🚨How to Improve Scottish Football!!!
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- čas přidán 13. 05. 2024
- Scottish football is in a weird place at this moment. The Old Firm have ran away with the league (again), there is no clear number 3 team and the relegation battle looks over? So this is how to improve Scottish football.
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A lot of the infrastructure is based around Glasgow in particular. Even Edinburgh, despite being in the Central Belt, doesn't have the same infrastructure. It's wildly unbalanced. Aberdeen, third biggest city in Scotland and we've had to invest using charity and the city's own money to build Cruyff Courts because of how little support the area gets from the SFA.
I don't know if it is still true but twenty years ago the wages bill of each of the Old Firm teams was greater than the wages bill of the remaining 40 Scottish League teams. That is untenable in terms of having a competitive set-up. There are various reasons why this has come about. Probably the main reason is that about a third of the population of Scotland lives within a reasonable drive to get to Ibrox or Parkhead. This includes people in places like Hamilton, Motherwell, Airdrie, Cumbernauld and Paisley who support the Old Firm clubs but not the ones on their doorstep. Five years ago I even spoke to a couple of teenagers in Dingwall wearing Rangers shirts who seemed a bit puzzled when I asked them why they didn't support the Premier League team in their small town of 6,000 inhabitants, Ross County.
This is not just an issue in Scotland of course. There are plenty of people living in the south of England who, for reasons completely beyond me, support Liverpool, Manchester City or Manchester United. This idea of supporting a successful team because it brings some sort of kudos to that supporter seems to have been exacerbated with the growing amount of football on the television and available online. Younger people may be surprised that the first Scottish Cup final to be shown live on TV was only in 1979.
The first season I remember was 1964-65, when Kilmarnock had to beat Hearts at Tynecastle 2-0 or by a larger margin to overtake them in the last match of the season (which they did) and Dunfermline finished only one point below those two. Rangers were fifth and Celtic were eighth. Sadly we are unlikely to see anything like that again in my lifetime, although I hope to live for a few decades more!
Great idea, I mean if everyones losing to Rangers and Celtic anyway why not have a bunch more smaller clubs in the SPL, makes it far more interesting, more Giant killer games and more wins for the mid table clubs. Makes sense to me.
16/16/16 not 18/14/14
That still leaves space for 37 games a season with a third game against the rest of the top 8 or bottom 8 depending on where you are in the table.
18 would be either 34 or 42 games a season depending on if you have that 3rd game or not.
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16/16/16 would also allow for 3 up/3 down promotion/relegation, although you could also have the 3rd bottom team go into the Play-Offs with the 3rd/4th and 5th placed teams from the lower division.
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The Highland and Lowland Leagues could also be streamlined to 16 teams each with 37 games a season once you'd added the four strongest teams to the new 3rd tier.
I'd also allow Rangers B, Celtic B and Hearts B to be able to be promoted to the new 3rd tier if they earn it but no higher. {Maybe this would push the likes of Aberdeen, Hibernian and Dundee United into having B teams too}.
The Old Firm are the Oxygen that sustain the competition, but also the poison that prevents it from Flourishing. The last time a non Old Firm team won the League,was nearly 40 years ago, when Alex Ferguson lead Aberdeen to the title. Overall, non Old Firm teams have only won the league 19 times. Old Firm Success has brought with it the financial rewards that have allowed them to bring in the players so they can continue their domination.. I cant see that ever changing, unless they both leave for another competition
Long post here, but hear me out. The 12 team league isn’t the problem. Playing some teams 3-4 times a season isn’t the problem (seems to work well in Belgium, which is very competitive. And worked in Scotland, for over a decade, from 1975 to 1986). Even the basic premise of the split isn’t the problem. It’s just where the split is. It should come after 22 games, not 33. And then split into a Championship group and relegation group.
It makes a difference. Splitting after 33 games, just allows the Old Firm to flex their muscles against the teams near the bottom, a third time. And open up the gap further on aspiring challengers.
If you split the league earlier - after everyone’s played each other twice - then at the split, there’s a higher chance of non OF clubs being closer to the Old Firm. What’s more, under the current split, they have only five games to make up any ground on Celtic and Rangers. Which by then, the damage is usually done. This way, there is ten games (a second double round robin phase) after the split, to catch up lost ground. It’s similar to Belgium (which I mentioned earlier). Only they have 16 teams, before splitting 6-6-4 into three groups. Meaning the Championship and Intermediate groups play 40 games (30 + 10), and relegation group 36 games (30 + 6).
If you move the split in Scotland, it will be 32 games (22 + 10) for both championship and relegation groups. Less games overall, but more relevant games. Which will make all European qualifiers from the league, fitter for European competition. As for increasing the league to 16 teams, I can’t see how the giving Old Firm more cannon fodder, makes the league more competitive.
Will the Old Firm still be dominant? In all likelihood, yes. But at least give them a format, that leaves them looking over their shoulders every now and again. Make them work a bit harder, because the current format plays more into their hands, than need be the case. In fact some argue, that Sky were behind the 2000 restructure, with an aim of making the destruction of the Scottish game, a self fulfilling prophecy, in order to get the Old Firm into the English set up. In the end, Sky didn’t need the Old Firm, and nor did the Premier League. Leaving the poor old Scottish football fan with this pigs ear of a format.
The three 14/14/14 leagues is the best idea I've seen recently. Playing each other twice means the split is after 26 games in all leagues. The 7 teams in each section play each other home and away, so another 12 games in total, making it a 38 game season which is workable. Play offs as currently in use in Premier/Championship but across all leagues, so lots to play for across the board, and TWO relegations from bottom division to accommodate the best of Highland and Lowland leagues coming up.
Nice vid pal. Sub'd
I'm a Jambo and it's absolutely true what you say about Edinburgh derby lol
Great video, thanks for all your hard work, and energetic presentation.
I totally agree with the fewer but bigger divisions. I said so once on another video that raised the question, but I don’t think they gave an answer. When I proposed this idea, I was shouted down. Fair enough thought, and moved on.
I would go for 16 places as standard in every division except the very bottom regional divisions which would have as many or as little as needed to include every viable team in the country.
I would also abolish the league cup, but maybe replace it with a divisional cup competition for member teams of each given division. This would place 16 teams in single match KO contests with 4 rounds. It could be played as a filler during less busy parts of the season.
I would also like to see something like this standardised throughout UEFA affiliated league systems.
I would abolish all league cups across the UK and replace it with a British & Irish cup so that the top teams from the British Isles all have a chance to play each other. I know that this is something that the Scottish Challenge Cup already does to Some extent.
One pressing issue with the current system is how we handle relegation and promotion
In the 12 team league 2 teams should go down with 2 teams coming up. This gives a chance for lower league clubs to actually improve themselves financially and could potentially make things more interesting (for a while at least). Also would make cup competitions that bit more competitive with the extra revenue.
A couple of years ago Arbroath had a very good chance of promotion but sadly by missing out on that number 1 slot not only did they have to go through play off’s. But then are expected to beat whoever finished 11th in the SPFL to get promotion. Imagine Luton town last season if they had to play Leicester city after winning the play offs? Absolute madness
Sadly with at least 2 home fixtures against each of the Glasgow giants guaranteed the SPFL clubs would never give up that kind of revenue. Arguably they may not even survive without it. This is also why we’d never have our league increased as more teams = less home games against the old firm. Also means less old firms in general which is really our only selling point to broadcaster like SKY and Viaplay which again is where the revenue is coming from.
The game shouldn’t have to be so reliant on Rangers and Celtic. The broadcasters and SPFL have not sold the Scottish game in the correct manner. I’m also for getting rid of the playoffs as I’ve never understood how someone in 2nd could be punished for not winning a few games after the season is over effectively.
With only 12 teams in the SPL two up/two down is only going to make cementing yourself as an SPL team for everyone other than Rangers and Celtic even harder.
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Since the rebranding in 2013 only two promoted teams have suffered relegation the following season - St Mirren in 2019 and Dundee in 2022.
So that's NOT the problem you make it out to be.
Hearts have suffered relegation twice in that period, Hibs have been relegated, Dundee United have been relegated - Imagine if two teams were guaranteed to go down rather than one.
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Redraw the divisions from four of 12/10/10/10 to three of 16/16 and 16.
Then you can have three up/three down.
I was disapointed that they don't wear kilts in Scottish football.
Loved watching this man!
Thank you very much 🙌🏻
That's the problem with the league structure, the rich get richer. Not sure how it's even possible to avoid that, maybe a system more like MLS, although that hass issues too. Or the old firm go into the English football leagues, like a few Welsh clubs do.
Wouldn't this allow the bottom half teams to become far more comfortable with lower standards? Why would teams like Ross County and St Johnstone need to improve their squad if they will end up finishing mid table without threat of relegation anyway. Not against the idea as a whole but that should probably be discussed as well
18 teams in the Premier League would be too much. The level of playing will suffer.
Its always about the money ,I lived in Scotland for 7 years in the 90s seen many great talents but the infrastructure is 3rd world country level with the exception of glasgow teams .
A 16 team or 18 team league would make the league closer but will never happen because all Sky care about is four old firm games. The next best teams in the league have 8 games a season against teams with 20 times their budget and will therefore always struggle for consistency. Move that down to 4 games and give them 4 games against two clubs who otherwise wouldn't be in the league and they'll naturally win more games, making a title race slightly more likely.
People will say a bigger league would dilute the product but I seriously doubt it. Livingston and Ross County have been in the league for ages while almost every team in the Championship and even some League 1 teams are bigger clubs.
Edit to add: The other benefit of this is that playing the same teams four times a season is painfully boring. I'm a Hibs fan and even though I remember homes games, within a couple of months I often won't remember who it was against unless it's Hearts, Aberdeen or one of the old firm. That's not to disrespect any of the other clubs, we just play so often that there's zero novelty of playing them (I'm sure they feel the same way when Hibs visit).
it's just not as competitive
The first match of associated football i've ever watch is Celtics - Heart way back in 1997 and the Scottish Premier Division is forever in my heart. But in recent year, it's hard to not admit the quality of Scottish football isn't there anymore. Somehow i wish the Wales, England and Scottish club all can play in one league but their national team remain the same for now. Maybe then Celtics and Rangers could just be a top 10-ish club in the EPL, but hey there will be more money for them to improve their squad.
Doncaster and the rest should have been sacked years ago man , unreal
The Premier League needs to be 18 or 20 clubs.
The NFL draft system gives the worst team first pick. TV money should be divided in a similar way, worst team gets most money. League champions least, they will get money from the Champions League anyway.
draft system? dont be ridiculous the americanisation of european sport shud be stopped at every step,and dont u see the obvious flaw in your system?teams would be incentivised to lose games and finish bottom for the financial rewards absolutely ludicrous i actually hope u where joking,nobody should ever be rewarded for failure
@user-pw6gm1tu6q well the way things are going there'll be the Old Firm packed with non-Scots and 10 feeder teams for the EPL packed with Non-Scots. Starting with Dundee FC
Do you want that?
Divide the money equally. The NFL has had 20 champions in the same time Scotland has had four. If you want a competitive league and national team something needs to be done urgently to keep small clubs like Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs competitive at a Eurooean level. As it is Rugby Union shows how things will turn out a national team full of players whose links to Scotland are tenuous to non-existent.
You may not like the Americanisation of sport but have you watched the Champions League Final?
@@Wee_Langside what are u talking about man ive outlined my vision in another comment,im guessing your pretty young because the non scots thing was a thing 20 years ago but not now,there is more scots in the league than there probably has ever been and thats not gonna change,and the money is divided equally from tv revenue but we have a terrible deal,and the money for league placings makes no difference whatsoever
@user-pw6gm1tu6q I'm old enough to remember 11 Scots from within 20 miles of Parkhead winning the European Cup, and Hibs, Dundee, Kilmarnock in Semi Finals. Rangers and Aberdeen winning Cup Winners Cup all with mainly Scots if not all 11.
Currently Celtic have 7 Scots in their entire squad, Rangers 9, even Ross County and St Johnstone have less than 50%. Scots in their squads. Dundee are going to train the Burnley reserve squad.
I would say that's not encouraging. The Scottish Premier isn't big enough or strong enough to generate either the players and through them the finances to challenge in any competition.
If you want successful teams and national squad you have to accept that the point of no return is very close.
@@Wee_Langside nonsense people have been saying that for years and the national team is the best its been for 25 years,we already have the best crowds in europe so the fans cant do much more so investment and league restructure is needed
I hate to say it because I love Scottish football but it's a joke. The whole of Scotland just care about Celtic and Rangers.
No matter where you go in Scotland. All the locals care about is the big two.
It's hard to even get local teams on the pub TVs.
It's not like that in England.
@@ratface99 been all over Scotland. You do see and talk to the old local, but Celtic and Rangers is everywhere
Have Rangers and Celtic play in the English system, their can still play in the SPL with secondary that is caped. Both teams will have english tv money and their stadium will be played more
It's not difficult to fix Scottish football, all they need to do is the following:
Copy the MLS and have 2 Groups, North & South or East & West, make sure Rangers and Celtic are in the same Group. Currently 42 teams, so this would be 21 per Group meaning 40 games per year.
Winner of each Group becomes the North or South or East or West Champion, they then face off against the other Group winner who will then be crowned the Scottish champion, either held at Hampden or done over 2 legs at each of their grounds.
1 cup competion akin to the FA Cup where the non-league clubs also take part.
1x Charity match akin to the Community shield, held between the League and Cup winners.
The money paid to the teams for the finishing position is better the lower down you are to try and even out the playing field, this is fair due to the higher up clubs likely making it into Europe.
This structure prevents Celtic and Rangers from monopolising everything as only 1 can win the group and only 1 can progress to the league final.
Hearts and Hibs would be stuck in the South along with Rangers and Celtic.
This would be great for the likes of Aberdeen but horrible for the Southern clubs other than Rangers/Celtic!
I see where you are coming from, in a way to split the Old Firm. I have just never been a massive fan of almost splitting the league up then having a one off game to determine who is the best.
ridiculous idea,a league never lies,the best team always wins and that shud be it,if u win the league your the best team in the country and shud be awarded accordingly,having an overall final with one of the old firm v someone else wouldnt be fair competition the other team wud be in a false position as they wudnt be the 1st or 2nd best team in the country that would still be the old firm so it would just make their league important and the other kind of meaningless,we should be thinking of ways to elavate hibs hearts and aberdeen not just bring down or put obstacles infront of the old firm
@@user-pw6gm1tu6q Think of how the League would work... if it's East and West Rangers and Celtic are basically left with ZERO competition other than Kilmarnock in the West whilst Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs, the two Dundee clubs, St Johnstone and Motherwell all end up in the East.
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If it's the more likely North-South divide then Hearts and Hibs would still be stuck behind Rangers and Celtic whilst Aberdeen, St Johnstone, the two Dundee Clubs, Callie Thistle, Ross County, Motherwell etc. fought over the North.
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Either way it's a terrible idea for Scottish Football.
@@franohmsford7548 why have u tagged me ?read my comment i agree its utterly ridiculous
Celtic ☘️
Great win in the derby for them
we as fans cannot do anymore we already have the highest crowds per head of population in europe so more people in scotland spend their saturday at a game than any other country,add that to the unreal support the national team get home and away we are a football obsessed nation who for our size has given more to football than any nation on earth right back to the games inception,the game must be marketed better and league reconstruction is a must,an 18 team top flight with 2 relegation slots the lower leagues can be sorted any way u like and any short fall at the lower end can be made up by former juniour clubs who are decent sized clubs with real potential,with abit of investment and only having to play the old firm home and away once hibs hearts and aberdeen could realistically challenge or at least get closer to the top two,imagine its say march time and rangers or celtic are only a few points above hibs hearts or aberdeen and theyve got to come to a sold out easter rd tynie or up to pittodrie thats a great product to showcase the game with the pyro etc and the young ultra groups with there banners and flags,not saying these clubs could win the league str8 away but like i say abit of investment and thinking on the commercial side it could be done with abit ambition people like to compare the league to the dutch which is still unfair as hollands population is 3 times bigger but outside the top 3 of ajax feyenoord and psv its not beyond the realms of possibility for say an az alkmaar or fc twente or utrecht to win that league so it could be done here,also if aberdeen get the finger out and build their new stadium and training ground youve then got 3 amazing cities to live in with the top class facilities to boot,nobody can tell me that players wouldnt want to come to edinburgh glasgow or aberdeen for part of their career if the league just had a better reputation,the only possible downside to having a bigger league is apparently to many mid table meaningless games but i think that is a myth it doesnt affect any other country,dundee are apparently building a new stadium so those two clubs could be pushing for euro spots aswell,then you have killie who have a nice stadium and facilities,motherwell are a big club but could do with investment and a new stadium,st johnstone and st mirren both have modern stadiums and facilities,then u have a whole big group of decent size clubs who would just love a long stint in the top league and the odd cup run like the highland teams,falkirk,thistle,pars,raith all the ingredients are there for a more exciting competitive product we just need abit ambition,a long term plan to grow the game and maybe abit of thinking outside the box
Join the opps down south maybe
My SIMPLE idea to improve Scottish football.
Have more cross border trophies, with teams from countries such as Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Wales, France, the USA, Canada, England, Belgium, Portugal, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Switzerland, Greece, Austria, Iceland, Denmark, on top of domestic football, and European football. With teams from other countries, playing the big Scottish sides. Aberdeen made a relative fortune from just playing in the Europa Conference League. Cross border cups would be fun, and would give more big clubs for Scottish sides to play.
The Scottish already allow Welsh and Northern Irish sides in the Scottish Challenge Cup.
I would NOT support the Old Firm joining the English leagues, as that would make people think Scotland was part of England. Also if we had a British League, then all the trophies won by Scottish teams would be given the status of non-league trophies while all the English trophies in history would be seen as the forerunners of the British League.
There are so many cross border cups that could happen for Scottish football. It just needs ambition, and vision.
I would support a European Super League if Scottish sides could be promoted into it.
Without the old firm there is no league....facts
16/16/16 not 18/14/14
That still leaves space for 37 games a season with a third game against the rest of the top 8 or bottom 8 depending on where you are in the table.
18 would be either 34 or 42 games a season depending on if you have that 3rd game or not.
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16/16/16 would also allow for 3 up/3 down promotion/relegation, although you could also have the 3rd bottom team go into the Play-Offs with the 3rd/4th and 5th placed teams from the lower division.
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The Highland and Lowland Leagues could also be streamlined to 16 teams each with 37 games a season once you'd added the four strongest teams to the new 3rd tier.
I'd also allow Rangers B, Celtic B and Hearts B to be able to be promoted to the new 3rd tier if they earn it but no higher. {Maybe this would push the likes of Aberdeen, Hibernian and Dundee United into having B teams too}.
No oppose to this at all. One game at home and one away has always seemed fair to me - 3/4 games in my opinion seem too excessive.
@@Scottjg98 With any less than 16 teams in a division you're basically guaranteeing a 3rd game be required.
Even with 16 I'd say it's a strong likelihood that there'll be a third game.
But it's the fourth game that's the problem - Let's get rid of that fourth game.
Then maybe a win for Hearts against Rangers and a win for Aberdeen against Celtic will be worth something more than just a one-off fluke that ends up being meaningless at the end of the season!
@@franohmsford7548 no it has to be an even number for home and away,a 3rd game with 16 teams so 45 games thats ridiculous,only number that makes any sense is 18 its the only way u can have just one home and one away against each time and have enough overall games which would be 34 which is totally fine and would allow for a proper winter break
@@user-pw6gm1tu6q 34 isn't enough overall games!
And it's not 15 extra games, you split the table after 30 games and have the Top 8 play each other one more time whilst the Bottom 8 play the rest of the Bottom 8 again - That's a total of 37 games.
With 18 teams splitting the table would get you an extra 8 games which = a 42 game season so you either have too few games {34} or too many {42}.
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And you have another problem with 18 - You're either going to have to relegate the bottom 6 in League 2 to the Highland and Lowland Leagues or you're going to have to add a full 12 Highland and Lowland League teams to the new 3rd tier.
And if you say well the 2nd and 3rd tiers can have 16 or 14 teams each you're sullying your own point about 16 teams not being enough!
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16, 16 and 16 = 48 teams.
There's 42 right now but you could easily add the top 6 Highland and Lowland League teams to get to 48.
Adding another 6 after that to get to 54 is not so viable.
And dropping to two tiers of 18 each is not going to go down well with the 6 teams in League 2 right now who would have to be relegated to the non-league pyramid!
@@franohmsford7548 34 is plenty games its only 2 less than the old 36 games when it was a ten league,how do u propose to sort out the home and away fixtures in your extra 7 games like who is at home in the old firm game and who plays 4 at home and 3 away and vice versa?as ive said odd numbers dont work