Scottish Premier League meets to discuss reconstruction

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_prem/9108392.stm

The Scottish Premier League met on Wednesday to discuss plans to revitalise football in Scotland.

Representatives from all 12 clubs gathered at Hampden, with league reconstruction top of the agenda.
Talks have been ongoing for weeks between concerned chairman, who privately admit that drastic action is needed to give the top flight a boost.
If the majority get their way, the new-look SPL will welcome two new teams and become a division of 14.
The favoured new set-up will also include relegation play-offs with a two-up, two-down system.
BBC Scotland has gained access to detailed analysis undertaken by the clubs, who have been looking for the best way to fix what many see as a broken product.
All options have been considered, from a top flight of ten, all the way through to a league of 24.
Lists of pros and cons have been collated next to each option and a 14-team league is regarded as the favoured option.
The plan is for each team to play each other once home and away (26 fixtures) before splitting into two sections, either six/eight or eight/six.
Teams would then play other teams in their section once more home and away.
It means those in the post-split section of six would play 36 matches and those in the group of eight would play 40 games.
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The SPL see the main benefit of this format as the balancing up the games after the split, since there has been controversy in recent seasons surrounding the disparity of teams facing more away games than others.
Many fans favour a larger division still, but several chairmen are fearful of losing the financial benefits of playing the Old Firm clubs twice at home.
They also believe that anything bigger than a 14-team division would dilute the appeal of the league to broadcasters, leading to reduction in much-needed media revenue.
So what are the chances of plans becoming a reality?
The SPL has discussed reconstruction in the past but inside sources suggest this time there is a genuine appetite for change.
And there will need to be if the plans are to be signed off.
If it goes to the vote then 11 of the 12 clubs will have to agree the same path forward.
No decision is expected on Wednesday but those pushing for change would like to see a new set-up take off from next season.
 
I wouldn't be moaning as a Rangers fan, due to you're always in the race, but it just gets extremely boring. It's a shame that the other teams around just don't have the spending power. If anyone's going to drop off the pace it's Celtic, they have big money trouble.
 
I wouldn't be moaning as a Rangers fan, due to you're always in the race, but it just gets extremely boring. It's a shame that the other teams around just don't have the spending power. If anyone's going to drop off the pace it's Celtic, they have big money trouble.
it good winning the leauge but theres only ever 2 excitin games. i wish we could move to england to play the mighty boltan ;)
and the top 5
 
All right credit where credit is due, but fs, they go to change it and they STILL can't come up with a half decent setup :'( Any form of split is pish, nobody likes it, nobody wants it, and I think the more logical thing would be a sixteen team top flight, with a pyramid system below all this that would include Junior teams and the like. 30 matches a season, giving less margin for error, and I would go back to the old format of the league cup, which had group stages and the like, and finished in October :) And I would add a Scottish cup group stage, which would make up for the loss of game income from the 8 matches that would be lost :D
 
The only people that don't like it are the ones that are in the lower half as they don't get to play the Old Firm as much, thus generating less revenue. As a Rangers fan, I personally don't care too much for the setup, nothing much will change.
 
But, it's still a 2 horse race.


It's not about the old firm

It's about generating revenue, adding excitement, bringing back the fans and making the league as a whole more competitive.

We have big sides like Dunfermlane,Dundee, Livingston, Raith, Partick and Falkirk all in the second tier, struggling to stay afloat and on there day they can beat anyone in the spl.

greater revenue will increase funds for wages, which in turn will bring in a better quality player. The fans are bored of playing the same 11 teams 4 times a year.

But since you brought up the subject of two horse race. Lets look at the past Premiership winners in your superior league...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ons#Premier_League_.281992.E2.80.93present.29
 
I wouldn't be moaning as a Rangers fan, due to you're always in the race, but it just gets extremely boring. It's a shame that the other teams around just don't have the spending power. If anyone's going to drop off the pace it's Celtic, they have big money trouble.

To be honest, it's Rangers who are in a much worse financial state than Celtic.

it good winning the leauge but theres only ever 2 excitin games. i wish we could move to england to play the mighty boltan ;)
and the top 5

You play Celtic 4 times a season, and have other close games. What 2 exciting games are you thinking of?

As a Thistle fan, I'd like to see a 14/16 team top flight. No split, just play each team twice. I'd also like to see relegation from the third division, with junior teams given the chance to come up via play-offs.
 
I wouldn't be moaning as a Rangers fan, due to you're always in the race, but it just gets extremely boring. It's a shame that the other teams around just don't have the spending power. If anyone's going to drop off the pace it's Celtic, they have big money trouble.

since when did Celtic have big money trouble :S


Would like to see a similar setup as the epl but never going to happen
 
If it was me, I would have a 16 team league....yes this may not create as much excitement as a smaller league, Neil Doncaster said on the Scottish Football: The Debate that if we were to go to a 16 team league then taht would cost the Scottish game around 20million a year, due the shortage of games from 38 to 30 but if you created play off, that would give more games more excitement to the clubs and fans, and that would bring more money into the game which will ultimetly make Scottish Football mmore exciting, another thing is the prize money given at the end of the year it need to be distributed a bit more fairly, as a Rangers fan myself, I know that the old firm wont like this, because they feel they dont get enought money as it is...,but i feel that there should be more prize money in the first division, so it gives a bit more money to the clubs coming up to spend on sqauds etc. and also a split should be scrapped it isnt right at the end of the season for example st johnstone in 7th with 45 points and hibs in 6th with 40 but still gaining a higher position. If Play-offs were introduced, they shoulod be televised because im sure a number of fans across scottish football would watch them.

A structure I would have, would be:

Scottish Premier League: 16 Teams, and three down
Scottish Championship: 14 Teams, Three up and 2 down with promotion play offs, North/South regional Division with top team in north and south getting promoted and a third place play off between second placed teams from north south..

Also...:
Earlier start to the season
Winter Break
Scottish Super Cup/Community Shield
More Youth Cups

Youth system shake up with change in championship and North/South regional's where all clubs have a rule of 4 under 21s in their match squad...this would fit in with current youth development shake up so under 21s would get more match experience and would get better as they progress through championship so they could have enough quality by the time there 23/24 to compete in SPL.

With this set-up, I believe that this would have a more competitive Scottish game and hopefully more quality players. I also believe this would generate more income for clubs because of the excitement and competitiveness bringing in more fans and in future clubs outside of the Old Firm challenging in Europe. And also hopefully in the future we will see more scottish players playing for Barca and many other massive teams.
 
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