Clyde01

Surely this reconstruction task force is going to have to get the job done fairly quickly as we now have Stranraer, Thistle, Hearts, ICT, Falkirk, Edinburgh, Kelty, Brora all in limbo. They won’t be able to budget or plan ahead without certainty on which division they will be playing in.

Dirty deeds done dirt cheap

Surely uefa could start by saying there will be no champions league or Europa league for season 2020/21. That would free up a hell of a lot of midweek slots and make next season manageable even if the start is delayed. Uefa could potentially play the remaining ties from this seasons competition as a filler throughout the season. Given that the early qualifying rounds start in about 2 weeks I think cancelling these is pretty much inevitable.

We can’t allow the records to be expunged as now that the season is ‘finished’ we can state with certainty that Falkirk lost every league game against Clyde [emoji41].

For a start on points per game the top 3 in the lowland league are kelty, Bonnyrigg and bsc Glasgow. In the same way the highland league would be brora, Fraserburgh and Rothes. So you’ve promoted the wrong teams. What’s happened to Stenny have they gone out of business already? How would leagues of 16 work exactly? Only play twice that’s only 30 games. Introduce split would be too many games so probably need to be some kind of mini-leagues/playoffs system. Can’t see why the premier league would ever agree to voting that through to be honest. Despite what fans would want.

Integrity such as misleading other championship chairmen to gain an insight into how they were voting. Integrity such as asking for your vote not to be counted once it was revealed to be decisive. Impartiality such as using your questionably established position of power to negotiate friendlies or benefits directly for your own club. What a load of horse shit.

Surely this can’t be allowed to drag on now that everyone knows this is Dundee’s hands. They shouldn’t be able to broker private deals to benefit them to vote a particular way. The SPFL need to come out and say they’ve made a colossal howling c**t of the whole thing and it’s now void.

Surely Barry Ferguson will refuse the title due to ‘sporting integrity’.

Why is that a good idea anyway? It doesn’t remove the need to play teams 4 times a season as a split would be needed so why bother changing the current system. I’m all for changing to something better but what benefit does 14-14-14 actually bring?

How could I forget

So it’s ok to drop Clyde, Peterhead and Forfar into the bottom league and deny cove promotion? Get that idea right in the sea.

What was the issue with the goal at Hampden? I can’t remember.

Looks like east fife are due about 9 grand more than Forfar for being higher up the table so about 12,500. I very much doubt you are in a position where that money is not critical.

I think it’s more likely to be 2 up with no relegation that’s proposed. That’s the only model that doesn’t really harm anyone. It’s not ideal as we lose games against Falkirk and raith replaced by cove and Edinburgh (so a major drop in away gates). No thistle either. But it’s probably the best of several far from ideal options.

I think it’s a disaster for us and shouldn’t be allowed to happen with zero notice. The thing that worries me though is Clyde, Forfar, Peterhead and cove are the only ones getting properly shafted. (Plus kelty/Brora). I doubt many will lose sleep over upsetting a handful of smaller clubs.

Any restructuring that involves jettisoning clubs who weren’t in the relegation zone into the bottom league can get in the fucking sea. Plus if you promote the top 6 in league one that still only gives you a 12 team championship as you’ve already promoted 4 of them . If your top two leagues are both 16 you’re using all of the teams down to league one. What then happens about cove/Stranraer which of them makes up the 32nd spot?

They are not currently playing, with no prospect of doing so anytime soon yet are unwilling to take a 20% cut on their second job to help safeguard the future of the club. f**k the players there is a bigger picture here.

Agree it would work best as you outline with a split after 26 games. But don’t agree it will lead to much variation. You would play 24 of your 38 matches against the same 6 sides. Yes the post split fixtures will be competitive but it’s so tedious playing the same sides 4 times a season. Also the team in 7th/8th after 26 games could be so far off top/bottom that their entire post split season is meaningless.

Ok, if you’re in favour give me one benefit that a 14-14-14 structure would bring over the current set up. (Other than Falkirk getting promoted via the back door).

Yes, obviously that’s what I’m saying. Do you think we would be financially better off as a club playing in a league with falkirk, thistle, airdrie or Annan, Elgin, Albion rovers? It doesn’t matter if it’s tier 3 on paper. We would be playing teams with far smaller away supports and financially much worse off. Contrast that to Dumbarton (1 place above us in league one mid table) who get to play all of the championship teams and the best of league one. You can’t make that sort of stuff up off the cuff, clubs need to know in advance what they are playing for.

Whilst nobody would be relegated on paper Clyde, Forfar and Peterhead would essentially be relegated by joining the current 10 league one teams and Stranraer. The financial implications of playing out to away crowds in the tens are fairly obvious and there was no prior warning at the start of the season this would happen. It frankly smacks of making it up as you go along. What are the benefits of a 14 team league other than short term appeasement of clubs? We would still have to play 4 times which is the major criticism of the current system so what’s the point of going to 14s?

It’s an easy way to hide your own inadequacies by blaming the SPFL. The fact that Budge needs to accept is her team has been shite most of the season, a lot of the blame for that lies at her door for persevering with Levein for so long. She is trying to direct the wrath away from her and onto someone else. A similar situation at Falkirk who should have coasted League One with the squad they assembled. Yes, the premature end of season is unfortunate but was out with anyone’s control. Having that clown McKinnon in charge for so long has really come back to bite you on the arse.

Keep hearing people bleating on about the injustice on hearts and thistle (Stranraer too I guess - although less vocal) BUT these teams have been bottom for large chunks of the season. It’s not like they just slipped onto bottom spot just before football was stopped. It’s a bit of a brass neck to throw your toys out the pram over possible relegation when you’ve been pish and looked doomed for most of the season.

Promote 2 relegate none is still the best way out of this. It doesn’t really disadvantage anyone apart from 3rd and 4th placed sides (who only had a 25% at best chance of promotion anyway). However if we accept the playoffs are cancelled regardless that takes away that argument. Promotion for second place is on sporting merit. The only other argument against this model is the dilution of money in the premier league between 14 instead of 12 clubs but if this was for a single season only surely it’s not going to torpedo an otherwise reasonable plan. Season 20/21 can relegate 3 and promote 1 to reset. At least that way all clubs will be fully aware of what’s at stake before a ball is kicked, unlike the current restructure ideas being banded about.

That probably sounds a great idea if you are a top half league one side, but if you are a bottom half league one side it’s a shit show.