The real Brown Trousers

[down-the-slope]

League Reconstruction....

Lets assume that the great wise ones (including our board) get there way and a 10 team league...then we would now be sitting handily in relegation spot.....

It would be back to the no margin for error and even more dire fear filled matches...

I know people will say we have to get through this season first...yes but in a bigger league that is more likely......the less teams the more relegation scraps and the downward spiral where blooding youngsters is just a no go.......

so while things may not seem great at the moment...they will get a whole lot worse if sense does not prevail...and i don't hold out my hope for that

[Future17]

League Reconstruction....

Lets assume that the great wise ones (including our board) get there way and a 10 team league...then we would now be sitting handily in relegation spot.....

It would be back to the no margin for error and even more dire fear filled matches...

I know people will say we have to get through this season first...yes but in a bigger league that is more likely......the less teams the more relegation scraps and the downward spiral where blooding youngsters is just a no go.......

so while things may not seem great at the moment...they will get a whole lot worse if sense does not prevail...and i don't hold out my hope for that

It's the old "there's two sides to every argument" cliche though isn't it?

When people talk about introducing splits/play-offs etc, one of the reasons that gets trotted out is that there aren't enough exciting games.

The flip side of that is the point you make - games might be more exciting if there is more to play for, but the overall product is likely to suffer with teams taking less chances in how they approach a game and, as you say, less opportunities for youngsters.

The quality of Scottish football isn't great - we know that. The problem is identifying the reasons for that. Here are some stats:

Of the top 15 goalscorers in this year's SPL so far, only 6 are Scottish and only 2 of those 6 could be classed as "young" talent.

As you look across Europe at league size, here are the stats (top leagues):
Austria - 10 teams
Belgium - 16 teams
Denmark - 12 teams
Finland - 14 teams
France - 20 teams
Germany - 18 teams
Greece - 16 teams
Holland - 18 teams
Italy - 20 teams
Norway - 16 teams
Portugal - 20 teams
Spain - 20 teams
Sweden - 16 teams
Switzerland - 10 teams
Turkey - 18 teams

So, instead of moving our league size towards how it's done in countries like France, Germany, Holland, Italy & Spain, we're moving towards Austria & Switzerland. What does that say?

Obviously, league size is not the only reason that the vast majority of these countries generally produce a better quality of player than us and do better in European and International competition, however I believe it's part of the puzzle.

Countries around the world, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Portugal etc used to come to Scotland to learn how to coach the game and now they are miles ahead of us. Is it not time for us to look at what how they've achieved what they have and try to copy it?