Atlantic League

[Gaffer 1,665]

We need to restructure our own league first, but really there's no reason why Rangers couldn't just do this right now.  We could arrange a series of friendlies with 5 or 6 other clubs throughout the season, resulting in a winner of a "friendly cup".  There's no question that we would all go along to watch these games if we picked our opposition sensibly.  I've never worked out why we don't do this but I'm sure the bright sparks on here will enlighten me.  Anyone?

[Unicorn 206]

I think we’d be relegated fairly quickly, to be honest.   I think we should concentrate on challenging in Scotland before contemplating competing with Ajax, Basel and the likes.  We crashed out of Europe to a team from Luxembourg at the start of the season.

[Rousseau 10,605]

The Challenge Cup has perhaps shown the way towards an Atlantic League -- although that would be a tad more complicated -- by bringing in teams from Wales and N. Ireland.

 

Even at our recent best we were never going to be competing with the teams mentioned (Ajax, PSV, Anderlecht, etc. -- Celtic only beat Anderlecht because they were in turmoil after a manager sacking). The point was to expose us to better, technical opposition and more money, to elevate us to a level where we could climb up the European ladder again. At the moment we are languishing in the doldrums; and it will only get worse as the CL spots dry up.

 

I am in favour of this route, but it won't be easy; and it certainly won't be any time soon.    

[Thinker 887]

6 hours ago, pete said:

The Dutch have totally no interest in the Atlantic league at this time. The old Chairman of PSV was for it years ago and entered into talks. They don't see the Atlantic nations teams as being step up from the teams in their own league

It's kind of understandable that the Dutch would feel that way as their league is by far the healthiest of the potential Atlantic League participant nations. (They have the most teams drawing a decent crowd). Any setup where each of the countries involved gets the same representation (e.g. 3 teams each) is bound to be of limited (or no) benefit to Dutch football.

 

Maybe it would be better to either just invite the 20 best supported clubs in the Atlantic zone - or to make the number of clubs each nation gets proportional to its population. I think either of those works out something like 6 Dutch, 4 Belgian, 4 Portuguese, 2 Scottish, 2 Danish, 2 others (Swiss? - would it be feasible to include teams from Sweden and Norway given that they play Summer football?)

[Thinker 887]

3 hours ago, Unicorn said:

I think we’d be relegated fairly quickly, to be honest.   I think we should concentrate on challenging in Scotland before contemplating competing with Ajax, Basel and the likes.  We crashed out of Europe to a team from Luxembourg at the start of the season.

I think if we had decent TV money we'd be able to improve our squad very rapidly. We'd be one of the best supported teams in any Atlantic League set up.

 

I don't really see anything happening in the immediate future, but the gap between the "big leagues" and the rest widens with every year that passes. It's a problem that's only going to get worse until the smaller football nations address it - either that or write off the notion of serious European football.

Edited February 22, 2018 by Thinker

[pete 2,499]

The bubble will burst some time. Then all hell will break loss.

 

[SlimJim 18]

57 minutes ago, Thinker said:

It's kind of understandable that the Dutch would feel that way as their league is by far the healthiest of the potential Atlantic League participant nations. (They have the most teams drawing a decent crowd). Any setup where each of the countries involved gets the same representation (e.g. 3 teams each) is bound to be of limited (or no) benefit to Dutch football.

 

Maybe it would be better to either just invite the 20 best supported clubs in the Atlantic zone - or to make the number of clubs each nation gets proportional to its population. I think either of those works out something like 6 Dutch, 4 Belgian, 4 Portuguese, 2 Scottish, 2 Danish, 2 others (Swiss? - would it be feasible to include teams from Sweden and Norway given that they play Summer football?)

The 3 teams is only for the first season then it’s based on results. The Netherlands could have six teams by the 4th season if they were good enough.

[SlimJim 18]

52 minutes ago, Thinker said:

I think if we had decent TV money we'd be able to improve our squad very rapidly. We'd be one of the best supported teams in any Atlantic League set up.

 

I don't really see anything happening in the immediate future, but the gap between the "big leagues" and the rest widens with every year that passes. It's a problem that's only going to get worse until the smaller football nations address it - either that or write off the notion of serious European football.

Agreed, it’s perfectly obvious it’s a whole new ball game if the set up changes. Our current team would have no bearing to that in a new league and we’d be in the top 4 supported clubs, no problem, and probably number 1. I’m not sure it’s going to happen anytime soon, unfortunately.