Leaderboard

So that's it then, no change in a game that seeks a new major sponsor this year and has to look again at tv rights soon. No change in a game that at least we can all agree is dying by degree in this country. Dying because we couldn't try something new by simply altering with a points resetting a split in the league that we already have anyway and we could have altered after three years. No change in the cash distribution (how many more clubs after Dunfermline will we be saying goodbye to?) No pyramid that allows genuine progress on merit. No change to a derided 11:1 voting system. Why? because of the utter self interest of the two chairmen of two clubs who thought that they might be at risk of ending up in that split group and couldn't see the bigger picture. It's a shame that the picture has been clouded by the single issue of a bigger SPL. It simply isn't sustainable because the fans that have shouted loudest are those of clubs who are at the greatest risk of losing out on SPL status. They're not coming through the turnstiles in greater numbers, they're not investing in their clubs and they're not offering credible alternatives even after the clubs did their bidding last summer. They are just sitting in the back of the cave, afraid to come out and face the new. OK, the 12-12-18 wasn't perfect but it could have protected us from what I reckon will now be ratcheted up pressure for The Rangers to be accellerated into the top tier and boost income the old way. After all, according to St Mirren & County, we don't want change. We might just have seen the biggest cutting off your nose to spite your face that Scottish football has seen in years, but at least we know exactly where the blame lies.

What like it has been for the last 15 years ? Who said it couldn't be changed for 3 years ? Who ever told you that was wrong. What was in the original proposal was that any structure changes within 3 years needed a larger majority than most other changes. If everyone wanted to change after the first year it could be done. From the reports, even that was removed and changes to structure would be on the same majority as everything else so the single sticking point that St Mirren gave as the reason for saying no was removed and they still said no. But to get the good points above that would help the lower end, there had to be compromise from the higher end, as they would lose out. You were never going to get the money redistribution without there being something in it for those giving up the biggest share of money. So you couldn't just cherry pick what you like as not everyone would cherry pick the same things and so there would have been no chance of getting what you want. And will you take Stuart Gilmour with them ? The St Mirren vote seems to me to have been about them being convinced they would have been in the middle 8 nearly every season, and then losing out on potential home games with the big teams, Celtic, ICT etc. Thing is if that is their normal position then they likely miss out on that game anyway, and if we went with a 16 team league, once home and away, then they definitely miss it. Yes 12-12-18 is not perfect, but there is no perfect solution for everyone. I posted some thoughts on a possible format last It gave a top 16 with playoffs at top and bottom, and although some here liked some of it, there were some points that probably would never be agreed on by enough teams. This was a chance to get the bits that most fans want, fairer distribution of money, playoffs, pyramid system, with a compromise on how we got there and making it easier to tweak later if it wasn't working. It seems to me some teams, and people, couldn't see that we needed to take a little pain in the short term, to make it better long term.

well done ross co and st mirren :clapoverhead: football as it should be. determine your own fate over the length of a season. imagine finishing 9th out of 12 and due to losing players to injury, team hitting a bad patch, getting relegated. what a crock of sh1t no stupid reset of points, no mini league and no play off's which are only to fleece the paying customer. remember aberdeen in the plays off some years ago. worst games of football ever seen. 2 teams not wanting to lose, playing on rock hard , bumpy pitches and players thinking of summer hols if dundee were better prepared this season, no fault on their part due to the dithering over newco, maybe relegation would have gone to the wire like top six, euro place, 2nd spot. best spl in years

The current system (not just the league structure) is rotten to the core and we desparately need change. What is wrong with the system is evidenced by the fact that clubs were given the option of all or nothing. Obviously clubs might be for a change in the voting structure and against the restructuring proposals but were simply not given the option of voting separately on the issues. In my view, the current system with the 11 - 1 vote for change means that no meaningful change is ever going to happen. I appreciate that a lot of fans don't fancy the league structure as proposed, but frankly, that was just a side issue in this sorry state of affairs. Voting for change today would have seen a change to the voting structure, the development of a pyramid structure and the first steps towards a much more sensible structure for the game. OK, so with that comes a league reconstruction which a lot of folk don't like but let's face it, there is no consensus around what folk actually do like. What was wrong with giving it a try? It just might have worked! And if it didn't work, at least we would then have the mechanism in place to change it. All this opportunity for change has been lost because 2 club chairmen have messed up big time. And please don't give me this crap about Uncle Roy standing up for his principles and listening to the fans - since when have the County fans been in favour of the 11 - 1 voting system? I've had a lot of respect for MacGregor in the past but that's gone I'm afraid. He's sold Scottish football down the river. Rangers will soon be back at the top table and it will back to square one. A sad day for Scottish Football IMHO.

Very disappointed that this wasn't voted through. Financially, it would have been a better package. At first reading I thought the structure was crazy but once I got my head around it I really liked the concept. It would have been much more exciting than the current structure. I'm reading on various social media such as Twitter that ICT fans are complaining that the club didn't consult them. I live in Glasgow now but I was well aware of the open meeting with CJT that was advertised on here, the official website, and elsewhere. I couldn't attend but read all the documentation from the meeting. Happy that Kenny voted yes but it's a shame it wasn't enough for others.

I am glad this has failed and well done to the 2 chairmen that listened to their fans and voted no.

I am glad this was voted down by the only 2 Chairmen who had the guts to listen to what the majority of fans want. I have never heard anything so ridiculous as the split form 2 x 12 to 3 x 8 in all my days and am glad that was knocked on the head. Why can't the SPL/SFA/SFL accept the other proposals which did make some sense though - this whole "Its all or nothing" statement sounds like a Del boy type of double glazing salesman offering you a great deal, but only if you sign up right now !!

Stewart Milne hasn't got a leg to stand on. It was him and his club that stopped the 11-1 majority vote from being changed earlier in the season. Ironically enough, if he had voted for it then, league reconstruction would have been passed through today. Despite the many good parts of the plan (redistribution of money, playoffs, pyramid structure) the abomination of the planned splits, especially the middle 8, was ridiculous. How can you expect clubs to be able to sell season tickets at the start of the year not knowing what mini-league they would be in. Here you go guys, get your season tickets, we might have another game against Celtic, we might have one against Morton. Who knows! For the likes of Dundee this year, who knew they weren't going to make the top 8, they could have sat back, made sure they avoided suspensions, injuries etc and basically only turn up for the last part of the season. And the likes of Ross County this year wouldn't have made the top 8 and look where they are now! And it was a farce that if the whole thing DID get voted through and it turned out to be a complete disaster, nothing could be changed for 3 years. Personally I think we should retain the current league structure but introduce the good ideas: redistribution of money, playoffs, the pyramid structure, one governing body, and the 9-3 voting majority. The current split has generated plenty of excitement over the years. Granted, the last 5 games can be meaningless if you are in the bottom half and have already secured survival, but think of the excitement of not knowing who would make the top 6 in the previous 33 games before it. Hopefully now this means Doncaster will be resigning. I will personally drive him and Regan back to wherever the hell they came from.

12-12-18 sounds a decent split but I don't understand why the 8-8-8 split needs to be a part of the package. I can't see that much more money being created from it. Why not have a single governing body, a fairer split of money, a pyramid etc but keep the SPL as it is? What's the reason? I haven't followed this as I lose the will to live about league reconstruction and all that pish.

Find this a pretty disappointing point of view from someone meant to represent us as fans. Also, paragraphs are your friend

I am afraid that EVERY system would be flawed in somebody's eyes - I am glad that this proposal has not gone through but we have to change. I would prefer to go more like the English system - I would suggest three leagues of 14 - the bottom 3 go down automatically - the top two go up and the next four fight for the third place.

I disagree that the game is dying. In the last two days we have had two incredibly exciting semi-finals, this seasons SPL has been incredibly competitive regarding the race for Europe/Top six. The 12-12-18 would not have led to the race to win the SPL being more competitive, Celtic would still have won it comfortably. With regards to relegation, over the course of 14 games, would Partick, Morton, Falkirk and Livingston (Current SFL1 top four) really have enough in their squad to beat the likes of St Mirren, Hearts and Hibs? I doubt it. I excluded Dundee as they are not really SPL standard and this would probably lead to just the 1up 1down we currently have. The split just now is only for 5 games which is ~13% of the season. The proposed split is for 14 games which is ~39% of that season. The two splits are completely incomparable. I have no issue with the current split in the league. The 8-8-8 split is seriously flawed. I feel the cash distribution needs to be changed but not because Dunfermline are in financial difficulty, that is through their own mis-managament and should not be the sole catalyst for change. I fully believe it should be altered as just now it is completely unfair and aimed at keeping all of the money in the top league and most of that swallowed up by Celtic. Dunfermline can only blame themselves for their problems. Also Aberdeen are responsible for not binning the 11-1 earlier in the season as they thought they would come second and thus collect the 2nd place cash pot. So Stewart Milne only has himself to blame for a 10-2 vote killing of 12-12-18. This will also not lead to Sevco being moved up the leagues to compensate. They will take their place in SFL 2 next year and the reconstruction will not be in place for next season.

To me St mirren seem to be the bad guys. Stuart Gilmore said that the 11-1 voting system should be gone and i couldnt agree moreBut an statement by the SPL just now seems to suggest that there was an agreement to reduce it 9-3 but as it is thrased the same two clubs voted against. Why has st mirren done that when that is what they objected to and why would county object that to, it seems today that clubs tried to make concessions to get through and they still rejected. Disgraceful i was never a big fan of the 12-12-18 with a lot of clubs stumbling block being the reset points in the middle 8. I agree that is fair but why were the other two leagues not going to be reset. I would have been very angry if say Caley missed out in europe because the team getting the spot accumalated points against the weaker teams that didnt even play in that league anymore. But the major ideas of wealth distribution, merging into one govening body as well as pyramid and play offs. Once the structure is in place you can start to build and if 12-12-18 is abysmal then we can change it much easier and that has now gone. I dread to think what will happen to the first division clubs now they needed that money.

I can't believe how many people are disappointed with this outcome. Thankfully this ridiculous idea has been binned and hopefully will lead to Neil Doncaster leaving his post and somebody willing to select the positive aspects of the proposal into a sensible reconstruction idea taking his place.

In what other walk of life would 83% voting in favour still not be sufficient?

And that is the end of that. St Mirren and County vote no.

We haven't raided County in a while! Kovacevic and that big Greek left-back fella would suit me. Also, I don't know about his contract status, but what about Stevie May? Only 20ish and scoring for fun in Division One!

With St Mirren voting no and County looking likely to vote no then it probably wont happen anyway. Personally, I quite like the new set up. If Kenny believes that it is a financially better option then I trust him that this is the case. In terms of the format, if we get into the top 8 then great! We all play each other and if it's as tight as it is this year, the European chase will be interesting. If we are unlucky enough not to make it into the top 8 then at least we can go to different teams stadiums we haven't played in a while. I have no issue with playing 'smaller' teams and it means we can keep an eye on the league below to see who the potential opponents would be. If everyone goes back to zero points after the split, then for the teams that are good enough, this shouldn't be an issue anyway. All in all, I like it for the chase for the top 8 and then European challenge. Or starting from scratch when we've had a pi5h season and travelling to other stadiums we haven't been to in a few years. Makes it much more interesting.

I'm old enough to remember the 18 team league being scrapped in 1975 and as Charles says Scottish football will continue to try various models. If there was a fix we would have found it by now. BY FAR THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE SHORT TERM IS TO GET RID OF THE 11-1 WHILE RANGERS ARE DENIED A VOTE. THIS HAS BEEN THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE THING FOR SCOTTISH FOOTBALL IN RECENT YEARS.

Would there not be a wonderful irony if the absurdity which is the 11-1 were to be what eventually sank 12-12-18 if two of the "lesser lights" (no disrespect to st Mirren and - subject to tomorrow's board meeting - Ross County there) decided to vote against it. A refreshing case of a silly rule brought in for the protection of the big clubs being exploited by the smaller ones. "Gloriously hoist by their own petard" was the expression I used elsewhere.

Jamie, It was me that was asked as Chairman, and I gave the opinion. I'm fully aware that not all fans are happy with any of the proposals, indeed neither am I - but only with some. What I am though, is realistic. I've seen the damage that was done by us being relegated and I genuinely believe that if it happened again we'd find it difficult to survive. So, if the package on offer readjusts the cash distribution to make the prospect easier, amalgamates one or more of the governing bodies, does away with the iniquitous 11:1 voting system and gives us a genuine pyramid system then three years of a league system that I think could be better is (in my opinion) a price worth paying. If it doesn't work, we can reassess it in three years from a position of strength - not the panic we're in now. After we were appraised by Kenny Cameron, we advertised and held discussions on reconstruction at our recent AGM which was publicised on this site and on CJT's site. Members were invited to attend. We talked to people and changed quite a few opinions although not all - but we did ask and quite a number responded. I'm happy also to discuss this with you if you PM me and give me some contact details. Given the season that we've had, where we might be next year and a greater say in the future of scottish football, is it really worth giving up your season ticket? I hope not. Davie

isnt it odd that nobody cared when Di Canio was manager in the lower leagues of England - governed by the same FA body and reported by the same sections of the media.