serious jeopardy. The club, known as the Jags, will make a very long trip north to Wick Academy, the UK’s most northerly football team.

Elsewhere, two-in-a-row champions Cove Rangers welcome Forres Mechanics to the exotically named Rainbow Taxis Park. Forres are the only club to have taken a point from the Aberdeen side last season in an exciting 3-3 game. In a league where most games a local derbies, the fixture between Buckie Thistle and Deveronvale is probably the match of the day. Fort William, last years bottom side open their campaign at home against Lossiemouth, no doubt hoping to get at least one win on the board this season.

The full opening day fixture list reads as follows

Buckie Thistle v Deveronvale
Clachnacuddin v Keith
Cove Rangers v Forres Mechanics
Fort William v Lossiemouth
Huntly v Fraserburgh
Inverurie Loco Works v Nairn County
Rothes v Formartine United
Turriff United v Brora Rangers
Wick Academy v Strathspey Thistle

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: the Highland League is one of the most exciting leagues in senior football in the UK. Nowhere else can you enjoy splendid scenery, small teams with huge local following playing in a league that scored 789 goals last season!

And Soccerade and FIFA World Player of the Year, Cristiano Ronaldo, have pledged their support to the campaign.

The Stirling Albion Supporters Trust has created a novel scheme called ‘BuyStirlingAlbion’ which aims to buy Stirling Albion FC from its current owners and in turn help save it from going out of business and retain its position in Scotland’s senior leagues.

Stirling Albion FC has been for sale for several years and, with no serious bids forthcoming, is at risk of going out of business with spiraling costs and little sign of any investment. Formed in 1945, Stirling Albion finished in 5th position in Scotland’s Second Division this season.

The specific amount required to buy the club is still to be confirmed but The Stirling Albion Supporters Trust has put an ambitious target of over 20,000 memberships from all over the world to generate money to buy the club and provide funds towards the ongoing operating costs.

Paul Goodwin from BuyStirlingAlbion said,

This is the chance of a lifetime for everyone to be part of the first 100% fans trust owned league club in the UK. Fans trusts already have ownership in clubs across the UK and in four cases have majority stakes but this innovative and ambitious campaign aims to make Stirling Albion FC the UK’s first ever 100% fans trust owned club. However, we have to be very clear that if this campaign doesn’t come off there is a serious danger that the club may cease to exist as a league club which is why it’s so important that it succeeds.

Cristiano Ronaldo and the team at Soccerade said,

“Buystirlingalbion.org.uk is a great community football project that we fully endorse”.

Buying an ‘Albion Trust Membership’ will cost £40 and will see football fans from across the world helping save the football club whilst having a direct input into the running of the club, through The Stirling Albion Supporters Trust, including choosing the team kit and who holds the position of Club President. Other ‘Albion Trust Membership’ holders will have the chance to win seats in the directors’ box and travel on the team bus to away matches.

The campaign will also offer, for the first time in Scottish senior football, the rights to a sponsor to have its name included as part of the official team name.

‘Albion Business Bonds’ are also available for £75 with numerous Club incentives and discounted sponsorship packages available for those companies that show their support.

Paul Goodwin added:

A lot of time, planning and thought has been put in over the last nine months to come up with a really innovative fundraising plan the like of which has never been seen before in Scottish or UK football. We hope it will result in securing the future of the club and create a fresh start with football fans owning 100% of the club.  The city of Stirling already plays a huge part in Scottish history and is a place that people from across the world travel to visit. Stirling’s football clubs have played an important part in the history of Scottish football for the last 160 years and we want Stirling Albion fans and supporters of other clubs from across the world to be part of this unique attempt to preserve its future. We hope our campaign will reach most corners of the world and appeal to football fans generally but also people with Scottish roots, family in Scotland or Stirling or maybe those who have visited the area before and feel a connection. It might even be that they live in another part of the world called Stirling or maybe they just want to have a football team that they can have real input to. Most football fans around the world seem to have a favourite English team so we hope to appeal to those who want a favourite Scottish team that they will become a real part of.

Stirling is the home of the oldest football in the world which was found in the roof structure of the ‘Queen’s Chamber’ in Stirling Castle in 1981. Historians believe it to date from circa 1540 (the bedroom ceiling was enclosed with wooden panels in the 1540s) making Stirling the first place ‘football’ was played in Scotland.

And as far back as 1497 the accounts at The Royal Court show a sum being given to buy footballs for King James IV.

Goodwin added:

These days it can be easily forgotten how important a role football clubs play in the communities they are based. It’s not just about playing in those communities every second week but more often than not its all about what goes on in the days when the first team isn’t playing. Stirling Albion is an essential part of the community with children from the age of four through to semi professionals playing and enjoying their football. The club also plays an important part in the Active Stirling football development programme that provides structured activities for children in the area.

The city of Stirling has had a senior football club since 1875 and been represented in the Scottish Football League since 1921.  Firstly with King’s Park FC (which joined the SFA in 1881) and then by Stirling Albion FC which was formed in 1946 following the demise of King’s Park FC after its ground was destroyed by the only bomb dropped on Stirling during the Second World War in 1940.

When the war ended in 1945 and plans were laid to reinstate the Scottish Football League (SFL), Thomas Fergusson, a coal magnate, offered to host King’s Park in the brand new Annfield Stadium that he planned to build.  This offer was declined by the King’s Park FC board who preferred to wait for war compensation so Fergusson forged ahead and formed Stirling Albion FC to play in his brand new stadium.  When the SFL was reinstated in 1946 the new club was elected in King’s Park FC’s place.  By the time King’s Park FC received its war compensation in 1953 it was just enough to cover the club’s debts and they went out of business.

Celebrity Support

The ‘BuyStirlingAlbion’ campaign launched on the 6th of May 2009 and received over 250,000 visits to the BuyStirlingAlbion.org.uk website from 38 different countries round the world within 48 hours of the site launch.

Adding to the support from Cristiano Ronaldo and the team at Soccerade announced at the campaign’s launch, more celebrities have announced at their support for the innovative campaign to become the UK’s first 100% fan owned league club.  Snooker legend Stephen Hendry, footballing brothers Gary and Steven Caldwell and top chef Nick Nairn have all now pledged their support for The ‘BuyStirlingAlbion’ campaign.

Stephen Hendry said:

Having practiced at Spencer’s Snooker Club for most of my professional career, I know how important Stirling Albion Football Club is to the local community, and I wish the Trust well in its efforts to ensure the long term future of the club.

Nick Nairn said:

My brother and I have always supported our local team and will do our utmost to make sure this campaign is a success

Celtic and Scotland star Gary Caldwell said

please give your backing and join the fight to save Stirling Albion.  Good luck with the campaign

Steven Caldwell of Championship side Burnley said,

I think it is really important that every community has a local football team and fully support the campaign to save Stirling Albion.

As Paul Goodwin explained:

We knew there would be interest in the BuyStirlingAlbion campaign but the level of interest from across the world has blown us away.  To get support from Mr McKenzie, the club’s Chairman, is very important to us as we are all now working towards preserving the future of Stirling Albion The campaign was always going to be a long game and it would never have been won in the first few days but we are delighted by the support we’ve been receiving from Stirling Albion fans and from fans of other clubs too.

Get Involved

For full details on the campaign to create the first 100% fans owned Scottish league club please visit www.BuyStirlingAlbion.org.uk.

Thankfully as a Scottish football blog we didn’t have to spend too much time talking about all the nonsense surrounding Ronaldo, the most expensive man-child in the world as he finally fecks off to chase his dreams in Madrid or the way he’s spending a lot of time in Paris these days. Neither do we have to waste any column inches to the unfolding fiasco at Newcastle, formerly the biggest club in the north-east of England, and now just another Championship side with hee-haw chance of getting sold or back in the EPL anytime soon, no matter how funny it might be. And as for England and their World Cup qualifying campaign, who gives a good fart if they beat Andorra (the world’s only international pub team) or Kazakhstan, whereverthehellthatis. Not us, that’s for sure.

Up here in Scotland, within hours and days of the end of the season, we had three clubs without a manager, one club losing nearly all their players (retaining only enough to field a 5-a-side team plus 1 reserve), two clubs battling to stay in existence and one television station within days of going under, taking all their revenue, and possibly one or two SPL clubs with them. And we’re only half-way through June!

Yes, no time was lost getting rid of the deadwood. Or to be more precise, Jimmy Calderwood. The Aberdeen manager was sent packing right after he managed to secure European football for the second time in three years as well as finishing in the top four for the fifth time in six years.

If that’s the kind of form that gets you fired in Scotland, there’s going to be a lot of managers changing jobs up here soon.

Calderwood committed the cardinal sin of not winning any silverware (i.e. domestic cups) all of which is bad enough, but ‘not winning silverware’ translates roughly to ‘going out to lower leage opposition twice in a row’ which is unforgivable. The perma-tan former Dunfermline manager was sent packing, along with the rest of his backroom staff. Not many tears where shed by the Aberdeen faithful, his obvious Rangers bias coming through more often than not (and we’re not just talking about his orange hue).

Meanwhile, across the country, Gordon Strachan (aka ‘Wee Gordon Strachan’) threw in the towel at Celtic after he narrowly missed out on winning the title for the fourth time in row. It would have taken a minor miracle for Celtic to have won the league on that final day, requiring Rangers to lose to United and Celtic to score, oh, a whole bunch of goals against Hearts. Unlike Calderwood’s sacking, Strachan’s departure surprised few, but delighted many. But like Calderwood, Strachan was never hugely popular at the club. A man not of the Celtic tradition and a man once attacked on the pitch at Celtic Park whilst he was still playing for Aberdeen, he didn’t get off to a great start with that shocker of a result against Artmedia Bratislava all those years ago, but nevertheless he still managed to win the league three years on the trot, the League Cup twice, the Scottish Cup once and pick up three SPFA Manager Of The Year gongs

Not to be outdone, Mixu Paateleinen decided enough mid-table mediocrity was enough, so he too decided to call it a day over at Hibernian. The big Fin, a player managed to get the team into the top half of the table, but that early exit in the Inter Toto Cup (a 4-0 aggregate defeat to IF Elfsborg), together with getting knocked out by Morton in the League Cup made his tenure a long hard slog, much like the football he was accused of getting his teams to play.

So with all the commotion, no time was wasted finding replacement gaffers before the players come back from their short break at Butlins.

Mark McGhee was quickly drafted in to take over at his former club. Well, only after Celtic wouldn’t give him the job that is. To be fair, McGhee never denied that Aberdeen was his second choice after Celtic (a club he played for previously) and who could blame him. As was so delightfully put on BBC Scotland’s Footloose program the other day, if you had the choice of managing your local corner shop or Harrods, you’d not be long deciding.

Hibernian appointed Falkirk manager John ‘Yogi’ Hughes to be the man to take Hibs from 6th to 5th next season. A good choice we reckon. Falkirk have played some really nice attacking football over the last season, and you’d think that with the likes of Fletcher, Nish and Riordan up front, Hibs and Hughes could be quite a quite a threat next season. Or maybe not, if history is anything to go by.

Speaking of Hibs, Celtic are on the verge of bringing Tony Mowbray up north from West Bromwich Albion. Celtic had tried to get Burnley’s Owen Coyle, who clearly fancies a season of getting thumped every week to winning silverware in Scotland as well as Swansea’s Roberto Martinez, a man who would rather manage mid-tablers Wigan in their half  empty stadium every week. At the time of writing, the websites where already starting to fill with former WBA players saying they fancy a year north of the border, so clearly the Mowbray deal is now at the personal terms stage, the sticking point now being around whether or not Celtic will agree to the bowl of M&M’s with the blue ones taken out being provided before every game.

We’ve gone on record on this site how we feel about former players returning to manage their former clubs so we’ll not delve into it again here, but good luck to them all we say. Just don’t say we didn’t warn you when we get to Christmas and your team is out of every competition going …

Unfortunately, it’s not all glitz and money in Scottish football. Throughout the season we’ve seen and heard reports  about trouble in the lower divisions. Livingston have had problems paying players, while Stranraer (who amassed debts of over £250,000 last season) and Stirling Albion are both launching bids to raise money from the supporters in order to save their respective clubs.

News this week came through about the goings on at Clyde. The ‘Bully Wee’ where relegated from the First Division and this week announced another 12 players who agreed to have their contracts terminated in order to avoid bankruptcy; this follows on from the 13 out-of-contract players already released previously. Manager John Brown has announced open trails next Saturday (June 22nd) to restock the club and secure survival.

While money has always been too tight to mention for the teams in the SFL, it’s not always been a land of milk and honey for the top flight teams either. The threatened demise of Setanta has caused quite a stir north of the border. While the amount of money that the SPL received from the troubled Irish broadcaster is small change compared to the mega-deals on offer to the Barclays Premier League, the £125m investment the Setanta deal promised, represented a sizable chunk of income for many SPL sides.  One SPL chairman was quoted as saying that his club’s entire wage bill of £1.5m is paid for by the money from the broadcaster. It’s a situation that is probably echoed at a number of clubs, including Kilmarnock, reputed to have a £12m debt, and Hearts, currently the club in Scotland with the largest net debt, estimated at some £37m. For clubs like St Mirren, Motherwell, Falkirk and even Dundee United,  the Setanta money represents about 20-30% of their income.

Last week the Scottish Premier League stepped in to pay the £3m Setanta owed the 12 clubs in the SPL, after Setanta defaulted on the payment. The SPL clearly expect this money to be repaid, and good news arrived when it emerged that a Russian-born billionaire was preparing a £20m takeover of Setanta. However, even if Setanta was to survive, there are doubts about the continuity of the existing deal that Setanta has with the SPL. Clearly, whatever deal the new owners strike with Setanta will involve a reappraisal and renegotiation of the deals already in place. The SPL would be foolish to assume that the new owners are going to carry on with the deal, which would have seen Setanta broadcast live coverage from 2010 onwards.

But the SPL are not in a strong negotiating position. Scottish football - as we’re continually being told, is not an attractive proposition - and interest in the game outside of Scotland is minimal at best. In the interest of the clubs they represent, the SPL would do well to accept whatever deal it gets from the new Setanta, because there simply are no other parties interested in taking over live coverage of Scottish football.

What it means for our clubs is not yet clear, but one thing is for sure: the shockwaves from the Setanta deal could rumble on for seasons to come.

That McGhee was going to get the job was never in any doubt once it became obvious that Celtic where chasing Tony Mowbray, although that particular deal seems to be stuck at the same stage that Aberdeen’s was albeit for a slightly larger amount - £2m as opposed to £200k!

With rumours of a potentially large investment in the club doing the rounds, it remains to be seen just how much financial pulling power McGhee has to attract players to the club.

While he’s inherited a good squad from Calderwood, a central defender is needed to help out Zander Diamond in an Aberdeen back line that’s given up many soft goals this season. Mark Reynolds was a player that McGhee refused to sell to Rangers when they came calling, but perhaps he can convince the Scotland U21 to move to the north-east. Midfielder Stephen Hughes is available on a free transfer and would be a good replacement for Scott Severin should he leave (reports link him to Norwich and Peterborough United, the League 1 side currently managed by Darren Ferguson, son of Alex Ferguson), while two players of particular interest should also be John Sutton and Dave Clarkson, strikers who between them scored 26 goals last season and who would be a welcome addition to the sometimes flat Aberdeen attack of last season.

Motherwell’s search for a replacement started before McGhee had even signed for the Dons. Fan favourites, if not serious contenders for the post include Chris McCart, a former player and previously Celtic youth-coach, and Luc Nijholt, another former player who in the past has stated he’d love to coach Motherwell. Across the motorway there’s Billy Reid at Hamilton who might be persuaded to move to their rivals if he feels he cant do much more with the Accies, while Jim Gannon is available following his dismissal from Stockport County. He’s potentially a controversial appointment given his outspoken nature, but he has experience and is known for playing flowing attacking football, so he may fit in well at Fir Park. Lastly, there’s Jimmy Calderwood of course but whether he would consider Motherwell after leaving Aberdeen is doubtful. Former Hibs boss Mixu Paateleinen is also available.

One other job that yet needs to be filled is the one at Parkhead. Celtic continue in their hunt for Tony Mowbray’s signature, but there still appears to be a sticking point around the compensation that needs to be paid to West Brom should Mowbray move north. The seasons runners-up will be keen to sort out the appointment and get the transfer mill started, beginning with Simon Cox, the highly rated Swindon Town striker whose 29 goals had him top scorer in the Football League last season. Celtic are joined in the chase for the 22 year-old player by West Brom, Leeds and Leicester City.

Falkirk meanwhile will spend the weekend looking through a list of candidates; former Bairn and Hearts legend Stephen Pressley, as well as a coaching team of Neil McCann, Jackie McNamara and Lee Bullen,  recommended by former boss Hughes, are said to be amongst the favourites to succeed Hughes, who left Falkirk to become the new manager at Easter Road.

And for the Friday trivia: should Mowbray move to Celtic, there will currently be only three teams in the SPL not managed by a former player. Can you name them?

Real Madrid’s Florentino Perez (in his second term as club president) has already delivered on his election promises by landing first Kaka, then Ronaldo, a player he said he would do ‘everything possible to land’ as Los Galacticos mount another challenge to arch-rivals Barcelona.

For Manchester United the sale represents a return on an initial investment that most fund managers would be kill their grandmother for. Sir Alex nurtured Ronaldo from the spotty, show-boating upstart into arguably one of the greatest players of his generation. The £12m it cost to bring him from Sporting Lisbon has been more than recouped as he helps Manchester United to three League titles, two Champions League victories, an FA Cup and three League Cup wins. In getting rid of him when they are, Manchester United are disposing of a player who at 24 is probably reaching the peak of his career and who would have been the cause of another unnesserary distraction over the summer as the debate about his loyalty - or not - to the Old Trafford club rages.

Whether the money will be used to purchase a replacement for the 20+ goals-a-season winger, or to service the £700m debt the club have remains unclear, but should Sir Alex be given the money, he may look to secure one or more of the players linked to the club over the last few months - Carlos Teves (long the subject of a will-he, wont-he transfer saga), Wigans’ Antonia Velez or maybe even Lyon forward Karim Benzema.

The scale of the £80m deal will no doubt send shock-waves around the world at a time when there are many clubs facing increasing pressure from banks and investors who themselves are keen to shore up their own precarious financial situation. Earlier this month auditors KPMG expressed their  concern at the finances of Kop Football Holdings - the parent company which owns Liverpool FC - stating that it had “serious doubts” about the future of KFH unless outstanding loans are refinanced before the next payment to their backers is due in July.

When we put the Ronaldo transfer (or for that matter Kaka’s earlier this week) into the perspective of the current climate, eyebrows may well be raised. For example, the sum of money to be paid to Manchester United would have kept the 850 employees at LDV Vans in work, in turn saving the UK Government an additional £53m in unemployment benefit and lost taxation, not to mention the possible risk of an additional 5,000 jobs being lost in the service industries that supply LDV. It would also go a long way to clearing the combined debt of the clubs in the Scottish Premier League as they face an uncertain future with the imminent demise of Setanta. Lower down the leagues, it would save clubs like Stranraer, Stirling Albion, Clyde, Livingston and Luton, safeguarding football in these towns for years to come.

However, it would be lazy and unimaginative to pretend to be shocked at the seemingly obscene amount of money this deal (should it go through) involves. No amount of rightious indignation or moral outrage will hide the fact that this move is pure business. And football is business - big business - as the pressure to win an ever bigger share of the prize money on offer pushes clubs further and further into debt in pursuit of the ever dangling carrots on offer to the sucessful clubs.

Is Ronaldo worth £80m? Is anyone worth that much money? Well, both Manchester United and Real Madrid seem to think so, and who are we to argue. Ronaldo will earn millions for his new club in merchandising, TV and image rights, sponsorship and - lest we forget - success on the field as Los Galacticos sweep all before them. Or so they hope: Barcelona’s 6-2 demolition of Real Madrid might suggest that it’s at the back that Real should focus, but somehow a star defender does not quite have the same star-appeal as a pacy free-scoring winger.

The size of transfer fees have been causing sharp intakes of breath ever since Aston Villa paid £100 for the services of Wille Groves back in 1893 as it did when Denis Law became the UK’s first £100,000 transfer in 1961, Trevor Francis the first £1m transfer when he left Birmingham to move to Nottingham Forest, or when Alan Shearer became the UK’s first double digit transfer deal when Newcastle paid Blackburn £15m for his services. Like Moore’s Law, transfer fees will continue to rise while the clubs paying them can afford to do so.

No, the real issue with this transfer and all that follow is that it will widen the gulf between the poor, the rich, the super-rich and the obscenely wealthy clubs even further. This is already becoming more self evident with every passing season in the the so-called ‘Big Five’ leagues, i.e. the English, Spanish, Italian, German and French domestic competitions, competitions dominated by a small group of super-rich teams who face little competition from the other teams in their respective leagues.

Nowhere is this more in evidence than in Scotland. Though not part of the Big Five, Rangers and Celtic face a similar predicament. Infinitely better than the ‘also-rans’ that make up the rest of the league, both halves of the Old Firm, who between them have won the league since 1985, are keen to find a way in which they can flex their financial muscle in a setup with bigger (financial) fish to fry. Ideally this would involve a move to the English leagues, though there has also been talk of an Atlantic League with top teams from second tier leagues; perhaps not as romantic as being part of the Big Five, but there will always be more money on offer than there would be where they to continue as part of the SPL setup.

Aspirants to this financial nirvana are not short on the ground. Outside of the teams that make up the top four in the EPL, there are a slew of clubs not afraid to saddle themselves with debts, part of a calculated gamble they take in order to be part of this international jetset. And why is this so important?

Given that the rich will only get richer, and taking into consideration the sitation in which Rangers and Celtic find themselves, it’s not too far fetched to foresee a time when the top clubs in Europe will break away from their domestic leagues to form a league structure not unlike the one found in the MLS: small, self contained, without relegation or promotion, just a series of games against each other, all televised live around the world from Salford to Seoul, Barcelona to Bombay and Munich to Manila. The games would not even have to be played at Old Trafford or at the Camp Nou, because in this Orwellian scenario, your bum on their seat is no longer important: according to a report by Deloitte, in season 2007/08, the leagues which comprise the Big Five made more money from broadcast rights (and sponsorship) than they did from matchday gate receipts.

Real Madrid, and more particularly club president Perez are taking a big gamble with Ronaldo and Kaka. A collection of great players does not always make for a great team, and the previous batch of high-price talent he brought to Madrid during his last tenure as president largely failed to impress.

Whatever happens, the world of football will never be the same again.