Craig Burley Daily Record July 8th 2012

Has it really come to this? The future of Scottish football placed in the hands of a few nonentities from the lower divisions.

Muppets in charge of clubs that draw embarrassing crowds of 200 people suddenly standing as judge and jury over a decision that could cost the country millions of pounds in lost revenue.

Chairmen of part-time teams who are nothing more than afterthoughts in the
psyche of our national obsession, yet suddenly they have been handed the most important decision in the history of Scottish football.

Does the SFL do the sensible thing and accept the Rangers newco into the First
Division or cut off their nose to spite everyone else’s face by condemning them to starting again from the Third Division?

That they even have to think twice about this decision chills me to the core because it’s a clear sign that the knuckle-draggers – always the ones who make the most noise – have succeeded in making their voice heard.

And I’m not just talking about supporters, there are plenty of backward idiots in board rooms too and their petty witch hunt dressed up as “sporting integrity” could cost us all.

What price your integrity if there’s no sport left after you’ve slaughtered its biggest cash cow? Those opposing Rangers being
parachuted into the First Division cannot see the wood for the trees.

I’ve heard comments from clubs like
Cowdenbeath, Peterhead insisting they must start from scratch in the Third – who are these people and how are they qualified to make a decision that will affect clubs 10 times their size?

Let’s be honest here, if their clubs were to go missing nobody would bat an eyelid but if they abuse their newfound power to banish Rangers then the whole game is gone. It is THAT serious because without the revenue they generate through TV deals and travelling supporters, many other clubs will shut.

I know SFA chief executive Stewart Regan was criticised for warning that Scottish
football faces a slow painful death if the Ibrox club are tossed to the bottom, but I agree. There is no point telling people everything’s hunky dory when it is clearly not.

People must wake up to Regan’s alarming message before it’s too late. Most of all the SPL because the time is now to take decisive action. You may have read Raith Rovers’ vice chairman Turnbull Hutton accusing the SPL of bullying and railroading the lower league clubs to vote Rangers into the First.

There’s long been veiled threats to set up a breakaway SPL 2, including Rangers, if the top flight don’t get what they want, leaving those who defy them well and truly out in
the cold.

Well my feeling is why rely on a veiled threat when you can turn it into a concrete promise that can be used as a foundation to rebuild our game on a more stable platform?

Just do it, guys.

This is the time where SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster must stand strong and make the big decisions and grab the power back for the big clubs who know how to handle it.

Start the breakaway now, give us a fresh product of two top divisions with promotion and relegation play-offs and sell the package to Sky and ESPN as a fresh exciting new dawn for our game.

TV will buy into it, fans will be re-energised and hopefully start clicking through the turnstiles again.

Hey, maybe even the punters who
blackmailed their clubs to vote Rangers out of the SPL in the first place might actually start attending games – because I don’t believe for a second that they were all loyal season ticket holders.

You just need to look at Dunfermline
closing a stand last season and matches at Pittodrie resembling a closed-doors
friendly any time the Old Firm weren’t
visiting as evidence that these fans who
protested so loudly must now put their
money where mouths are.

So what of the rest you may ask. What about the clubs left behind by the new set-up?

No doubt some of them will fold while
others continue plodding along as they are just now – part-time community clubs with very little relevance beyond the borders of their town. It might sound brutal but there are too many teams in our senior game who are going nowhere.

So better to trim the dead wood than give them the power to kill off one of the two clubs that matters most. In short, it’s better them than Rangers when it comes down to a stark choice of who should go.

I can almost hear the outraged screams from Forfar to Annan already but hard nosed as it sounds the alternative, which is football Armageddon, is too much for the rest of us to bear.

Maybe the Neanderthals who are only interested in revenge and petty points
scoring after decades of Old Firm dominance will stop and think about the consequences before they call for more punishment.

The time has come to end this sorry episode and start fresh with a positive new beginning for all of Scottish football.

We can’t stand by and allow small clubs with their ridiculous tiny supports to gather on Friday the 13th and chase millions of pounds out of our game.

The time for action has come and
Doncaster and his SPL member clubs cannot afford to hesitate a moment longer.
like turkeys voting for Christmas if people are like turkeys voting for Christmas, they choose to accept a situation which will have very bad results for them

Yes!
Burley, what a tit.

Yup.

Saw this earlier this morning and was just left shaking my head and also my fists in anger.

His attitude sums up exactly what is wrong with Scottish football and those who take the grassroots game for granted.

When the revolution comes, he'll be one of the first against the wall.

Ha! I had the same thoughts when reading it yesterday. I gave up halfway through as it was a waste of time. I felt that it was a half-wit looking for a reaction.

Just shows what real football fans and clubs like ours are up against. Not even worth dignifying with a response.

Other than to say, Burley you are a complete and utter tit.

Hardly worthy of comment.

What a complete tit!
His carrer when he was at Dundee has maybe haunted him to come out with a shocking speech just like this but then again his word is un-exprience to be saying this afterall your only a BBC commentator and nothing more

When it comes to knuckle dragging morons then this tube must be knuckle dragger in charge of the bigot party

Again,the Daily Record printing absolute shit! Don't they also have Mark Hateley as a columnist spouting the same garbage every second day? So these numpties played for the old firm for a short time 10-20 years ago.SO WHAT! It doesn't mean they are a voice of authority regarding Scottish football! I just hope when all this newco farce is over,that fans of all clubs outwith the old firm remember the lies and utter crap this sorry excuse of a paper have printed and never buy it again.NO TO NEWCO AND NO TO THE DAILY RECORD!

Sycophants like Burley are part of the problem and offer no solutions whatsoever. Of course retaining the status quo is in his own and the Record's self-interest. I knew it waa biased rag but their blatant siding with the establishment (i.e. the SFA, SPL, The Old Firm etc) has been truly sickening

As NN says though we, the fans, won't forget this when this whole sorry mess is over.

Seems it's Murdo McLeod's turn today!
Bemoaning the lack of competition in the SPL next season because the teams capable of winning it has gone from 2 to 1!! Wow. And having a go at the wee diddy clubs for not playing ball and annointing the new huns to division 1.
I see none of these columns are allowing comments, wonder why?

Never bought the Record, never will. Glad people are starting to see through it.

Tomorrow it will be the turn of Jorg Albertz or Mark Walters etc to tell us 'we have to do whats best for Scottish football' which really means we have to do whats best for Newco and Celtic.

Cancelled espn citing reason being they use craig burly as a commentator. I said his opposition to Scottish football league clubs was not acceptable. Perhaps more people cancelling would change this tits opinion but doubtful. He will have a ghost writer for his columns as he probably is still at the play dough level in intelligence.

Here's the answer to the whole sorry affair.
A new two-team SCOTTISH SUPER LEAGUE to be created ABOVE the SPL, consisting of just Rangers and Celtic.
They can play each other week in, week out, and their supporters can spout all the sectarian bile they like at each other to their hearts content.
Imagine how delighted the OF bigots will be . . . an Old Firm showdown EVERY SINGLE WEEK!
And of course the clubs would be able to rule the roost even more than they do now. No promotion or relegation between the SPL and the new SSL, for example. And automatic qualification for Europe for the top two in the new league could obviously be negotiated with the powers that be - they're the big two clubs that nobody can live without, after all!! And they'd also be free forever from any interference from the so called 'diddy' clubs.
Sounds ridiculous? No more ridiculous than some of the pish spouted by a certain mr Burley!

How to win friends and influence people .

1.Call the SFL chairman muppets, when you are relying on them to vote sevco into the SFL.
2. Call the people paying your wages knuckledraggers .

He's clearly worried that if ESPN walk away like he's telling everyone they will, he won't have a job. Good.

I agree with Mad Man. Burley is a complete tw*t, and no doubt we will have the rest of the west coast hacks and other SFA/SPL yes men (has beens and never beens) repeating the same rubbish in the red tops all this week. Joy!

This one from today's Sun is running it close http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/spl/4422381/The-true-cost-of-Rangers-relegation.html

Usual stuff, it'll cost (now up to) £80 million and if the vote doesnt go the way it needs to, spl2 will b here, altho not sure who will be in it or how they will get fixtures organised, maybe the other leagues will be delayed?

Also says only 27 teams may b voting as there'll be 1 club going to spl and the losing playoff finalists will abstain, so if 14 vote yes to sevco, it appears that they will straight away be parachuted into the sfl league 1

But do they have enough players?

In their current state, I think Servco would find it difficult to be promoted from the First Division.

Add in possible points deductions and/or transfer sanctions, then it's almost impossible.

Then what?

They don't go up, so we end up with a 16 team SPL to accommodate them anyway?

Just heard from a very reliable source that the original meeting was scheduled for Thursday 12th July but was changed to Friday 13th July as Jim Ballatyne is in Linfield at an Orange Walk on Thursday.

originally stated by Craig Burley
" Has it really come to this? The future of Scottish football placed in the hands of a few nonentities from the lower divisions "

Ha ha ha GIRUY Craig

The "nonentities" have the power!!!
Well done the SFL