The Scottish League Reconstruction Thread

[simoid]

What's the best way to go?

For me, something like:

42 teams.

12 team Premier League, keep the split, no points changes mid season.

Bottom team relegated
11th place team enters playoff


10 team Division 1

Winner promoted
Runner-up enters playoff with SPL 11th place
Some sort of playoff with regionals
Bottom 2 teams relegated



2 x regional divisions of 10 (South/West and North/East so more can be spent on football by the wee clubs)

2 Winners promoted, some sort of playoff with Division 1

[simoid]

Might as well have relegation from the regional divisions too, perhaps 1 out, 1 in per season.

[m996tt]

I would prefer a 16 team top League,playing each other home and away, My dislikes are playing Clubs four times a season, even more if you meet in Cup games, most fans hate this. We could have three down and three up, with playoffs. If that involves meaningless games, well we already have them
There will always be anomalies with our football because of the power of Rangers and Celtic. I would also like to see the money spread around more fairly.

[simoid]

Rangers and Celtic are the biggest attractions - I'm not sure about trying to skim money off them being "fair" spread of money.

I take the point about the 16 team top tier, but I don't think the SPL will vote for any change that could reduce their pot share - although it's a wee bit different now with potentially only 1 Old Firm visit when it could've been 4 in previous years.

Bear in mind we need to reward the successful teams so they can make us money in Europe.

[davepoth]

-cough-British League-cough-

[simoid]

davepoth said:

-cough-British League-cough-

Could start with a Scottish/English League Cup to spice them up a bit, since nobody really cares about the present ones.

[stevoknevo]

davepoth said:

-cough-British League-cough-

Or even a cup competition? I remember St Mirren winning the Anglo-Scottish cup in the late 70's quite fondly as my Grandad knew most of the players.

[stevoknevo]

simoid said:

Rangers and Celtic are the biggest attractions - I'm not sure about trying to skim money off them being "fair" spread of money.

I take the point about the 16 team top tier, but I don't think the SPL will vote for any change that could reduce their pot share - although it's a wee bit different now with potentially only 1 Old Firm visit when it could've been 4 in previous years.

Bear in mind we need to reward the successful teams so they can make us money in Europe.

The reward for being in the top 5 is Europe, that is where the money is. Milking that source depends on how well you do in the subsequent competition you end up in?
The current proposals for restructure suggest a major re-distribution of funds from those who finish first and second in the SPL; so the winners of the 1st division will receive £387k instead of the £68k that they currently receive, and the 2 that are relegated from the top division will receive a £200k parachute payment.
The top two clubs in the SPL will essentially pay for this due to a reduction in prize money, so the SPL are happy for this to go ahead http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20997587

There is no skim of money coming from "Rangers and Celtic" as you suggest, it will come from whoever is 1st and 2nd in the SPL next season, if the proposals are ratified. As a Celtic fan I would never be so derogatory to other clubs as to say we are going to win the championship and that they can fight it out for the spoils.

There is no such thing as an 'old firm' now; fellow SPL clubs will be visited once, possibly twice, per season dependant on league position, by fellow SPL clubs under the new proposals, the same as it was previously.

I'm more than happy for this to go ahead.

[simoid]

Let's face it, it's highly likely that by the end of the decade it's going to be the two teams with the biggest fanbases and most resources who are 1st and 2nd in the SPL. And they'll be the only ones likely to make any sort of dent into Europe with an ever decreasing coefficient.

Once Rangers are back in the top flight, it'll most probably be back to the status quo - Old Firm sell more tickets and get more TV interest than everyone else combined.

Do you like my regional idea? I think it's chuffing brilliant. No more thousands of pounds wasted by Annan and Queen of the South travelling to Brechin and Peterhead, instead, it can be spent on youth development.

And let's play football in June and July instead of December and January when we're at it.

[DocJock]

simoid said:

Do you like my regional idea? I think it's chuffing brilliant. No more thousands of pounds wasted by Annan and Queen of the South travelling to Brechin and Peterhead, instead, it can be spent on youth development.

Looks good in principle. I agree wee teams can do without the cost of overnighters.
In practice however, what happens to your NE/SW split when Stranraer get relegated from Div1 and Elgin win the promotion play-offs? Do Stranraer go into the NE Division 2?

Simoid said:

And let's play football in June and July instead of December and January when we're at it.

What happens every other year when there's a World Cup or a Euro Championship?


I love the idea of 2 x 12 splitting to 3 x 8. It means way more meaningful matches for most teams and the best teams will still rise to the top.

[simoid]

Regions:

The 9 teams closest to the the team furthest southeast, then the other 10 in the North/East division?

The teams in the middle might shift regions every now and again - eg the Stirlings - if Elgin go out and Annan go in to the regional divisions.

Think that could work better than the present.



WRT World Cup/Euro years - the Scandinavians and the like have managed, although AIUI the Russians are switching.

How many of the current SPL are likely to be at a World Cup vs African Nations?

I think we could work around that for the benefits of summer football.

Is there not a proposal for the Qatar World Cup to be in Winter?

Edited by simoid on Sunday 13th January 11:17

[DocJock]

Yeah, it would definitely be an improvement on the present system.

[simoid]

DocJock said:

Yeah, it would definitely be an improvement on the present system.

That's it decided then

Not much change if you just make Div 2 + 3 into a regionally split Div 2, mind.

[simoid]

Seems the Swiss FA bods have popped across to do some trolling

"Senior figures in Swiss football have questioned the wisdom of the Scottish game adopting a league structure deemed a failure in their country."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/scotland/21313900

[Olivera]

18 team premier league, bottom 2 or 3 relegated. Don't really care what happens in lower divisions.

[simoid]

Olivera said:

18 team premier league, bottom 2 or 3 relegated. Don't really care what happens in lower divisions.

18? Why?

[Olivera]

simoid said:

Olivera said:

18 team premier league, bottom 2 or 3 relegated. Don't really care what happens in lower divisions.

18? Why?

Because everyone has been bored for a long time with 10 or 12 teams playing each other 3 or 4 times per season. 18 allows a straightforward 34 game league, each team plays the others twice, with no need for a convoluted split.

[simoid]

Olivera said:

Because everyone has been bored for a long time with 10 or 12 teams playing each other 3 or 4 times per season. 18 allows a straightforward 34 game league, each team plays the others twice, with no need for a convoluted split.

How would that work financially?

Most of the clubs don't seem to think it would.