Is this the best time for SPFL to push for an 18 team top league???

[mclovin9091 1,388]

So next season the top div will consist of:

Us, Hearts, St Johnny, Motherwell, Ross county, Inverness, Dundee, Partick, hamilton, the sheep, the scum and Kilmarnock (most likely)

The championship will be Dundee utd (LOL), Falkirk, Hivs (LOL), Raith, Morton, St Midden, QotS, Dumbarton, Dunfermline and (probably Ayr)

 

Unfortunately this would mean that one season two teams from the premier would avoid the drop but as we know the "quality" of the premier is not that much better than the championship, with Dundee utd, falkirk, hivs, raith and morton more that likely capable of giving a good showing, with st midden maybe.

34 games, a decent winter break (or a chance to catch up on games missed) and the same finish date.

Were back, theres more money (conveniently), there will be more fans going to see us all over the country, have the SPFL missed a turn here or did they fuck it for themselves last year when they decided to change the name?

 

Plus it means we'd only have to play the manky fucks twice.

[Jimfanciesthedude 24,609]

nope, never happen, 18 team league potentially has 10 teams all with heehaw to play for by end of january, no chance the fans will go watch that shite and TV wont exactly pay money to screen glorified friendlies

[TMB 14,167]

I think it would be a good time to reconstruct the leagues since the Championship is strong and similar in quality to the top-tier.  Three leagues each with 20 teams would be my perfect setup.  Three up, three down, nice and simple.  38 games per season and we'd only play each team twice.  I personally hate the split and the repetitious 4 games against each other that we currently get. 

[Prso's headband 35,583]

Not a chance. Dundee Utd and Hibs should suffer as much as possible.

18 teams don't benefit us, only the teams that are deservedly missing our money will benefit from that. Fuck them. 

Like Sky will be happy with 2 old firms a season anyway. No chance. 

[Smile 26,610]

Not at all let the likes of Dundee Utd and Hibs do more championship time.

[hammer time 653]

will never happens as the only tv selling point Scottish football has a spectacle is us v them 4 times a season, would leave too many teams in the middle with nothing to play for although you could say that how it's always been that way, to see who can get 3rd spot and be best of the rest amongst the other teams

[j1mgg 3,766]

Agrees now, put in place in 2 years time, 18 top league, 16 second league.

[Bigsasasfloppyhair 13,310]

In terms of sporting integrity, no, they can all fucking rot. 

[WGOH 2,344]

St Jonny  

[A.T.G 10,773]

3 years from now yes

[TMB 14,167]

An 18 or 20 team league would be great for Rangers and Scottish football in the long-term.  If it's the best thing for everyone then it should be welcomed by everyone.  Fighting against it because you don't want to see Hibs gain any sort of short-term benefit is a sad positon to take and we really need to move on from that.  For Scottish football to recover we need all the big teams back in the same league with 20 teams to avoid repition.  If we can then renegotiate the TV deal from Sky and spread the wealth around our game will start to benefit, and so will we.

[Inigo 32,534]

18 teams? You having a laugh?

It's fine the way it is. Why do we always have to change the structure? Eventually the penny will drop that the league structure isn't the big problem.

Just now we've got two good competitive leagues. The Championship is a good league just now, so why destroy that? You have to earn your right to be in the top division, you can't just shoehorn everyone in by making it a massive league. There has to be competitive achievement. As it is now with the playoffs, and the Championship being relatively strong, exciting and competitive, everything is working really well IMO.

And by the way, it's the mhanky games that everyone looks forward to and is the selling point. Losing two of those games would be madness.

[WATP-FOREVER 5,231]

Should only be one team in the SPL - all the others are trivial & hanging onto our tailcoats - WATP

[We Will Follow Rangers 12,946]

 

18 minutes ago, THE_MIGHTY_BEARS said:

An 18 or 20 team league would be great for Rangers and Scottish football in the long-term.  If it's the best thing for everyone then it should be welcomed by everyone.  Fighting against it because you don't want to see Hibs gain any sort of short-term benefit is a sad positon to take and we really need to move on from that.  For Scottish football to recover we need all the big teams back in the same league with 20 teams to avoid repition.  If we can then renegotiate the TV deal from Sky and spread the wealth around our game will start to benefit, and so will we.

1. There aren't 20 decent teams in scotland, in what possible way would it benefit Rangers? Swapping home gate reciepts from games against the tarriers, the sheep and hearts for games against raith, qots and morton? why the fuck would we want that?

2. it wouldn't be best for everyone, it would be a financial disaster for some, it would dilute the quality and result in too many meaningless games.

3. Fuck hivs

4. There is no renegotiation the TV deal from Sky, its written in the contract, just  the same pie cut into smaller pieces resulting in less cash for clubs, resulting in less quality on the park.

[Nemesis 277]

For the supporters of an expanded set up (including many within our own club) it is probably now or never

The appetite of tv and sponsors will be what ultimately decides no matter what hysteria/paranoia is spouted.

Personally i think an 18 team setup will kill more than a third of the current clubs and will represent a point of no return level gamble. 

[eejay the dj 31,964]

Most likely scenario will be ,they change the play off system so they can shoehorn both beggar loving scumbags Hivs and Scumdee back into the Top league asap .

[andy500 463]

It could work well, but we sell our TV based on four Old Firm games. So those with short term $$ in their eyes won't push it through.

Next year could see Dundee United, Killie, Hibs and St Mirren all in the second tier. (In the scenario where Falkirk win the play offs) 

There are definitely enough good teams in Scotland to have a 16 team top tier. 18 probably isn't that much of a stretch. 

[Blue Nosed Babe 20,805]

Not until the rot has been erradicated from the game and huge apologies are made to our club.

So that will be never.

[OlegKuznetsov 10,816]

Absolutely not!!!

Why should the bastards who voted us down three tiers on a false premise get a bailout and a hand up when their bitterness and jealousy bites them on the arse?

Scottish football is a farce as it is, so we can't really be seen to be carving it up every two or three years. Even Petrofac and Ramsdens wouldn't sponsor us if we kept doing that.

Besides, all Scottish football has to market is hate, so they won't do away with 2 of the 4 Old Firm matches.

Let the St Mirrens, Hivs  and D Utds stew in their own mess. May they go the way of Dunfermline and Gretna.

[Paulie Walnuts 1,061]

Small teams wont agree to it because they would only get 2 maybe 3 visits of the old firm a year i.e the times when fans actually turn up 

[RyanMac 185]

I'd rather go down the route of getting rid of clubs from the top level game, a country our size can't sustain the amount of teams we have. It would be better to cut the pool and concentrate on the teams left, bigger slice of the same pie. 

[reallyruff 622]

Whether there are enough quality teams isn't the issue (I believe the championship this season has amply demonstrated that there are), the issue is whether an expanded league is financially sustainable. Fewer old firm games, fewer visits from the old firm for each team and even, dare I say it,  disinterest from our own fanbase in seeing the Ayr's and Raith's as opposed to another Sheep or Hearts game. The impact on TV audiences would also be hurtful and consequently damage the TV deal.

[Marky. 6,946]

I think playing the tims 4 times in one season is the absolute main reason the league gets as much money as it does.

Drop that to two and the interest is lost even more-so than it currently is.

[TEFTONG 60,254]

34 minutes ago, OlegKuznetsov said:

Absolutely not!!!

Why should the bastards who voted us down three tiers on a false premise get a bailout and a hand up when their bitterness and jealousy bites them on the arse?

Scottish football is a farce as it is, so we can't really be seen to be carving it up every two or three years. Even Petrofac and Ramsdens wouldn't sponsor us if we kept doing that.

Besides, all Scottish football has to market is hate, so they won't do away with 2 of the 4 Old Firm matches.

Let the St Mirrens, Hivs  and D Utds stew in their own mess. May the go the way of Dunfermline and Gretna.

THIS 100%..

[Dietspam 733]

I like the top tier the way it is. I don't get the hatred towards the split. It creates a wee bit of excitement towards the end of the season and the battle at the bottom of the SPL this season has been well worth a watch.