cinch Heritage: Scottish Premiership Thread 2022/23

[Clatty McCutcheon]

Clydebank (mark III, or is it mark IV) have quite an impressive set-up nowadays, groundsharing at Yoker (the fabled land) with a newly renovated ground, and might make it into the league eventually. You can take the moral high ground too because the previous Clydebank club got shafted, bought out and renamed to replace Airdrie (mark I) when they went bust.

[Joe Qunt]

Not well-versed in non-league affairs but I always thought Spartans had a nice badge. Pleasing colour palette.

[jamiefairlie]

It's a bit of a weird mixture at non-league level in Scotland at the moment though, with some proper two-men-and-a-dog clubs mingling with university sides and some (mostly ex-Junior) clubs with decent-sized supports and a bit of ambition.

Over time, I think more of the ex-Junior sides will come to the fore in the Lowland League and more of the small rural clubs and nonentity clubs will drop out. The promotion and relegation is too slow/limited though.

Slowly but surely happening, that's Berwick, Cowdenbeath, Brechin & East Stirling all booted out of the league now. It's much more interesting now.

[jamiefairlie]

Ah fair play, thanks! I've vaguely followed the whole Open Goal/Broomhill thing but I'll take a proper look and see if there are any decent nonleague teams nearby.

Where are you based?

[AllisonSays]

Glasgow, not sure where exactly yet on account of how hard it's been to find a flat!

[Povidone]

Can anyone actually explain the whole Rangers beef with Cinch or is it just more petty hun bollocks that only makes sense to petty huns?

Happy to get a scrappy win against St. Johnstone at the weekend, still not optimistic, see how we get on against the jambos on Saturday. Sad to say they are in a different class than us at the moment.

Relegation spot a toss up between Motherwell or St. Johnstone, the Off the Ball derby.

[Povidone]

Also wishful thinking but I'd love to see Arbroath do a repeat of last season and maybe go on to win promotion.

[Joe Qunt]

Can anyone actually explain the whole Rangers beef with Cinch or is it just more petty hun bollocks that only makes sense to petty huns?

Fairly certain it's because they're sponsored by a rival company, hence the taping over of logos. The league says they aren't allowed to do this, they say their agreement has to be honoured.

[Povidone]

Pretty straightforward, still hilariously rangers mind.

[Blinder Data]

Where are the Bluenoses? C'mon, we promise to play nice...

Can anyone actually explain the whole Rangers beef with Cinch or is it just more petty hun bollocks that only makes sense to petty huns?

Rangers Chairman Douglas Park has invested a shedload of money into Rangers and runs a car dealership. He doesn't want to plaster cinch all over the stadium, so he highlighted a SPFL contract clause that allowed opt-outs if sponsorship clashed with the club's own (i.e. his firm). Why this clause wasn't cited when the SPFL was sponsored by Ladbrokes and Celtic and Rangers were sponsored by other gambling firms, I don't know...

The Rangers directors also took it as an opportunity to stick the boot into SPFL chief Neil Doncaster who they despise and want rid of. There was a legal fight in which Rangers were asked to provide their sponsorship details so they could see where the clash was and they said "naw". Eventually the deal was renogotiated in Rangers' favour - allegedly they still get the money even though they don't need to promote cinch.

Rangers come out as the "winners" and Doncaster is exposed as the incompetent fool he is (the cinch deal was actually brought about by a third party who collected a six-figure fee). God knows how the other clubs feel about this. It seems unsustainable for me for one club to constantly hold everything and everyone to ransom unless they get their way like a spoilt child.

The other day Rylan was invited up for a photoshoot with every Premiership team captain - with one notable exception. The irony, of course, is that this ridiculous saga has meant every man and his dog is fully aware of cinch's sponsorhship of the SPFL! Talk about the Streisand effect...

Ah fair play, thanks! I've vaguely followed the whole Open Goal/Broomhill thing but I'll take a proper look and see if there are any decent nonleague teams nearby.

I would take a look at your closest clubs in the West of Scotland Football League: https://wosfl.co.uk/ (I have a soft spot for Pollok as they were down the road from me)

Many of them are better supported than those in the Lowland League above, but there's a bottleneck and the LL clubs don't want to vote themselves out of existence. The inclusion of the big ex-Junior teams into some sort of pyramid has been piecemeal and it's clearly not working, but trying to get anyone in Scottish football to agree on any kind of reform is a near-impossible job. Proper bowling club politics stuff.

[Kankurette]

If I ever go to Greenock, I'll have to watch Morton play. Even if they are shite.

[GMTV]

I'll start posting in here when I can be arsed, but in the meantime carry on with confirmation there's at least one sevco based counterbalance present.

Having lived in Aberdeen for about 5 years now I've got a soft spot for the appropriately named Cove rangers who are currently at the stratospheric heights of first in the championship after one game.

[Joe Qunt]

Yogi Hughes has passed away. Very sad news. Another Lisbon Lion passed on.

[jamiefairlie]

Yogi Hughes has passed away. Very sad news. Another Lisbon Lion passed on.

I was at primary school with his son Martin. Just for a year or two as I guess John moved around a lot with his career.

Also, with my pedant hat on, he wasn't technically a Lisbon Lion.

[monkfromhavana]

Which non-Premiership teams do you always look out for the result on a Saturday? It's Montrose all day long for me, but does anyone have a soft spot for Stenhousemuir or Stranraer?

Incidentally this is quite a good book on Scottish football, well worth the couple of quid it now goes for

[Joe Qunt]

Which non-Premiership teams do you always look out for the result on a Saturday? It's Montrose all day long for me, but does anyone have a soft spot for Stenhousemuir or Stranraer?

I always check on Dumbarton, just because they've got an elephant in their badge.

[Kankurette]

Greenock Morton, because they were my dad's team.

[jamiefairlie]

Accies will always be my first love, hometown team and all.

Dislike Partick Thistle @ Stenhousemuir for personal reasons.

Hate Rangers most of all, Celtic second most of all.

Everyone else I don't mind particularly. I'm loving the non-league clubs advancing into the SPFL.

[Povidone]

If I ever go to Greenock, I'll have to watch Morton play. Even if they are shite.

Well they were good enough to pump us out of the league cup even before administrative errors were taken into account.

Yogi Hughes has passed away. Very sad news. Another Lisbon Lion passed on.

RIP

..slightly relieved though as for a minute there I thought you meant the other Yogi.

[Blinder Data]

As a Celtic fan, I know from experience that champions league qualifiers are hard work. Still, lol, and furthermore, lmao

I half-expect USG to be blown away next week at Ibrox, but

[the hum]

Looking forward to Dundee United making a triumphant return to European football against AZ on Thurs night, it's on cooncil telly 'n all. They'll likely get scudded, although Aberdeen knocked out Groningen a few seasons back, so there's a slim chance it's not a total mismatch.

[the hum]

As for a prediction:

1. Celtic
2. Rangers
3. Hearts
4. Aberdeen
5. Dundee United
6. Livingston
7. Kilmarnock
8. Ross County
9. Hibernian
10. Motherwell
11. St Johnstone
12. St Mirren

Bottom four are interchangeable, as is fourth to eighth.

[jamiefairlie]

As a Celtic fan, I know from experience that champions league qualifiers are hard work. Still, lol, and furthermore, lmao

I half-expect USG to be blown away next week at Ibrox, but

One of my guilty pleasures is reading the posts on Rangers fan forums on nights like these.

[Blinder Data]

Looking forward to Dundee United making a triumphant return to European football against AZ on Thurs night, it's on cooncil telly 'n all. They'll likely get scudded, although Aberdeen knocked out Groningen a few seasons back, so there's a slim chance it's not a total mismatch.

Celtic just about got past AZ last season in the qualifiers. It's a tough draw for Dundee United.

Hearts have a much better chance: if they beat Linfield/FC Zurich they qualify for the Europa League, the first Scottish club outside of Glasgow to play in the group stages since 2004! It's been pitiful across the board for a long time but there are green shoots of improvement...

[GMTV]

Gutted in a way about the CL qualifier, but realistically we were well beaten by USG. We haven't been in the champs league ever/ for 12 years so don't have any particular expectations of making it. And even if we get through this stage will be a pumping off either Monaco or PSV.

[Joe Qunt]

Hearts have a much better chance: if they beat Linfield/FC Zurich they qualify for the Europa League, the first Scottish club outside of Glasgow to play in the group stages since 2004! It's been pitiful across the board for a long time but there are green shoots of improvement...

Just a shame it's Hearts.

[jobotic]

I like the teams with good names. Queen of the South because it's cheeky. East Stirlingshire because it's a cumbersome mouthful. Keith because it's Keith.

None of them are as good as New Salamis of the Isthmian League North Division though.

[Joe Qunt]

Saw this just now.

https://twitter.com/jamesblack1986/status/1554565429837824000?s=21&t=ZWKFyXfrPz7npjhCiB5xIQ

Same guy that referred to a centre back pairing as "the Twin Towers". On the 12th of September.

[Two Headed Sex Beast]

Which non-Premiership teams do you always look out for the result on a Saturday? It's Montrose all day long for me, but does anyone have a soft spot for Stenhousemuir or Stranraer?

I'm an Aberdeen fan but when me and my brother were kids in the 90s, we had a Scottish football wallchart showing all the teams in the league. Greenock Morton had a tartan kit, and for some reason that was enough to make us fancy going to see them play. When we were down in the central belt my dad took us to a few games. I still have a soft spot for them. They had a decent team back then including Derek McInnes and a couple of Finnish internationals.

If I ever go to Greenock, I'll have to watch Morton play. Even if they are shite.

Cappielow park is a fantastic wee stadium. The, um, bus seats weren't in the dugout last time I was there though:
https://twitter.com/morton_fc/status/1148537388060295168

[monkfromhavana]

They had a decent team back then including Derek McInnes and a couple of Finnish internationals.

Marko Rajamaki!