Hooked Away

Broadsword on Broadcasting !  

Many of us no doubt watched Sportscene at 40 the other night. It was, for most of us who grew up without red buttons, apps and friends wearing Manchester City tops the primary source of our televisual footballing diet. Every Saturday night I would watch it; unless we had been pumped by the predecessors to the newly named ‘West of Scotland’ FC (they should really behave themselves in Edinburgh before the Evening Times has to make up more names for them). Sportscene was utterly essential if you wanted to track the progress of Eamonn Bannon, keep tabs on Jim Bett or merely just to ask your father ‘What exactly is a Tortolano?’ It was a great way of gathering some impartial analysis on the state of play at the time.

During the 80s and early 90s it was always good to see a cherry picker behind the Jungle.  It meant that, either on the Saturday night with Dougie ‘Bully Wee Daft’ Donnelly or on the Sunday afternoon with Jim ‘Amazing Transfer News from Stoke’ White, then we would be treated to a re-run of the day’s events.

Live football was in very short supply – this is when some folk would still put a suit on just to watch the cup final – therefore this was magic. Quite often it would be hard to tell if the game would feature on BBC or STV, therefore you would rely on word of mouth or from the reaction of the faithful in the Jungle to let you know which channel we would be on. To give an example, my first Glasgow derby game was in March 1993. My dad wanted to get in to the ground in good time so that we could get a decent vantage point in the Celtic End; about half an hour before kick off the Jungle erupted into a chorus of boos, jeers and overall dissatisfaction at a figure strutting trackside. My old man remarked that the game would be on telly on Sunday this week – I was a tad confused so he then explained that Gerry ‘Medals=Credentials’ McNee was the source of the adoration and exaltation, largely due to a hostile interview he had conducted with Liam Brady, shown on Scotsport Extra Time (the show where Paul Cooney would tell you about Hamilton Accies transfer swoops) the previous evening.

That was very much then and we now have a plethora of sources for watching live football from all over the shop. Sportscene and Scotsport have, as we all know, very much had an utter doing from the mid-90s onwards. I don’t want this to be another analysis of the impact Sky, Setanta, ESPN and BT  have had on Celtic and Scottish football in general – we’re all aware that, in the last 15/20 years, we’ve been pretty much Friar Tucked. I’d rather take a rather optimistic look in to what the future may hold. The recent Celtic Underground podcast (no. 252) is a very worthwhile listen as Harry Brady and Grant Russell of STV try to solve the broadcasting dilemma facing Scottish football in a far more erudite and considered manner than you will read here, so, if you want a more grown up version then direct your ears there, otherwise feast your eyes on this largely unoriginal wish list:

1. Market the product. It’s not that hard, there’s tons of folk in Scotland who are capable of it. Polish the turd or, at the very least, roll it in glitter. Then again, I would say that this responsibility falls on the shoulders of guys who couldn’t get a sponsor for some considerable time…
2. Consult the fans. I’ve been attending Celtic games for 30 years and I can’t remember much in the way of being asked what I would want. Personally, I would go for a bigger league 16/18 and let them do whatever they want with the league cup to try and create certain fixtures seen as ‘desirable’ to the broadcasters
3. Kick off times. Or, to be more exact, revisit the Saturday afternoon blackout. Times have changed – is an Aberdeen fan really going to miss their game because we are live against St Johnstone at 3pm?
4. Internet. More and more people are sourcing their viewing using the net – surely to buggery there has been at least some sort of discussion at influential levels to see if the SPFL could be streamed via a Netflixesque platform.
5. Celtic TV. A more introspective one this. Sort this out, now. Plenty of people from around the world pay to access this and because hackers don’t come out at night they delay transmission of a very important, and highly anticipated European match. Bewildering and myopic. I have subscribed to Celtic TV in the past and I thought it was garbage then; it would appear that it remains to be. Get this sorted or else I’m going to say some sweary words, on the internet, around the time of the AGM – I mean it.
6. The BBC. Kick them square in the baws. They are a national broadcaster, not a commercial entity. Get highlights back on to a Saturday night, or an early Sunday evening – to hell with Countryfile and Songs of Praise I say! Also, is Gary Lineker really getting a wage commensurate with what they pay to show Scottish football? Their outing on this matter has started and long may it continue. Furthermore, don’t have any more delusional guests on radio who ‘invite’ their reporters to have a drink in the Grapes, the District or the Louden whilst on air.
7.  Erm, I can’t plagiarise, I mean develop other people’s arguments anymore.Anyway, as Stuart Cosgrove reminded us in a slightly obscure and round about manner, things have changed. As far as I see it the broadcasters are perfectly content with the current set up – we largely accommodate them around the English leagues etc. and we don’t seem to mind. I think we all want to see Celtic in a position where we are not being rag-dolled by English relegation candidates and their ilk. In all honesty I doubt that anything seismic will happen, as a footballing nation, we have been placed in to our slot in the food chain and that, for Celtic and all the rest, even those ‘West of Scotland’ hooligans, whomever they may be, will have to make do with what we have. Still, hope springs eternal and I for one am in favour of us ‘wanting to let fly.’