The 12-10-10-10 system is getting boring and still leaves clubs with costs issues. Proposal 1: 14-14-14, Each division has 14 teams, playing a 26 game round robin schedule. After that the top six, next six, and bottom two clubs split apart playing double round robin (the top 12 clubs play 36 games, the other two play a relegation battle of sorts) Proposal 2: Similar to #1 but the second division is regionalized (north/south with 14 teams in each regional league) Proposal 3: 16-14-12, In the top division, double round robin, followed by double round robin of top half teams and bottom half teams (44 games in total: league cup would be axed) Proposal 4: Similar to #3, but the second division is regionalized (no third division) Proposal 5: 18-12-12: The top division plays a double round robin (34 games in total) Proposal 6: Similar to #5, but the second division is regionalized (no third division) Proposal 7: 18-24, both leagues play double round robin Proposal 8: 20-22, both leagues play double round robin Proposal 9: 10-10-20 (with the third division split into 2 regional leagues of 10 teams each). Each league is simple: quadruple round robin (36 games each). This would, however, require two clubs to lose professional status and be demoted to the Highland and Lowland Football Leagues (one club to each). This proposal would make the Scottish Premiership more competitive as the 10 squads will be less diluted talent-wise than a 12-team league, and the third division will have less costs as clubs don't have to travel as much. Also, clubs would be playing 2 less games in the Premiership, so the cups would have to be altered to account for this. I would merge the League Cup and Cup together into one Scottish Cup, with a format the exact same as the Champions League, with the 10 Premiership sides gaining automatic qualification to the Group Stages, and the rest of the clubs going through qualification rounds to determine the 22 other Group Stage participants. In this way, Premiership sides would be guaranteed 42 games a season, instead of the now 40. Last edited: May 26, 2015
Check it out. http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/how-to-save-scottish-football.975495/ At the moment the main thing I'd like to see is summer football.
Summer football would be a stretch because most SPL clubs have already paid for heated fields, and the Irish have shifted to a summer schedule, which has been a disaster. I would just have a short offseason in June and a winter break.
What's the details of it being a disaster? I'd still go for it. Anything to at least aim for the best weather would be ace. Would you be for starting to season at the start of July?
Yes, I would start the season around July 1, have a one month winter break in January, and then end the season around May 15. http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm Attendances, which were supposed to go up after the changes, see 2001, did in 2003, but are below pre-2001 levels.
Move the start of the season back two to three weeks (July 15 or 22, e.g.) and smush the fixtures in a bit (having maybe one less week for the winter break).
Although its not super popular or realistic a Scotland-Wales-Ireland-NI joint league is the only thing going to save and elevate football in those countries.
You could also maybe go to a Welsh model. Release clubs who want to go compete in England. Like Hearts, Queen of the South, Celtic, and the Rangers. This could give other clubs hope and make it more competitive. Glasgow and Edinburgh are the only cities with populations to support world class football clubs. It would also be cool if they could have those clubs still compete in the Scottish Cup and League Cups. I know some rules would have to be changed for that.
Not going to happen. England (Premiership, Championship or England in general) don't need Celtic or Rangers. In monetary terms they have the most successful league in world football by quite a distance.
So say 10 years from now having Old Firm games on a larger platform like EPL would not generate enough additional revenue and interest to make it worthwhile from the English perspective? I was under the understanding that it was the Scottish FA that would block this. To that I would say when most of your players have not lived to see or at least remember a champion other then Celtic or Rangers you have a competition problem.
Ok this is the last thing I have for this. England does not want Scotland to succeed from the crown. Having a few big clubs access to the EPL on the line could be enough leverage for enough voters to halt serious successions talks for our life times. The Labor MPs and other conservative unionist MP's should lean on the FA a little. They could be like "Nice new TV contract you got there. Shame if it would be taxed at a ridiculous rate."
Good lord. At least use the right word. Secession not succession. Which Government is going to be taxing the tv contract? What would the FA have to do with it ? The Premier League is a completely separate body. At least try and make a coherent argument and have a basic understanding of how things are organised. Also Queen of the South? Er you what? If the Scottish clubs want to play in the English league system, then they can start at the very bottom.
Where did I say that...? Yes I personally think there would be but the English Premiership, or even the Championship for that matter, don't need any clubs from Scotland. At this minute in time the Premiership is the biggest money making football league in the world. Therefore, why would they want any Scottish clubs admitted to the league? Sure Sky would love to have Celtic v Manchester Utd and Rangers v Chelsea for example but the league doesn't need it to be a success and not one of the English clubs want it. The difference is the Welsh clubs were admitted years and years ago, possibly right at the very beginning of the birth of professional football in England. I'm unsure of the history but the fact remains it was in a WHOLE different era to the modern game. Do you think for a minute if neither Cardiff City or Swansea City where in the English leagues at this minute in time they would be getting invited in now...?
Although many have complained about the football league system in Scotland, I truly believe it only needs one minor change (merging League One and Two into one division and splitting the division into a northern and southern league to reduce costs). The current PL and Championship setup (now with the implementation of promotion/relegation playoffs) has been a success. However, the cups need an overhaul. First, the league cup needs to be scrapped (it has low attendance and importance and leads to unnecessary fixture congestion). Secondly, the Scottish Cup should be opened to 128 clubs instead of the current 90 (38 more amateur clubs would be added). I would eliminate replays (to again reduce fixture congestion), and have every club (including the SPL clubs) enter into the Round of 128 (First Round). The first two rounds I would regionalize (north/south) and seed with the unseeded team being home (similar to Germany) to get a payday. The Round of 32 onward would be unseeded. What do you think?
Thoughts in no particular order, and assuming no grander ties with other nations: - League Cups should be reserved for teams not competing in Europe, which will typically mean spreading the trophies around more and give hope to the smaller clubs. - I'm not a fan of the scheduling change ups part-way through the season and would much rather see each level playing just double or quadruple round robin schedules. Whether that falls at 16, 18 or 20+ members is immaterial, IMO. This may also entail a review of standards for clubs and reconsideration of the viability for some smaller clubs. - To help fill the calendar perhaps they should foster regional cups that could be played as scrambles (mini-tournaments) at the start of the season. This would give everyone something like 2-6 games depending on the structure and would celebrate local rivalries even when teams are in different levels. (Similar to Brazilian State tournaments.)
You can't have too much success and money. NBA and MLB didn't need Canada but still went into it. It effectively expands the domestic market and adds new TV revenue which everyone then gets to share. The problem is relegation. You could probably negotiate it with top clubs, for them and for the Premiership overall this is beneficial. But minnow clubs would be at extra risk to lose their spots and a lot of money, and they have their votes. To sway these clubs, you probably would have to change the format significantly, like add extra spots to Premiership and Championship, rather than cram Scottish clubs into the existing system. Another issue are Euro spots. The Scottish FA would have to be amenable to some sort of special arrangement where 'runaway' clubs still get access to Scotland's CL and other Euro tickets. Canadian FA is doing it, so it wouldn't be completely unique. Either way, Scottish FA needs to be on board.
Using Griffin's regional games idea: 16 team Premiership that starts in August and breaks for a month or more in winter. 30 games. Scottish League Cup goes back to its old groups and playoffs format, similar to Champions' league. This will compensate for shorter Premiership. League Cup groups start in mid July. Groups are regional, designed to have as many traditional derbies as possible. This will give fans and broadcasters more 'marquee' games each season, without needing current convoluted Premiership structure. There are 42 clubs in pro leagues, so I guess there could be 10 such regional groups, most of them would have 4 teams, two bigger groups would have 5 teams. 10 group winners advance to the next round. 10 runner ups and also the two 3rd seeds from the bigger groups (12 teams in total) have an additional playoff round, which leaves 6 teams that can join the 10 group winners in a nice simple 16 team playoff tournament. Basically, a bigger but shorter, more interesting Premiership with a winter break + Scottish League Cup goes back to its roots and becomes larger and derby-focused, to compensate for shorter Premiership.
SPFL heard me, at least part of it. They are adding a regional group stage to League Cup in mid-July. Also a short winter break. http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport...revamp_in_tandem_with___7_5m_BT_Sport_tie_in/ It's still far from ideal, I would shorten the league, I would increase the winter break, add top teams and derbies into League Cup (now they will have just 1 Premiership team per group, and no CL/Europa teams). Also, they are doing the 90s MLS thing in this group stage, where every draw ends in a shootout for an extra point (but a penalty shootout, not the run and gun thing from old MLS). Still, this is a move in the right direction overall. TV broadcasters seem to agree, as the money for the League Cup will go from 0.9 mil pounds to 1.9 mil. That's a nice increase for Scottish football, especially considering that this group stage won't have best teams and best derbies. I think it clearly shows that broadcasters want summer football. They are basically paying more for 2 weeks of July tournament among weaker Scottish teams with no derbies, than they are paying for 2 weeks of Premiership.
And now they are talking about reducing the number of divisions from 4 to 3 (about damn time, 4 tiny divisions was always a silly structure), 14 teams each. About damn time. I would prefer 16 team Premiership, but 14 teams is better than 12. Baby steps, but it's moving in the right direction. Assuming they can agree this time.
They should just have a 39-game triple-round robin schedule: guarantee the top 7 clubs a 20th home game (the top seven after 26 games).
Good. The change alone not only will be invigorating but shows they're willing to tweak the model to make it better instead of blindly adhering to the status quo. Nice to see the bump in money, as well. Sooner or later they'll need to truly separate the wheat from the chaff, however, as a nation of 5M can only support so many pro teams, and then only so many at a top level. They'll want to speak with other, comparably sized nations to learn about options for raising fan appeal and see the pulse of these leagues and fans about the future of small-league football. Each day they do nothing is another day more fans will simply give more of their fandom to teams in the biggest leagues, which will be a sad evolution for the game.