League Reconstruction

[bauhaus]

it was on the radio tonight mentioning spl was a top 16 league. No further details, as SFL agenda was seemingly leaked before the clubs even knew about it. Spain use this B team system with Real and Barca, dont know how well it works, apart from they are not allowed in the same league, and think they announce squad for season and can not then interchange it

[gingerjaggy]

bbc has an article on the spl ideas

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20309606

[ForzaCaley]

SFL voted on it today. Glad to say the colt team idea has been quashed and a 16/10/16 league structure has been voted through. Delighted about this. Biggest chance for real change in 13 years. I hope the SPL grow a pair and vote it through aswell!

Theres a link for it on bbc, couldnt get it cz im on ma phone

[Jeepsaw]

We should have a top flight of 16, then 2 leagues of 14, a pyramid system in place with play offs for 2 promotion places between the non league winners.

NO to old filth b teams, they will steal all the best yoof players giving the rest of us less chance. In spain the like of barca b have been winning the liga adelante which shows that even in a country the size of spain the dominance this gives them.

[Jeepsaw]

SFL voted on it today. Glad to say the colt team idea has been quashed and a 16/10/16 league structure has been voted through. Delighted about this. Biggest chance for real change in 13 years. I hope the SPL grow a pair and vote it through aswell!

Theres a link for it on bbc, couldnt get it cz im on ma phone

Better than a boot in the teeth from a crazed mule in doc martins. But why a 10 team 2nd division?

[The Mantis]

Horrific proposals.

You staying with Donview this week?

[ForzaCaley]

Ye its not the greatest but i believe it will be better and more competitive than the current farce.

My ideal league would be 3 leagues (prem, championship, div3) of 14 with everyone playing 3 times each, 39 games a season. 2 times isnt enough and 4 is to much, 3 for me is perfect.

The bottom two of prem and Champ get automatically relegated and replaced by top two. 3rd bottom and 3rd top have 2 legged play off like what they do in bundesliga.

HL champions and East. Of Scotland champions have a play off with the winner playing the div 3 bottom side in a play off.

[Ten4]

SFL voted on it today. Glad to say the colt team idea has been quashed and a 16/10/16 league structure has been voted through. Delighted about this. Biggest chance for real change in 13 years. I hope the SPL grow a pair and vote it through aswell!

Theres a link for it on bbc, couldnt get it cz im on ma phone

Better than a boot in the teeth from a crazed mule in doc martins. But why a 10 team 2nd division?

Quicker way of getting Rangers back to the SPL

[CaleyD]

Ok, so we should forget about reconstruction and the wider good of Scottish football just because it might benefit someone else....is that not exactly the kind of attitude and thinking that got us into a mess in the first place?

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

League Deconstruction led by Sevco.

[Scotty]

Dont understand why they suggest 16-10-16 ?

I havent read too much on it other than the summaries, but I assume the 16 team leagues would be 1H/1A for a total of 30 games? and the 10 league would be 2H/2A for a total of 36? Bit of a nightmare to manage fixtures there, especially if you wanted to establish another cup or something to add a few more games to bring it back up to the same sort of total as there is now.

Why not just go for 16-16-16 (or 16-16 + 8-8 north/south regional for bottom tier) and invite in 6 ambitious clubs from the juniors or other leagues? Lets face it, with the exception of Gretna, every team added in the last 18 years has done pretty well, especially ICT and County, and even those that havent reached our heights have done at the very least, no worse than some of the perpetual bottom feeders that have been around for 100+ years !

However, for me, the crucial thing is not the league setup itself, but how we manage the entire game.

We need a single governing body. I dont care if its the SFL, SPL or SFA, but they need to merge or two of them need to go. The SFA would be a logical choice for this role as they are the defined governing body for Scotland with both FIFA and UEFA.

We need a proper pricing policy for tickets, perhaps with the governing body setting a maximum ticket price for each division. Dwindling crowds and higher prices are both cause and effect for each other. Lower crowds mean higher prices to break even for clubs, but higher prices mean lower crowds .... if we dont reverse that spiral, anything else is irrelevant.

We do need to pay heed to UEFA club licensing so we do need to keep certain stadium (and other) criteria, but internally we should be a bit more lenient with clubs. If clubs want terracing in the lower leagues, great, no problem. If they want it in the higher leagues then that should be allowed too, and for those in European competition, that would have to be safe standing areas. Lets encourage clubs to develop their infrastructure, and lets remove the barriers currently in place that mean those aspiring to the SPL have to rush to develop their ground before they have even won D1 .... Give them a full season in the SPL (or equivalent) and allow them to use the increased revenue to help offset that cost.

Youth development has to be one of the cornerstones of any new administrative structure. I would not go as far as to say clubs must list 'X' number of U21s in their squad, but every club should have some form of youth development as a clearly defined requirement.

For smaller, lower league clubs, it may be something as simple as the club having a tie-in with local schools or youth groups and sending players to coaching sessions or holding them after school. As many players would be part-time, perhaps this could be tied in with the players themselves getting monetary or qualification credits towards recognised coaching credentials as an incentive. For more senior teams, they should have a more organised structure, perhaps their own youth team(s) playing against other club teams (in their area), and for the top tier teams, they should have a fully developed youth structure with multiple teams and ultimately it would be nice for all to have an Academy but that may be a leap.

Rather than have the youth teams play and travel at weird days and times, perhaps they could also be scheduled to have a game against the same opposition as the senior side, on the same day and maybe even at the same stadium either before or after the senior match (provided its not a night game and timing is an issue). Not only would this reduce costs for separate travel, but perhaps it would increase the value for money for fans who could watch the youths play included in the price of their ticket, and would also give the youths experience of playing in proper stadia in front of fans instead of at training grounds or local parks. To pay for increased focus on youth, clubs should perhaps consider diverting a percentage of transfer income to this, and the league itself should establish a youth fund to be distributed to clubs on a yearly basis for defined projects in youth development (like establishing an academy). Eventually, the youth setup would be self financing for some clubs as good young players would emerge and be sold on, with some of the money going back into the coffers to develop the next set of youths ....

My final suggestion is likely to get a torrent of derision .... but perhaps the league should also consider a salary cap ??? Clubs in each division would have a ceiling they could not go above, and have to manage their squad within that ceiling. Clubs who wish to go above the cap (eg Celtic and Rangers no doubt) would be allowed to do so (within reason) but would have to divert an additional fee equivalent to a significant percentage of that overspend directly to the league. that money would be used to help fund the aforementioned youth development as well as distributed to other clubs as "equalisation" payments ..... levelling the playing field a little bit as it were.

My last two suggestions (Youth Development and Salary) come almost directly from MLS. A league which imploded once already and which, this time round, decided to control growth to a slow and steady pace by managing costs and trying to ensure no teams were able to outspend each other to become a dominant force (although LA and NY seem to be allowed to do whatever they want, but thats another story).

In MLS you must have an academy or you dont get in. Toronto FC had 6 academy graduates in their squad last year with 2 or 3 of them winning international caps or junior international caps and those same 2 or 3 being regulars in the side on merit. Although player contracts in MLS are owned by the league not the clubs, if these players are ever sold to a team outside MLS, TFC will retain a significant portion of the fee but must use a lot of it for youth development or infrastructure improvements..... Rangers actually paid for TFC to rip up the original artificial turf at BMO Stadium and replace it with grass ... all from the proceeds of the sale of Maurice Edu to them ! In terms of salary, the MLS system is hard to fathom, but there is a cap and you cannot go above that. you can sign up to three 'designated players' above the cap with only $350,000 counting towards your cap and the rest being paid by the club (Beckham and Thierry Henry both get about $5m for example and even Barry Robson got $600K for half a season) but if you do sign a third DP, then you also have to pay a substantial fee to the league that is distributed to clubs where the owners may not be so rich and cannot afford to pay for high salary DPs ... an equalisation payment in other words. Seems to work here, so with a bit of tinkering, perhaps it could be one of the checks and balances Scottish Football could use to get itself back on its feet again ?

[Kirishima]

If I was at the helm I would promote high school football.

I'm sure if, for example, Charleston Academy was in the regional final against Alness there would be a bit of a turn out, and similarly in the quarter-final if Charleston played St.Aloysius in a two-leg affair that would generate some fans. Both schools would go plus parents, relatives, well-wishers etc. It would bring benefits to both the school, the students, and football as a whole. The final would be televised and played at Hampden, etc.

From there, I'd like to see a high-school draft as in US sport. It is exciting, glamorous, fair, and would bring some sort of balance to the disparate population. Scotland has a unique geographical identity, and in this way, teams could get a fair crack of the whip. (It would only really apply to SPL teams as you couldn't have a starlet training in mud with East Stirling.) Three year contracts. After two years the players would be able to re-sign on their terms, or transfer at a price set by a SFA tribunal. The money from this 2nd year transfer would be shared between the school football system, the SFA and the club. Maybe an Engish club would pay 2m for the player? The school football system could get 25% towards their football program, the SFA 25% and the club and player 25% each.

I think this would raise the profile of youth football, help schools raise money and give their students a real goal, and inject some life into the game.

The measures mooted by the governing bodies are as dry as toast. Why not open it up, create something new, and go for broke. Need some major changes over and above extra/fewer teams.

[Scarlet Pimple]

Remember what one of the English Kings said when a recalcitrant priest continued to give him trouble. erg: Thomas A Becket was it not?

"Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?"

This reminds me of our continuing to witness the Rangers's sly moves to get their foot in the door again as soon as possible.(whatever they call themselves a rose by any other name smells the same).

Never a day seems to pas but there is either a whine from them or they feature in some other controversial plan.I personallyjust wish that they would just disappear off the face of the Scottish map completely.

[Yngwie]

Rangers = priests?

[starchief]

So the upshot of what I've read from most people is that if it benefits Rangers in any way, we should not do it. Talk about parochial!

The biggest change we should make is a more equitable distribution of income. Is it right Celtic can bid millions and pay tens of thousands whilst the likes of Allan, Fyvie etc will move to a reserve side as two of the biggest SPL clubs can't afford a little more?

Everyone says Scottish clubs (or north England clubs, if you're Alex ) should be playing youngsters, but it's impossible if they leave, like Chris Macguire, to sit in Derby's reserves at the first opportunity. Let the top clubs compete for the best players in Scotland, not the best players in the world (perhaps they're not quite at that level) at the sacrifice of the rest of the league.

[CaleyD]

Just read an interesting article on the subject of Salary Capping....

http://www.danielgeey.com/a-premier-league-salary-cap-questions-and-consequences/

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

I found an article about celery toppings ....

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/210052-celery-topping

[lizi]

I found an article about celery toppings ....

http://www.myfitness...-celery-topping

Yawn yawn yawn.... when will this all end...

[gingerjaggy]

what do we think of the SPL proposals

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20399047

[CaleyD]

All we have at the moment is speculation that two leagues of 12, then splitting into 3 of 8 is the plan being proposed/taken forward. The article clearly says that nobody at the meeting was willing to divulge any details.

With that in mind, I'll not get too hot and bothered about it yet. All I will say is that if the SPL are not looking at a restructuring proposal that gets us away from this whole playing each other (up to) 4 times a season scenario, then they are about to get it horribly wrong.

[+DoofersDad]

Interesting, I would say. These proposals have a lot of merit but the down side is that it maintains the illogical split of separate ruling bodies. The SPL and SFL need to merge. The basic concept extended to include the lower regions of the structure and with a pyramid structure below that to bring new blood into the league would be the way forward.

How about 4 leagues of 12 (Divs 1 - 4. I can't stand this premier league nonsense)

• In all leagues the teams play each other home and away and then the leagues split.
  
• Top 8 in Div 1 play each other home and away for title and European places.
  
• Bottom 4 in Div 1 and top 4 in Div 2 play each other home and away. Top 4 play in Div 1 next year and bottom 4 play in Div 2
  
• Bottom 8 in Div 2 play each other home and away with the bottom 4 being relegated
  
• Top 8 in Div 3 play each other home and away with top 4 being promoted to Div 2
  
• Bottom 4 in Div 3 and top 4 in Div 4 play each other home and away. Top 4 play in Div 3 next year and bottom 4 play in Div 4
  
• Bottom 8 in Div 4 play each other home and away. Bottom 4 get relegated to regional leagues to be replaced by champions of 4 regional leagues
  

This would mean that just about every game was competetive and there would real opportunity to progress through the league structure. It would offer a lot more variety.

[starchief]

Two leagues of 16, once home and away, is quite enough. Regional below that. Simple.