Winter Freeze - Chairman Ron interview

[Roy of the Rovers]

Read the Daily Record article here

[tommysermanni]

Probably the most common sense post on this forum for years.

It will happen because if not clubs like Rovers will not exist in 5-10 years.

[chris]

countries like Russia are changing from summer to winter leagues as they have found they arnt able to compete with any summer leagues.

I challenge anybody here to find a summer league which has a strong football background and international teams which perform well or domestic teams which perform well

[tommysermanni]

Chris are you seriously telling me there are Russian football teams at Rovers level going to vote to play their football in winter ?

I can understand top flight teams who have roofs, undersoil heating etc but this wont be clubs playing in front of 300 fans.

The Scottish International team are in terminal decline and I personally think if they played their football on the beach in the Algarve it isn't going to mask the fact that we produce so few International class players.

This isn't about the SPL or Scotland. It's about if a club like Rovers can survive on losing approximately half a dozen home games every season and the rearranged fixtures will have much less in attendance than a Saturday fixture.

Our winters are getting harsher and our crowds are diminishing .These are cold, hard economical facts.

It's not about tradition or the fact that someone likes to play bowls in the summer it's basically that Clubs like Rovers will go to the wall if things stay the same.

And if your asking for a comparison then the League of Ireland play football in the summer and off the top of my head I can't think of one current Scotland International that would get into their team.

[chris]

Mar 8, 2018 15:11:46 GMT tommysermanni said:

Chris are you seriously telling me there are Russian football teams at Rovers level going to vote to play their football in winter ?

I can understand top flight teams who have roofs, undersoil heating etc but this wont be clubs playing in front of 300 fans.

The Scottish International team are in terminal decline and I personally think if they played their football on the beach in the Algarve it isn't going to mask the fact that we produce so few International class players.

This isn't about the SPL or Scotland. It's about if a club like Rovers can survive on losing approximately half a dozen home games every season and the rearranged fixtures will have much less in attendance than a Saturday fixture.

Our winters are getting harsher and our crowds are diminishing .These are cold, hard economical facts.

It's not about tradition or the fact that someone likes to play bowls in the summer it's basically that Clubs like Rovers will go to the wall if things stay the same.

And if your asking for a comparison then the League of Ireland play football in the summer and off the top of my head I can't think of one current Scotland International that would get into their team.

Russia brought in winter football a couple seasons ago

who in the Irish team plays in the league of Ireland?

[tommysermanni]

I'm not overly interested what happens on the International stage although many International players start off in their home leagues.

If the SPL and EPL want to carry on with the status quo that is great.

I am talking specifically about clubs at Rovers level. Read what the Chairman says. It's not his opinion and it may not be his preference but what he states is cold hard facts.


We are in financial difficulty. We cannot afford to go lose that amount of revenue several times a season.

It's also misleading and inaccurate to say Russia voted to play football in the depths of winter. Yes they now operate an Autumn to Spring season but have an almost 3 month winter break from Mid December until March.

[chris]

but you mentioned international teams so player for player in Scottish and Irish first teams name the players who are better and where they started their professional career.

so what you are thinking is the top flight should remain a winter league but every other club should be a summer league. how would that work practically.

also back to the league of Ireland. you think it's a stronger league than the Scottish league. really?

[rhythmisarover]

It is a good article and common sense but it won't happen as I don't think the football authorities think and plan that wisely.

I went to the 4-4 Hamilton Accies league cup game before the season started. This was a cracking game played on a beautiful evening on an immaculate pitch. Sadly though the Scottish summer is mostly rain so the pitch would probably be waterlogged and this will lead to the same problem with postponements in my opinion.

Anyway I just can't see the governing bodies switching to this unfortunately.

[stewmelrover]

Well if it happened I would stop going as I play another sport all summer. Oh well.

[k70]

Ok so if we play summer football the rovers players will not be capped and we won't manage a decent run in the Champions league! That's it
...I will keep my thermals on then!

[Deleted]

Hmmmm.... it would be nice sitting in the sun in July watching Rovers beat Airdrie 3-0 with my pie in one hand and tea in the other with a winning 50-50 ticket in my pocket.

[rab]

Mar 8, 2018 13:59:58 GMT chris said:

I challenge anybody here to find a summer league which has a strong football background and international teams which perform well or domestic teams which perform well

Brazil.

[k70]

Nuts

[chris]

Mar 9, 2018 17:18:49 GMT rab said:

Mar 8, 2018 13:59:58 GMT chris said:

I challenge anybody here to find a summer league which has a strong football background and international teams which perform well or domestic teams which perform well

Brazil.

the Brazilian league isn't that strong none of the south american leagues are. same as Ireland all the best players leave asap, most before they even start with a professional club.