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Lamia
GET A LIFE!!! |
    
It is claimed that part of the reason our bid failed is because we wouldn't have turned out for the less attractive matches because Scottish fans are too parochial.
What the heck do they base that on? Many guys I know try to catch games when on tour and in fact they also specifically visit other countries to take in games which have no connection to our national team whatsoever.
I would like to know why they think we aren't interested. If they are basing it on attendances at club level then they are obviously not taking account of the current domestic climate and after seeing the level of support at club level in Portugal recently they don't look to be much better.
So where did this claim come from and how was it justified?
(Edited by Lamia at 8:03 pm on Dec. 15, 2002)
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Three vermillion snakes of female face. The smallest motion, filled with grace.
By faint degrees, voice, lute and pleasure ceased. A deadly silence step by step increased......
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Total Posts: 3902 | Joined Dec. 2001 | Posted on: 9:02 pm on Dec. 15, 2002 | IP
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Lamia
GET A LIFE!!! |
2008 bid lost because 'Scots are parochial'
JASON ALLARDYCE AND MURDO MACLEOD
THE joint bid by Scotland and Ireland to host the Euro 2008 football championships failed after Uefa chiefs claimed the Tartan Army was too parochial to turn out for non-Scottish games.
Members of the key committee which threw out the bid questioned the passion of the Tartan Army and suggested a Scottish-Irish championship would lead to an embarrassing level of empty stadium seats, Scotland on Sunday has learned.
The disclosure has shocked the Celtic bidding team and infuriated Scottish fans still reeling from losing out to the Austrian-Swiss bid last Thursday.
Last night, a spokesman for the Scottish Executive, which backed the bid, described the reasoning as "astounding" and "ridiculous".
Details of the last minute doubts were confirmed by Noel White, a director of Liverpool FC and member of the Uefa national teams committee which refused to shortlist the bid.
Another source close to the Celtic bidding process said supporters of the Austrian-Swiss bid had been making such claims about Scottish and Irish football fans for some time.
The development in itself may not have swung the outcome of a bid already held by many critics to have been seriously flawed but it is thought to have inflicted further damage.
In an interview with Scotland on Sunday, White revealed that many of his committee colleagues were unconvinced by the viability of the Celtic bid even though he was personally "astounded" at their decision not to at least shortlist the Scots and Irish.
White is understood to have given Scotland and Ireland his total endorsement but his views were not shared by the majority of his 10-member committee - the very body which carried out rigorous inspection visits of all seven contenders.
Committee members who feared the prospect of half empty Scottish stadia asked for further information on the eve of last Wednesday’s shortlisting vote about how much income would be generated. Uefa’s national executive committee awarded the championship to the Austria-Switzerland bid the following day.
"More details of financial figures were called for, in terms of ticket prices and other costings," White confirmed.
"Just because they [Scotland and Ireland] had more seats than anyone else doesn’t mean they necessarily had the biggest potential turnover.
"We’re not talking about any financial black hole but maybe my colleagues felt that the business plan is where the Scots and Irish fell down in terms of being as financially viable as some of the other bidders and how achievable the championships would have been.
"Having said that, personally I was as astounded as everyone else that they did not make the final group."
David MacDougall, a prominent member of the Tartan Army, described the criticisms as "ridiculous".
He added: "The Tartan Army loves to watch football, whoever is playing. We couldn’t have stopped ourselves going to these games."
A spokesman for the Executive said: "That seems to be the most ridiculous assertion I have heard. It astounds me, given that Scottish league football has the highest per capita turnout in Europe week in, week out. Football is our national sport."
He insisted that Scottish fans "would have taken some of the smaller teams that qualified to heart and supported them".
Supporters of the Celtic bid argue that, by contrast, football does not even rate in the top five sports in Switzerland.
"Their stadia are not big and their crowds are even smaller," said the Executive spokesman.
Simon Lyons, the marketing director of the Scottish 2008 bid, was equally scathing.
"We saw the Tartan Army as one of our best assets and we never doubted their commitment to watching football, whoever the team. No-one can accuse the Tartan Army of being parochial," he said.
Despite evidence of falling gates for Scottish clubs outside of the Old Firm, Scottish fans also pointed to a history high turnouts for national games and international tournaments.
In 1960, 130,000 fans turned to watch Real Madrid defeat German champions Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3 in the European Cup final.
Last May, the much-reduced Hampden was filled to capacity with 52,000 fans who saw Real Madrid defeat Bayer Leverkusen 2-1.
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Three vermillion snakes of female face. The smallest motion, filled with grace.
By faint degrees, voice, lute and pleasure ceased. A deadly silence step by step increased......
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Total Posts: 3902 | Joined Dec. 2001 | Posted on: 9:23 pm on Dec. 15, 2002 | IP
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Le Mouton
GET A LIFE!!! |
It just gets sillier and sillier doesnt it?
They arent just scrapin the bottom of the barrel to come up with reasons to cover up for their internal politics and corruption, they are now going underneath it!
I for one would have gone to as many games as possible!
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'But arise, Scotland, as one, before the English cut your throats, since they have robbed you of your credit and your possessions in return for gold which is not in your pocket today. '
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Total Posts: 1113 | Joined Aug. 2002 | Posted on: 9:32 pm on Dec. 15, 2002 | IP
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BJmor
GET A LIFE!!! |
Seems they have conveniately forgotten about the attendance figures during the under sixteen world cup held a few years ago in Scotland. If my memory serves me correct they were a record for the tournament and the officials amazed by the turn out.
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"Let nae man think he can serve you, Scotland,
Withoot muckle trial and trouble to himsel".
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Total Posts: 346 | Joined Sep. 2001 | Posted on: 10:08 pm on Dec. 15, 2002 | IP
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Kane
GET A LIFE!!! |
Pinnochio?
How are we too Pinnochio???
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I am Able
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Total Posts: 287 | Joined Aug. 2002 | Posted on: 12:52 pm on Dec. 16, 2002 | IP
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CTV
Opinionated Wind Bag |
what a load of nonsense. Are they telling us that the swiss and austrians will turn out in their thousands? They get crap attendances for their own games, never mind Slovenia v Ukraine on a tuesday night!
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Total Posts: 162 | Joined Oct. 2002 | Posted on: 2:26 pm on Dec. 16, 2002 | IP
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ColinG
GET A LIFE!!! |
Sorry to play devil's advocate but here we go. Most of the major International events which have been held in Scotland recently, Rugby (Union & League world cups), Athletics (indoor events at Kelvin Hall), Gymnastics (same venue) have had appalling attendances. It would appear that the football supporters are being tarred with the same brush and if this was the case then there would be an argument for this. However I would suggest that football is a completely different ball game (pun intended) and that all venues would have been sell-outs regardless of who was playing. Don't get me wrong I would love to have seen Scotland as hosts and think that we should continue to bid until they get so p*ss*d off that they give them to us just to get rid of us, but maybe they do have a point.
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Is that the time, must get on with some work!!
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Total Posts: 349 | Joined Feb. 2002 | Posted on: 4:54 pm on Dec. 16, 2002 | IP
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Gemmills Goal
GET A LIFE!!! |
I was surprised at this accusation. This is a major festival of football we're talking about here - the biggest world sporting event that Scotland would probably ever stage. So how come a country still largely obsessed with the game would not want to see the best players in Europe?
I'd hate to think they were basing such an assessment on, say, the people who refuse to turn up to watch teams get stuffed by the OF each week.
BJMor's right - the U-16 world cup was very well attended at all games.
All these excuses about why we didn't get Euro 2008 are sad. Ultimately there was a pre-agreed agenda at work here and our brown envelopes weren't large enough to swing it.
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I don't trust camels - or anyone else that can go a week without a drink.
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Total Posts: 1368 | Joined Jan. 2002 | Posted on: 9:41 am on Dec. 17, 2002 | IP
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Kane
GET A LIFE!!! |
(Edited by Kane at 10:57 am on Dec. 17, 2002)
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I am Able
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Total Posts: 287 | Joined Aug. 2002 | Posted on: 11:57 am on Dec. 17, 2002 | IP
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Tartan Army Message Board
Too Parochial
