14 Team SPL

[TheKnowledge]

I think 18 top division, 10 for the leagues below and a three way championship between the winners of the three junior leagues. Whoever finishes bottom of the 4th goes back to their home league ie Ross County. The top division should have 2 down automatically and a playoff between 3rd bottom and 3rd in the league below. No split thanks. One organisation as well. If the clubs lose money then they need to pay less wages. We need a better national team and this can only be achieved by clubs being forced to make their own players. In time, these will be sold, the clubs will have more money and the league will get better for other countries to watch. That's the aim is it not?

[Scotty]

14 teams is a bit of a half-bottomed answer really.

The solutions should be either a 16 or 18 team league, with teams playing twice, and no stupid split.

Totally agree. 14 is really no better than 12 ... its a rejig rather than a revamp. Personally, I would favour 16 or 18 teams where you play each team twice .. once at home and once away and there is no farcical 'split' towards the end. If you look at the teams in the top 6 or 7 of D1, all of them have either been in the top division in the not so distant past or in the case of QOS/County have shown by Cup results that they can compete with top level teams on their day.

If teams are bothered about revenue from losing what would amount to one guaranteed home game against the OF each season then they also have to consider their costs .... how many extra police do they have for that game, how many stewards or other matchday staff ... for a team like ICT where recent OF games didnt even sell out, the NET profit from the games might easily be matched oir even bettered if league reconstruction were done hand in hand with some form of revamped League Cup or new Regional cup competition .... I would wager that a game V County or V Aberdeen would cost less to hold and maybe make more profit !!!!

[PullMyFinger]

It's not perfect but it's a step in the right direction which is what I believe is the intention. The mood is right so they are taking action but the reconstruction debate will continue and I'd hope to see well planned set-up being rolled out in a few more years. One consideration most people don't have is the impact this will have on the lower leagues. A bigger SPL will pull clubs up through the lower leagues and to maintain the four league structure an 18 or 16 team league would give SFL3 6 or 4 new teams to find. Do they really need another 6 Elgin Citys or Annans? These teams we successful in the leagues they came from but just can't cut it in the league system.

Two leagues of 18 with no split, three up, three down no play offs unless a tie to decide placings on league. We lose 6 teams but open the league up to the champions of Highland, Southern and Eastern leagues. Again 3 up (1 from each) and 3 down (bottom placed).

How football used to be (well ok there were 20 teams in the league)

[+HawkeyeTheGnu]

It's not perfect but it's a step in the right direction which is what I believe is the intention. The mood is right so they are taking action but the reconstruction debate will continue and I'd hope to see well planned set-up being rolled out in a few more years. One consideration most people don't have is the impact this will have on the lower leagues. A bigger SPL will pull clubs up through the lower leagues and to maintain the four league structure an 18 or 16 team league would give SFL3 6 or 4 new teams to find. Do they really need another 6 Elgin Citys or Annans? These teams we successful in the leagues they came from but just can't cut it in the league system.

Two leagues of 18 with no split, three up, three down no play offs unless a tie to decide placings on league. We lose 6 teams but open the league up to the champions of Highland, Southern and Eastern leagues. Again 3 up (1 from each) and 3 down (bottom placed).

How football used to be (well ok there were 20 teams in the league)

Two leagues of 18. 3 down from the top division, two up straight away, then the next four play off for the third promotion spot.

The bottom 3 in the second Division relegated to the appropriate local league.

Sorted!

[Pedz4king]

i voted no cos i think there would be no point in adding 2 teams i say to go for a 16 team league with 2 teams automatically relegated and 3rd goes to a play-off

[Scotty]

Do they really need another 6 Elgin Citys or Annans? These teams we successful in the leagues they came from but just can't cut it in the league system.

and the other side of the coin are Ross County & Caley Thistle ..... even Livi before off field admin/ownership issues scuppered them.

There are plenty of teams who might merit a place in the leagues moreso than some of the perpetual bottom feeders who have nothing to play for nor any penalties for mediocrity year in and year out. A pyramid structure of some description with promotion and relegation to/from the senior leagues might actually improve things from the bottom up !

[TSTtiger]

i too would prefer a 16 or 18 team setup , playing twice. the reduction in games could be made up with a revamp of the cup competitions if desired and a winter break would be an option too, although i'm not a fan of that idea.

i think attendances would improve with playing teams twice, even games v the old firm are not what they were for football fans because they are so frequent.

with the way football works in this country i really dont hold out much hope that whatever changes are made will be sweeping enough though to save our game.

[starchief]

I voted no. Doesn't solve a long season, playing the same teams over and over.

For me:

- A top 10 SPL and 12-team SFL.

- Regional leagues below that.

- The season to be split in 2, i.e., one season to run from February til June, followed by another that would run from July/August til November/December, so teams play each other twice a season (but four times a year)

That's more silverware, more championship battles, more relegation dogfights. When a team goes down, then the impact of half a season to plan on a reduced budget could be more manageable. That gives us two competitive leagues, with a relegation place and a play-off relegation/promotion endpiece for extra excitement.

There is an argument over UEFA rules but some South American countries run that system (I know SA isn't in UEFA), so I think it could be negotiated out.

[Iain]

18 team, thought the whole idea was to get rid of the split nonsense!

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

The OF will never lower it less than 14 - Selfishly it suits us to a tee - we could even start a chant of "WE are staying up" at the pre season friendlies :( :D

[kilda]

I voted yes but with some reservations. I would much prefer an 18 team SPL with a 20 team first division. Play everyone in your division once each home and away. Straight 2 up 2 down and 1 dropping out of the first division into a regional set up to be decided. All of course under a single authority, perhaps a two tier Scotish Premier and regional league set ups. :(

Scottish cup to be played by all national and regional teams with a few byes in the first two rounds to allow the top 4 or 5 teams to compete in Europian competitions.

League Cup to be played only by teams in the top divisions, home and away knock out with single final at Hamden.

Regional league Cups following the same format.

All match reciepts to be split 70-30% in the league games. 50-50 in the Scottish Cup games and retained by the club hosting the League cup games. All after costs of course.

[12th Man]

I think 14 is a step in the right direction,

The clubs with a smaller gate play more games and increase revenue 40, the ones with the bigger attendance play less games 36,also bearing in mind that 3 or 4 of those top 6 clubs should also be playing games in Europe and going further in domestic cups

The SPL is currently 38 games and you don't even know how many home or away games you are going to have.

I would say its a lot fairer than the mystery split.

[Tichy_Blacks_Back]

Interestingly as it stands today - this is how the various leagues would look:

Rangers

Celtic

Dundee Utd

Motherwell

Hibs

Hearts

St.Johnstone

Hamilton

Aberdeen

St.Mirren

Kilmarnock

Falkirk - 12 team SPL

ICT

Dundee - 14 team SPL

QoS

Ross County - 16 team SPL

Dunfermline

Partick Thistle - 18 team SPL

Quite surprised that the 18 team league actually looks ok but the restructuring of the lower leagues would have to be given a lot of thought in order that the deemed smaller teams (part-time anyway) have the capability to develop and survive in the top tier if they go up.

Whatever happens though funding has to go into the game all through the tiers in order to improve stadia facilities etc. The regional leagues below a second division is probably the way forward but again it needs to be well thought out and replicate the type of regional structure they have in Germany and some other european countries. Again this could also bring about the debate of reserve teams playing in the lower league structure.

Whatever happens though change is needed.

[Hearach]

I voted no because I think 18 teams with no split would be better. 34 games a season and a winter break, although the way the weather is it would be difficult to decide when that break should be.

[DJS]

Total nonsense! We only need ten teams in this league to keep the standard high. I mean, nobody wants to watch a bunch of pub football teams all running around the pitch chasing the ball. If you remember the early days of the premier league attendances went up in correlation with, in my opinion, the level of skill.

Lets keep a high standard here and not dilute the league with also rans.

Really rich from an Aberdonian. Why not have an eight team league? That would get rid of the Dons quick enough. Quite priceless.

You want to open up top flight football to as many different communities as possible. That's got to be good. You have to get rid of the split which is a piece of total nonsense. You want to give as many Scottish players as possible the chance to play at the highest level to see what they are made of. A year in the SFL has certainly shown me that there are some really good players who could and should be playing at a higher level. Even Dundee and County have a few. What more can I say!

[AJS]

No thanks.

16 or 18 team is a positive change, 14 teams is a half hearted quick fix.

If it was to happen there are plenty of teams that could stick it in the SPL from 1st Division.

It would be very intresting to see how the lower leagues get restructered in amongst as they cannot be forgotten.

Sticking the old firm reserves and some other teams 2nd string in the leagues could see some good young players get a decent standard of football i suppose.

Change is needed though, and a 14 team league is a rather poxy approach towards it.

Edited May 1, 2010 by ajsict92

[starchief]

Let's what the attendance/interest is in the end of season Partick Thistle v Queen of the South game today. No-one can get promoted, no-one can get relegated. I can't see having even more meaningless fixtures with a load of barely-supported teams are going to create any excitement.

Last week, two teams that would be vying for a place in an 18 team league, Raith v QoS. Attendance: 1030. Can't see it rising just because it's in a different league and these teams are in a mediocre position.

There definitely needs to be something done. I've stated my thoughts (and I've put in a more detailed discussion here) but I don't think more meaningless fixtures is the way to go. How about a comparison with other similar-sized competitive leagues:

Austria: 10 and 12 teams in two divisions (regional below)

Denmark: 12 and 16 teams in two divisions (regional below)

Norway: 16 and 16 teams in two divisions (regional below)

Scotland: 12 in the top and four divisions of 10 below.

So, if like Morton, you have a bad season, slip out of the SFL1, then the team is actually worse off than less ambitious teams as they are quite happy surviving on crowds of 300 or less. Spend a bit of money trying to get out and risk the club going bankrupt as these smaller teams don't have an away support.

The whole system needs re-imagining, summer football, less clubs and streamlining. More meaningless fixtures aren't the way. That's why the SPL was created.