Aberdeen, Alloa and Livingston chiefs blast Charles Green's league reconstruction

[RANGERRAB 3,387]

What you need to remember is that the biggest financial contributor to scottish football (SKY) wants 4 OF games minimum per season. If they don't get that.................well let's see what might happen after not getting it this season

[der Berliner 3,434]

A 20 team top league would be fantastic but it would still be a 2 horse race. The game is doomed in Scotland.

 

Yep ... England has a "three horse race" in a league of 20, Germany has a "one plus two pretenders a season-race" in a league of 18, Italy has a "at best four horse race" in a league of 20 ... they are all doomed? Just look at who won the last 10odd titles there to get the idea. No matter what, the OF will be the powers of the Scottish game for decades to come, unless e.g. Hibs and Hearts merge and combine their power. In some ways, Scottish football might be better off with the Old Firm gone. Whether it would rise much higher than the standard of the Irish or Welsh league remains to be seen, of course. For at the end of the day, the pond remains the same.

 

If the national systems remain in place, the game as such will only get enhancement by more competition. You will not get that within one country alone (England is obviously out of the equation, for matters well known), nor will you be able to get one or another club into a different league. As I said before, start a British Cup with teams from every nation, if need be scrap the League Cup and play this challenge cup in midweek instead. If need be, start regional competitions (e.g. North England, Ulster, Scotland - 4 teams each), the winners of which face those from other regions and enjoy a final at a national stadium. If need be exclude teams who play in Europe and thus give the lower-placed teams a chance to challenge someone they do not face anywhere else. Sure it is not glamour footie, but very much a change to the norm for players and fans alike.

[plgsarmy 111]

Is anyone old enough to remember when we had an 18 team league? There were so many meaningless mid-table games and two teams still dominated. As much as I don't like the SPL we had a situation in recent years when nothing was decided until the last weekend and it was exciting. Even in the EPL there are a handful of interesting games but also a lot of dross. Who really cares about Wigan V QPR?

[Frankie 8,230]

Is anyone old enough to remember when we had an 18 team league? There were so many meaningless mid-table games and two teams still dominated. As much as I don't like the SPL we had a situation in recent years when nothing was decided until the last weekend and it was exciting. Even in the EPL there are a handful of interesting games but also a lot of dross. Who really cares about Wigan V QPR?

 

I'm not old enough to remember the old Division One but I really feel we're now changing again for change's sake.

 

I don't think the actual format of the leagues is a huge problem - just the pyramid nature of it and the overall quality. I'm not convinced those issues will improve just because the number of teams/leagues changes.

[amms 0]

Is anyone old enough to remember when we had an 18 team league? There were so many meaningless mid-table games and two teams still dominated. As much as I don't like the SPL we had a situation in recent years when nothing was decided until the last weekend and it was exciting. Even in the EPL there are a handful of interesting games but also a lot of dross. Who really cares about Wigan V QPR?

 

Wigan and QPR fans will, and some of the clubs around them in the league. Not every football match needs to be a blockbuster, super sunday, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious game of the century match. There are no meaningless games, they all matter to someone.

Excitement and good football are not always related.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

I'm not old enough to remember the old Division One but I really feel we're now changing again for change's sake.

 

I don't think the actual format of the leagues is a huge problem - just the pyramid nature of it and the overall quality. I'm not convinced those issues will improve just because the number of teams/leagues changes.

 

 

the uneven split should go and the, split of money should be better as well.

[GovanAllan 0]

Is anyone old enough to remember when we had an 18 team league? There were so many meaningless mid-table games and two teams still dominated. As much as I don't like the SPL we had a situation in recent years when nothing was decided until the last weekend and it was exciting. Even in the EPL there are a handful of interesting games but also a lot of dross. Who really cares about Wigan V QPR?

 

To be fair that's the same in a league of any size if its tight at the top and bottom, by the very nature of a league you are going to get meaningless games towards the end of a season if your team is mid table and out of the cups. A perfect chance to give young players a run out and valuable experience with nothing at stake, instead we seem to be pushing for a system where every game is do or die and the teams are living in a state of fear and no young blood is getting a chance.

[Darthter 542]

There will always be meaningless games - even in the proposed new structure.....what about the teams sitting at the bottom of the top league of 8 - what do they have to play for??? no relegation, and those at the top will probably be too far in front for them to make any difference. Same with the 3rd league of 8 - those sitting at the top won't get promoted.

 

I agreed with Frankie....I don't think in the grand scheme of things the league setup is going to make a whole lot of difference. There will always be meaningless games (in terms of promotion/relegation etc) and there will always be a number of overly dominant teams. What gets me at the moment is that a number of reports are suggesting that reconstruction is the only to ensure a fairer financial model - can that not be changed independently from league structure???

 

I would suggest:

- 2 leagues of either 18-24 or 20-22

- cap on gate prices across the board...£15 max possibly

- fair distribution of sponsorship cash across BOTH division

- Playoffs....either 2 or 3 automatic promotions/relegations, with another 1 or 2 playoff positions

 

a nice simple structure which everyone understands and can follow. Then folk can focus on the pitch - work on the product, not the delivery vehicle.

[Cotter 0]

I agree with several posters that the structure of the leagues isn't actually that important. Whether there's 14 or 18 of them, it's still the same pish teams. We need academies and a grass roots system that doesn't favour size and strength over technique. Then the football may eventually become exciting. In all honesty, if they're not putting rangers back into the top division to get the money back into the league, then what the fuck is the point of all this pissing about? Restructure ma baws ya fannies. It's a total nonsense and everyone knows it.

[calscot 0]

I also think that for a real solution that works, we need just one Edinburgh team and one Dundee team and a few other amalgamations - but that will never happen. We need another two to four stronger sides to push the top two all the way.

 

But no amount of shuffling the same pack will ever allow a small country to compete with a large country while income is based on population size as is the case with the TV money.

 

Our national game is at a dead end in this respect. We either just have to accept where we are or join a bigger league structure be it Europe or UK. All small countries have this dilemma, even the mighty Dutch.