Gribz 743 Posted August 7, 2006 Share Posted August 7, 2006 I just had a look at the league tables in Scotland and still find it crazy we have 42 teams and 4 leagues. Then i look at the SPL table and think about the crazy split that will again take place towards the end of the season where it can once again give teams a disadvantage by having an extra away game and 1 less home game. How stupid are SPL / SFA to even consider having such rule as the split knowing it can give such disadvantage. Things are not looking too bad on the national side of things at the moment with a lot of youngster being in the first squad and the U19s doing well recently. But for further progression i say we need to moderise the league format for the better. Livingston, St Johnston, Dundee, Partick, Grenta and Clyde are all capable of being in the SPL and holding there own against the lower sized teams in the SPL. They also have as good stadia. An 18 or 16 team SPL is badly needed then we should have 2 lower leagues of 12 or 13. The SFA / SPL could introduce an incentive for the clubs from 4th to mid table like the side that finishes 4th or 5th can go forward and represent Scotland in the Intertoto cup - giving them a chance of Europe. Meaning we hopefully have the top 2 going to Champions League football with 1 or 2 in the UEFA and 1 from the Intertoto. Is there anyone at or in the SFA/SPL who have an ounce of common sense and our games best interest at heart? Stand up and make some noise and re-vamp the league system!! 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fraser54 0 Posted August 7, 2006 Share Posted August 7, 2006 yes i think it does need revamped and i think an 16 league of teams would be good play each tem twice and then do the split and play each team again in the split which would give you 37 games 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
colshy18 0 Posted August 7, 2006 Share Posted August 7, 2006 not sure since id love to see gers and tic in the english leagues 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CammyF 6,787 Posted August 7, 2006 Share Posted August 7, 2006 Only way to revamp it is to have a top league of 16 teams who play each other twice (once at home, once away). Bottom 2 teams get relegated, replaced by the top 2 from the first division. That means only 30 league games which would allow teams to take the CIS seriously again! This will NEVER happen, as the wee didy teams who claim that they can live and prosper without the OF don't want to lose one (or two) home gates against the OF. Cammy F 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wija 0 Posted August 7, 2006 Share Posted August 7, 2006 Would prefer to see the split scrapped - 18 teams in the top league with 34 games played - 1 Home and 1 Away. 2 teams drop and 2 teams up. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
colshy18 0 Posted August 7, 2006 Share Posted August 7, 2006 the split is laughed at all round europe to be perfectly honest! 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gribz 743 Posted August 7, 2006 Author Share Posted August 7, 2006 As Cammy says, and i forgot to add that to my original post, the others wont go for it coz they miss out on the OF revenue. Other thing i think is that there is too many clubs and tradition is whats holding this back. Clubs should start to merge with one another. For e.g. - Montrose and Arbroath, Stirling and East Stirling etc etc 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
calscot 0 Posted August 7, 2006 Share Posted August 7, 2006 There are good reasons to have the split and not go to 18 teams. Would you pay the same for a season ticket for 17 games (instead of 19) where only one was Celtic and one Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen etc? They are replaced by the likes of Hamilton, St Johnstone and Dundee etc... We have a twelve team league but even then a lot of the games attract around 5 or 6 thousand fans. How many will turn up to a mid-table game between say Motherwell and St Mirren, where neither team will get into Europe nor get relegated? How much TV money will the league attract, as well as sponsors etc? The split may be controversial but it can spice up the mid-table three quarters of the way into the season. It gives all the middling teams a tangible goal which is rewarded with extra income. So we have a fight for the Championship, then a fight for the CL place, then a fight for the UEFA place then a fight for a top 6 finish and finally a relegation fight. To spice up the bottom even more I'd make the 2nd bottom team play a play-off with the winners of another playoff between 2nd and 3rd in Div 1. It's a flawed system, but it does work at making our league more interesting for it. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CammyF 6,787 Posted August 7, 2006 Share Posted August 7, 2006 Some reasoned arguements there, but for me, playing the same teams 6 times per season (if you are unlucky) is not entertaining nor interesting. Cammy F 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
calscot 0 Posted August 7, 2006 Share Posted August 7, 2006 As Cammy says, and i forgot to add that to my original post, the others wont go for it coz they miss out on the OF revenue. Other thing i think is that there is too many clubs and tradition is whats holding this back. Clubs should start to merge with one another. For e.g. - Montrose and Arbroath, Stirling and East Stirling etc etc I still think it's a shame in a way that Hibs resisted Hearts' takeover bid. If they got sensible can you imagine how a united Edinburgh team could challenge the OF. Instead of 16 thousand fans, they could have 30 thousand, or even more due to reasonable success. Hearts may be doing a good job without the Hibs support but can you imagine what they would be like with that extra revenue and vocal backing. And before anyone says, I realise that there are historical reasons why it wouldn't go so smoothly. But it was 20 years ago. The other two that should merge is the Dundee teams. The city's population has pretty much halved and there's no way they can support two teams. And having two stadiums next door to each other is just ridiculous. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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