Scottish Premier League meets to discuss reconstruction

[lfc4life]

The Scottish Premier League is meeting on Wednesday to discuss plans to revitalise football in Scotland.
Representatives from all 12 clubs are gathering at Hampden, with league reconstruction top of the agenda.
Talks have been ongoing for weeks between concerned chairman, who privately admit that drastic action is needed to give the top flight a boost.
If the majority get their way, the new-look SPL will welcome two new teams and become a division of 14.
The favoured new set-up will also include relegation play-offs with a two-up, two-down system.
BBC Scotland has gained access to detailed analysis undertaken by the clubs, who have been looking for the best way to fix what many see as a broken product.
All options have been considered, from a top flight of ten, all the way through to a league of 24.
Lists of pros and cons have been collated next to each option and a 14-team league is regarded as the favoured option.
The plan is for each team to play each other once home and away (26 fixtures) before splitting into two sections, either six/eight or eight/six.
Teams would then play other teams in their section once more home and away.
It means those in the post-split section of six would play 36 matches and those in the group of eight would play 40 games.

The SPL see the main benefit of this format as the balancing up the games after the split, since there has been controversy in recent seasons surrounding the disparity of teams facing more away games than others.
Many fans favour a larger division still, but several chairmen are fearful of losing the financial benefits of playing the Old Firm clubs twice at home.

imo this can be a good thing to happen to the spl :) :congrats::congrats:

[boomer39]

the only way is to let celtic and rangers play each other 24 times, or let them play down here....

[mattybhoy]

You're not far off there.

Small population, very little TV money, low attendences (out with Celtic & Rangers) and the quality of football declining year after year.

Something radical is needed. I know in the past there's been talk about joining with the Scandinavian countries or Holland. I don't see how Uefa would allow that at the moment, but just rejiging the SPL again will not work.

In an ideal world there would be a UK league. Celtic & Rangers would be attractive in the EPL and I'm sure the likes of Aberdeen, Hearts & Hibs would also be attractive additions to the championship. But this will not happen until football in England goes bust and whilst there are still rich sugar daddies willing to put unreal amounts into clubs that will not happen.

[jim56]

I honestly don't know what the solution is but the league split just makes things complicated and nobody from outside Scotland has a clue how it works.

jim

[boomer39]

You're not far off there.

Small population, very little TV money, low attendences (out with Celtic & Rangers) and the quality of football declining year after year.

Something radical is needed. I know in the past there's been talk about joining with the Scandinavian countries or Holland. I don't see how Uefa would allow that at the moment, but just rejiging the SPL again will not work.

In an ideal world there would be a UK league. Celtic & Rangers would be attractive in the EPL and I'm sure the likes of Aberdeen, Hearts & Hibs would also be attractive additions to the championship. But this will not happen until football in England goes bust and whilst there are still rich sugar daddies willing to put unreal amounts into clubs that will not happen.
think a uk league would work, but for the small clubs on both sides of the border,i think there should be a northern and southern section , like we had here for years. traveling would be crazy... inverness to plymouth!!! ugh....
maybe even 3 areas, n, s and central...
doubt if the lesser scottish clubs could survive without the big 2,so a uk league might be one answer..

[opsmonkey]

UK League will never happen.. If it did the IFAB would be destroyed.. FIFA would rule the roost..

UK = 1 Vote
FA, SFA, FAW & IFA = 4 Votes

[dazzabhoy]

see the SFA offices were broken into last night, thieves made of with the results of the next three old firm games.

[mattybhoy]

see the SFA offices were broken into last night, thieves made of with the results of the next three old firm games.

:congrats:lol

Surely you're not telling the truth.. or is just a mistake? But it would be an 'honest lie' or an 'honest mistake' of course..

[HoTTDubbER]

never mind reconstruction ,....... they should just knock it down and build a Sainsburys lmfao

[opsmonkey]

from the very little time i have spent in Scotland what i gathered from chatting to the fellas up there is that mass amounts of fans go to the old firm clubs from outside of Glasgow..

For instance 4 coaches from Forres went to Ibrox and Parkhead each week.. :eek:

Would some aggressive marketing by the other clubs and mass community outreach not pull these people from their Glasgow bound coaches in to the likes of Caley Thistle..???

[mattybhoy]

You're right about fans from all over not only Scotland, but the British Isles going to watch Celtic & Rangers - like they do for Man U & Liverpool.

The difference in Scotland is that the population is so small and the population of some of the towns of the teams are so small.

The worrying thing is that the likes of Hibs/Hearts, Dundee/Dundee Utd should be getting a lot more through the gates than they do & you should see the coaches coming from Dundee & Edinburgh to watch the OF.

The fact is that the product is poor at present & it's been uncompetative for years (in terms of only 2 teams realistically having a chance of winning the league).

I remember the season a few a ago when Hearts were up there & ended up finishing 2nd. I thought that was great & great for the Scottish game. Imagine what it would be like if someone out with the OF won the league? But they aint going to happen soon - like it tends not to happen in other leagues.

[opsmonkey]

I've watched a few SPL games, especially on a Saturday when Liverpool aren't playing until the Sunday..

I wouldn't say the product is that poor..
The passion is there for sure so i think your FA are doing you over..

I reckon mass aggressive marketing could get your league up there..

I mean.. the NBA is popular all over the world and that's dire.. but it gets massive marketing.. :D

[mattybhoy]

Agree on the SFA. The game is Scotland is run by a bunch of amateurs. Some games are ok, but trust me the standard compared with other leagues - especially the EPL is dire.

In terms of marketing the SPL I agree they could do more in other countries especially where there is a large ex pat Scot population (USA & Oz). That could get a tv deal and bring in more dosh for the clubs.

But disagree with NBA, it rocks man!!

[mattybhoy]

Edinburgh - 5 Glasgow - 0

What price on that?! Especially Rangers going down 3 - 0 at home to Hibs.

Celtic always struggle at Hearts..:banghead:

[mattybhoy]

I'm answering my own question because nobody else cares or indeed is interested! lol The odds of the Celtic and Rangers results were 2625-1!! The odds on them both losing were 64-1! Apparently William Hills only took a total of ?200 in the UK on both the OF losing.

Useless facts finished for the day. Maybe more tomorrow! :D