Whatever happened to league reconstruction

[LancsHibs]

Thought this was 100% defiantly going to happen if the Rangers didn't get promoted?? Seems to have died a death, is it still up for discussion?

[SouthMoroccoStu]

Just wait til half way through the season and we're romping away with the league....

Our west coast overlords won't risk sevco s play off route again

[bingo70]

Just wait til half way through the season and we're romping away with the league....

Our west coast overlords won't risk sevco s play off route again

Or maybe the conspiracy theories were wrong?

There'll be talk of a bigger league soon, that's not to shoe horn the rangers in though, it's because Scottish football has shown it's got enough big teams to justify it.

[CallumLaidlaw]

Interesting and well thought out piece here -

http://90minutecynic.com/90mc-scottish-football-league-reconstruction-proposal/

[greenpaper55]

Interesting and well thought out piece here -

http://90minutecynic.com/90mc-scottish-football-league-reconstruction-proposal/

This would do fine for me, only trouble is Rod thinks a ten team league is the way forward !.

[Keith_M]

Interesting and well thought out piece here -

http://90minutecynic.com/90mc-scottish-football-league-reconstruction-proposal/


Interesting ideas there.

If they could just get rid of the ridiculous name for the second tier of 'The Championship' I'd be in

:aok:

[Ozyhibby]

This would do fine for me, only trouble is Rod thinks a ten team league is the way forward !.

Rod's a .........

You can fill in the blanks

[Lucius Apuleius]

Yetanother piece of the great conspiracy theory thrown out the windae.

[marinello59]

Interesting and well thought out piece here -

http://90minutecynic.com/90mc-scottish-football-league-reconstruction-proposal/

The proposals for the league cup are where the whole thing falls apart. You can't compensate for cutting eight league games from a season with a dogs dinner of a cup competition like the one proposed there.

[dangermouse]

Interesting and well thought out piece here -

http://90minutecynic.com/90mc-scottish-football-league-reconstruction-proposal/

Rather than play just 4 games in the group stage of LC why not each team home and away?

[MyJo]

The proposals for the league cup are where the whole thing falls apart. You can't compensate for cutting eight league games from a season with a dogs dinner of a cup competition like the one proposed there.

The way to go IMO is to have a group stage of the league cup with the 32 teams from the top two divisions divided into 8 groups of four with the groups each containing 1 team from the top 8 of the premiership, 1 team from the bottom 8 of the premiership, 1 team from the top 8 of the championship and 1 team from the bottom 8 of the championship, based on the previous seasons finishing places and randomly drawn.
Then each team plays home and away against the other three in thier group this gives a guaranteed 6 games to each team in addition to the 30 played in the league season with a 16 team league.
Top two finishers in each mini league qualify for the knock out stages while the 8 third place finishers enter the challenge cup alongside the teams from the lower divisions and the bottom placed teams are out completely.

[nellio]

We could maybe end up benefitiing from this. The rangers are throwing their money about and have a decent manager now so its not unrealistic to think they could finish top. Personally I feel with the signings we've made like keatings etc we can win it but its not unrealistic to think we could finish 2nd again. Should in that instance we fail to get up in the playoff a leauge reconstruction could take us back up anyway. I think they will push through with it for next season (16/17) as this ensure that both us and Rangers are back in the top flight irrespective of who wins the leauge next year.

[Andy74]

I don't think it was ever going to be for this season. Can see this still being on the cards for next year.

[Jim44]

We could maybe end up benefitiing from this. The rangers are throwing their money about and have a decent manager now so its not unrealistic to think they could finish top. Personally I feel with the signings we've made like keatings etc we can win it but its not unrealistic to think we could finish 2nd again. Should in that instance we fail to get up in the playoff a leauge reconstruction could take us back up anyway. I think they will push through with it for next season (16/17) as this ensure that both us and Rangers are back in the top flight irrespective of who wins the leauge next year.

But what if Sevco or ourselves are not I the top four or five next season? :greengrin

[nellio]

But what if Sevco or ourselves are not I the top four or five next season? :greengrin

Fair point :greengrin unlikely though! Falkirk could be up there and I don't know what St Mirren will be like. I would rule out Queens though, there lost a few of their best players.

[Billy Whizz]

Think it may happen the season after next, throw in a winter shutdown for season 2016/2017, and we'll be happy bunnies

[emerald green]

Think it may happen the season after next, throw in a winter shutdown for season 2016/2017, and we'll be happy bunnies

:agree: I'm reading that a winter shutdown in time for the 2016/17 season might be back for consideration. If so, it would make sense to me (FWIW) to marry this up with any league reconstruction happening in the same season.

The clowns in charge of running the game in this country may not think the same way as me though!

[tamig]

Plenty time for reconstruction yet. Remember they only confirmed which league newhun would play in a few days before their first fixture 3 years ago.

[jacomo]

The way to go IMO is to have a group stage of the league cup with the 32 teams from the top two divisions divided into 8 groups of four with the groups each containing 1 team from the top 8 of the premiership, 1 team from the bottom 8 of the premiership, 1 team from the top 8 of the championship and 1 team from the bottom 8 of the championship, based on the previous seasons finishing places and randomly drawn.
Then each team plays home and away against the other three in thier group this gives a guaranteed 6 games to each team in addition to the 30 played in the league season with a 16 team league.
Top two finishers in each mini league qualify for the knock out stages while the 8 third place finishers enter the challenge cup alongside the teams from the lower divisions and the bottom placed teams are out completely.

I'm sorry, what??

Possibly the most convoluted competition ever dreamed up, and I stoped reading before the end. Does anyone win?

[Danderhall Hibs]

I was told this was a certainty and that I was naive for not thinking it would happen.

I admit I'm not paranoid.

[KWJ]

I'd have thought to get something in for 16/17 they'd have to announce it before the start of 15/16. I thought they would, and there's clearly still mumblings and talks going on but getting them to agree something isn't looking great.

[matty_f]

I was told this was a certainty and that I was naive for not thinking it would happen.

I admit I'm not paranoid.

I never quite got how people thought it would happen, there needs to be a season's notice AFAIK, and it would require the vast majority of clubs to support any change, which I just couldn't see happening.

[MyJo]

I'm sorry, what??

Possibly the most convoluted competition ever dreamed up, and I stoped reading before the end. Does anyone win?

Ill make it easy for you then. Its the same as the champions league.

[Dashing Bob S]

Thought this was 100% defiantly going to happen if the Rangers didn't get promoted?? Seems to have died a death, is it still up for discussion?

That was before Scottish Football was taken over by the Pope and the provisional IRA.

They also have a firm hold on HMRC.

Something has to be done.

[Nutmegged]

The only way I could see a wholesale reconstruction taking place would be if SKY or/and BT got really behind it and seriously upped the ante in terms of finance to get a fresher product


● 16 Team Premiership
● Two Regional Championships directly below
● Promition/Relegation Play-Offs
● League Cup revamped into CL Style (with 3 home group games being on your ST)
● 3 week Winter Shutdown after the New Year Fixtures
● Premiership clubs enter Scottish Cup after New Year (last weekend in Jan)
● Introduce a Scottish Super Cup

[Waxy]

Scrap all the league cups and have a UK cup.They want us in the UK afterall.

[Keith_M]

Doncaster is in today's Herald (http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/neil-doncaster-suggests-spfl-restructure-may-be-only-way-forward.131193397) discussing possible reconstruction for next season.


For those unable to view the article....

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The chief executive of the Scottish Professional Football League doesn't pretend to have all the answers but a change to, say, an 18-team league could well be a solution to many of the problems that he, the clubs and supporters face,

The need for a winter break is obvious. But it's not quite as simple as finding a few weeks in January to give the top teams a rest. So much football is crushed into an ever-expanding season that teams would end up playing almost every midweek to accommodate two weeks off.

And then there is the problem of players not getting enough time off during a close season that has almost become closed. Summer football is worth talking about, but that has its own problems as well, so what can be done to at least go some way to sorting this out?

Doncaster, at Hampden yesterday to oversee the first-round draw of the Scottish League Cup, was asked whether league reconstruction would help with all the issues mentioned above.

"That's really the nub of it," said Doncaster. "Within the current league format we have, there is very limited flexibility. If you were to look at a different league format that would create fewer league games than the 38 we have in the top tier at the moment, it would create a much more flexible set-up to enable us to perhaps have a winter break or schedule games away from the worst of the winter weather.

"We have 42 clubs and I suspect you would get 43 different answers. There are many formulations we can use, but we've ended up with a 12-team set-up in the Premiership for many years now - since the split was devised - because that is currently the consensus.

"Now that might change but ultimately you would need from next year - when the three-year fixed term, if you like, of this set-up expires - 11 out of the top 12 clubs to vote in favour of any different format.

"The only certainty of any league format is that the one you have is never as good as the one you might have. There is no magic solution. There may be a better format than we have at the moment but until you get a consensus of what that might be, we have what we have."

There are strong cases to be made on both sides, and the most pertinent question is whether there are enough 'big' clubs to support an 18-team Premiership. Given how many in the Championship are openly talking about part-time football, a larger top tier should help them. But would that help the rest?

In the 1980s, when the Premier League boasted four different title winners and competition was much greater than today, few complained about Celtic and Aberdeen facing one another four times in a season.

But this is not 1985. What can be said is that the current situation needs at least tweaked. How that can be done is not a simple thing to answer.

"There has been a lot of discussion about summer football and a winter break, " said Doncaster. "It is absolutely right and desirable that we have a proper debate around the league season and when we play our games. Obviously if you ask anyone they would rather play games in nice sunshine than horrible winter weather.

"The frank reality is we played seven games in January last year, not because we like January, but because we had nowhere else to put them.

"That's because of the restrictions we have to work with, particularly those put down by FIFA and UEFA.

"If you ask anyone whether they like summer football, you do get broad support. The more pertinent question perhaps is do you want the league season at the same time as a European Championships or a World Cup when Scotland may or may not be there?

"You won't know whether they are going to be there when you schedule the season. That's a far more difficult question for people to answer. I would imagine many who support summer football wouldn't like the idea of the season taking place at the same time as a World Cup.

"At the moment we start playing in July and end in May. We play pretty intensively throughout the whole of the year.

"The fundamental problem we have is the amount of games we play. There are 38 games in a Premiership season, two cup competitions, all the UEFA games, the FIFA games; our scope to restructure the season format is actually very limited."