Given that this national story has now taken an ICT angle, as can be seen in the link to the BBC website pasted below, I thought it might be appropriate to place this in the ICT section.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_prem/9339466.stm

A statement has also gone out from the club to the media and I would imagine this will also appear on the ICT Official site before long.

Good to see them listening to the paying punters. Hope they stick to their guns.

Looks like this unbelievably crap idea wont get the 11 clubs it needs to vote for it thankfully! SPL needs expansion!

How can there be consencus if 4 of the 12 clubs are opposed? :irritated:

Aberdeen and St Johnstone are for it

ICT, Hearts, Dundee Utd, Kilmarnock are aginst it.

I wonder where the rest will fall. It seems, from reading all the quotes carefully from those wanting the 10-team league, that the most important thing is to get more cash to buy player s in and pay them big wages. Seriously, it's all on BBC from Milne and Topping.

Is that really what we are up against? Such basic, idiotic, short-sighted, never-learn clowns?? The SPL nearly ruined teams by chasing off Sky Sports.

Anyway massive credit to George Fraser for doing the right thing, the only thing. Shame on Milne, Topping, Doncaster and Brown.

Statement from George HERE

The future of Scottish football has to involve the people that pay through the gates and its high time the powerbrokers realised that. They also need to realise that without all the other clubs there would be no Celtic or Rangers. Those people are supposed to be developing the game not ensuring the OF stay top of the league and ultimately in European competition. Every team should get a sensible share of the pot and every team should have to operate within their means and without debt. Let the league expand and let every club have a fair chance to win it.

I think the most telling snippet is:

"Our initial impression was that the SPL Strategy Group was looking to choose between 12 and 14 clubs and it was a big surprise to us and others that they have come forward with a proposal to actually reduce the SPL to 10 clubs."

The words "hoodwink" and "impose" spring to mind. What awful behaviour from this mob. They don't deserve to be anywhere near the game.

10 teams without the ugly sisters would be fine.

The SPL?s strategy group, composed of six clubs ? Aberdeen, Celtic, Hibernian, Motherwell, Rangers and St Mirren.

From the very get go, by having half of the league making decisions, it was amateur night. And the idea they came up with is an insult. I'd wonder what is round the corner? I'm hopeful of 16 but it needs pushing from the fans. It absolutely would work if every club cut their cloth accordingly and gave up on this defeatist pathetic idea that we need to be like the f****** X-Factor of football bringing in names rather than producing our own stars.

It's clear that some people in high up places need to leave for real change to happen. Take a quick look at Topping and Doncaster. One has only ever woorked for one company and in a similar role for a year while the other bailed out of Norwich when they were demoted to League one...seemed to have done ok since!!

Although my club is for ten teams I am vehemently opposed to it! As are the vast majority of ordinary fans in this country. I want 16 possibly even 18 teams. There are too many leagues in Scotland all together for a country with 5 million people!

I can't see how a 10 SPL would improve things in the slightest. Every season for many clubs it's a battle for survival. This reflects on the 'product' on the pitch - with teams pitching up to try and scrape a draw. With a 16 team SPL there would be less pressure on clubs to pick up points and therefore there would be more football on show. That's my opinion anyway.

Where have ICT actually said "No" to this proposal? They clearly have reservations, but all the statement says is that they'll consider it.

Maybe they'll sleep on it. The whole thing is rigged toward the ugly sisters financially. It's a catch 22. They win, so more people pretend to support them, depriving other clubs. ICTFC and the other clubs need to stand up to this shower. Toppers the lot of them.

I can't see how a 10 SPL would improve things in the slightest.

neither can i.....not one bit! To me its like they are just assuming by shrinking the league to 10 teams will make it more appealing and a more lucrative proposition. Ad like to see some hard evidence that supports their assumptions.

What is the REAL aim of this?

To Line the pockets of the top ten teams?

To make Scottish Football more competitive?

To get punters thro the door?

What is the supporters trust going to do at this meeting. There is no mention of anything to do with this on their website. I hope that they talk to the trust members and take forward the members views to the board meeting.

The aim - as far as I can see - is to line the pockets of 10 teams, especially two of them, and further widen the gap between them and the other 32 clubs. Its nothing to do with improving, repairing, or revitalising the game in Scotland and everything to do with money.

They seem to be under the mistaken belief that the extra money they would get by splitting the pie 10 ways instead of 12 or 16 ways will allow them to compete in a global market for players and in European competition.... and that is absolute folly as the collective money on offer for the entire league in Scotland would be regarded as loose change for some individual teams in other leagues !!!!

Scottish Football needs sorted and it needs sorted from the ground up not by those at the trough throwing scraps to the riff raff down below and telling them its prime steak !!! If we can develop football and encourage homegrown talent then teams at all levels can reap the benefits.

I think SPL fans around the country should unite and chant 'You can stick your 10 team league up ur Erse' a week on Saturday

I agree with Johan!

I can't see how a 10 SPL would improve things in the slightest. Every season for many clubs it's a battle for survival. This reflects on the 'product' on the pitch - with teams pitching up to try and scrape a draw. With a 16 team SPL there would be less pressure on clubs to pick up points and therefore there would be more football on show. That's my opinion anyway.

As well as less overall games, less important games, less fans and less tv money. 16/18 teams was never on the table for these reasons. Hardcore fans may be bored with playing the same teams 4 times a season, but in order to appeal to a wider audience, the league has to be tight and competitive. I thought that a 14 team league with a 6/8 split and play-offs for the final Europa League spot was a good compromise position which allowed for the expansion of the league and an increase in competitive games.

We don't have enough good teams for an 18 team league and 16 does not give enough games. Also some people keep going on about taking away the 'fear factor' and without fear of relegation then teams will open up etc etc. That is just rubbish imo, you will not suddenly see silky football in Scotland without a fear of relegation, the standard will be the same. Also if there is less pressure with more teams that will be because it will create many more meaningless games. The football will be of the same standard but the crowds will drop if the games have no meaning. You see this when a team is in danger of relegation, crowds increase, they increase where the is something at stake not for meaningless mid table game where teams have nothing to play for.

The only viable option for change would be to move to a 14 team league or stay as we are but introduce playoffs at the bottom of the league/top of first.

Hardcore fans may be bored with playing the same teams 4 times a season, but in order to appeal to a wider audience, the league has to be tight and competitive.

You are kidding yourself on both points. For one thing, Scottish football doesnt appeal to that wide an audience and changing the setup will not change that outside of maybe having an extra old firm game on TV outside the UK each year. and as for competitive ... a little look at who has finished first and second for the last few years will answer that one.

To appeal to a wider audience, Scottish football needs to become more attractive. It can do that a couple of ways ... go the money route and fill a few elite teams in a smaller league with superstars from other countries because we have few if any of our own at this time. This kind of short-sightedness may make the game more interesting for a short while but it stifles development outside the elite. Smaller teams cannot make the leap to the big time and homegrown players are neither as valued nor as 'cosmopolitan' as having some mysterious foreigner in your team .... In this sort of scenario teams like ICT could NEVER aspire to reaching the SPL and players like Graeme Shinnie or Nick Ross or even incomers like Jonny Hayes or Adam Rooney would have far fewer opportunities to come in and stake places in a team that would always be looking over its shoulder at relegation should it have the audacity to try and compete with the big boys !!!

The other alternative is to rebuild it from the ground up. reward teams for developing players, put structure in place that allows teams to develop players, and encourage it. It may take a longer time to become attractive but once you have good players coming through the excitement builds, the costs become more bearable and ultimately teams have assets (players) they can sell/export which allows them to continue their own development. We turn the current downward spiral upside down and hopefully begin an upward trajectory. If we were to become a net exporter of players over the next few years that also heightens awareness and interest from other areas of the globe .... didnt we all take a little bit more interest in Romania for example when Marius was here ... or in Canada when Hastings/Xausa were at the club? I know I have a look at things in other countries when TFC sign a player from South America or from Europe .... and right now, I am reading up on "total football" now that it has been leaked that the new TFC manager is likely to be Aron Winter from Ajax. It all raises profile, interest and potentially makes the Scottish structure more appealing but it has to start somewhere and I would humbly suggest that is at the same place where ICT started .... at the bottom !

We don't have enough good teams for an 18 team league and 16 does not give enough games. Also some people keep going on about taking away the 'fear factor' and without fear of relegation then teams will open up etc etc. That is just rubbish imo, you will not suddenly see silky football in Scotland without a fear of relegation, the standard will be the same. Also if there is less pressure with more teams that will be because it will create many more meaningless games. The football will be of the same standard but the crowds will drop if the games have no meaning. You see this when a team is in danger of relegation, crowds increase, they increase where the is something at stake not for meaningless mid table game where teams have nothing to play for. The only viable option for change would be to move to a 14 team league or stay as we are but introduce playoffs at the bottom of the league/top of first.

I dont profess to know the best structure, but I know that a top league of 10 is not it. I would however dispute the fact that we dont have enough 'good teams' .... Was last season not extremely enjoyable in a league of 10 teams that are supposedly inferior to what we are now ? Do the Dunfermlines, Dundees and even Ross Countys of this world not merit some interest? the first two have been in the top flight (as have many others in the lower leagues) and County reached a national final last season as did smaller teams in most of the last few seasons ..... I would make a counter-point to this argument and say that its not that we do not have enough good teams, its that we have two too many teams that because of the current slicing and dicing of finances, sponsorship and TV money have been allowed to grow further and faster than the rest. This is not a serious suggestion - as it would never happen - but how about 2 leagues of 20 with each team playing each other once at home and away each season and a SuperDuper Elite Premier League where the other two play each other every week for the TV companies !!!!

Say No To 10 Team SPL

I'd stick with 12 & have 2 or 3 promoted/relegated each season perhaps involving play-offs

I wonder what pressure (or incentives!) will be placed on the 4 dissenters between now and 17th Jan. I just hope they remain strong and see this crackpot idea binned.

Cruyff says stop spending money on players from abroad and invest in youth development.

The people wanting a league of 10 (a builder, a bookie manager, a solicitor) say give 10 teams more money to buy players from abroad.

Unfortunately, for Scottish Football, we have the wrong people making decisions. We need change, they need to leave. They've shown their stupidity, it's time they moved aside.

Is this the most united topic ever on Caleythistleonline?

was just thinking, i know several people have said that 16 teams dont give enough games BUT......

if we re introduced the winter break then would that not be capable of filling the gap?