The rumors are true, and talk is becoming a reality: within the next 48 hours, Owen Coyle should be announced as the new gaffer at SFB. I’m utterly non-plussed as to the move; I don’t see how it helps Coyle to jump from one barely-floating ship to another, and it could be argued that he’ll have a harder time avoiding relegation with Bolton than he might with Burnley. Still, it’s his life to live.
I really don’t get this move. Keep thinking it through, and I don’t see what he allegedly sees in SFB. Burnley has better odds of staying up this year, and even if he’s assured of a bounce-back year from the Colaship into the EPL, he’ll still need to essentially rebuild the team into his style, which will put SFB in the same financial boat short-term he’s in now. Yes, SFB has more finance long-term. But if he keeps Burnley up this year, and maybe even next, he’s going to have his pick of jobs at some point. All he can do at SFB is hope to repeat BFS “European Vacation”, which will do nothing more than guarantee a quick trip out the door…
then again, BFS got a shot at NUFC, one he was too stupid to take. Maybe OC thinks he’s smarter than that?
While I have no idea why OC is considering this, as a Rovers fan I say this: GET THEE TO SFBOLTON NOW, YOU GLORIOUSLY STUPID BASTARD! Blackburn now has at least 4 teams whose chances I like less than ours. As opposed to 3 yesterday morning…
Also, while I don’t trust EPL Talk’s sources, I’d like to know where all the games Setanta USA was going to show this weekend disappeared to today. They’re still claiming the Tues and Wed games on delay, but showing NO games this coming weekend. IF Fox buys, whereTF do they go? Or will Setanta USA be rebranded somehow?
Maybe FSC adds an alternate channel for showing games? They were the original rights holders I think.
@Ryan: yes, they sub-letted the rights to Setanta, and I guess its an existing slot on every provider’s channel-listing, but its a $15/month one. Which puts everyone in a weird place. I pay $15/month because I have no choice. IF I know FSC has the rights, but puts the games on a “pay” channel, I’m not sure I jump on board at $15/month. I can go to the bar for that…and, yes, I differentiate between competitors and monopolies when I spend my dollars…
I’m always going to pay for the ability to watch games at home now that I have a son, but if Setanta and FSC start some dueling pay-channel BS I will use my old friend the internet. And my imagination.
Oh, with my cable provider there’s no way to purchase Setanta, even if I wanted it. Thanks again Paul Allen.
Anyways, I was envisioning more of a system like the Big Ten Network employs. There are 4 channels that usually show the same as regular BTN, but when there are multiple football games on, it shows all of them on different channels. (More Big Ten football, hooray?) Maybe FSC could swing something like this? It could come along with a regular FSC subscription, and with the CL games on Fox this year, really cement them as THE soccer network.
I know it sounds dramatic, but it’s kinda now or never for FSC, I think. ESPN has more money to spend than they do, and has already scooped up a slew of European leagues. Sure, they only got a small chunk of the EPL this time around and they did lose the CL, but when those things come around for renegotiation, do we think they’ll sleep on it? Absolutely not.
It would be sweet to have an extra FSC channel, though it might not make sense to them to water down their single-channel product into two channels. Though the BTN model sounds feasible; keep the other channels “dark” except for when games are on.
agree with both of you there. If its a case of maintaining a slot (or more), at the cost of a higher base fee for the FSC level of service (whether “sports” or “latin”), I can live with that. If its “everyone at this level gets FSC, and for an additional $15 you get FSC2″, I will have a serious problem. Not to mention ESPN can outbid them any day they really want to, and have a channel to “sacrifice” in the process…
I’d be very interested to see what the financial situation at FSC actually looks like. They still have to air 4 hours of infomercials in the morning, and their ads are very rarely from “mainstream” companies, yet they somehow find the money to buy the Champions League. Can they afford to keep all of the EPL rights with out subletting?
They’re Murdoch-owned, so G-d probably doesn’t know where tomorrow’s priorities lie…and that’s not meant to be sarcastic. If Murdoch sees money in footy in America, than who knows? Or maybe he’s just fighting a “rear-guard action”, where he jacks ESPN’s price up next go-round, just to attempt to weaken them long-term?