SPL 2ND Tier

[Guest Sandy Cromarty]

Interesting to see what the outcome of todays meeting will be with regards to this proposal put fwd by David Sutherland for another SPL league, will this mean the end to promotion from the lower divisions to the SPL I wonder? and will the TV money be spread across 22 teams? as mentioned on TV last night the main requirement criteria will be stadia size and facilities which would suit Ross County, Livingstone and St Johnstone but what about some of the other in the first div, has Hammy Accies got whats required for instance?

[Alex MacLeod]

Sandy, I think the promotion aspect will be the same as between present Div 1 and SPL. i.e. win the league and apply for membership which requires approval from existing members.

Dont know about Ham Accies but Clyde, Partick, Dundee and, I think, Airdrie should all be able to meet the criteria which I believe is 6k seats and USH

[kencar]

What exactly is the point though?

Still 1 up and 1 down at the end of the day

[Guest kingkojak]

im all for it!  theres too many pro clubs in scotland.  i think a two tier italian style spl would be more competetive providing sponser/ tv money was split equally.  however, if it gets the go ahead id like to see both leagues increased to 16 teams with 2 up 2 down each season. 

[RiG]

I'm against it. I want the entire SPL thing disbanded completely.

Get the leagues run as 2 leagues of 20 odd or something like a top league of 16 then another 2 beneath it if the maths work out right.

F'ck playoffs. Two up and 2 down. Simple.

This SPL 2 is just going to be another closed shop with more daft seating requirements.

[caleyboy]

IMO there is absolutely no need for an SPL2 as this has the potential to decimate the SFL.

Maybe a debate on extending the SPL to 16 teams would be more advantageous to everyone. SFL "Championship" with 16 teams (all full-time). Two Regional SFL leagues with up to 16 part-time teams in each. Highland League and East/South of Scotland League again with up to 16 teams in each.

Promotion/Relegation

2 down from SPL to SFL

2 up from SFL Championship to SPL

1 up from winners of Regional SFL Play Off

1 down from each Regional SFL to HFL and E/SoSL

! up from both HFL & E/SoSL

??

[kencar]

Can't see the smaller SPL clubs agreeing to 2 up 2 down despite the fact it would probably do the game some good

[clacher_holiday2]

waste of time.  all of it.

[kencar]

It's Going To Happen!!  :006:

[Harry Chibber]

have to agree with whats been said already...

absolutely no point!! There is a reason there's a heirarchy and by adding an "SPL 2" they are just diminishing the importance of our premier league.

If any league structuring is to be done it should be to make the SPL into a 16 team league, now more than ever considering the quality of the 1st division at the moment.. Livi, Dundee, Partick, St J, Clyde, Gretna are all capable of competing in the SPL off the field and if they were in the SPL they would have the money to buy players to compete on the field.  The more competition and variety in Scottish football can only be a good thing... more clubs for scottish players to advertise their talent, different managers to play different styles of football.

Lets be honest it's worked incredibly down in England..... in the Daily Record today it shows the different values that an SPL team can expect to earn after a successful season in comparison to what is earned down south.  Proof is in the pudding!!

[RiG]

What a load of absolute nonsense this idea is. Scottish Football RIP. What will SPL2 bring that is better than the SFL1? They are just closing the doors to teams in SFL2 now. What a total joke.

F'ck the SPL!  :008:

EDIT: I'm still raging at this. This SPL 2 will invite teams from the SFL to join it. Why? This means for the next 2 seasons Scottish League football is worthless. Win a league and you might not get into the promised land that is SPL 2. What an absolute kick in the teeth to teams like Peterhead and Cowdenbeath who have done so well recently.

I really hope ICT didn't back this idea. I would be ashamed if they did.

[reefinweedallday]

A load of absoloute nonsense just an excuse for Egotastical chairmen i.e Pearce Flynn and Geoff Brown to become the big shots and try and mop up the majority of the money

What will it bring to Scottish Football as Bill Leckie Quoted in the paper today Hamilton Vs Livi is still going to be Hamilton Vs Livi no matter how you dress it up

Are TV companies or sponsers really going to come flying out of the woodwork just because the league comes under a different wrapping??

I very much doubt it.....

[Heilandee]

SPL2, hmmmmmmmmm, no sure about this maself. Never liked the stranglehold of the SPL and the self preservationism , reckon this will just exacerbate that problem to 20 teams.Although the current set up undeniably requires change,which format is for the best i,m uncertain, having witnessed the mind numbing fixtures larger leagues throw up once the big 2 or 3 are off into the distance after the new year(often sooner) leaving a mid table full of meaningless fixtures.Football in an ideal world would be about teams that show skill and endeavour ON the pitch being rewarded,unfortunatly, football is about a whole lot more these days.

As mentioned elswhere,no matter how you polish a turd it's still a turd!!

[RiG]

Although the current set up undeniably requires change

Correct. Creating a 2nd tier of teams in another self preservation league is not the way to do it!  :008:

F'ck the SPL!  :008:

[Guest Sandy Cromarty]

Reefinweed, as far as I know it was our ex Chairman David Sutherland who drafted and put forward this proposal, not Pearce Flynn et al. Like Rig I also have concerns about teams like Peterhead etc being ignored and left behind, Scottish Football is in a perilous state and has enough problems without isolating half the SFL, we should be looking forward to harmony across all levels of our game and not aiming to create an 'elite'?????

[caley100]

This seems to change for change alone!

Will this bring in more sponsorship money? doubt it very much. will it create bigger crowds for SPL2 doubt it!

Waste ot time and money if you ask me.

[CaleyD]

I don't think David Sutherlands proposal has been represented in it's entirity as I know that he wanted to move to a 2 league SPL which also involved scrapping the split.

I can't help but feel they have gone about this in totally the wrong direction.  If anything it is the SPL which should have been done away with and the whole game in Scotland brought back under a single banner.  It is/was unlikely that the SPL will be disbanded, and with that in mind we should have been looking to increase the current size of the SPL instead of fannying around with the introduction of a 2nd SPL.  Why they would want to introduce and SPL2 when it is obvious that the current setup is not working is beyond me.

The only thing we can hope for (and I think it is unlikely) is that the teams invited to join an SPL2 refuse, or that sufficient teams refuse and it forces a rethink with the idea of an increased number of teams for SPL1 being top of the list.

I understand that it is near impossible to remove money from the equation these days, but the priority should be the game and how it is contested over the season, not how much money can be squeezed out of it.

Also, the divide between the SPL2 and SFL1 will grow to a level whereby teams in the SFL will be pushed even further toward financial ruin in an attempt to compete and comply.

I think we are missing a couple of bits of the jigsaw here.  Why would the current SPL propose a set-up which, on the face of it, would mean a further division of funds and a dilution of income for the existing teams.  And why only invite 10 teams?  Are we to believe they will continue with a 12 team SPL1 and the split or once they have the 10 others on board will we see the SPL1 reduced to 10 and the split abolished.....22 teams across 2 leagues just does not make any sense regardless of which way you cut it.

In short, I find the whole thing smellier than Yompa's socks!!!!

[Heilandee]

Thought i smelt something , but just thought it was LG's (not Laura's) bullshit!  :toilet01: This proposal only required 3 SPL teams to say no and it was a goner so there is obviously something in it for them other than the welfare of the chosen 10 teams.

[Guest kingkojak]

hmmm.....   :017:

i like the idea of a pro two tier league system (like serie a and b) but have to agree that the proposal seems to be a bit *****.

why is it that nothing related to scottish footy seems to work.  eg, scotsport, this spl mess, livi avoiding relegation, ICT playing home games 100 miles from home., the national squad, etc etc........

[kaiser]

I think ( hope or fear?? ) that this is the first move in a series of actions which will infinitely speed up the process of regionalising the leftover SFL teams and creating a semi-professional second tier in the new 'pyramid' system which has been mooted for a long while now ,  SPL1 and 2 is temporary IMO , we will eventually see an expanded single SPL of 14 or 16 teams ( 18 if they listen to UEFA ) with a more universal two up two down at the end of the season - with a playoff place as well probably.

[CaleyD]

If they are going to regionalise it then get on with it and do it now, not put some bastardised league set-up in place then start messing with it and cancelling promotion and relegation as they move things around and give us years more of meaningless football.

We (scottish football fans) are the customer, so why in gawds name are then not listening when everyone is screaming at them about what we want.

[+Gringo]

I'm afraid the whole afair will all revolve around the beloved OF. The only reason the SPL was concocted in the first place was to, more or less, guarentee FOUR OF Derbies per season and give them both a financial boost. There is no way on this earth that they'll discontinue that set up. I fear very much for the wee clubs in the SFL 2 / 3 who will, I'm sure, fall by the wayside if the SPL1 / 2 set up ever comes about and Scotland will loose these clubs for ever. I also doubt whether a regional set up in the lower leagues will work either - lets face they're not really a million miles away from each now are they. How could the likes of Stranraer and Berwick, say, be regionalised?

I believe these proposals are in the interests of screwing more money out of the supporters and into the grubby hands of the SPL who really don't give a Yompa sweaty sock about Scottich football whatsoever.

[Heilandee]

We (scottish football fans) are the customer, so why in gawds name are then not listening when everyone is screaming at them about what we want.

Probly cos no one involved in the running and administration of Scottish football gives a flying fecck what the paying customer thinks, as they know whats best for us ( aye right!!)

[clacher_holiday2]

the more ive thought about it the more im starting to come to accept that the first division probably does need to reorganise, it could very well be a strong league in its own right, capable of not just sustaining full time football but competing on level plain field with the spl financially.

if we were in the first now, along with dundee, st johnston, partick, gretna etc starved of sponsorship money, id be asking serious questions about why.  if the answer was nobody was willing to put up the money because the likes of montrose or queens park had to be thrown in the deal id be very p1ssed off.

outwith the first theres morton, ayr and raith; with potentially peterhead, cowdenbeath and stirling aswell, who could all maybe support full time squads if they werent suffering due to the lack of interest in the leagues theyre playing in.  which is ultimatley causing the problems the current first division clubs are having right now.

i havent got any answers for once, but for the real good of the game we need as many of our clubs who could potentially survive on their own to be playing in an enviroment that allows them to do so.  if that means spl 2 and a big no entry sign for the likes of forfar, montrose, east fife etc then so be it.

[Guest kingkojak]

think every fan outside the OF unanimously agree that the likes of dundee, st j, partick, livi, gretna, clyde and perhaps, as clacher suggested, raith, ayr, etc are all capable of making the SPL competetive in a bigger league.

caley d is right - we are paying the wages of these buggers so why are we so powerless to prevent the raping of the national game and squad of money by the greedy OF feckers  .    :008:   

i think an online petition is in order!     

opinions?????