Scottish football needs help from the banks - and it should be given. But there has to be a cost.
With , the plight of the full-time clubs in particular is grievous. However, the debt problem afflicts clubs of every shape and size.
Many have been paring back their expenditure for a few seasons now and are .
They've been caught cold, though, with the collapse of Setanta.
Having budgeted for income that has suddenly been withdrawn, they are struggling to pay off debts rashly accumulated in a period of fiscal insanity a few years back.
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Early next week, there will be a change to how you leave comments on this blog - we're upgrading our current registration system to a new and improved one. When you log in to the new system, you will be prompted to upgrade your existing account, and you should be able to do that with a minimum of fuss. More details on this can be found on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Internet Blog.
Calum Melville has put his money where his mouth is at Dundee.
A lifelong Aberdeen fan, the multi-millionaire responded to the Dark Blues' newspaper advertisement for new investors and Dundee found themselves with a man of sufficient means to ensure that they have out-spent Rangers in the transfer market this season.
Melville, who is listed at being worth around £130m, has been a whirlwind of activity since walking through the doors of Dens Park.
Dundee, previously cash-strapped, snapped up top players from their First Division rivals, like from Livingston and from Partick Thistle, for a combined outlay of £250,000.
He has also has not been shy of offering opinions, noising up neighbours United, with claims that Dundee are the bigger of the two city sides.
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Two dire results for Scottish football this week should send an icy shiver down our spines.
As the dark nights draw in and the wild winter winds whistle round our ankles, two defeats in two big games should chill Scottish football fans to their very souls.
and Celtic's humbling at the hands of , the two defeats which leave me with that icy feeling are our under-17 side's defeats by Cyprus and Georgia in the Uefa Under-17 Championship qualifiers.
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In July 2001 the ´óÏó´«Ã½ website quoted the then Celtic chairman Brian Quinn saying he thought .
Fast forward eight years and , while claiming their escape hatch is close to being sprung.
Cynicism is an ugly emotion, so I'll dispense with it and admit that the Old Firm's eventual jail break to the financially sunny uplands of English football is not as fanciful as it sounds, nor as ruinous to the Scottish game as some would suggest.
If human nature follows its usual course of self interest, if money, as it normally does, determines behaviour, and if enough English clubs see financial advantage in it for themselves, then it could happen.
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Henry McLeish has promised to put radical proposals on the table for the Scottish FA when he issues the first two parts of his in January.
Some cynics think the report will lie on a shelf gathering dust, but I think Mcleish intends to shake the game to the core.
The was asked by the SFA to chair the Scottish Football Review Committee, but anyone who thinks that he will be some kind of patsy is likely to be nutmegged.
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They pay me to watch football and talk football. That’s some people's idea of Christmas every day. I can't deny it's mine too. I view the football world through a different lens from some journalists, because I live and work in Dundee. The Old Firm are interesting, but so was my breakfast this morning. There is a whole lot more on the Scottish football menu than the big two. From the SPL to the juniors, the game offers lots of dishes, and they all get my taste buds going.