Is it ****ed? Can it be saved? What the **** can be done to improve it? ALot of talk this week about adding more teams to the league, reducing fixtures, adding a winter break, adding the playoffs in for promotion between divisions. Its fair to say something pretty drastic needs to be done to halt the slide the SPL is on at the moment. I like the idea of playoffs.......but I don't think it will suit or help Scottish football. It works in England because promotion to the EPL is a huge deal,worth ÃÆÃâÃâ ââ¬â¢ÃÆââ¬Â âââ‰â¢ÃÆÃâÃââÃÆââââ¬à ¡ÃâìÃÆââ¬Â¦ÃâáÃÆÃâÃâ ââ¬â¢ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¦Ã¡ÃÆÃââââ¬à ¡ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã60m to win promotion playing at Old Trafford, Anfield etc compared to promotion to the SPL!!! The SPL needs to be coming up with radical ideas. Formats that that are revolutionary, that haven't been done before to try & highlight the plus' of the league rather than copying a format that bares no relation to ours. You can't improve the talent overnight. Grassroots football needs investing & that will take generations to come to fruitation.
Brum I see what you mean and angry. There needs to be a big and continuous investment in grassroots. Coaches of youth teams should be given training of tactics amongst other things. There should be more reason for people to give up time to coach young kids the basics. When I stop playing I'll give up my time to take a team and will strive to teach them the basics well. I have been lucky enough to have had great coaching when I was young and a series of injuries and me being a lazy **** I didn't go any higher than I have. The most important change at grassroot level is to get rid of ash pitches. If you can replace most of these with astrograss then the standard of player would increase in no time, would take years to filter through though. Even now when I play on astrograss pitches it makes a huge difference. I play amatuer now but have played junior under 21 and a few junior level games Sort that out before looking at the professional structure. Also have rules on protecting teams with promising youth players. Rory Loy moving from killie to Rangers is a perfect example of a player with potential wasting away.
offside goals go to the other team. square pitches with 4 goals. refs have the option of caning players. managers must come on as a sub at least once a season. thats all i've got right now.
I've got an article on this, with loads of different changes that would help save our ****ty league. Will post it when I can be arsed
Magic - don't you just play on grass A good idea for youth football is something that is slowly coming in to play in England now & that is reducing the number of players on the pitch which is what they do abroad. 6 year olds etc only play 5 a side so they learn the basics of passing & moving, then ass you get older you add a player until about 16 when you play 11 v 11. Its designed to improve the players technical ability like having to make an accurate pass rather than lumping the ball 50 yards in the hope your forward gets on the end of it!! It also reduces fatigue, long term injuries & burning out issues that arise in UK football as playing 11 v 11 for 90 minutes once a week for 10 years+ takes its toll on the body. Nev - your point about no draws is quite good & something that would at least put more interest in the game. As was said too many guys obsessed with the English teams & getting a Chelsea/Man Utd kit then paying to watch their local side play.
