The Size Of The Top League?

[Mr RFC 696]

How big do you think Scotlands top flight should be?

For me i think that 12 clubs can become far too repetitive. I can also see the argument of more teams means more meaningless games. On the other hand though isn't that league pretty meaningless as it stands just now.

In all honesty i have always said that if Rangers weren't in the league i wouldn't pay any attention to it. Three years later with no Rangers in that league i only have a vague idea of whats been going on in that league. It seems to be the club with by far the biggest budget dominating and trying to pretend that it's some hard challenge to win the league.

Having watched Rangers in the lower leagues for a number of years i think it's fair to say that there are some decent players/teams in these leagues. This year in particular i think there are at least 5 teams (Rangers, Hibs, Hearts, Falkirk and QOTS) that could go up to the top flight and enhance it. This season we could see St Mirren and Motherwell drop out of the top flight when for me the league would benefit from those two staying up.

Would a league of say 16,18 or 20 be too much?

[RFC55 108,889]

Needs 16 or 18 its dying a slow painful death. In recent seasons we've played united 6 times taigs 7 etc and that's far too much

[feda16 136]

Alot of managers have called for increase. Wotte said before he left that was one of his recommendations was to increase the league, increase competition by playing different players

[BridgeIsBlue 66,606]

18.

[ZZed 4,510]

top league of 18, bottom league of 20, 3 up 3 down

[blueballss 2,969]

when we get up tv deals will be determined by 4 games in the league against the beasts from the east, so no radical changes will be made

[kanjo 26,328]

top league of 18, bottom league of 20, 3 up 3 down

this. we are too small a country for 4 leagues.

[Corky True Legend 2,682]

DUFC are only pushing this at this time because they are afraid that, if we do not go up this year, their finances will not take another season without the Rangers' ££££.

[The Monk 3,207]

DUFC are only pushing this at this time because they are afraid that, if we do not go up this year, their finances will not take another season without the Rangers' ££££.

That's why I find it strange that none of their fans as well as pretty much every other top tier club's fans don't want us to go up. Sure they may not like us but if I was a DU fan I'd want my club to get as much money as possible, it shows how poisonous scottish football is putting a bitter hatred for one club over the well being of their own.

[BluegeneBop 157]

That's why I find it strange that none of their fans as well as pretty much every other top tier club's fans don't want us to go up. Sure they may not like us but if I was a DU fan I'd want my club to get as much money as possible, it shows how poisonous scottish football is putting a bitter hatred for one club over the well being of their own.

Small minded, inbred yokels who cant see the bigger picture . Fuck them!!

[Spectre 1,663]

It needs to be larger, 18 maybe, and get any split to fuck. There's already been a couple of noises about it which I think are deliberate to put the idea out there in case we don't get promoted and they restructure. The stumbling block is teams make their most money playing us and them and any change to a good structure for football likely reduces the number of those games.

[BlueSuedeSambas 53,781]

It's need to be 16, maybe even 18.

There's very little in terms of quality between the bottom six of the SPL and the top five in the Championship so why not just expand the league and reduce the number of times teams play each other every year?

[WadeWilson 4,670]

The split works. The teams have something to play for all the way to the end of the season and the fans' interest is attained.

18 teams or more would mean an awful lot of mid-table drudgery and tiny attendances come the Spring.

Look down south - it's actually a very dull league outwith the top and bottom five or six teams but Sky tries to brainwash you otherwise.

[The Monk 3,207]

An interesting stat is that if you don't take into account the games Celtic and Aberdeen had against each other then Aberdeen would be top. Having to play them and in the past/future years us 4 times a season really harms the competition for the other sides, a 16 or 18 team league would seriously help things from a neutral perspective.

[kris1984 1,259]

Top 18

24 team championship with Old Firm B teams

3 up/down

Make league cup that you have to place 5 players u21

Scrap cup replays

Start championship in July playing twice a week until Oct

[Ger77 742]

I would go with 16 teams in the top two divisions, a 10 team bottom division.

Scottish Football needs radical surgery therefore I would follow the Polish League Model below, which would mean teams in the top two leagues playing 37 games. I would have two teams promoted to the top division and two relegated, but only one relegated to/promoted from the bottom league.

Ekstraklasa SA Supervisory Board has revamped the competitions format of the Polish premier championship for the 2013/14 season, which is scheduled to kick off in mid-July and play through to May 2014.

The T-Mobile Ekstraklasa 2013/14 will be disputed over two phases, comprising 296 matches: a 23% more games than in the current system.

Starting in July, the first phase (the regular season) will see the 16 teams in the league competing in 30 round-robin rounds (with each club playing 15 home and 15 away games).

In April 2014, right after the end of the regular season, the teams will be divided into two different groups. The first will gather the top 8 teams, which will compete for the Polish Championship and the qualifying spots for the European Club Competitions. On the other hand, the teams of the bottom half (those placed 9-16), will fight to avoid relegation (2 clubs to be relegated).

In the Second phase, each team will start with half of the points they won in the regular season and will play seven more games against the other teams in their group. The teams ranked 1-4 and 9-12 will play four games at home and three away, while the teams placed 5-8 and 13-16 will play three at home and four away.

Ekstraklasa SA President Bogus³aw Biszof explained: We decided to implement this project, which can raise the competition levels of our league, starting right from the beginning of next season. I cant stand coaches or directors of mid-table clubs, who after 18 or 22 matches say that theyre safe as theyve reached their goals of securing a place in Ekstraklasa for the following season. I want a competition where you have to fight until your very last game, where every single match is interesting for fans as well as for players and coaches.

In comparison to other dominating leagues in Europe, in Poland not many teams may reach European cups and only two clubs are relegated. Our new system should warm up the rivalry and increase the sporting level.

Ekstraklasa SA. Vice-President Marcin Animucki said: This decision sums up many months of work to make Ekstraklasa more attractive to our followers. In April 2012 we received the green light from the Supervisory Board to start studying some new possible formats for our league.

With this new format we will play during 11 months of the year and, which is important, our clubs will start their participation at the European competition in the top of their form. We also say goodbye to the so called safe middle table, with its long list of clubs not in danger of relegation, but also not competing for top spots.

There have been some doubts, but every change causes doubts. I believe, that at the end of next season, when well be evaluating the new system well find many real improvements: Ekstraklasa matches will be more attractive than before and the competition will attract much more attention during the whole season. Today we made a next step towards getting on higher level.

In December 2012 the project had been presented to the Polish Football Association (PZPN). PZPN President Zbigniew Boniek commented: I believe that this reform is going to benefit all clubs, players and supporters. Polish clubs should play more to close the gap between them and the best in Europe.

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Polish League overhauls Ekstraklasa competitions format

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[Inigo 32,526]

I like it the way it is. The split is good, the playoffs are good.

12 is about right for the standard of teams we have. More teams would likely mean only two OF games in the future, replaced by games v QoS or Falkirk. No thanks.

No system is perfect, but this is the best for me.

[therightway 65]

Increasing the top league to 16 or 18 teams would lead to a mind boggling amount of completely meaningless games, its fine the way it is just now.

[Laudo 31]

And summer footy as well.

[Guest]

Imagine us playing then 7 times next season, frightening.

[Tumshie 205]

I'd have two leagues of 16 or 18 and regionalise the play-offs. It makes no sense having the likes of Berwick and Annan playing teams like Peterhead and Elgin.

The play-offs have been a welcome addition and I would start the season earlier in say mid-July and finish it at the end of May with a winter break in January. No-one wants to go and watch football in the freezing cold so the more games we have in the semi-decent weather the better.

[Prso's headband 35,444]

We can afford to have 16 teams in the top league. The top 4 in the championship could easily take points off of anyone in the top league. Falkirk are 5th and are in the Scottish Cup final. I would like to play home and away each team once a season. 4 times is a bit much plus if you are a Rangers, Septic Aberdeen you are more than likely gona meet each other in the cups as well

[TMB 14,167]

3 divisons of 20 teams

[Bothwellbear 1,392]

16. Split of 8.

[bornabear 6,202]

Let's go back to the 18 team League as the present system is a nonsensical little League.

With a small League, all the money in the game has gone to the Clubs in the top League.

TV want a small League as it gives them 4 OF games per season and makes them a lot of money out of it.

"Sporting Integrity" (don't laugh) has cost the Premier Clubs millions in the last 3 years.

We have shown in our journey through the Leagues that the distribution of money has benefitted ALL the teams we have played, which is a good thing as it gives those smaller clubs a dream of what could be, rather than staying poor in the same Division, with no ambition.

Various Associations Worldwide have tinkered with their Leagues, only to revert to what they had previously.

So, an 18 team League would be more beneficial all round.