Football Forums

What is you ideal format for the SPL?

What is wrong with a 16-team league, playing every club once at home and once away for 30 games per club per SPL season?

Ps Bring back a 2 week winter break in in January into the SPL exh season now please to reduce tiredness in players.

It's fine the way it is.

I like it the way it is until it gets the the stupid split league play off.

 The split is apain but why cant we just play 33 games ?

See everyone thinks the same.

What ever format you use for League football in Scotland these problems allways exist:-

(1) 9 out of 10 seasons Rangers and Celtic finish in the top two places.

(2) >16 team in top flight too many low quality teams

<14 team in top fligh to many repetitive involves team playing each other 3 or 4 times to keep the

fixtures within the percived optimum range of 34 -38 fixtures per club per league edition.

A 16 team league gives play each other:  

Play each other once for 15 fixtures to few games

Playing each other twice give 30 games to few games

Meet =>3 give a minmum of 45 fixtures too many fixtures per club.

(3) Playing an odd number of times unfair as one team has more home advantage than the other team in thier meets in any season.

Playing twice one home and once away is neither boring nor unfair (optimum number of times).

Playing each other =>4 boring and stale repetitive as teams meet too often.

The real question to ask is what is the one thing above all other that you want from Scottish League Football and then work out the format that best achives that.

If it is money: then league of two Rangers and Celtic Playing each other 34 times 17 home and 17 away.

If it is high quality football: then league of two Rangers and Celtic playing each other 34 times 17 home and 17 away.

If it's fun then a league of 18 teams playing each other once at home and once away for 34 games per league edition.

I think Scottish football should have two divisions of 18 teams a top flight and league below that playing each other twice for 34 games per league edition as that is the number Scottish Football had in it's best season ever 1966-67 Celtic wins the European Cup and Scotland beats the then world champions England 3-2 and had great players like Dennis Law (a much healthier times for Scottish football than at present).  what is really needed is a prooning of the number of team as 42 in a top population of 5 million is too many perhaps get rid off and or merge together 8 teams such as East Stirling as they are only making up the numbers and dead wood each season and would not be missed by many people.

PS Scottish football I believe could make better use of it's limited resources like instead of spending £50 MILLION building a 52,000 all-seated national stadium Hampden Park (a capacity most people think is too small) with fancy media facilities and other thing to get it a UEFA 5 star stadium rating they should have spent the £50 million either on youth development, or on an Geldredome Stadium 30,000 all seated with retractable roof over the pitch to at least give Scotland a full size indoor pitch for people to use in our miserable, cold and wet weather when outside playing of football is not possible or a national stadium with 80,000 all-seated capacity as when Hampden had 74,000 all-seated plus capacity Scottish Football was more fun and in better health than IT IS TOO day.

Lastly I can not see Scottish Football changing from it present make-up as those with the power to change things in Scottish Football have too much to loose from any changes made i.e money, which is a same as Scottish football can be very good when the conditions and formats are right for it to flurish. 

"Football should aim for health for the many not wealth for the few".

Your thoughts please 

quote "

From Murray Duncan. “Could you describe the background to and the reasons behind the league reconstruction in 1975 which led to teams in top flight playing each other four times? I feel this is one of the biggest faults in Scottish football today.”

A I can give a brief synopsis here and take this opportunity for a shameless plug for 'The ROAR of the Crowd' which looks at this in greater detail.

Briefly, in the 18-club First Division of the early 1970s Celtic were winning the title every year, crowds were falling, there were some embarrassing scorelines and promoted teams usually struggled badly, often going down with an appallingly low points total. Moves to a three-division set-up had been mooted for many years but were finally agreed in 1973-74 with the top ten in Division One in 1974-75 comprising the Premier Division, the bottom eight from Division One and the top six in Division Two forming the new First Division and the remainder including new club Meadowbank Thistle (who joined the League in 74-75) made up the new Second Division.

The idea was that smaller leagues removed the imbalance between top and bottom and promoted greater competition. The number of clubs changing division each season through promotion/relegation doubled from four to eight.

Smaller leagues meant a move to playing each other four times in the Premier to keep the total number of games played close (36) to what it was in the old set-up (34). After one season the 1st and 2nd divisions moved from playing each other twice to an unwieldy three times as the Spring Cup which was introduced to compensate for lost fixtures was a financial flop.

After a few seasons the Premier appeared to be a highly competitive league. For three seasons running (1982-85) neither of the Old Firm won the title - the only time they have gone as long without a success. And if Hearts had held their nerve for seven more minutes on the last day of the 1985-86 season it would have been four in a row.

To that extent it was a success but I agree that clubs meeting four times a season is too much and breeds over-familiarity. A division of ten or twelve teams will always be biased towards the big city sides. As a supporter of a 'provincial' club, this writer was opposed to it in 1975 and doesn't like it any better thirty years on.

2  division of16 teams playing each other once at home and once away giving each club 30 games per club per league edition per season.

They need more than 30.

2 leagues each with 8 teams with 1 up 1 down between the 2 leagues  (like the County Cricket Championship).

Playing each other 5 times; 3 times home and twice away one season then this revested in the next season inloving the same two teams.

for 35 games per club per league season.

With 75% of money going to top flight

25% of money going to the other division.

Stevens:

2 leagues each with 8 teams with 1 up 1 down between the 2 leagues  (like the County Cricket Championship).

 

Playing each other 5 times; 3 times home and twice away one season then this revested in the next season inloving the same two teams.

for 35 games per club per league season.

With 75% of money going to top flight

25% of money going to the other division.

That Idea sucks!! and what will happen to the other teams if only 16 are participating?

Stevens your plan has flaws.

How about a league of 2 with Rangers and Celtic playing each other every week.

Perhaps boring but may be the only way that Rangers and Celtic could generate the money that they would get if they played in the FA Premier League.

34 fixtures 1 million per match from pay per view £34 million income/2 =£17 million per season each for Rangers and Celtic.