If the Home Nations merged...

[SheffWedFan]

I was just reading a discussion on the BBC about Team GB at the Olympics, and the pros and cons, and what the ramifications for the domestic game might be if it would ever happen, with a forced GB national team and a forced GB league. And if got me thinking...

PURELY HYPOTHETICALLY... I wonder how it would work if FIFA laid down the law and said "thou shalt merge thy leagues and have an all-encompassing British league from this point on..." and all the FAs reluctantly agreed, there would have to be a fair way of integrating all the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish clubs into the Pyramid which was reflective of the strength of each club/division, and provided a decent split.

My own way of doing this would be to relegate the bottom 4 from the Premier League, and have the Championship champions, plus the top 3 from Scotland join the new British Premier League. Then, after that, you'd simply do it by rankings... The Championship would be the 3 who went down, followed by the next 14 in the championship, the next 5 from Scotland, the Welsh champs and the NI Champs... and so on and so on down the pyramid. It would be quite interesting.

Taking the standings are they are now, the new Top 6 divisions would be:

BRITISH PREMIER LEAGUE
- Arsenal
- Aston Villa
- Blackburn Rovers
- Bolton Wanderers
- Celtic
- Chelsea
- Everton
- Liverpool
- Manchester City
- Manchester United
- Middlesbrough
- Motherwell
- Newcastle United
- Portsmouth
- Rangers
- Stoke City
- Sunderland
- Tottenham Hotspur
- West Ham United
- Wigan Athletic

BRITISH LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP
- Birmingham City
- Blackpool
- Bristol City
- Burnley
- Cardiff City
- Charlton Athletic
- Cliftonville
- Crystal Palace
- Derby County
- Dundee United
- Falkirk
- Fulham
- Hearts
- Hibernian
- Hull City
- Inverness Caledonian Thistle
- Ipswich Town
- Llanelli
- Norwich City
- Plymouth Argyle
- Reading
- Watford
- West Bromwich Albion
- Wolves

BRITISH LEAGUE D1
- Aberdeen
- Barnsley
- Carlisle United
- Colchester United
- Coventry City
- Doncaster Rovers
- Gretna
- Hamilton Academicals
- Kilmarnock
- Leicester City
- Linfield
- Nottingham Forest
- Preston North End
- QPR
- Scunthorpe United
- Sheffield United
- Sheffield Wednesday
- Southampton
- Southend United
- St. Mirren
- Swansea City
- TNS
- Tranmere Rovers
- Walsall

BRITISH LEAGUE D2
- Brighton and Hove Albion
- Bristol Rovers
- Cheltenham Town
- Crewe Alexandra
- Dundee
- Dunfermline Athletic
- Gillingham
- Glentoran
- Hartlepool United
- Hereford United
- Huddersfield Town
- Leeds United
- Leyton Orient
- Millwall
- MK Dons
- Northampton Town
- Oldham Athletic
- Partick Thistle
- Peterborough United
- Queen of the South
- Rhyl
- St. Johnstone
- Swindon Town
- Yeovil Town

BRITISH LEAGUE D3
- Accrington Stanley
- Bangor City
- Bournemouth
- Bradford City
- Brentford
- Chester City
- Chesterfield
- Clyde
- Darlington
- Greenock Morton
- Grimsby Town
- Lincoln City
- Lisburn Distillery
- Livingston
- Luton Town
- Morecambe
- Port Vale
- Rochdale
- Ross County
- Rotherham United
- Shrewsbury Town
- Stirling Albion
- Stockport County
- Wycombe Wanderers

BRITISH LEAGUE D4
- Airdrie United
- Aldershot
- Alloa Athletic
- Barnet
- Brechin City
- Burton Albion
- Bury
- Cambridge United
- Carmarthen Town
- Dagenham & Redbridge
- Ebbsfleet United
- Exeter City
- Forest Green Rovers
- Histon
- Macclesfield Town
- Mansfield Town
- Notts County
- Peterhead
- Portadown
- Raith Rovers
- Salisbury City
- Stevenage Borough
- Torquay United
- Wrexham

I'm not coming down one way or the other in favour of this, I'm not saying I approve of this or want this to happen or anything like that - just thinking out loud and brainstorming really.

Of course, another way to do this would be to split things regionally the further down the pyramid you go, and re-align the divisions at the end of the season depending on who gets promoted and relegated.

Any thoughts?

[RichardL]

The main thought would be that the non-English sides, Celtic & Rangers apart, would have a very tough time. Financially, only a handful would be able to survive at championship level, and they'd lose the money they get from the old firm visiting twice a year (and wouldn't get much in away support from England). The bulk of the Scottish premier would be in the lower divisions within a few years, and the rest would be non-league.

[leg_breaker]

It'd probably have to go regional at the third or fourth division.

Anyway, there's more chance of the union breaking up than the leagues merging.

[Teso Dos Bichos]

The main thought would be that the non-English sides, Celtic & Rangers apart, would have a very tough time. Financially, only a handful would be able to survive at championship level, and they'd lose the money they get from the old firm visiting twice a year (and wouldn't get much in away support from England). The bulk of the Scottish premier would be in the lower divisions within a few years, and the rest would be non-league.

They would get considerably more money in overall.

[RichardL]

They would get considerably more money in overall.
where from?

Imagine if Dundee Utd were in the CCC. Currently they average 8,500 or so. The CCC average is double that, and Dundee Utd's average is only better than Scunthorpe and Colchester in the division.

Unless the lure of seeing Burnley and Plymouth would double the crowds they get now, or even raise crowds at all, I just don't see where the extra money would come from.

CCC clubs also have a very poor tv deal.

[Teso Dos Bichos]

TV money and sponsorship in the Scottish leagues is shocking. A change to what was posted above would clearly increase the money that Scottish clubs would receive. In addition there is a general malaise in regard to our football because you end up playing the same teams 6 or 7 times each season. There is no variety with our current league structure. There is need for a change and by doing so you would attract the fans back. In addition to more home fans you would also see more away fans. At the moment even the lowest English clubs can offer more in terms of wages but with the changes proposed it would help to provide some level of parity.

[RichardL]

TV money and sponsorship in the Scottish leagues is shocking. A change to what was posted above would clearly increase the money that Scottish clubs would receive. In addition there is a general malaise in regard to our football because you end up playing the same teams 6 or 7 times each season. There is no variety with our current league structure. There is need for a change and by doing so you would attract the fans back. In addition to more home fans you would also see more away fans. At the moment even the lowest English clubs can offer more in terms of wages but with the changes proposed it would help to provide some level of parity.
For Rangers & Celtic it would be great, but the rest would find it hard.

Like I say, I just don't see how the rest would benefit. Sponsorship & tv cash may be higher in the CCC than in the SPL for clubs who aren't Rangers & Celtic, but it can't be by a significant amount.

It's hard to judge how crowd numbers would change if typical SPL clubs were in the CCC. You could well be right, and the novelty factor could result in a rise, but in many cases you'd be asking crowds to double to even be average at CCC level, and that's not going to happen through away support, which is typically only a shade over 1000 per game anyway. Atypical match, with a team from the middle of England playing a team in the middle of Scotland, would be a 5 hour drive - enough to put all but the die-hards off, while the extreme of Plymouth going to Aberdeen, would see the Plymouth fans needing to set off at around turning out time of the local nightclubs if they wanted to make kick-off for a 3pm Saturday match.

I'd imagine that Hearts, Hibernian & Aberdeen would be fine, but everyone else would struggle to survive in the the top two divisions.


They might just have a slightly better chance of surviving than Llanelli, also suggested as starting at that level, would though.

[rochester rhinos]

Don't worry Teso hasn't seen your post yet when he does hell doubly reply with a post twice as long;)

[leg_breaker]

Crowds might be up for a few years, but once the novelty wore off they'd be back to normal. TV and Sponsorship money wouldn't improve as it'd just be spread even thinner. Don't expect away crowds to be much higher. Fans of Burnley and West Brom wouldn't want to travel to Inverness to watch a match.

[rochester rhinos]

Crowds might be up for a few years, but once the novelty wore off they'd be back to normal. TV and Sponsorship money wouldn't improve as it'd just be spread even thinner. Don't expect away crowds to be much higher. Fans of Burnley and West Brom wouldn't want to travel to Inverness to watch a match.Ah yes good ol Caledonian Thistle.For being a new ground it is quite a sh*te hole.The only good thing about the stadium is that its close to the sea that way when its cold you can freeze even more due to the sea breeze :D