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About a month ago I wrote a good article (if i dont say so myself) about how the need for the Scottish game to be revamped and how it would benefit as a whole.

 

Some things included were:

Restructure of the league format (number of leagues / poss regional)

Increased number of top flight teams meaning a few more free weekends

Summer Football

League Cup played Aug - Octo

Etc

 

I also stated that the country had taken a huge stand still in the game with not all of it being our own fault due to TV money in the bigger countries but with the countries top 2 teams doing a very decent job in European competitions in the last few years and the national team punching above our weight you'd expect this to be a spur in the right direction.

 

But how on earth are we supposed to go forward when we have imcompetent people running the top flight game. Rangers chairmen SDM was perfectly correct in saying there latest decision to not assist a club of there's in a bid for European success as laughable.

 

The SPL are already being laughed all over the place for the current league structure which see's a split in the league for the last 5 games of the season meaning some teams end up with a huge disadvantage of having 1 more away game than others who receive 1 additional home game. The most recent example of this is in this current season which see's Hibs and Dundee Utd going for a european place yet Hibs have had to make a 3rd trip to Tannadice this season while Dundee Utd have only had to go to Easter Rd once. It can work out with some teams getting 17 home games and 19 away games and vice versa - Its nothing short of a farce that those incompetent clowns continue with.

 

Next up one of the SPL's own see's themselves in a European final. Their Russian opponents have had all forthcoming games postponed in order to allow their team to prepare for the final - the biggest game in that clubs recent history.

Yet what do the SPL do - pile misery onto Rangers and make things hugely difficult just so they dont upset a handful of fans, laughable media reporters, supposed football directors, players and managers from Aberdeen, Edinburgh and the East of Glasgow to name a few places. Yet at the same time there has been good luck wishes from all these places.

 

The SPL never fail to baffle us with crazy decisions, decisions which is holding a national game back because those who sit at the top of the organisation have self interest at heart instead of the good of the game. They prefer to drive about in flash cars with flash salaries and help themselves to tickets for any game they want rather than set out an agenda to raise the profile of the SPL.

 

Karma does exsist and it wont be long before it somes round and bites - I just pray it is with 4 fat trophies sitting gleaming in the Ibrox trophy room in 19 days time!!!

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I think the biggest culprit is Celtic who have heaped massive pressure on the SPL. However, they seem to be so short sighted that they don't seem to realise that they are setting a precedent that could come back and bite them big time.

 

Are they so small time now, that they don't realise that if they have a successful season like Rangers, they will be affected in the same way - and they will have no right to complain? They must think that they will never be that successful again...

 

Rangers will also now have to seriously rethink about the morality of agreeing to postpone games due to bereavements - especially those of former players from a team.

 

Despite the maudlin pseudo sentimental hysteria over the death of Phil O'Donnell from many quarters, a minutes silence and black armbands has been enough before, so it should have been fine now.

 

The very clubs that requested the postponements are now putting the man's memory to shame with their refusal to extend the season. Surely if his memory is important enough to postpone games, then it is important enough to extend the season to allow room for the postponements.

 

Celtic have shown that their sentiment for an unpopular player who left 12 years before was false and merely a ploy to help their cause in the league.

 

You cannot postpone games when it suits you and then claim the fixture schedule is sacrosanct when it then heaps pressure on your rivals... Celtic have really gone lower than any club in history - to use the death of a player to their advantage.

 

It doesn't sound like Motherwell were happy about the league extension either - and they didn't seem to pipe up in it's favour anyway. You'd think that they'd be evangelical to extend it in honour of the player who died playing for them.

 

It seems the whole of the SPL, bar Rangers, only care to honour these kind of things when it suits them.

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Well written gribz with plenty valid points.

 

Suffice to say your last sentence sums it up. I really hope we manage to do this and stick two fingers up to those who tried to stop us!

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Here was my original post on the matter for those who are interested and didnt read it.

 

You would really think the SPL / SFA wanted to kick on and drive the nation's game forward with these opportunities and not shoot themselves in the foot.

 

Its time the SFA, SFL and SPL got together along with a number of ex players and current managers and worked out what to do about the joke that is Scottish Football.

 

The backward trend that has been going on for the last 15 years has to stop now. I dont think its a coincidence that the a 4th league was introduced in the country around this time and in that time period new clubs such as Inverness, Ross County, Livingston, Peterhead, Elgin and Gretna have all entered the professional game.

 

Dont get me wrong there was always a good shout for a highland team and Inverness have not been bad for the game but Im not so sure Ross County and Elgin are justified and could have been part of the original Highland merger.

 

But the fact of the matter is there are too many teams and divisions in a small country meaning games have attendances that you see at Shinty matches.

 

The Gretna scenario has to be the wake up call for all 3 football bodies in the country to sort something out. Its time tradition was put out the window and clubs were made to merge. If it means upsetting a few hundred fans from each small team then so be it for the state of the game. Soon enough the traditionalists would miss football and be bite the bullet and want to see football again at some grounds and if it means they change the team they follow then thats not a bad thing as they would still be turning up a a game somewhere.

 

It may take a generation or so to get used to mergers but in the long run this would be benefical. After all we have been going backwards for 1 generation already, so whats 1 more when its for the good of the game and the trend would be on the up rather than decline. There is no over night solution for the game anyway.

 

You could name a few ways to improve the structure but a maximum of 3 leagues is the way. Personally id like to see 2 top divisions with the lower regional leagues being brought back and then play offs at the end of it between the top teams from each region. A trip from Montrose to Stranraer on a Wednesday night has absolutely no point to it at all and I cant work out where the travelling club would profit from this.

 

The stadium issue also has to be addressed following the state of Fir Park lately. Clubs must submit all details of stadia well in advance to make sure only severe weather conditions can force games off. Obviously tragic circumstances such as the Phil O Donnell situation this year are exceptions.

 

One of aspect to improve the game is either having summer football or a winter break. During the winter break all clubs would have to re-lay there pitch. But Id be a fan of moving to summer football. There is no doubt in my mind having midweek games on a summer night would bring much more fans out than to midweek nights on a cold December. The Christmas period also means fans have to dip into there pockets more and some just have to give up going to the footy on the odd week.

 

On the bright side of the Scottish game at the moment is the Old Firm seem to be improving when playing in Europe. Both sides have held there own against supposed bigger teams in the last few seasons. Not only that the national team are improving and we're very unlucky not to qualify against the 2 World Cup finalists.

 

So the product is there in the country, we just need to tighten it up and run things better. We have a number of superb footballing brains from our country - that is shown with the amount of success stories down south from Alex Ferguson, Davie Moyes, Kenny Dalglish and all the way back to greats such as Shankley and Busby. Its just a shame they are cancelled out by a group of men who seem inept of doing there job with a hint of common sense in there system and just seem happy sitting a nice desk at Hampden during the week.

 

One final point is the media in the country dont help on occasion. They continue to fault and criticise and show bitterness to certain clubs in Europe rather than rally behind them when these clubs are flying the nations flag. But these journo's are easy to ignore and are certainly not worrying about. The way they act is more a social problem than a footballing one.

 

But the game needs someone to stand up and drive the ideas forward so we are not having a top flight football team going bust during a season making us a laughing stock.

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Calscot, I totally agree with your post bar the opening line - Id Celtic were the biggest influence on the SPL rather than culprit. Yes they are culprit in there own way but at the end of the day it was the SPL's decision and they were to weak due to the influence of Celtic and Co.

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lets forget about the lot of them and get on with it, starting tonight. We will have to get right behind the team like we did at peedo park and keep in there for the full nintey minutes. If the team ever needed our backing its tonight they need it most. we cant afford any slips from now on in.

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Quote:calscot

I think the biggest culprit is Celtic who have heaped massive pressure on the SPL. However, they seem to be so short sighted that they don't seem to realise that they are setting a precedent that could come back and bite them big time.

 

Are they so small time now, that they don't realise that if they have a successful season like Rangers, they will be affected in the same way - and they will have no right to complain? They must think that they will never be that successful again...

 

Cal i don't think celtic are setting a precedent,or at least they don't think they will be. I honestly believe Celtic will change corners for next season and be fighting for games to be cancelled for teams reaching Euro finals. It just suited their cause this year as did the death of Phil O Donnel.

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Chick Young is spot on on this matter also:

It is time, my friends, to put a bomb under the administration of our game.

 

Let's blow it to smithereens and start all over again.

 

The Scottish Premier League, who hijacked the top-level of football in this country and promised a golden dawn, have instead led us to a place as dark as the midnight hour.

 

They could not find a new world with the help of Christopher Columbus.

 

Sir David Murray is right. The rest of the world must be in stitches at us.

We are the Morecambe and Wise of the European game.

 

It's the Scottish way. Applaud Rangers for what they have done, but help them? You have to be joking.

 

This is the equivalent of putting on Jimmy Shand records at a ceilidh and nailing the cheuchters' feet to the floor. It's that cruel.

 

They only asked for the postponement of one fixture.

 

And can I remind you that the Ibrox club's only crime was to succeed in a European competition where no allowance is made in our fixture list for such a ridiculous thing to happen.

 

The Scottish domestic season is built on the premise that our clubs will have bowed out of European competition before Christmas.

 

As winter faded and spring dawned and Rangers ploughed on, SPL executives must have been slipping slowly under their desks.

 

Some happenings were beyond their control, for example the tragic death of Phil O'Donnell.

 

Postponing the games then, as a mark of respect, was the right thing to do.

 

But matches were called off for the sake of the international team and then there was the weather.

 

None of this was Rangers's fault.

 

They did ask for the postponement of the game against Gretna to accommodate a build-up to a Champions League game, but that game was fitted in a long time ago.

 

And now the SPL, not content to have dug themselves into the deepest of holes, send out to the garden centre for a couple of shovels.

 

If only they had asked, I'm sure Rangers would have sent them a JCB.

 

This cannot be allowed to happen again.

 

And if they have any honour about them a few blazers are going to have to take a bullet.

 

For a start, eliminate this farcical situation where three bodies administrate one game.

 

The SFA, the SPL, the SFL - three offices in one Hampden corridor but seemingly worlds apart.

 

They cannot organise tickets for Scotland games, a decent standard of refereeing and now, the support of one of our clubs which has done the country proud.

 

It cannot go on.

 

And if they don't have the answers, there are plenty out there who do.

 

Last weekend on BBC Radio Scotland's Your Call, I heard a woman called Jeannette talk more sense in two minutes than I've heard from an administrator all season.

 

Her plan was to make the split after the clubs had played each other twice and then the top six and bottom six would play one another twice.

 

This would reduce the fixture jam by half a dozen games and thereby create space for our European representation.

 

The woman is a genius. Give her the top job. Now.

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Apart from you blowing your own trumpet Gribz agree with you mate...

 

I have said that the top league should have 18 teams (yes OK there are not that many teams with staia etc that could handle the bigger clubs) but then we go to Fifa and Uefa and get moiney for the clubs to extend there stadia and also get the SFA to get the money into the pot.

 

This would mean a 34 game season - allowing a 2 to 4 week period for games to be stopped due to weather.

 

I would also put it in black and white that if teams - any team - gets through to Euro cup semi's and Finals that there games can and will be moved to help Scottish teams to progress and indeed win if and where possible. After all every other team appears to want to cling to our coat tails with our success, why can't they bend a little to help...

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Agreed Wij, 18 teams would be the best set up for me. Ok for the first few seasons we may to visit some shitty grounds but giving time these clubs would get bigger and long term they would be able to upgrade. But if you take Clyde, St Johnstone, Dunfermline, Partick, Livingston and Dundee and add them to the SPL then we have 18 clubs all with decent enough stadia.

 

Whats also laughable is the other clubs challenging for 3rd place this season. One minute they want us to do well and perform at our best then the next they want us to fail. For eg, we did Aberdeen (and DUFC & Hibs) a big favour last night by beating Motherwell and they expect us to do the same on Saturday by beating Dundee Utd while they can beat Motherwell and go level on points with them in the fight for 3rd place. Yet they would gladly like us to postpone the UTD game so we are more at full strength when it comes to the last game against them they will want us so be running on empty.

 

:moon: To the lot of them.

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