Comparing Scottish Leagues to English Leagues

[Caley Mad In Berks]

Brewster scouring lower English Leagues for players has led me to wonder how the leagues compare.  Here's my take on it. I'm sure others will have different views -

SPL  Rangers/Celtic    about mid table English Premiership (about Blackburn's level in my view)

SPL  other 'big' teams eg Hibs, Dundee U, Motherwell (maybe on this year's perfomance),Aberdeen  - mid/lower Championship

SPL rest (including us!)  -  English Div 1

SFL 1 (top 5)  -  lower Eglish Div1 or Div 2

SFL 1 (bottom 5) - English Div 2

SFL 2 (top 5) - lower Eng Div 2

SFL 2 (bottom 5) -  Conference

SFL3 -  Regional conference and below

[kencar]

Think you've pretty much got it spot on

[Alex MacLeod]

Having watched a lot of premiership, championship and div 1 games this last season I would say Rangers would struggle to get out of the championship. I think the rest of the SPL teams would hover between championship and div 1. The big difference is the amount of money down south. i.e Doncaster Rovers in div 1 average gate around 9000. Play-off final v Leeds 75000 decend on Wembley from the poorer regions of north engerlund.

The difference of a couple of thousand more bums on seats make a big difference on the quality of team.

Leeds were once one of the greats of the premiership. Now they cant get out of div 1.

Very difficult to make comparrisons cause the playing fields aren't level.

[starchief]

I think Celtic would actually do pretty well in the EPL.  Ranger I don't think have the squad.  This may seem strange as the Gers of course had a great season but I think a lot of that was grit and a will to grind out results.  That wouldn't work in the EPL.

However, with the money they could get (and probably Hearts or Hibs), everything would change.  The OF would be as big as Man U or Chelsea.

[Guest couchpotato]

Chalk and cheese springs to mind, our football has been driven into the diddy realms over the last 30 years by the people who ru(i)n our game

[The Mantis]

I think CMIB is not far off, but I think people miss the point by talking about how good a TEAM is, rather than how big a CLUB is. In that sense Rancid and Ceptic are probably about top 6 in the EPL.

Rangers may be a crap team at the moment, but they're a feckin massive club and they're rebuilding. They only lost the league by a bawhair to Ceptic and weren't expecting much after how poor they were last year under Le Guen.

For the same reason I would put Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen in the Championship, and then it's a toss of a coin who's in League 1 (say DUFC, Well, Killie) and League 2 (Us, Falkirk, Midden maybe, plus clubs like Partick, Dundee, St Johnstone etc).

However it's distorted because: Rantic and Celgers are currently playing in a poorer league than they should be, and teams like us are playing in a higher standard than most League 2 teams as we get to meet the OF several times a season, instead of shitey wee clubs like Rochdale and Bury, which, let's face it, are about our size of club.

[MissICT]

There is way more money in the premiership. They play a diffrent style of footy.

[SMEE]

You cant compare the two leagues as it isnt an level palying field financially. I know Celtic AND Rangers would thrive in the EPL given the same money the other teams are getting. They would also be THE biggest teams attendance wise....both capable of attracting over 80 000 easily to such games.

Old Firm would do better in the EPL constraints than the top English teams would do within the SPL (on equivalent money)

[Drochit Blue]

Caley are on a par with English Div 1 (3rd tier) imo.

At least Caley try to play football (yes, honest) compared to English Div 2 (4th tier) clubs who just hoof the ball up to a big lad who has a fight with the centre halves

[Guest birdog]

At least Caley try to play football (yes, honest) compared to English Div 2 (4th tier) clubs who just hoof the ball up to a big lad who has a fight with the centre halves

Maybe that statement could have been valid this time last year but, since Brewstard arrived?

[KingBeastie]

I used to watch Leyton Orient a lot when I lived in London.

There may be a lot more money down south but that doesn't mean the quality of football on offer is better.

I used to go for the beer and the day out - and a bl00dy good time it was too!