Rangers set to remain bottom tier in 12-12-18 plan

[Steve1872 4]

By STEPHEN HALLIDAY

Published on Saturday 9 March 2013 00:00

THE combined rule book for a proposed 12-12-18 league set-up in Scottish football next season has confirmed there will be no fast-track route for Rangers back to the top flight.

The first draft of rules for the new body, which would incorporate all 42 current senior clubs and be called The Scottish Professional Football League, also reveals there will be no championship trophy up for grabs for clubs in the middle tier of the new structure.

The initial copy of the combined rules document, which was distributed to clubs this week and is subject to revision, has been obtained by The Scotsman.

It formalises the composition of the controversial set-up, devised by the board of the Scottish Premier League and backed by the senior management of the Scottish Football League and Scottish Football Association.

The unified SPFL, which would see the clubs in one league body again for the first time since the SPL breakaway in 1998, is intended to be put in place for the start of next season. It will require an 11-1 vote in 
favour from the current SPL clubs and then 75 per cent backing from the 29 SFL clubs eligible to vote â?? Rangers are ineligible due to their status as associate members of the SFA following their liquidation â?? if it is to go ahead.

The rule book states that the 12 clubs in the top division for the 2013-14 campaign will be the first 11 clubs in the current SPL and the champions of this seasonâ??s SFL First Division.

The second division of 12 clubs next season will be made up of the club relegated from the current SPL, the eight clubs finishing from second to ninth place in the current First Division, the champions of the current Second Division and the winners of two play-off ties.

The draft document states the club who finish second bottom of the current First Division would go into the play-offs, but that is a clerical error. Those play-off ties would therefore be between the club who finish bottom of the current First Division and the fourth-placed club in the Second Division; and the second and third-placed clubs in the Second Division.

This seasonâ??s Third Division play-offs will not take place if the proposal is approved. The new 18-team third tier will be comprised of the losers of the two Second Division play-off ties, the bottom six clubs in the Second Division and all ten clubs in the Third Division. That means Rangers, as Third Division champions, will remain 
in the bottom tier of league football next season. Details of promotion and relegation in future seasons under 12-12-18 are also detailed. The top two divisions will split into three groups of eight clubs after 22 matches of the campaign. The top eight clubs will play each other twice more, home and away, to determine who are Scottish champions and who earn European places.

The middle eight, or play-off eight as described in the document, will have their points reset to zero and play each other home and away. The top four clubs will be in the top division the following season, the bottom four in the second division.

No trophy will be awarded to the club finishing top of the play-off eight, with the document declaring: â??Given the split at Game 22 it is difficult to have a Div 2 championâ?.

The bottom two clubs in the third group of eight will be automatically relegated to the bottom tier of 18 clubs for the following season. The top two clubs in the bottom tier will be automatically promoted to the second tier of 12 clubs for the following season.

There will be a play-off competition involving the third and fourth bottom clubs in the third group of eight and the third, fourth, fifth and sixth-placed clubs in the bottom tier to determine two more relegation-promotion places.

There will also be a pyramid play-off competition between the two clubs who finish at the bottom of the 18-club third tier and two candidate non-league clubs identified by the SFA from a national competition

approved by the SPFL board.

Under the combined rules, there would also be a standard 15-point penalty for any club which experiences an insolvency event. Ten points would be deducted immediately, with the further five-point deduction applied at a stage of the season when the SPFL board determined it would have the most meaningful impact.

http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/sfl-division-three/rangers-set-to-remain-bottom-tier-in-12-12-18-plan-1-2827772?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

[Gribz 850]

So these donkeys are getting their way. Id imagine our application to join the Blue Square Conference League will be filled up if the vote goes through.

[der Berliner 3,745]

Halliday (of all people) should know that Rangers have not been liquidated. I simply cannot get my head around this. People want to write sound and correct articles about the whole thing, yet come up with the same simple errors time and again.

 

Furthermore, why swing the "bottom tier"-club? Yes, de facto it will be the bottom tier, but likewise it will be the third tier, i.e. the same into which Rangers would be promoted as champions of the the fourth tier. Whom is he catering to?

 

Finally, do journalists actually stop doing some naughty naughty questioning? Like ... how can it be that a whole league season is essentially ruled worthless and degraded to the status of friendlies midway through a season? Has this ever happened before? Is this against any competition rules? Does this not contradict the same rules of sporting integrity of a competition that the Scum wielded so perfectly in 2008?

[der Berliner 3,745]

An FFer just commented ...

 

Ok I do not even know where to begin with this.....

 

I have read it through twice now and I am still scratching my head. How can anyone think this is a good idea???

 

The middle 8??

No Div2 or 2nd tier champions???? Zero-ing points totals??? If this was this season and Dundee found themselves so far adrift at an early stage in the season, what would be the point of Dundee turning up to games or to put it another way what would be the players motivation if they knew soon enough all points totals would be zero-ed and they would be back in with a chance to stay up??? OR to look at it in another way, You could have a team that finishes 9th before the split to the middle 8, with a healthy points total and in a relatively safe position. Then the middle 8 group of games kicks off with all points totals zero-ed and this team go through a dip in form or get a few injuries to key players and find themselves finishing in the bottom 4 and getting relegated, when really if they had kept their points total that took them to 9th in the top tier before the zeroing they would have probably survived the relegation. Neither scenario, whether it be the Hypothetical Dundee example or the team finishing 9th before the "split" example is fair or dare I say in line with "sporting integrity"!!!

 

In addition the teams that yo-yo between the current spl and Div 1, like Dundee, Falkirk, St Mirren, Dunfermline or infact most of the Div 1 teams whos biggest ambition or achievement is being crowed Div 1 champions or Champions of the 2nd tier whatever that may be called, will now never get that chance to win that crown and therefore are never likely to win any silverware again!! Where is the "sporting integrity" in that. It's a total injustice that, that joy the players, manager and fans just might experience if their small club wins Div 1 will now be taken away from them!!

 

More exciting games???

I don't see how any of this will bring more excitement to the game in general either. There will be so many clubs that will basically find themselves playing for nothing!!

 

5 points when we decide???

As for the 15 pt deduction but we'll take 10 and then a further 5 when we think it will have the biggest impact is unbelievable. It shows an incredible amount of arrogance that the "new" board can just make this judgement or should make this judgement and reminds me of the new sectarian legislation where it is left to the discretion of police (are they qualified to make that judgement/are they policy makers?) to make decisions when, where or what is sectarian or inciting hatred or causing offense just like with this, the board will decide when to impose the further 5point deduction to cause the biggest impact!!! But most horrifying of all is not their arrogance or the fact that these board members think they are the best to judge but that they actually think it makes a difference!!! 5 points now, or in the middle of the season or at the end of the season, is still just 5points regardless of how you cut it. Obviously every club is going to know to take 5 points off their points total to reflect their true points total and therefore league position regardless of when the all knowing, all mighty board decide to remove them!!!!! It is totally moronic!!!! The whole thing is a total shambles but this 10 points and then 5 points later when we decide is sooooo embarrassing!!! I cannot actually believe that has been written into the rules!!!

 

Why would any sane-minded chairman of a non-SPL-club vote for this?

[der Berliner 3,745]

Actually ... if this 12a-12b-18 comes to pass, a top two place in the 18-league (season 2013/14) will get us straight promotion to the 12b. The year after that (2014/15), we have to finish in the top 4 of 12b to get into the "play-off-8" phase, where we will face the top 4 (us included) of 12b again, plus the bottom 4 of the 12a - with all clubs have 0 points. We need to finish amongst the top 4 to enter 12a ... in season 2015/16. That means we could enter European football based on league standings in summer 2016. Should we manage that, the return would last as long as it would with the current set-up (qualification via cups excluded).

 

I for one doubt that all the current SPL teams will live that long, not least the team in second place, who will have to give up twice as much as the champions and the third placed team in money ... to finance all of this.

 

On a sidenote, do we have to agree on any Sky et al deal?

 

On another sidenote ... (quote from FF)

As we were told in the summer, there are strict rules on promotion and relegation.

 

We were not actually relegated in the summer as there was no mechanism to relegate us from the spl to the sfl3.

 

There is also no mechanism to promote a team that finishes bottom of the sfl3. Covered by rule 93 of the Sfl.

 

As the team that finishes bottom of the sfl3 cannot be promoted, then if we are in the same division as said bottom placed team, then we have not been promoted.

 

If we have not been promoted, they are not allowed to disband the SFL.

85. RESTRICTION ON DISSOLUTION

It shall not be competent to resolve to wind up the League with the purpose or effect of then re-forming a National Association Football League within three years of the date of the resolution to wind up which shall exclude any club formerly in membership of the League or which shall exclude a club formerly in membership of the League from being promoted to a higher division of such League where it had a legitimate expectation of such promotion when a member of the League, unless such club shall consent in writing to such exclusion; and in the event of such a resolution being passed and such circumstances arising within the said three year period such resolution shall be null and void and treated as such ab initio.

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Edited March 9, 2013 by der Berliner

[Guest nvager]

Shambolic document. How any sane person can vote this through is beyond me.

[Guest alfiebass]

Tbh, if this is an accurate description of what is being proposed I don't see it getting passed.

 

1. It looks like a means of league fixing for a top 12 side (I wonder who that could be)

2. How can Div. 2 get any sponsorship if there will be no championship involved thus stopping teams being able to compete for access to the top tier.

3. What fan is going to attend any of the games involved in a league with no winners and little chance of advancement due to the deck being stacked against them from day one?

4. What TV company with a brain in charge would touch this?

5. Who would ever invest in any club in such a fixed looking league?

 

In the interests of "Sporting Integrity" the names of the architects of these plans must be put in the public domain along with full details of any TV deals that have been negotiated to date. Personally if this gets anywhere near being adopted I can see a number of legal challenges. Let's be honest if that happens they will be screwed, after all it's not as if they have much of a track record of success on that front do they.

Edited March 9, 2013 by alfiebass

[Gribz 850]

Isnt the fact it failed in Austria and Switzerland proof that it shouldnt even be attempted. And to think Doncaster got a pay rise of 5 figures in the last set of accounts.

[Mountain Bear 0]

 

On another sidenote ... (quote from FF)

 

That's an interesting point about the SFL rule which prevents league restructuring from negating promotion DB;

 

"...which shall exclude any club formerly in membership of the League or which shall exclude a club formerly in membership of the League from being promoted to a higher division of such League where it had a legitimate expectation of such promotion when a member of the League, unless such club shall consent in writing to such exclusion".

 

The authors of the proposal may argue that the 18 team league IS higher than our current 4th tier. I wonder whether they would also have the nerve to use our lack of full membership and voting rights in the SFL to circumvent this rule?

 

Either way, I think they have some serious explaining to do on this point.

[GovanAllan 0]

Did they sit down and think right lets come up with the stupidest most absurd ideas and see if we dangle enough money in front of them they won't notice.

 

Scottish football is f#^ked, last one standing turn off the lights.