http://sport.stv.tv/football/scotti...32-celtic-would-favour-switch-to-14-team-spl/ Aye? Naw? A league with more teams has to be better surely?
No, it's not. We used to have a big league up until the mid 70s and the teams at the foot of the table were like pub teams.
Was that not 18 or 20 teams though? 14 teams isn't going to make a huge difference but it will add a bit of variety.
Right enough, our football is of a much higher standard now than it was in the sixties and seventies when Celtic and Rangers were winning cups in Europe and Scotland qualified for tournaments. Two extra teams is a definite goer. Ross County and Falkirk are at least better than Dunfermline
It was 18 teams playing each other just once home & away - so 34 games/season. As you say, there was more variety, but if you want to improve the quality of the league I don't think tinkering with the number of teams is the way to go. I'm more interested in what's going on with the McLeish report. Will his recommendations regarding youth development be fully implemented, or will it go the way of Ernie Walker's think tank? I fear that people will all agree that it's the way forward, but little concrete action will be taken necessitating another bloody inquiry in a few year's time when Scotland have failed, yet again, to qualify for a major tournament.
14 Team SPL Home and Away = 26 games -----Split ----------- Top 7 = Home and Away 12 Games (can that work?) Bottom 7 = Home and Away 12 Games (can that work?) 38 Games in total Bottom 2 - 1 relegated / 1 in play off Top 4 in 18 team SPL 2 Play off semis then final. 1 up / 3 in play offs 18 team Div 1 North/East 18 Team Div 1 South/West Plus: Pyramid system with rest (part time) and Juniors: regionilised League Cup 3/4 rounds of of knock out Group Stage involving SPL clubs with winners of knock out. Quarters/Semis/Final Scottish Cup: No change
So a 14 team table could look like this: 1. Celtic 2. Motherwell 3. Dundee Utd 4. St Johnstone 5. Hearts 6. Kilmarnock 7. Aberdeen 8. St Mirren 9. Inverness CT 10. Hibernian 11. Ross County 12. Falkirk 13. Dundee 14. Hamilton At least it adds a bit of variety and a few derbies (Dundee, Edinburgh, Lanarkshire).
I think the four games between the top 6 is not good for either the footballer or the supporters. I would opt for a 16 team league, with a return to the league sections for the non European qualified teams in the league cup. The teams playing in Europe enter after the league sections are over. If possible I would try to have the league cup winners having a place in Europe. If not I would raise prize money for winners and runners up by increasing the entrance fee for every club. Entry fee could be levied on the basis of the league positions from previous year. The higher position paying more.
Not a bad starting point, I think two leagues of 18 underneath are too large though. I would also change the league cup to be completed before Christmas (assuming were not going for a summer league change at the same time) would help ease the burdon of games piling up in second half of the season. I would also look at setting up SPL TV channel run by the clubs for the clubs - could then sell product to sky/ESPN/bbc/itv etc. Oh and get rid of the SPL and SFL - possibly create an SFL dept within the SFA to run the leagues with SFA oversight.
