The gloves are off with Aberdeen owner Dave Cormack squaring up to Rangers chief Stewart Robertson over his criticism of the SPFL’s plans for a new £30million Sky TV deal. The Dons boss released a scathing statement on Sunday hitting back at Robertson’s claims that Scottish football is being undersold. But the Hotline callers reckon Cormack hasn’t scored the knock-out blow he thinks he has.
Gavin MacLeod, Renfrew, was first on the blower, saying: “Dave Cormack ’s comments on the TV deal tell you two things. A, he doesn’t understand we are signing away all 228 games to televise 48. And B, he feels fans would no longer attend games. He desperately misunderstands the passion fans have for their teams and selling the TV short to cover for it is not becoming of a representative of the league.”
Willie Mercer, Dumfries, added: “It makes you laugh when the Aberdeen chairman comes out and criticises Rangers for their position on the Sky offer of £30million per season. Does he think this sort of money would be on offer to an SPFL without Rangers and Celtic? Does he think his club would get the £500,000 average fee per game without the Old Firm? Dream on.”
Jimmy Mac, Glasgow, isn’t a fan of the new deal either, emailing in: “We have those who are complaining because Rangers won't sign the Sky TV deal but what those people don't see is the fact that Sky TV ruined Scottish football financially by elevating English football to unreachable levels.
“Before the Murdoch's came into football, both Old Firm teams could compete with England's top clubs financially as well as on the pitches due to their fan bases.
“But Sky ruined that by giving England hundreds of millions of pounds with those figures rising to billions, while Scotland’s been left with scraps from the Sky table. England receive more than a billion pounds per season over five years while Scotland's football clubs are bickering over a poxy £30million between 42 clubs per season.”
But Andrew Lamb, Fraserburgh, said: “Whilst I agree wholeheartedly with Aberdeen chief Dave Cormack regarding his points on the Sky TV deal, the problem for both Celtic and Rangers is that they could sell all their season tickets AND the rights to show every home game. The Old Firm are trapped in a small league, which attracts little money.”
Scotland will be on the up tonight if they can make it a hat-trick of wins this week when they face Ukraine in Poland. Victory will secure promotion to the Nations League A division and guarantee Steve Clarke’s team a crack at qualifying for Euro 2024 through the play-offs.
Eddie Easson, Ballingry , said: “For all the Scotland haters out there and they are easily identified, get a grip! Our national team has come on leaps and bounds under Steve Clarke. Sure he gets it wrong sometimes but if he didn’t he wouldn’t be there, we are all brilliant keyboard managers.
“The so called coaching elite aren't always perfect - and one over the border springs to mind! Past managers struggled to put a team on the park with clubs dictating call-offs. Now we are in the position of being able to juggle the squad and rest players.”
The Premiership will resume action this weekend and David Bryce, Troon, has some concerns over Celtic. He said: “Whilst Celtic had a good transfer window, I don’t think the squad is as strong as people say.
“If anything happens to our main centre-halves or strikers we are stuck with the likes of Stephen Welsh and Daizen Maeda, who just aren’t good enough for Celtic. It’s a scary thought. The thought of going into a Champions League game with any of those guys is not good at all.”
What do you make of Monday's calls?
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