Summer football could be a niche for Scottish game
IREAD with interest this week that the Premier League in England is looking to spread its wings in terms of television slots. They are talking about Saturday night and Sunday mornings with a view to capturing the Asian market.
Now, I fall in to that group of people that would always watch Scottish football ahead of an English game.
That’s just the way I am and quite a few of us are but we have to recognise that in Scotland there are people who are going to the English Premier League week in, week out.
So what could Scottish football do?
Well, Scottish football has to be confident in its own products and in its own football, and of course it should be. However, there is also the reality of a television deal. Since working for BT Sport, as the main commentator in Scotland, many people have said to me that we in Scottish football, deserve a better TV contract – and I’ve heard that from fans of all clubs.
TV executives particularly are looking at audience figures. So how do you build an audience? THERE has been a bit of humble pie eaten since Saturday by quite a few people, especially from those who arrived at Hampden with an expectation that England would just wipe the floor with Scotland.
However, I think Leigh Griffiths concentrated minds with his fabulous brace of free-kick goals.
Another thing which was an eye opener, and I’ve heard this from a few English fans, was the atmosphere at Hampden.
I hear this from English broadcasters and journalists covering big games a Celtic
Well, at BT Sport over the last few years one of the things that has been tried in Scotland is Friday night football. That has been a success.
For me, we should be trying to guide people there on more of a week-to-week basis.
But it does ask the question: If English football is going to be on everywhere from Friday night until Monday night with not one slot clear, what does Scottish football do?
There has been a feeling that summer football is the answer.
I think that we miss out a lot and it comes back to carving out our own slots. Summer football is something that Scottish football has to have a look at.
IPark, especially on a Champions League night, and you don’t really get that in England. You certainly don’t see or hear it at Wembley from England home games.
There was a very different atmosphere at Hampden. I’m not saying we always have that kind of atmosphere at Scotland matches. But for really big games, when the country needs to be behind the team, Scotland fans can really out do themselves on occasions.
They did make the atmosphere special on Saturday and it was a real jolt to the English system. CAN’T speak for TV executives, but my suspicion is that they would think very favourably about that because they would see it as Scottish football having something over its competitors.
So if you’re a TV executive, the month of June doesn’t have a lot of football.
For me, that’s a good place for the Scottish game. This is something that Scottish football should have a long look at. They should be aware of the market and be aware of what’s happening in English football and the Qatar World Cup in 2022 which will be a winter tournament.
The question is: Is this time to be moving towards a summer calendar? It doesn’t have to be done in one fast move, it can be done gradually over two or three years by moving certain things.
I would be very surprised if Scottish football didn’t get a better TV deal through being on from April through to the end of the year. Rather than going head-to-head with the Premier League.
There are so many aspects involved in trying to come up with ideas to make the Scottish game more appealing. But at least let’s start having a proper discussion about, rather than just a guessing game about what people want.