The Grove football blog

League reconfiguration is a talking point that just doesn’t go away, and while many believe something needs to change to make Scottish football better, nobody can agree with a solution that actually is better.   There are a few barriers to league reconfiguration: 1.The SPFL wants to guarantee 4 Old Firm matches each season. They are by far the most viewed and contribute heavily to the tv deal. 2. Adding teams may add games, which means teams must keep larger squads on stretched budgets, it also potentially harms the chances of teams progressing further in Europe. 3. Having fewer games means a drop in match-day revenue which is vital for the teams not receiving European money. 4. Other structures can make the league less fair by having some teams play more games than others (eg. A14 team league with a 6-8 split), allowing some teams to have more home games than their rivals or, having a confusing multi-split system like Belgium.   In the absence of being able to find a...

  Larne’s European run is over, the Inver Reds managed one win in their 6 league phase games in their first attempt at European football. With the Conference league offering more opportunities for teams from smaller nations to play European football, I am sure this will not be the last time a local side gets to ply their trade in Europe. Every team that qualifies for the UEFA Conference League earns €3.17 million. A win in the group stage is worth €400K and a draw €133. Each team them receives a share of €18.65 million depending on where they finish in the league phase. Teams that finish in the top 8 get a further €400K while those in the top 16 get a further €200K. Teams are also awarded money from the ‘Value Pillar’. The amount a team will earn is worked out based on their coefficient ranking and the pool nation’s broadcasting money. Larne competed for the first time and so have a low coefficient and teams from Northern Ireland receive the least of all the Home Nations in broad...

With the close of the summer transfer window I thought I would update a piece I posted last year. I aim to show how deep the talent pool is for the Northern Ireland national team. To analyse our depth I have kept track of each player (hopefully not missing anyone) who has been called up to the senior or under 21s squads. I have organised them by general position eg. Defender, midfielder etc. rather than their specific positions, and organised them by their club and league. I have assigned each league a grade based on quality, this is subjective and after last year’s I have changed a few grades, notably moving the Irish Premiership, League of Ireland and Welsh Premier League up a tier and dropping Premier League 2 down a tier. I am sure there is still some debate about these but essentially we are focused on grades A-C as O’Neill rarely calls up any player playing below these league grades. The full list includes 137 players.  Following Jonny Evans’ retirement we only have one pla...

This summer was billed as a rebuild for Rangers, but not your typical rebuild. Last season’s team was not bad, and were it not for some key goals by a player Celtic have since spent over £8.5 million on, Rangers might have won the treble. Rather, this rebuild was primarily financial, to be blunt Rangers’ wage bill was far too high, with too many players earning more than £20K per week and too many squad players earning disproportionately high wages. This summer Rangers have lost 14 players from last season’s first team squad, only 3 have left on loan (Ben Davies, Jose Cifuentes and, Johnly Yfeko). As many as 6, were free transfers with several contracts simply not being renewed. I suspect Philippe Clement was content for all these players to leave, with the possible exception of John Lundstram, and while many left for free, they managed to free up a large sum of money in wages. Using Salarysport for reference we can see that Rangers freed up over £9 million in wages. I have not been a...

  As the season draws to a close and the transfer window opens there is again talk of a rebuild at Ibrox. Philippe Clement has improved a Rangers side he inherited and has already made his intent clear with the kind of signings he wants to make. Diomande has done well enough, but is sure to improve with a solid pre-season, Cortés looked great before falling injured and Silva has contributed well despite moving out of position for most of his spell. Diomande will be signed in the summer with Cortés likely to join him, it is unlikely Silva will make his move to Ibrox permanent. Over the past few years Rangers have done well at recruiting solid free agents, players here have included Calvin Bassey, Steven Davis, Dujon Sterling, Tom Lawrence, John Lundstram and Kieran Dowell amongst others. These free agents have been crucial in forming the Rangers squad with several becoming key players over the years. Saving money on a transfer has unfortunately not been entirely successful though. ...