Scottish football without the OF

[coprolite]

I think the remaining Scottish league would be competetive and enjoyable.

The obvious comparison would be the league of Wales but that's missing the four biggest teams and the remainder are all fairly small. 

Personally i'd prefer the OF to stay because i want us to beat them to the league title. It might never happen but it might. 

I would be surprised if any exodus stopped at two teams though. Cormack and Budge would definitely fancy the relative riches of the championship. 

[coprolite]

1 minute ago, Forever_blueco said:

Didn’t Aberdeen get a slight uptake of central belt supporters in their 80s heyday ?  

Our reported crowds have stayed fairly consistent for about 40 years. The central belters tended to go to away games more hence our now traditionally large away supports. 

[ahemps]

8 minutes ago, Forever_blueco said:

Didn’t Aberdeen get a slight uptake of central belt supporters in their 80s heyday ?  

Possibly and I think you would naturally get a bit of that but if a kid came in to the playground at a school in Dunfermline with a St Mirren top on because they had just won the league that child would be called out for being a glory hunter and he would be on his own. Currently Celtic and Rangers fan get a free pass for being from the other side of the country because they usually outnumber the local fan base.

Edited April 22, 2021 by ahemps

[AJF]

1 hour ago, Ill Ray said:

Also another point to add to the debate is we could restructure the league to have more teams then due to the fact we don’t need to meet a desired amount of old firm games for broadcasters. A lot of people have been in favour of a 16 team league for example.  

I partially agree with this point too, but it also goes two ways due to non-OF teams being reluctant to restructure the league as they’d give up four potential home games vs the OF with large away supports.

[TheScarf]

34 minutes ago, coprolite said:

I think the remaining Scottish league would be competetive and enjoyable.

The obvious comparison would be the league of Wales but that's missing the four biggest teams and the remainder are all fairly small. 

Personally i'd prefer the OF to stay because i want us to beat them to the league title. It might never happen but it might. 

I would be surprised if any exodus stopped at two teams though. Cormack and Budge would definitely fancy the relative riches of the championship. 

How many LoW teams get over 10,000 average home crowds per season, knowing the best they can finish is 3rd in the league?

[GAD]

I think it's more a question for Rangers and Celtic fans to be honest, do they really want to leave? Do they want to give up historical grudge matches like Aberdeen and Hearts? Do they want to replace away games you can get to in a afternoon with ones that you can't? If they do then fair enough, and I can't certainly see the appeal. I personally wouldn't have any problem with them moving on. Scottish football will still find it's level, most teams will still be concentrating on academy players and free transfers.

The one thing I would say though, is that if they go, they go. No leaving reserve teams or B teams in the league. That would be shit.

[Northboy]

If the OF were to leave Scottish football I just can't see it being to England. Much more likely it will be to some sort of regional and/or multi division European league however that may come about. I'm sure we'd be left with an interesting and competitive Scottish league but one down side I see could be the demise of traditional European qualification and participation. 

[DukDukGoose]

2 hours ago, GordonS said:

I think it would be great for the SPFL but bad for Scotland as a whole. They'd be playing "bigger" games in the world's most watched league, and I think they'd suck up even more attention and hangers-on. English fans would be coming to Glasgow every week and one of them would be going down there, with definite scope for trouble.

I'd love to see an SPFL in which there would be a few clubs with hopes of winning it every year, and others who could pull off a surprise in a good season. The atmosphere at the grounds of clubs going for the title would be fantastic. They'd have a bit less cash for salaries, but so what. I'll take a slightly lower standard of player for a real, competitive league.

Are they going to be as well supported if they win nothing?

[AJF]

12 minutes ago, GAD said:

I think it's more a question for Rangers and Celtic fans to be honest, do they really want to leave? Do they want to give up historical grudge matches like Aberdeen and Hearts? Do they want to replace away games you can get to in a afternoon with ones that you can't? If they do then fair enough, and I can't certainly see the appeal. I personally wouldn't have any problem with them moving on. Scottish football will still find it's level, most teams will still be concentrating on academy players and free transfers.

The one thing I would say though, is that if they go, they go. No leaving reserve teams or B teams in the league. That would be shit.

This is the thinking behind my reasoning for not wanting to leave. The best things about Scottish football would be instantly lost if we were to leave and replaced with an inferior fan experience.

[coprolite]

7 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

How many LoW teams get over 10,000 average home crowds per season, knowing the best they can finish is 3rd in the league?

I know, i was saying it's an imperfect comparison.

They are without the four biggest teams in a country of 3m where Rugby is the main spectator sport. 

I don't think that the 5 bigger city teams would stay in Scotland if there was an option to move, maybe even the Dundee teams would be tempted. 

The remaining teams would probably still get about 10x the crowds that LOW gets. Even Accies. 

But it is the obvious comparison as to what a country's league without that country's biggest teams looks like. 

 

 

[DukDukGoose]

You could also restructure the league without having to worry about the two playing each other four times a season for TV coverage.

[Illgresi]

I'd love to see them f**k off and join the English leagues, but only if they move their vile presence out of Scotland entirely, and relocate down there. Hopefully the abomination that is English football will then die an ugly death, taking all the teams with it.

[fasda2]

18 minutes ago, GAD said:

I think it's more a question for Rangers and Celtic fans to be honest, do they really want to leave? Do they want to give up historical grudge matches like Aberdeen and Hearts? Do they want to replace away games you can get to in a afternoon with ones that you can't? If they do then fair enough, and I can't certainly see the appeal. I personally wouldn't have any problem with them moving on. Scottish football will still find it's level, most teams will still be concentrating on academy players and free transfers.

The one thing I would say though, is that if they go, they go. No leaving reserve teams or B teams in the league. That would be shit.

Very much agree with this.  Also, I think it would be really beneficial for Rangers and Celtic in the long run as I don't see them getting away with the "politics and history for thick c*nts" stuff that they do in Scotland.  They would have to toe the line for the big TV bucks.  They definitely have the crowds to compete at least in theory, in saying that so do Sunderland and a few other fairly average teams such as Newcastle, Middlesborough and a couple of Sheffield's. Would their fans accept a win ratio of less than 30% such as Newcastle at the moment in exchange for having more internationals in their squad, i.e. more money?

[SANTAN]

I love how the English fans keep saying it would be unfair for Rangers or celtc to go into the top league straight away. 

If it is a new and improved British Super League then of course we should be at the top and your Fulhams and the likes can file themselves in below any other Scottish or Northern Irish teams. We wouldn't be joining the EPL..

Don't want to see it happen either way though but that line is annoying me. A Britisg Cup would be class though. 

[TheScarf]

26 minutes ago, Merkland Red said:

You could also restructure the league without having to worry about the two playing each other four times a season for TV coverage.

Yep, increase the leagues to 16 or 18 and not end up potentially playing a side 6 times in one season.  Which happens far too often.

[coprolite]

15 minutes ago, fasda2 said:

Very much agree with this.  Also, I think it would be really beneficial for Rangers and Celtic in the long run as I don't see them getting away with the "politics and history for thick c*nts" stuff that they do in Scotland.  They would have to toe the line for the big TV bucks.  They definitely have the crowds to compete at least in theory, in saying that so do Sunderland and a few other fairly average teams such as Newcastle, Middlesborough and a couple of Sheffield's. Would their fans accept a win ratio of less than 30% such as Newcastle at the moment in exchange for having more internationals in their squad, i.e. more money?

I think the crowd size is less important that the tv views. I don't think the clubs you've quoted except Newcastle would be very close to either Glasgow club and certainly not to Celtic. That's for Celtic playing other EPL clubs and not the historical figures for playing at Dingwall etc, so it's not based on very sound evidence. 

[DukDukGoose]

4 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

Yep, increase the leagues to 16 or 18 and not end up potentially playing a side 6 times in one season.  Which happens far too often.

Quite a few players we've lost have said they were just fed up of playing the same teams at least 3 times a season. Can be 6 times if you get them in the cup too.

EDIT: Didn't even notice you mentioning playing each other 6 times too!

 

Edited April 22, 2021 by Merkland Red

[TheScarf]

Just now, Merkland Red said:

Quite a few players we've lost have said they were just fed up of playing the same teams at least 3 times a season. Can be 6 times if you get them in the cup too.

EDIT: Didn't even notice you mentioning playing each other 6 times too!

 

It was either least season or 18/19 I think The Caley played Alloa 6 times.  Fucking wild.

[btb]

Would the English Police want the OF down south?

[coprolite]

8 minutes ago, btb said:

Would the English Police want the OF down south?

Rangers love the Queen and Celtic are institutionally racist so i'd guess they'd welcome them.