thank you Rhondda, but don't blame musty he lives to far away to understand what standard celtic and rangers are really like. they would struggle in the championship let alone the premiership, cardiff are far better than them two teams today, years ago i would say they were good enough but Scottish football is in decline through lack of investment and if they join then they join at the bottom...
No blame to any other poster Dai, we are all able to have an opinion and different opinions are what makes message boards tick. I just wanted to give my support to your opinion on this topic.
It's very difficult to know what standard they are, the only way to tell is have them play premier league teams on a consistent basis, the last time rangers played utd for example they were very unlucky as they lost in the last few minutes, they were more than a match for them. Still this is a hypothetical question right now, but who knows 10 years down the line that it may come off.
we beat rangers to the signings of conway and miller, so draw your own conclusions as to the state of scottish football. both celtic and rangers didnt qualify for the europa league (celtic through a team pulling out), home to teams from places like moldova and iceland. scottish football is probably at its lowest point in 50 years, as dai says, as they are they would struggle in the championship, let alone premiership
In a friendly dai as they had most of their first team in league action already, all I am saying is that it's difficult to determine the standard up there unless they are playing quality sides week in week out.
jager stop arguing we all know the Scottish football is in decline....oh and celtic fielded there strongest side against us......be told for once in your life....they are no match for any premiership side and most of the championship sides today, a few years back maybe but never in a month of Sundays today.
Swamp yes it is a mess up there, and both rangers and celtic are on their arses, they are big clubs no doubt about it, but their problems are laid bare , I reckon one or both will implode in the next few years. Still a uk league will not only help them, but will help welsh teams as well, there is just no progression on from the welsh premier league, if teams from there could go on into the pyramid it would be a boost for the clubs to go beyond what is there now. As I said though it is radical, and there would be a huge amount of change , but if the larger clubs do break away from the premier league into a European league I don't think there will be much choice.
its all about money, give them the platform of being in the PL and sky money and they'd be on the same level as clubs like arsenal, newcastle, spurs etc (ruling out man u, city and chelsea) , the support the old firm have is huge, but they're stuck in a nothing league with average journeymen in their first team, one with a manager who i can never take seriously after his antics on a question of sport however, in their current state, i wonder how long it will be before things change. after all, what was different when oneill and advocaat were up there and they could sign players only a few years ago for £5m or £10m? where has that money gone?
celtic and rangers cant afford to join our leagues as it is so the chance they would be invited to join any European league is slim, and should they do they would go from kings of their Micky mouse league to bottom two of the big teams league and lose the multitude of fans they got that keeps these clubs running...
Thai you have had some answers from the Celtic fans, if the OF were to leave the rest of Scottish football would collapse, that is why it will never happen, but beyond the Scottish Premier the rest of the league is akin to the welsh leagues, and that is being amateur or semi pro. If the OF were to come into the pyramid so should every other club up, or at least the ability to get there on results etc, the same for the welsh clubs who are stuck in their leagues without hope of ever bettering themselves. Ultimately it's down to grass roots football in the UK , if we as in the home nations are ever to succeed on the world stage we must have the facility to bring on home grown players. If there is no money or will to change things then we will never progress on an international arena. My interest in this is that why should teams pay £30m-£40m for a player from Spain , when there must be this kind of player here, undiscovered and un-nurtured , as gus poyet has said in a recent interview.
Had this conversation a few times and a few ideas that I think could work are a) Welsh league becomes part of English pyramid system possibly feeding into the blue square gives teams a chance to progress to a higher level. Would probably mean no European Football though through LOW. Also would threaten FAW independence so not gonna happen but is only way that Welsh sides within that system could develop. Also why don't Celtic or Rangers (or any other Scottish side for that matter) establish a club based in England and rise up the league in the same way say Wimbledon have done? Initially the new club could be funded by the parent club so would have the funding for rapid progression, when they reach the league they have a ready made feeder club and somewhere to send there acadamey players to gain first team experience. Eventually as the feeder club progresses within the English system there will be a gradual shift of focus until by the point the English based club can reach the prem where the roles of feeder and parent become reversed. Follow the Milton Keynes blueprint and base them somewhere deprived of top flight football With s decent population say near bath and Swindon and you'll get a fanbase. Kinda along these lines I really don't understand why is and the jacks don't do the same in the Welsh league. Our development team are playing l.o.w clubs anyway so why not enter s side and let them compete in competition with a chance of European football.
because ealing apart from one or two clubs the rest cant afford the travel costs and turning semi pro. some of these welsh minnows are no more than pub sides and the same in Scotland...its all about money at the end of the day....
I just tried to look at the logistics and it went a bit like this... Premier League - 20 teams. Championship - 19 teams. Div. 1 - 19 teams Div. 2 - 19 teams Div. 3 - 19 teams Div. 4 - 19 teams Div. 5 - 19 teams This includes the 42 teams from the Scottish League and the SPL plus the 92 teams currently in the League. The Welsh League is considered non-league as is the Conference/ Blue Square. etc. so not included. As for placement in the leagues, it could be as simple as lining the teams up 1-92 (FA) and 1-42 (Scotland) and splitting them 7 ways (at the end of a season). So if it was the end of the season yesterday (and they happened to finish in alphabetical order in the English League, but not the PL, due to 'cut and paste' issues), it would look something like... Man City Man Utd Newcastle Chelsea Tottenham Liverpool Arsenal Aston Villa Norwich City Swansea City QPR Stoke City Wolves WBA Rangers Celtic Motherwell St Johnstone Hearts St Mirren _______________________________________________ Sunderland Fulham Everton Bolton Blackburn Wigan Athletic Barnsley Birmingham City Blackpool Brighton & Hove Albion Bristol City Burnley Cardiff City Kilmarnock Dundee Utd Hibernian Dunfermline Aberdeen Inverness CT _______________________________________________ Coventry City Crystal Palace Derby County Doncaster Rovers Hull City Ipswich Town Leeds United Leicester City Middlesbrough Millwall Nottingham Forest Peterborough United Portsmouth Ross County Falkirk Livingston Hamilton Academical Morton Dundee _______________________________________________ Reading Southampton Watford West Ham United AFC Bournemouth Brentford Bury Carlisle United Charlton Athletic Chesterfield Colchester United Exeter City Hartlepool United Partick Thistle Ayr United Raith Rovers Queen of the South Cowdenbeath Arbroath _______________________________________________ Huddersfield Town Leyton Orient Milton Keynes Dons Notts County Oldham Athletic Preston North End Rochdale S****horpe United Sheffield United Sheffield Wednesday Stevenage Tranmere Rovers Walsall Stenhousemuir Dumbarton Albion Rovers East Fife Brechin City Forfar Athletic _______________________________________________ Wycombe Wanderers Yeovil Town AFC Wimbledon Accrington Stanley Aldershot Town Barnet Bradford City Bristol Rovers Burton Albion Cheltenham Town Crawley Town Crewe Alexandra Dagenham & Redbridge Airdrie United Stirling Albion Annan Athletic Alloa Athletic Elgin City Stranraer _______________________________________________ Gillingham Hereford United Macclesfield Town Morecambe Northampton Town Oxford United Plymouth Argyle Port Vale Rotherham United Shrewsbury Town Southend United Swindon Town Torquay United Berwick Rangers Queen's Park Clyde Montrose Peterhead East Stirlingshire Lemme know what you think!
Dai so some chap from Barcelona says that in his opinion it should be 16 teams In the premier league, translates into the clubs here wanting to do it, get real it won't happen, his opinion counts for nothing in the UK http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/15748287.stm
I see Clydesdale Bank are withdrawing their sponsorship of Scottish football after 6 years. That leaves them further in the soft and smellies unless a new sponsor can be found. I don't see anyone forming a queue.
