So after the group stages it will go to a last 16 again? SO nothing will change for us

I would have thought teams playing in Europe would benefit from competitive games, unless the qualies clash with the cup games?

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I read this on the way into work this morning and pretty much liked the idea of it.

I think the idea of the teams playing in Europe going in at a later date is a good one but at the same time, It could have provided much needed competitive games for these teams too

After next season we should be looking at bringing in summer football, we really need to get our season running from March until December.

Only thing is, January is depressing enough as it is, never mind there being no football to watch.

Assuming that it's seeded, it could surely have been organised that the Euro qualifiers could have had their "hard" games scheduled away from the qualifiers while their easier games could be between qualifiers, letting them put the kids out instead of first teamers?

There will be football to watch RnR, but from the comfort of your own home.

Not sitting in a seat in a half empty stadium in -5 degrees.

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It's a small step in the right direction.

If the fans get to the games it could show the people in the office that summer football is the way ahead. Increased attendances, less match cancellations, a chance to go into Euro qualifiers ready for them since we generally get scandinavian teams who are already into their seasons.

Ivan - <appluase> well done to them; not often they seem to get it right but this seems to be a good start and will give an idea of how competitive summer football would work here.

The league cup in England is also suffering with a loss of glamour/interest.

Would a home nations cup not be an attractive idea and just scrap the regional league cups? I know it would never happen but one can but dream.

Hoops as good as it sounds, with any one English Championship team getting more money than every team outwith Celtic the competition will be a farce. It will just be a how far can Celtic (and/or Rangers get in it).

Plymouth don't like getting Carlisle away. wait until they get Ross County away in January.

They'll be near Glasgow before the know it's called off because Juke has fvcked the electricity again.

Murney.

Summer football would be the absolute death of our game. I really hope it doesn't lead to that. Quite simply anybody who supports it hasn't put any thought into it. That is not an opinion, but a fact. Annoys me how it crops up every so often, just like a bigger league or Celtic joining English football. There's always a huge chattering about how great it'll be before people point out the numerous obvious fatal flaws, for the millionth time. Only for them to be forgotten about again in next year's discussion.

Anyway, if they're going to start the competition in pre-season, I wonder if they'll bring the final forward again to October/November like it used to be many years ago. Would probably make it feel more special as the current League Cup final is only a couple of months away from the Scottish Cup final.
Will be interesting to see how the groups are set up, and how they'll screw up the idea.

Summer football would be the absolute death of our game. I really hope it doesn't lead to that. Quite simply anybody who supports it hasn't put any thought into it. That is not an opinion, but a fact


Actually it's not a fact, a fact would suggest it's been tried before but it's not and I'd say 80% of football supporters in Scotland would much prefer to go to a football game in 15+ degree weather in June than -10 degree weather around Xmas time.

Now this isn't a fact but merely my opinion, Summer football and allowing alcohol before and during a game would certainly entice some fans back and it would slowly but surely attract some better sponsors.

You also need to remember our league would get more exposure as when the English Premiership stops around May, we would have 3 months where the only football on would be our league.

There are certainly a few flaws to it but for me the positives far outweigh the negatives.

NNH

JA Rules state when someone gives their opinion as FACT then you aren't allowed to view yours.

"Actually it's not a fact, a fact would suggest it's been tried before but it's not and I'd say 80% of football supporters in Scotland would much prefer to go to a football game in 15+ degree weather in June than -10 degree weather around Xmas time."

This is where the problem with the name of "summer" football crops up - it's not really summer football at all. At present, the Scottish football season lasts over 9.5 months, from Premiership kick-off to Scottish Cup final. Changing to summer football only changes less than 2.5 months of the season - the other 7 months remain the same. 75% of the season is unaffected. It's not worth the costs to make such a small change.

Another good thing about our current set-up is that the season starts in summer and ends in summer, whilst the mid-season games are in winter. We don't want the climax of our season to be in winter, especially as that's when games are most likely to be called off - that'd cause chaos to the fixture list. When a mid-season game gets called off, no problem. There's plenty of time to find space for it.

There's also the problem of every two years we'd be competing against the World Cup or Euros. So either we go on a month's break (meaning the season has to either start in January or finish in December) or we try and put games on up against international games. And I don't think we're winning that battle. We're also competing against people's summer holidays - not many people will arrange their holiday around football.

I don't buy that we'd get more exposure due to being the only football on TV. The same is true of the Irish league, and how many people watch that?

And perhaps the biggest one - if we don't watch football in the winter, what else will we do? People go to football games in the winter because there's nothing else to do. Summer is the time for going to the beach, around the countryside or spending time with the family. Winter is when you huddle around a Bovril and shout abuse at people getting paid more than you. If you take that away, what else is there?

Murnetti gets the idea. Only he erroneously called my factual statement an opinion.

I'll try answer point by point:

Firstly, the idea of summer football is it doesn't last 9.5 months, it lasts at most 8 months, you play a lot more midweek games, but at least it's in nicer climates (75% of the time).

You are leaving out our harshest months on record weather wise, December, January and February, these are the months most games get called off so the theory that it would cause chaos doesn't sit with me.

The notion about the tournaments is irrelevant for me, right now it's not helping our national side with the way things are going so we need change. The other argument is you don't need said one month break, you can simply start the season 1 or 2 weeks earlier and finish one week later whilst also having more midweek games.

Irish Football isn't on SKY TV, we are, that's the point.

I'm sorry but the last thing I want to do when it's -5 degrees, is get up out a warm pub or my house to trek all the way to a half filled stadium wearing 5 layers and watch the game being played on a pitch that wouldn't look our of place in Syria.

Summer is for going on holidays but lets not kid ourselves that everyone will all of a sudden go on 2 month holidays and miss 10 games of football.

Winter is when you huddle around a Bovril and shout abuse at people getting paid more than you. If you take that away, what else is there?


I did chuckle at that part though mate

Hobo, I huddle round my pint and shout abuse at both rich and poor aw year round

Due to domestic trophies, European competition and international breaks you couldn't condense the season into 8 months. There simply aren't that many slots.
For example, the numbers for the last year give Celtic 38 league games, 4 League Cup games, 4 Scottish Cup games, 12 European games and 10 international fixtures. That's 68 games. In 8 months there are 34 weeks, or 68 potential matchdays.
So Saturday-Wednesday fixture every single week for 8 months without a rest, without a single game being called off and not taking into account that international breaks are usually 3 matchdays rather than 2. It would not work.

It's not nicer 75% of the time, just 25% of the time.

A while ago I did a run through of United's most recent called off fixtures and it turned out that something like 8/10 would still have happened under summer football. I can't remember the exact number but I could look through it again if you like. And again, it's a far bigger problem to have more call offs during the tail end of the season than it is the middle.

Irish league football was on Sky for 7 years until they pulled the plug last year. Shows how much of a success it was if they pulled it and you didn't know about it.

Grass doesn't grow in winter whether it's played on or not. At least with the current set-up it can recover in summer.

Nope, but with 60% of people going abroad that means that effectively 1 home game will have 40% its usual attendance, and you've got to pick that up elsewhere.

I do think we'd miss football in the winter, particularly the Boxing Day & New Year games. Always a great atmosphere and good turnout.

And remember, one day you'll hear the words "Seeing as there's no football on, why don't you come Christmas shopping with me?" Only then will you realise your horrible mistake.

one day you'll hear the words "Seeing as there's no football on, why don't you come Christmas shopping with me?" Only then will you realise your horrible mistake
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NO TO SUMMER FOOTBALL!