Is The Split Burst?

[Whosthedado 1,541]

I think this is brilliant from Bain again. The guy has really shot up in my estimations and to use the same phrase as Liewell makes it better for me. Well in Martin Bain:spl:

[maineflyer 0]

It's not easy to think of Bain doing something well but this sort of assertive statement is long overdue. The sporting integrity phrase is simply a small payback to let everyone know exactly where we're coming from.

[Norris Cole 0]

The sporting integrity phrase is simply a small payback to let everyone know exactly where we're coming from.

 

Totally. Putting them well and truly in their place.

[Tannochsidebear 2,322]

Not sure where I stand on the 18 team league set-up.

 

Adding 6 more teams of a similar standard to Hamilton, Falkirk and St Mirren and taking away 2 games against Hearts, Hibs and Dundee Utd does not improve the competitive nature of the league.

 

It might have more variety and less repetitive fixtures, but will it improve the competition as a whole.

 

But then I dont have the solution to come up with something better.

 

The idea I have been suggesting for a couple of years now was to increase the league to 14 teams, and play each other twice, giving 26 games. The top 6 break away and play each other twice more, giving another 10 games for a total of 36 games, with each team having played the exact same fixtures as everyone else. Also the fixtures are pre-determined before a ball is kicked. All the remaining fixtures are based on the standings at the end of week 26, and for example week 27 would be 1st v 6th, 5th v 2nd, 3rd v 4th.

 

That looks great for the top 6, but is unfair on the team coming 7th, who with a late run could make a Euro slot, but would be denied this and probably have nothing to play for, other than "winning" their own league of 8 post-split. 2 up and 2 down from the bottom 8 makes it competitive for the relegation slots.

 

What looks stupid with this scenario is the fact that the bottom half of the split end up playing 40 games, while the top half plays 36. Some re-branding could be the answer, with the bottom half getting it's own title, trophy etc and with 4 more games to help with the finances as they are not playing with the OF for the second half, it could be palatable to them.

 

So essentially you have one SPL from August to February/March with 26 games. We then have the Champions Race for the top 6 with the extra 10 games and the Relegation Race for the bottom 8 with an extra 14 games. The league is shown as 2 different leagues for the post-split.

 

As I say not ideal and open to ridicule for some teams playing more games than others, and perhaps unfair to one or two teams who just miss out on 6th place, but I believe a 18 team league will not improve the quality, excitement, or competition of the SPL.

[Frankie 8,199]

I think this season the league has been pretty competitive anyway - even if the standard may not be as agreeable as we'd like. However, I fail to see how increasing the number of teams would improve that.

 

I'm yet to be convinced a change is required.

[wabashcannonball 0]

The major leagues in world football are dominated by the same three or four teams year in year out, irrespective of the number of teams in their leagues, you need look no further than the alleged best league in the world the EPL.

 

We should have a premier league of 18 and a first division of 22, 3 up 3 down from both, there are plenty of meaningless games in every league ours is no different.

[rbr 1,247]

The major leagues in world football are dominated by the same three or four teams year in year out, irrespective of the number of teams in their leagues, you need look no further than the alleged best league in the world the EPL.

 

We should have a premier league of 18 and a first division of 22, 3 up 3 down from both, there are plenty of meaningless games in every league ours is no different.

 

Totally agree , the long term has to be about getting fans back into grounds and if fans believe their team will compete they will return , Hibs are a prime example when they were relegated a few years ago , the other positive is that teams can blood younger players without the persistent fear of dropping points

[Guest BillyMac]

the split is a joke every year fans bitch on about it the anomaly's are there for all to see so lets dump this and move on, I do think it is time for change I am bored at seeing the same teams week in week out if the top 6 in the first div came up

at least we would all be able to see the full fixture list and everybody plan their season I do not care about any other team just ours

[calscot 0]

Ours is very different from most other leagues. We have a 5M population which means that our "pyramid" for supporters is very steep and peaky. This makes the disparity between the bigger teams and the smaller one's huge. Not only that the OF is a special case compared to most countries and that exaggerates the difference.

 

In fact I think it's the OF anomaly that allows us to compete in Europe at all. Other similar sized countries do no seem to have such big clubs to compete eg: Sweden, Norway, Finland, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland.

 

Another disadvantage to Rangers are that income streams such as sponorship and TV would be further diluted, without much benefit to the Scottish game as a whole. There isn't that much to go around in the first place and so it can't be compared to the likes of the EPL.

 

It seems to me the best solution would be to team up with other countries in an Atlantic league. It's the only way smaller countries can even hope to compete with the big 5 and Russia too.

[wabashcannonball 0]

As suspected nothing to do with football, all to do with revenue streams and the big boys getting the biggest slice of the cake.