With all the talk or reconstruction...

[Ricky_ 893]

Simple question: Why do we have amateur teams participating in what is supposedly this countries 'professional' set-up?

It sticks out like a sore thumb to me yet nobody else seems to really pick up on it.

How can a club like ourselves that packs out a 50k stadium & employs a full squad of full-time players + full time coaching staff, and non-playing staff, be expected to play against part-time, semi-professional & amatuer outfits that are simply there to make up the numbers?

Isn't it about time to draw a line in the sand between what is a professional team capable of meeting professional requirements, and amateur/part timers that essentially only participate in the sport for leisure when their real paying jobs are 9-5 in offices, etc?

Who remembers when, i think, Falkirk where denied entry into the SPL for not having appropriate stadium requirements? Well, how come we got it right back then, but can't now.

Everyone knows the main problem with the Scottish game is an insane amount of small teams, with many suggesting clubs should merge (which would never happen). Well it's time we stop pandering to these shitty we clubs by allowing them to participate in the 'professional' game, essentially allowing them to make a farce of it.

The requirements for participating in any 'professional' set-up of the Scottish game should require that players be full-time employees & stadiums with a minimum seated capacity of around 4,000. That will give everyone what we want, only the teams we can take seriously participating in the 'professional' set-up. The diddy clubs can then make a decision, merge together to form a football club capable of competing without making a mockery of the game (televised matches with fans sitting on a hedge... beyond a joke) - or take your amatuer teams and play in an amatuer league.

[govanblue 16,847]

How are you defining amateur?

I believe there's only 1 amateur team (QP) in the current professional setup.

[govanblue 16,847]

Ah, you're defining it by stadium capacity.

Bit unfair I think, asking clubs to build a 4,000 seater, when they only get crowds of a few hundred.

[Ricky_ 893]

How are you defining amateur?

I believe there's only 1 amateur team (QP) in the current professional setup.

& part-time. We employ full-time professional footballers so should play in a competition that allows us to compete on even terms.

playing against clubs that hold training once a week and whos players have 9-5 jobs outside of football isn't what i describe as a 'professional' club.

there should be requirements to play at a professional level, and right now in Scotland theres probably about 12-16 teams even capable of meeting what i'd describe reasonable requirements.

let the rest merge, or leave the professional football to the professional clubs.

[govanblue 16,847]

& part-time. We employ full-time professional footballers so should play in a competition that allows us to compete on even terms.

playing against clubs that hold training once a week and whos players have 9-5 jobs outside of football isn't what i describe as a 'professional' club.

there should be requirements to play at a professional level, and right now in Scotland theres probably about 12-16 teams even capable of meeting what i'd describe reasonable requirements.

let the rest merge, or leave the professional football to the professional clubs.

If it were the case that we, and other big clubs were piddling all over these wee clubs, with ridiculous scorelines, then your point would be indisputable.

But we're not. We (and other big teams) often struggle against, and are sometimes outplayed by these wee teams, suggesting the gulf (in playing terms at least) is not so massive.

[Ricky_ 893]

Ah, you're defining it by stadium capacity.

Bit unfair I think, asking clubs to build a 4,000 seater, when they only get crowds of a few hundred.

and why do they only get crowds of a few hundred? Because they are a club representing a tiny village, with the next village along their rivals, with their wee club & support of a few hundred.

This is the point, this little clubs are destroying the game by worming into a 'professional' league. It's not professional at all.

[Ricky_ 893]

If it were the case that we, and other big clubs were piddling all over these wee clubs, with ridiculous scorelines, then your point would be indisputable.

But we're not. We (and other big teams) often struggle against, and are sometimes outplayed by these wee teams, suggesting the gulf (in playing terms at least) is not so massive.

............. we are 20 points clear with only half the season played and a goal difference of 40.

That is the difference between a professional team & a bunch of amatuer outfits. Gretna did the same when they invested some money in paying players full time, they won SFL 3 by a record margin i dont think even we will beat.

[GOAT 30,449]

There are too many teams in Scottish football. Some of the smaller teams should just swallow some pride and merge.

Glasgow - big enough for 4 clubs no problem.

Edinburgh - big enough for 2 clubs no problem.

Dundee - if they want to compete they need to to merge.

Aberdeen - one club city, fine the way it is.

Central Scotland - Falkirk, stenhousemuir, east stirling, stirling etc all should merge into one club.

Perth - fine one club city

Fife - all clubs should merge

Lanarkshire - space for 2 clubs the rest should merge.

[dan_ger 1,454]

Yeah, my opinion is that if you only have 500 fans turning up to games and have a part-time squad that are paid from some sort of drip down payments from the leagues above then it is time to call them what the are. Amateur clubs. Hopefully the pyramid system will sort this out. Every club in Scotland should be made to live within it's means and therefore it is likely that the clubs that can bring in the most fans will do better. Not sure there needs to be a barrier between professional, semi professional and amateur clubs; just a set of rules that allows those putting most in and operating a good business to be rewarded.

[Ricky_ 893]

There are too many teams in Scottish football. Some of the smaller teams should just swallow some pride and merge.

Glasgow - big enough for 4 clubs no problem.

Edinburgh - big enough for 2 clubs no problem.

Dundee - if they want to compete they need to to merge.

Aberdeen - one club city, fine the way it is.

Central Scotland - Falkirk, stenhousemuir, east stirling, stirling etc all should merge into one club.

Perth - fine one club city

Fife - all clubs should merge

Lanarkshire - space for 2 clubs the rest should merge.

Fully agree, the game would be much healthier with roughly 16 teams competing in 1 single division, if those teams were bigger, attracting more audiences, and more than simply 2 clubs capable of winning the league.

As for pyramid systems and promotion/relegation, it's a dated concept because it's no longer the best sporting teams rise to the top, in the long term, clubs find their place based upon size of club.

i suggest that a 16 team top league be formed as the only professional body in scottish football.

underneath is regional amateur clubs, say, "south" "west" "east" and "north". have a 4 team play off at the end with each region to find a scottish champion. If 1 amatuer club grows to meet the requirements for the professional game, they can then achieve professional status - and come up with a system where they can enter the top division - but relegating a team that already has professional status into the wilderness of amatuer leagues would be detrimental to the game.

[JCDBigBear 10,830]

............. we are 20 points clear with only half the season played and a goal difference of 40.

That is the difference between a professional team & a bunch of amatuer outfits. Gretna did the same when they invested some money in paying players full time, they won SFL 3 by a record margin i dont think even we will beat.

We are 19 points clear having played 2 more games than QP. In div 2 QoS are 17 points clear having played 1 game more than the next team. They are playing in a league of some similar standing teams. Gretna won SFL3 by 20 points.

As for amalgamating and disbanding teams, that will not happen. If you are a fan of a club you will not want either option. Of all people, we should know what it feels like to almost lose your own club. I won't wish that on any SFL club.

[Ricky_ 893]

We are 19 points clear having played 2 more games than QP. In div 2 QoS are 17 points clear having played 1 game more than the next team. They are playing in a league of some similar standing teams. Gretna won SFL3 by 20 points.

As for amalgamating and disbanding teams, that will not happen. If you are a fan of a club you will not want either option. Of all people, we should know what it feels like to almost lose your own club. I won't wish that on any SFL club.

well they shouldnt be allowed to have it both ways.

if they don't want to merge, they should play in appropriate leagues.

Surely it should be the right of the every club to have expect to be placed into appropriate contests, leagues & set-ups where-by they can participate against other clubs of similar size & level.

instead, we allow clubs that don't even pay their players (whom have full time jobs in offices, as postmen, etc) - to participate in a league set-up which includes clubs with millions of fans worldwide & stadiums of 50 & 60k capacity.

Rangers playing teams such as Annan Athletic is the same gulf as asking Annan to play down your local field on a Sunday morning against Pub teams, the likes of "Inter Yer Maw's Fanny" & "Chicken Kiev".

Having so many tiny clubs who clearly are not professional outfits, masquerade around in the professional game has been detrimental to football in Scotland, and will continue to be in the future unless someone with a clue who runs the game eventually says enough is enough and seperates the proper clubs with stadia fitting for professional football from the minnows playing on their local 3G high-school field. Give them the ultimatum, if you want to compete at pro level, merge, get appropriate stadia and pay your players. If not, then fine, but compete in amatuer or semi-pro leagues - which should be different from professional leagues.

[Hegarty_loyal 6]

I think, to be fair, the 4th tear of Scottish football is a fair enough level for part timers, tbh. It's fair that we're playing against them because we applied to play in that league and were accepted. (the reason we HAD to apply in the first place is another matter in the first place and not to be confused with what I'm talking about here)

Unless you can think of a way for these teams to pay each player about £275 per week for playing in the 4th best league in Scotland. average gates of , as mentioned a few hundred at an average of say £10 a head would mean they'd be liquidated at the end of the month.

Yes, there are too many small teams that for the good of the game should just merge , but it's not going to happen.

you're confusing pro with full time and vice versa. It's simply not a case of that. They are pro's

do you want full timers, or pros? make up your mind?

There are too many teams in Scottish football. Some of the smaller teams should just swallow some pride and merge.

Glasgow - big enough for 4 clubs no problem.

Edinburgh - big enough for 2 clubs no problem.

Dundee - if they want to compete they need to to merge.

Aberdeen - one club city, fine the way it is.

Central Scotland - Falkirk, stenhousemuir, east stirling, stirling etc all should merge into one club.

Perth - fine one club city

Fife - all clubs should merge

Lanarkshire - space for 2 clubs the rest should merge.

Fully agree, the game would be much healthier with roughly 16 teams competing in 1 single division, if those teams were bigger, attracting more audiences, and more than simply 2 clubs capable of winning the league.

As for pyramid systems and promotion/relegation, it's a dated concept because it's no longer the best sporting teams rise to the top, in the long term, clubs find their place based upon size of club.

i suggest that a 16 team top league be formed as the only professional body in scottish football.

underneath is regional amateur clubs, say, "south" "west" "east" and "north". have a 4 team play off at the end with each region to find a scottish champion. If 1 amatuer club grows to meet the requirements for the professional game, they can then achieve professional status - and come up with a system where they can enter the top division - but relegating a team that already has professional status into the wilderness of amatuer leagues would be detrimental to the game.

13 teams mentioned above,

1 Rangers

2 Partick

3 Clyde

4 Them

5 Hearts

6 Hibs

7 Team united Dundee

8 Team fifers

9 Aberdeen

10 Motherwell

11 Hamilton

12 central Scotland fc

13St.Johnstone

Who gets the other 3 places and do we become a Country of just one league? What happens to the other teams who are good enough to be professional? stuck playing amatuer? where they turn up to training if they're not working and play games if there's no over time? Sounds like that'd do no good at all for the development of players to get any better, have any goals, or actually achive anything. Many of the current SPL teams sign players from the lower leagues. You're suggesting players are either good enough for the best league in the country or should have to play 5 asides. It's just not practical at all.

[StayWestFree 107]

Simple fact is Scotland has too many "professional" clubs. We have 42 in 4 leagues and a population of 5.25 million.

England has 92 teams in their top 4 leagues but with a population of 53 million.

The numbers we have up here aren't sustainable. Outside Glasgow (the numbers we and the other mhob get means we can afford to have our own stadiums), teams close by should be at least sharing stadiums to cut costs. But they cut off their nose to spite their face because of they cant stomach sharing with a rival.

[Ricky_ 893]

I think, to be fair, the 4th tear of Scottish football is a fair enough level for part timers, tbh. It's fair that we're playing against them because we applied to play in that league and were accepted. (the reason we HAD to apply in the first place is another matter in the first place and not to be confused with what I'm talking about here)

Unless you can think of a way for these teams to pay each player about £275 per week for playing in the 4th best league in Scotland. average gates of , as mentioned a few hundred at an average of say £10 a head would mean they'd be liquidated at the end of the month.

Yes, there are too many small teams that for the good of the game should just merge , but it's not going to happen.

you're confusing pro with full time and vice versa. It's simply not a case of that. They are pro's

do you want full timers, or pros? make up your mind?

13 teams mentioned above,

1 Rangers

2 Partick

3 Clyde

4 Them

5 Hearts

6 Hibs

7 Team united Dundee

8 Team fifers

9 Aberdeen

10 Motherwell

11 Hamilton

12 central Scotland fc

13St.Johnstone

Who gets the other 3 places and do we become a Country of just one league? What happens to the other teams who are good enough to be professional? stuck playing amatuer? where they turn up to training if they're not working and play games if there's no over time? Sounds like that'd do no good at all for the development of players to get any better, have any goals, or actually achive anything. Many of the current SPL teams sign players from the lower leagues. You're suggesting players are either good enough for the best league in the country or should have to play 5 asides. It's just not practical at all.

a fair enough level, yes, but it shouldn't be included in the same level as full-time professional clubs with stadium fit for professional football at this countries highest level. In other words, teams liek Rangers, even Hearts or Aberdeen if they ever got relegated, should be amongst part time outfits.

There should a professional league set-up, say, the SFL, with 1 league whereby the requirements where that to register a player that player must be a full-time employee of the club & stadiums of 3 or 4k + seating.

That would leave room for 1 top, professional league & below that would be a more fitting semi-professional league. If a team from the semi-professional league wanted to join the top division, they must make application & fufill the necessary requirements.

If faced with such a dilemma, perhaps we might find some clubs begrudingly merge for the greater good, to create 1 team that can amount to something instead of a whole bunch of diddy teams that just malinger aroudn the bottom divisions of 10.

The current set-up is farcical.

[plumbGER 24,518]

no st.mirren or morton or joint renfrewshire team?

[Ricky_ 893]

Simple fact is Scotland has too many "professional" clubs. We have 42 in 4 leagues and a population of 5.25 million.

England has 92 teams in their top 4 leagues but with a population of 53 million.

The numbers we have up here aren't sustainable. Outside Glasgow (the numbers we and the other mhob get means we can afford to have our own stadiums), teams close by should be at least sharing stadiums to cut costs. But they cut off their nose to spite their face because of they cant stomach sharing with a rival.

and even England has too many, if Sheffield for instance only had 1 club, it would most likely be a force in the premiership, instead they have mediocre clubs that malinger around the mid-divisions.

[Hegarty_loyal 6]

why bother with 16 teams? why not merge all of glasgow, edinburgh and dundee into 1 team each. Do we really need hamilton AND

motherwell? merge 'em. go for a league of 8. so we only have the best of the best in the country. play each other 32 times

I know that's less than we play just now, but with all 8 teams competing for european football and 2- 4x the fans turning up at each game teams would have more money to spend.. soon enough we'd have 4 teams in the champions league and 4 teams in the europa league. we'd have to expand iBrox (we'd be sponcered by apple & kits made by hugo boss) to about 150k+ just to fit in all the fans

ok far fetched..

Point is though, that's not how it works. Yeah, we have too many professional teams I agree with that but who decides who merges with who and where they play- surely they'd need to build a new stadium. I wouldn't want team Glasgow to play out of the Mechano and they wouldn't want to play out of Ibrox - we'd maybe have to buy semi-pro queens park's ground but what about dundee etc? If a club like aberdeen got relegated.. they'd be playing in the first. Which is all full timers is it not?

Good in theory, but just not in practice, imo

[Ricky_ 893]

why bother with 16 teams? why not merge all of glasgow, edinburgh and dundee into 1 team each. Do we really need hamilton AND

motherwell? merge 'em. go for a league of 8. so we only have the best of the best in the country. play each other 32 times

I know that's less than we play just now, but with all 8 teams competing for european football and 2- 4x the fans turning up at each game teams would have more money to spend.. soon enough we'd have 4 teams in the champions league and 4 teams in the europa league. we'd have to expand iBrox (we'd be sponcered by apple & kits made by hugo boss) to about 150k+ just to fit in all the fans

ok far fetched..

Point is though, that's not how it works. Yeah, we have too many professional teams I agree with that but who decides who merges with who and where they play- surely they'd need to build a new stadium. I wouldn't want team Glasgow to play out of the Mechano and they wouldn't want to play out of Ibrox - we'd maybe have to buy semi-pro queens park's ground but what about dundee etc? If a club like aberdeen got relegated.. they'd be playing in the first. Which is all full timers is it not?

Good in theory, but just not in practice, imo

stupid post, the whole premise of clubs merging is not to just keep getting bigger, but so they can perform at professional level.

it's a shambles that a club with a non-seated stand, hedge around the playing field & about 120 fans can participate in a professional league set-up.

These clubs do not have a fan base. An appropriate stadium. Full time employees. Youth academies. Nothing. They are amatuer outfits that should not be in the same set-up as professional, full time football clubs.

Football is broken into levels:

SPL

SFL

Senior non-league

Junior

Amateur

School football

Clubs like Annan athletic, Berwick etc shouldn't be in the same set-up as a club like Rangers.

there should be a division, like in this list above, which separates semi-pro/part-time (whatever you want to call these postman playing fitbaw at weekends) from full-time professional clubs.

Why does nobody else think this is an issue?

I'm not saying we should just keep merging teams until we have a league of 4 teams but big enough to participate in Europe, i'm saying that the semi-professional and part-time clubs should either participate at a semi-pro level, or if they desire to compete at the top level, professional level, they need to come up with a way of meeting the requirements, with the obvious solution being merge.

[JCDBigBear 10,830]

well they shouldnt be allowed to have it both ways.

if they don't want to merge, they should play in appropriate leagues.

Surely it should be the right of the every club to have expect to be placed into appropriate contests, leagues & set-ups where-by they can participate against other clubs of similar size & level.

instead, we allow clubs that don't even pay their players (whom have full time jobs in offices, as postmen, etc) - to participate in a league set-up which includes clubs with millions of fans worldwide & stadiums of 50 & 60k capacity.

Rangers playing teams such as Annan Athletic is the same gulf as asking Annan to play down your local field on a Sunday morning against Pub teams, the likes of "Inter Yer Maw's Fanny" & "Chicken Kiev".

Having so many tiny clubs who clearly are not professional outfits, masquerade around in the professional game has been detrimental to football in Scotland, and will continue to be in the future unless someone with a clue who runs the game eventually says enough is enough and seperates the proper clubs with stadia fitting for professional football from the minnows playing on their local 3G high-school field. Give them the ultimatum, if you want to compete at pro level, merge, get appropriate stadia and pay your players. If not, then fine, but compete in amatuer or semi-pro leagues - which should be different from professional leagues.

What absolute arrogance on your part. The system isn't perfect and could certainly be improved, that is not in any doubt, but to force amalgamation or demotion on smaller clubs is football fascism. Just 6 months ago we were all delighted and mightily relieved to be accepted into SFL3 and here we are halfway through a season which may not have been possible for our team and now you have apparently forgotten how bad our situation was last summer. Now you want to consign some of these teams to the history books. Your attitude is shameful.

[Hegarty_loyal 6]

your gripe seems to be that Rangers need to play these clubs..

That's not annan athletic's fault. It's the men who ran the club this past while & the SFA for putting us here who are to blame.

not once have you mentioned footballing ability in your quest for pro football teams. yet you claim my post was stupid?

nice stadium, people to go watch, youth set up, and full time employee's.

That's what makes a pro football team. Not having professional footballers play the game.

So very sorry you feel we're too good to play the likes of the third division but you're being disrespectful.

What you're proposing is a pay if you want to play style league. unless you can sell x-amount of season tickets, you're not a pro team?

you got a nice 40,000 stadium? nice, get in the top division. Any players?

You're not saying we should keep merging teams, I know that. But why stop there? we know the bottom of our leagues isn't very good.

But neither is our top league, in terms of the rest of europe. So why stop the merging down the bottom? get a strong top league too while we're at it.

[Ricky_ 893]

What absolute arrogance on your part. The system isn't perfect and could certainly be improved, that is not in any doubt, but to force amalgamation or demotion on smaller clubs is football fascism. Just 6 months ago we were all delighted and mightily relieved to be accepted into SFL3 and here we are halfway through a season which may not have been possible for our team and now you have apparently forgotten how bad our situation was last summer. Now you want to consign some of these teams to the history books. Your attitude is shameful.

football facism. cosigned to the history books!?

gimme a break.

I'm simply stating there should be 1 more step of seperation between semi-pro/part time & fully professional teams, just liek there is between the SFL & the senior set-up.

Is the break between the senior set-up & the SFL football facism?

The gulf in size of club & class between the lower end of the SFL & Seniors isn't that great. The gulf in class between the part-timers in the SFL and the professional teams like Celtic or Motherwell is huge.

The inclusion of part time teams in the pro set-up is detrimental to our game, and, pointless. Times are changing in football and FFP means clubs can only spend what they bring in, as they must now not post losses each year.

Now tell me, what exactly is the point of a club like Annan participating in the pyramid system of SFL & SPL, or, soon to be 12-12-18? Remember Gretna? They made it to the SPL... by investing crazy amount for a club that size, leaving over 600k debt to the tax man alone and going bust, and damn nearly forfieting their SPL season which would have had all their results null & void.

The SPL had it right a decade o so ago when they refused entry to Falkirk for failing to meet the Stadium requirements. Ofcourse there should be such requirements, this is the top level league in this country, paying millions in prize money & bringing in millions in season ticket sales, international TV deals & commercial sponsorship.

Like i said, i can't understand why we just seem to accept amatuer football clubs masquerading in what is supposed to be a 'professional' sport set-up. £16 a ticket or £40+ a month TV subscription to watch essentially your local post-man?

I'm not arrogant, nor a facist, nor wish death upon clubs. But this is the "solution", or at least recognising the problem that's driven our game into the ground. Make a simple division, or cut-off point for semi-pro, then pro.

It would be entirely up to the clubs what they want to do. If Annan, Elgin & co want to continue as they are, then fine, they will still play each other, and will do so in the same 'tier', in a semi-pro league under the big boys. But if they ever want to progress to full-time professional sports teams, they need to find a solution to become a sports club of size in which it can sustain the necessary funding & cash flow to do so. That would probably mean merging with other clubs, but entirely their choice.

It will never happen though, this country of 5million + will continue to pander to every village & little town of 400 people having it's very own little fitbaw team in which 50 odd people stand and watch their next door neighbour, milkman & bank manager from a terrace on a Saturday until the sport in this country finally has the life support machine switched off by Mr. Murdoch.

[Ricky_ 893]

your gripe seems to be that Rangers need to play these clubs..

That's not annan athletic's fault. It's the men who ran the club this past while & the SFA for putting us here who are to blame.

not once have you mentioned footballing ability in your quest for pro football teams. yet you claim my post was stupid?

nice stadium, people to go watch, youth set up, and full time employee's.

That's what makes a pro football team. Not having professional footballers play the game.

So very sorry you feel we're too good to play the likes of the third division but you're being disrespectful.

What you're proposing is a pay if you want to play style league. unless you can sell x-amount of season tickets, you're not a pro team?

you got a nice 40,000 stadium? nice, get in the top division. Any players?

You're not saying we should keep merging teams, I know that. But why stop there? we know the bottom of our leagues isn't very good.

But neither is our top league, in terms of the rest of europe. So why stop the merging down the bottom? get a strong top league too while we're at it.

your post was stupid because you made a foolish post about just merging everyone til we were down to 8 clubs playing each other 34 times. Why? I was simply suggesting clubs merge until they can sustain a model where by the ycan become full time professional clubs and not part timers. Jim Duffy, Clyde manager, was on the phone in a few months back about losing players because they couldn't get time off work.

Its not just Rangers need to play these teams, it's that these teams are in the same set-up as full-time professional teams like ourselves, Hearts, Celtic, Aberdeen.

Why have we come to accept this? We pay our money to watch professional sports teams, not milkmen.

Now tell me this, why is the SFL cut-off from Senior football but semi-pro teams aren't cut off from professional teams?

Annan where the last successful Senior team to make application when Gretna went bust. Annan, a tiny club with a 3G pitch, with no full time players. They are still pretty much a senior club. The extra income from us this year might have propelled them up a level or 2, or will in the next year or so to come, but a club like Annan will always be of Senior level, and will never be of professional level.

So why do think it's acceptable to cut senior leagues off from the pyramid but lump in professional teams with amateur/semi-pro/part-timers?

[naepace 35]

Okay these clubs may not have the world record breaking history our club has, but for the fans of these smaller clubs they are proud of their clubs achievements and history however small in comparison to ours. These are the very clubs that voted us into their set-up otherwise the "big teams" of scottish football were happy to take the chance that we would be pushed into the wilderness and have nowhere to play. Whilst there is a lot of wrongs needing corrected who are we as football supporters to wish the demise of the clubs because they have only a few hundred fans. Rangers and that other lot have allowed the so called bigger teams (sheepshaggers, dundee hibs etc) to feed off of us two for too long. These so called bigger teams have taken more money out of the game and hurt the game in scotland far more than the smaller clubs have. These clubs deserved there place at this time and if the pyramid system is introduced they will find their own level through time without us pushing them.

[aqualung 126]

The licensing system that separates pro from semipro clubs in Germany, Holland, Denmark and even the lower regional leagues in England works very well but sadly Scotland is far, far too parochial for anything similar to be adopted. Scottish football will never change because Scottish people will never change.