Where will the SPFL be in 2042-43 Season?

[Kapowzer]

What will domestic football look like in this country in 20 years time? It's something that got me thinking tonight from things said in the "How do you Solve a Problem like the Scottish Premiership?" thread.

I think it will be dominated by two things, firstly advances in technology and the second is the clamour for a share of the wealth fuelled by UEFA.

In 20 years or before I think we'll be in a place where hologram technology will have advanced to a place where you can turn up at your own ground and watch a real time representation of your away match. Not every club could afford the set up (in today's prices, is it feasible for 30,000 OF fans to show up paying £10 for 19 games? potential revenue £5.7m justify the outlay? You think so).

Either that, or androids fed motion capture data taken from players strips so there is a physical presence. Of course it won't be for everyone, but if there's 5,000 seats maximum at any away ground or you can't get a season ticket as your club is oversubscribed, would you buy an "away beamback" one instead? You get 38 days out opposed to 19 a degree of atmosphere, songs and chants that would missing if you watched via pay TV. 

Every stadium will have mandated solar panels installed on the stand roofs and will essentially be mini power stations which satisfy themselves and excess clean power generated is used to offset the carbon cost of fulfilling their business and the impact of their fans travelling. I think that is somewhere that we are going.

With the latter and the changes to the Champions League from next season I think in 20 years time it will be inevitable that the "global brand" clubs will have moved away from their own domestic leagues and compete weekly in a pan European UEFA league. Like it or not two clubs from here will be involved as I suspect they will satisfy a lot of the criteria (stadiums over 50k that can be filled), global brand and fanbase, desirability for marketing/advertising.

Consequently, the excitement and their glory hunting element will grow and suck more fans away from their geographic teams.

UEFA will be under pressure to mitigate transport emissions from travelling fans as our planet slowly dies, I suspect that will be a major thing as they move to increasing distances and frequency of games between the teams, so developing technology to allow beambacks in some guise would be paramount for them. Combined with the cost of attending what would be 15+ city breaks a year would be massive.

With the departure of the OF from domestic football other than maybe the Scottish Cup? Will some OF fans start going along to Partick or their local teams just for nostalgia, will they be annoyed at their clubs turning their back on the Scottish league?

Hearts have the potential at present (with the pariah behaviour of Russia) to cement £6m a year from guaranteed entry to even the lowest UEFA competition and pull away to put them in a very good starting point to ensure early dominance when the OF depart.

If Si Ferry ends up as the anchor on Sportscene on £6m a year tweeting about refugee's then that's a planet I don't want to be a part of.

[StellarHibee]

1st & 2nd: Celtic & Rangers
Every other place: The rest

[ATLIS]

Very little will change, Scottish football's market will be 'the last old-school league in world football'. Amaz-inch pay us £4.70 a year in sponsorship fees. Celtic and Rangers (3) fight it out for the title while Rangers B(3) and Celtic B fight it out for Europe.

[Newbornbairn]

The bigot sisters abolished by an independent Scotland banishing such backwardness.  Queens 11 Park and St Partick Thistle dominate the league. 

[hk blues]

If we look back at 2003/04 season we can probably see where we'll be in 2043/44.  Basically where we are now.  

[lubo_blaha]

The Lowland League have just voted to accept Rangers C into the division.

[RandomGuy.]

World Super League will be in action with games played around the planet all day every day.

Lower tiers will be in action for just Europe with Celtic/Rangers in somewhere.

Scottish football will have no money as the super leagues will be a closed shop so no European money coming in. TV companies enforce blackouts when super league games are on so no Scottish games on TV.

League a lot closer and multiple winners of competitions, but overall feeling of watching the final death gasps of domestic football in Scotland.

Edited March 14, 2023 by RandomGuy.

[coprolite]

Playing in hazmat suits

[The Other Foot]

It’ll be exactly the same, except we’ll all be speaking Cornish. 

[Mark Connolly]

Dundee United fans will be bemoaning the lack of a competent goalkeeper

[Ivo den Bieman]

Cockroaches will be chasing a rusty Coke can around the radioactive remains of Hampden.

[David2000]

Exactly the same place as today unfortunately

[ArabFC]

1 hour ago, David2000 said:

Exactly the same place as today unfortunately

Exactly. Exactly.

Let's do the reverse. How is watching Dundee United any different to watching them 20 years ago in the 2002/03 season?

Same number of fans, going to the same stadium, eating the same crap, watching Rangers and Celtic finish 30+ points ahead of the rest.

Holograms? lmao

[btb]

After the death of Wooly Muller the last man to captain a non-OF team to the league title all Scottish football grounds will be bombed into oblivion.

[VincentGuerin]

2002-03 Hearts finished third in the league, 36 points off top, got put out of one cup by shite, another cup by Rangers at Hampden. Finished 36 points behind the OF.

2003-04 Hearts finished third in the league, 30 points off top, got put out the League Cup by shite and the Scottish Cup 3-0 at home to Celtic. Short European run with some high points ultimately finishing in disappointment.

The last two seasons are startlingly similar.

2021-22 - Finished third in the league, 32 points off top, put out the League Cup by Celtic, lost the Cup Final to Rangers.

2022-23 - Currently third in the league, 34 points off top and growing, put out the League Cup by shite, put out the Scottish Cup 3-0 at home to Celtic. Short European run with some high points ultimately ending in disappointment.

So, in two decades we're more or less where we were. Just a slightly bigger gap.

I think it's seven of the last ten domestic cups we've either lost in the final to the OF or been knocked out on the way by the OF. For all that Hearts are getting a lot of things right, there's a b*****d of a glass ceiling to break through to win anything. I don't see why things will be any different in two decades from now.

Edited March 14, 2023 by VincentGuerin

[VincentGuerin]

Older readers may recall this 'CONTROVERSY' from December 2009. Kevin Thomson was at Rangers.

'Just six points separate the top four at present, but Thomson believes victory in the Tannadice rearranged fixture will not only see Rangers return to the summit, but start to pull away from the likes of United and his former club Hibs.

'I won't sit here and say, come the end of the season, Rangers and Celtic will be 20, 25 points clear of the rest,' he said. 'But I would be pretty surprised if they are not. I don't think many people will be betting on any team breaking the Old Firm this year.

'I've been in a situation, being at Hibs, when we've had good seasons and the hype goes on: "The Old Firm are in crisis, blah, blah, blah." I'll be very surprised if, come the end of the season, there's not 15 or 20 points between the Old Firm and whichever team is third.'

Tony Mowbray's disastrous Celtic team finished second, 18 points ahead of third-placed Dundee United, with Rangers a further six points ahead. Hibs, in fourth, ended up 27 and 33 points behind Celtic and Rangers respectively.

The point is that nothing has changed in the last two decades, or even the last decade following the liquidation of the sticky buns. Things will just carry on as they are with the fine details changing. The league will probably change name again, they might make the second tier a bit bigger or change something about relegation. But, basically, things just carry on.

Edited March 14, 2023 by VincentGuerin

[Richey Edwards]

In the year 2042, the Pfizer Scottish Championship will have overtaken the Tesla Irish Premiership as the most prestigious and richest league in the world.

[David2000]

37 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said:

2002-03 Hearts finished third in the league, 36 points off top, got put out of one cup by shite, another cup by Rangers at Hampden. Finished 36 points behind the OF.

2003-04 Hearts finished third in the league, 30 points off top, got put out the League Cup by shite and the Scottish Cup 3-0 at home to Celtic. Short European run with some high points ultimately finishing in disappointment.

The last two seasons are startlingly similar.

2021-22 - Finished third in the league, 32 points off top, put out the League Cup by Celtic, lost the Cup Final to Rangers.

2022-23 - Currently third in the league, 34 points off top and growing, put out the League Cup by shite, put out the Scottish Cup 3-0 at home to Celtic. Short European run with some high points ultimately ending in disappointment.

So, in two decades we're more or less where we were. Just a slightly bigger gap.

I think it's seven of the last ten domestic cups we've either lost in the final to the OF or been knocked out on the way by the OF. For all that Hearts are getting a lot of things right, there's a b*****d of a glass ceiling to break through to win anything. I don't see why things will be any different in two decades from now.

Totally Agree

[tamthebam]

St Mirren have just won their 9th title in a row having been backed by tech billionaire Div McDonald

[Broughty]

Above makes very true and sad reading doesn’t it.

Makes it even more unbelievable that St Johnstone were lucky enough in the draws ( apart from beating Rangers on penalties ) to win TWO cups in the one season. 
This probably will never happen by any club outwith  the top two again.