Celtic and Rangers could finally quit Scottish football...

[calscot 0]

With the way things are going with the big 5, I'm constantly surprised that all the other countries are not getting together and threatening UEFA with breaking away to form a new association for both clubs and country, which excludes the offending countries from all competitions and player transfers.

 

UEFA is corrupt in any case and a new association would allow a clean up.

 

As Scottish teams found out, stick together and those that think they are too big end up caving as they can't thrive without competition.

[craig 5,199]

With the way things are going with the big 5, I'm constantly surprised that all the other countries are not getting together and threatening UEFA with breaking away to form a new association for both clubs and country, which excludes the offending countries from all competitions and player transfers.

 

UEFA is corrupt in any case and a new association would allow a clean up.

 

As Scottish teams found out, stick together and those that think they are too big end up caving as they can't thrive without competition.

 

From a country perspective you would be excluded from WC qualifiers by FIFA I would expect.

 

I don't think UEFA would care quite frankly - they may even encourage it as they can then have what they want, a CL with only the big 5 countries. They could argue the moral high ground

[aweebluesoandso 290]

it's looking like clubs from the smaller countries want their share of a bigger pie, what that bigger pie will be remains to be seen yet? But football is changing one way or another, it shouldn't scare us,. My hope is a move to England when the pies are baking.

Edited October 15, 2016 by aweebluesoandso

[calscot 0]

From a country perspective you would be excluded from WC qualifiers by FIFA I would expect.

 

I don't think UEFA would care quite frankly - they may even encourage it as they can then have what they want, a CL with only the big 5 countries. They could argue the moral high ground

 

A "world cup" could not even exist in more than a name with the exclusion of 45 European countries...

 

With two European associations and one with 45ish countries and the other with 5, Fifa would be forced to negotiate to save their own skin.

 

But as said, UEFA would necessarily cave, like the SPL, SFA, and OF.

[pete 2,499]

I was watching a Dutch programme a few days ago and they were all asking what Copenhagen and Malmo had to bring to the table. Are they any bigger than Utrecht or Groningen was said. A couple of pundits said the old idea of Holland Belgium Portugal and Rangers and Celtic may be considered but they proposed just a Belgium and Dutch League would be the best as supporters could still travel easy.

[calscot 0]

I was watching a Dutch programme a few days ago and they were all asking what Copenhagen and Malmo had to bring to the table. Are they any bigger than Utrecht or Groningen was said. A couple of pundits said the old idea of Holland Belgium Portugal and Rangers and Celtic may be considered but they proposed just a Belgium and Dutch League would be the best as supporters could still travel easy.

 

That does sound like a better solution for them - but would be disastrous for us. It would elevate both those countries another level above us and another one of our options gone.

 

The only solution I can see is a model something like the Superbowl. We spit Europe into regional conferences with either franchised teams chosen from the area or teams qualifying for them via their leagues and a regional cup. Then we have a CL type super league from the top teams from the conferences.

 

Then there is the choice of global tv contracts, regional or letting each club negotiate its own, with the home team keeping the money, like gate money.

 

Invite only (or selections from applications) might be better to keep a balance due to the skewness of riches, but a meritocracy is obviously preferable.

 

The former could be dangerous for us where they might reckon there is only need for one Scottish club or one Glasgow club.

 

But European football is pretty sick at the moment and something has to be done before it dies a death outside the top 5. It's like someone taking anabolic steroids and having great muscle growth and strength, looking great on the outside, but they are simultaneously trashing their internal organs. UEFA have been immensely remiss at protecting the game in the vast majority of its member associations. In fact they've been like the coach who offers the athletes some kind of dangerous doping.

Edited October 17, 2016 by calscot

[Thinker 887]

That does sound like a better solution for them - but would be disastrous for us. It would elevate both those countries another level above us and another one of our options gone.

 

The only solution I can see is a model something like the Superbowl. We spit Europe into regional conferences with either franchised teams chosen from the area or teams qualifying for them via their leagues and a regional cup. Then we have a CL type super league from the top teams from the conferences.

 

Then there is the choice of global tv contracts, regional or letting each club negotiate its own, with the home team keeping the money, like gate money.

 

Invite only (or selections from applications) might be better to keep a balance due to the skewness of riches, but a meritocracy is obviously preferable.

 

The former could be dangerous for us where they might reckon there is only need for one Scottish club or one Glasgow club.

 

But European football is pretty sick at the moment and something has to be done before it dies a death outside the top 5. It's like someone taking anabolic steroids and having great muscle growth and strength, looking great on the outside, but they are simultaneously trashing their internal organs. UEFA have been immensely remiss at protecting the game in the vast majority of its member associations. In fact they've been like the coach who offers the athletes some kind of dangerous doping.

 

There are ways you could get an American style conference system to work - and to me it seems like a better idea than a Superleague because you could still have national conferences (and therefore preserve the idea of national champions) for each participating association. All you do is create short top-flights, and add games against teams from other nations to make up the fixture list. As long as everyone in the same conference has the same set of fixtures it's a fair contest. At the end of the season you could have an inter-conference knock-out competition (akin to the superbowl) for CL spots.