Can you think of a worse football league than the SPL?

I can't.

Mid-September and the Old Firm are clear at the top with two games in hand each.

Personally, I couldn't confidently tell you which of them has won the league for the past 10-20 years - it just doesn't interest me.

For ten teams the League is all about relegation.

It makes me long for glorious relegation and entry to the Scottish Football League where every team starts a new campaign with hope and dreams.

A very sad state of affairs - and little wonder the national game is in such a desperately poor state.

You are not alone in your thoughts. I dislike it but its a necessary evil because money rules these days.

Well, they can survive without my money - and I am sure there are many more who refuse to support this set up.

In many ways, it's not that different to most leagues now. La Liga has to be the most uncompetitive. Other leagues, such as the EPL (Man City's takeover is a bolt from the blue), Holland, Serie A, Belgium, Portugal etc etc are being dominated by 2 or 3 clubs more and more. It does need the other 10 clubs to take a stand and demand a more equitable share. If the OF won't accept it, breakaway then. No chance of it unfortunately.

Other leagues in the world, including La Liga, may have three or four teams who tend to be at the top for most of the time but I wouldn't say they were not competitive. What they do have is a level playing field for all. The best teams may dominate the prize fund but the rest get equal shares of the league sponsorship and TV monies.And every team actually believe they can win it each season. Unlike the SPL where every team believes they can be third, apart from top two. Our press is never filled with stories of ambition of the non OF teams. The nearest we get to that is 'who can split the OF'.

Edited September 18, 201114 yr by Alex MacLeod

Things will improve when the tax man closes Rangers down. Celtic's standards will drop due to lack of competition (unless they employ a specialist "Europa league backdoor legal team" to ensure progress every year after their success this year.

Other leagues in the world, including La Liga, may have three or four teams who tend to be at the top for most of the time but I wouldn't say they were not competitive. What they do have is a level playing field for all. The best teams may dominate the prize fund but the rest get equal shares of the league sponsorship and TV monies.And every team actually believe they can win it each season. Unlike the SPL where every team believes they can be third, apart from top two. Our press is never filled with stories of ambition of the non OF teams. The nearest we get to that is 'who can split the OF'.

Alex, this is totally incorrect regarding La Liga.

The TV deal is the subject of huge scrutiny at the moment as clubs object to Barca and RM having the right to virtually negotiate their own deals. The differential is ridiculous. Also how many teams start of the season believing they can win LA Liga........apart from Barca and RM? Malaga may do a Man City in time but not at the moment.

Our league is pretty typical of most European leagues apart from...........the quality of the fare.

This is far and away the most serious issue. Our product is rank rotten at every level from the national team down. Nothing to do with TV revenue as we still get more than many leagues that provide a much higher standard of product.

The problems with Scottish football are far deeper than TV revenue and the OF. These are easy targets punted about by lazy journalists who don't want to seek out the truth just in case they offend friends in high places.

I agree with SORTED! Its absolutely crazy to hear on the first day of the season about the teams vying for 3rd place. The automatic acceptance of 1st and 2nd has to stop. The OF have not really set the league on fire in recent years with big spending and we have all seen teams match them on the field, yet they are always in the top 2 spots from the outset, although i was pleased to see Motherwell trying their best this season. The Media love-in is embarrasing and there seems a reluctance in the game to question the way the league plays out.

Question: Do we think that the SPL or SFA would want any other teams in 1st & 2nd place? I think not.

The one time they did get split by Hearts all the media spoke about was how bad Rangers had been. Sadly Hearts crazy Chairman never took the next step.

Might sound crazy but I would actually like Rangers to go into administrion to see how the league would set about bending the rules to help them out.

The current fair in the league is woeful. It doesn't help that clubs put ticket prices up and up this attendances go down and income is down. Credit United last week but I shall not be paying £26 for Septic Park. They wonder why they are 12000 down on capacity!

Edited September 19, 201114 yr by Govan Jaggie

But the one thing that the other diddy leagues around the globe dont possess is the presence of Inverness Caledonian Thistle - their feckin loss and our feckin gain - the best emotional roller coaster ride in the feckin Universe.

I don't know. I saw the Man U Chelsea game on Sunday. The chances missed in that game were amatuer level.

Doubt it's the wrost, really.

Given that UEFA rates the Scottish league 17th out of 53 in their co-efficient system then i would say the SPL is comfotably in the top third of European Leagues. Absolutely no doubt that we as a league should be doing better in Europe though

But the one thing that the other diddy leagues around the globe dont possess is the presence of Inverness Caledonian Thistle - their feckin loss and our feckin gain - the best emotional roller coaster ride in the feckin Universe.

Oh I don't know IHE. When watching Toronto FC each week it's a fair old rollercoaster too ..... 4-2 away win one week against a team we hadn't ever beaten, followed up by a 4-0 loss to Mexican team in CONCACAF Champions League then a nailbiter of a finish to beat last year's MLS runners up 2-1 on Sat. 6 league wins all season, 12 draws and 12 defeats and down near bottom of MLS. 4 games to go in MLS and 3 in Champions league and still a chance to progress in both.

A coach sticking with a system that "will work in the end" (which I think it will ... MLS rules/policies mean its harder to rebuild a team but he's getting there), a couple of dodgy defenders that are a little better than the other dodgy ones on the squad, and what has to be close to the most inconsistent refs on the planet

I swear some weeks it IS like watching ICT !!!!!

Given that UEFA rates the Scottish league 17th out of 53 in their co-efficient system then i would say the SPL is comfotably in the top third of European Leagues. Absolutely no doubt that we as a league should be doing better in Europe though

17 x 3 =51

53 / 3 = 17.6667

comfortably in the top third? maybe not but certainly well into the top half

Given that UEFA rates the Scottish league 17th out of 53 in their co-efficient system then i would say the SPL is comfotably in the top third of European Leagues. Absolutely no doubt that we as a league should be doing better in Europe though

17 x 3 =51

53 / 3 = 17.6667

comfortably in the top third? maybe not but certainly well into the top half

Youve got too much spare time on your hands

Given that UEFA rates the Scottish league 17th out of 53 in their co-efficient system then i would say the SPL is comfotably in the top third of European Leagues. Absolutely no doubt that we as a league should be doing better in Europe though

In the last 30years 4 different Scottish Clubs have reached major European finals, considering Scotland is a tiny nation in Europe if you ask me they are punching well above their weight

Aberdeen beat Real Madrid in the ECW final 1983

Gothenburg beat Dundee Utd in the UEFA final 1987

Porto beat Celtic in the UEFA final 2003

Zenit beat Rangers in the UEFA final 2008

All Scottish clubs reached their finals in a 10/12 club premier league, the problem is not the size of the league its the money in the game going to the bigger nations

dougal

SIZE MATTERS

Given that UEFA rates the Scottish league 17th out of 53 in their co-efficient system then i would say the SPL is comfotably in the top third of European Leagues. Absolutely no doubt that we as a league should be doing better in Europe though

In the last 30years 4 different Scottish Clubs have reached major European finals, considering Scotland is a tiny nation in Europe if you ask me they are punching well above their weight

Aberdeen beat Real Madrid in the ECW final 1983

Gothenburg beat Dundee Utd in the UEFA final 1987

Porto beat Celtic in the UEFA final 2003

Zenit beat Rangers in the UEFA final 2008

All Scottish clubs reached their finals in a 10/12 club premier league, the problem is not the size of the league its the money in the game going to the bigger nations

dougal

I was talking recently, not 30 years ago, our teams are now getting pumped out of Europe at the first hurdle which IMO is not good enough. I'm not saying we should be winning things but we should at least be able to overcome a couple of ties. Celtics run in 2003 and Rangers in 2008 were excellent and somewhat suprising but i think we should consistently be able to negotiate a few rounds IMO

Edited September 24, 201114 yr by Libero

Worst League - and worst manager

Given that UEFA rates the Scottish league 17th out of 53 in their co-efficient system then i would say the SPL is comfotably in the top third of European Leagues. Absolutely no doubt that we as a league should be doing better in Europe though

In the last 30years 4 different Scottish Clubs have reached major European finals, considering Scotland is a tiny nation in Europe if you ask me they are punching well above their weight

Aberdeen beat Real Madrid in the ECW final 1983

Gothenburg beat Dundee Utd in the UEFA final 1987

Porto beat Celtic in the UEFA final 2003

Zenit beat Rangers in the UEFA final 2008

All Scottish clubs reached their finals in a 10/12 club premier league, the problem is not the size of the league its the money in the game going to the bigger nations

dougal

ABERDEEN JUST HAPPENED TO HAVE WHAT HAS PROVEN TO BE THE WORLD's MOST SUCCESSFUL MANAGER

Given that UEFA rates the Scottish league 17th out of 53 in their co-efficient system then i would say the SPL is comfotably in the top third of European Leagues. Absolutely no doubt that we as a league should be doing better in Europe though

In the last 30years 4 different Scottish Clubs have reached major European finals, considering Scotland is a tiny nation in Europe if you ask me they are punching well above their weight

Aberdeen beat Real Madrid in the ECW final 1983

Gothenburg beat Dundee Utd in the UEFA final 1987

Porto beat Celtic in the UEFA final 2003

Zenit beat Rangers in the UEFA final 2008

All Scottish clubs reached their finals in a 10/12 club premier league, the problem is not the size of the league its the money in the game going to the bigger nations

dougal

ABERDEEN JUST HAPPENED TO HAVE WHAT HAS PROVEN TO BE THE WORLD's MOST SUCCESSFUL MANAGER

WRONG

THIS WAS THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MANAGER OF ALL TIME BEFORE FOOTBALL WAS RUINED BY MONEY AND FOREIGN IMPORTS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDLV06ECTwE&feature=related

GOD BLESS YOU BRIAN RIP

dougal

ABERDEEN JUST HAPPENED TO HAVE WHAT HAS PROVEN TO BE THE WORLD's MOST SUCCESSFUL MANAGER

Ferguson hit a bit of luck with the players he inherited when he took charge of Aberdeen. And as Dougal has correctly pointed out this was in a different era. Laurence, please don't slag off our manager, club, fans etc any more. It's not pleasant to read and there's enough negativity on here!

Back on-topic, I watched Barca demolish Athletico 5-0 last night...

As much as I like watching La Liga, it's not much of a competition really, is it?

At least the limited TV money does trickle down to the smaller teams in Scotland. I personally (very much hypothetically speaking) would like to see some of the teams from the north east of England join the SPL - Newcastle and Sunderland in particular. They're never winning the EPL anytime soon and a 16 or 18 team SPL would be far more competitive and would pull bigger crowds IMHO.

Worst League - and worst manager

Care to back that up please Laurence ??

bullet points would be fine thanks

for what its worth i am fully aware that we are far from having it perfect at the moment but i still support the team and the management

Worst League - and worst manager

Worst poster?

Worst League - and worst manager

Think your wrong about the league but could be right about the manager

Cilin Calderwood is really struggling