Why all the hate for the Scottish Championship?

[TxRover]

The Scottish Championship is arguably the most competitive league in the UK, so why does everyone call it dugshite?

Yes, four fixtures a year can get old, but it ensures an ability to make up ground on a rival…yes, it’s difficult to gain promotion via the playoffs because the Premiership teams stacked the deck…yes, it sucks having to fight back up from the seaside league…but, yes, it almost always seems to provide a pretty thrilling run in.

Too many fans seem to denigrate the league just because they hate their teams performance, but so they really hate it?

[Walter]

The people who go on about the quality of this league being shite are the same ones who spend half there lives watching billionaires' teams full of millionaire players on sky, BT etc and then compare Scottish football with it. Why anyone would give a flying f**k whether Arsenal beat Man City or Liverpool beat Chelsea is absolutely beyond me. 

[Jives Miguel]

Too many tuechtar and bumpkin teams.

[scottbamby]

Best league in the world.

Unless you’re trying to get out of it at the top end.

[Juanjo Nostalgia]

Championship has been competitive the last two seasons, but over the last decade there have been too many teams run comfortably away with it. Highlights the gap in quality (and budget) between the championship and the premiership, which seems bigger than the equivalent gap in England.

Edited April 17, 2023 by Juanjo Nostalgia

[keptie]

Arbroath have been here a few seasons now and every season the same crap has been spouted on here about how shite the league is by supposed football  experts. Don't know what they are expecting from the Scottish second division, Barcelona, Bayern Munich or dare i say it English Premiership fare!! Also it would appear because there isn't a team or two running away with it at the top of the league the fact it is competitive league is also a reason for a lot of supporters to dismiss it as dungshite. Very strange.

[BukyOHare]

The overall standard is what it is, I don't think anybody would argue any differently. You get largely what you pay for.

4 games a season does become tedious but that's unlikely to change anytime soon.

An 18 or 20 team top league would be ideal.

When you consider the standing of teams relegated to the Championship over the recent years it's arguably been more difficult to get promoted from the Championship than actually stay in the Premiership if/when you get there.

One up one down and then an inherently unfair playoff process adds significantly to that difficulty.

English Championship clubs are often gambling more than their turnover on player wages alone in an effort to get to the top flight in England.

Some clubs might be doing similar up here, at a much smaller amount granted, but with the same risks attached.

 

Edited April 17, 2023 by BukyOHare

[Moorie]

Best thing they have done is put games on a Friday night for the championship much better watch than any English game sky throw up on a Friday night. 
 

[TheScarf]

2 minutes ago, BukyOHare said:

The overall standard is what it is, I don't think anybody would argue any differently. You get largely what you pay for.

4 games a season does become tedious but that's unlikely to change anytime soon.

An 18 or 20 team top league would be ideal.

When you consider the standing of teams relegated to the Championship over the recent years it's arguably been more difficult to get promoted from the Championship than actually stay in the Premiership if/when you get there.

One up one down and then an inherently unfair playoff process adds significantly to that difficulty.

English Championship clubs are often gambling more than their turnover on player wages alone in an effort to get to the top flight in England.

Some clubs might be doing similar up here, at a much smaller amount granted, but with the same risks attached.

 

County and United definitely did.  County managed at the first attempt but I think it took United a couple of years of big spending to get out.

[TheScarf]

Most of the clubs in this division can write off the next season depending on who gets relegated.  When clubs like Hearts, United, County come down for example, you don't have much of a hope.

[Thumper]

I don't see any hatred of it. This season in particular has been very exciting and much tighter than usual, with seemingly nobody actually wanting to win it and even the teams at the bottom competing well (save for Cove's hilarious and deserved collapse). Add in Friday night games where the commentary is even in English and it's all very good.

Certainly miles above the mickey mouse top flight with its predestined winners, excruciating refereeing (made worse by a VAR system seemingly scripted by Vince McMahon) and farcical and unfair split system.

[Chippyminton]

TBH I couldn’t give a flying feck what any so-called ‘expert’ thinks. The simple fact is that we operate in a division whose teams are often strapped for cash and have to make the most of what they’ve got. At the beginning of this season we'd got Cappielow's cleaning lady and her pet Scottish terrier Archie on the bench. But despite all that - every team in the Championship is supported by fans who have passion, commitment and loyalty to their team. I’d bet that a lot of the moneyed teams with their fickle, entitled, rent-a-fan shitehawks would sell their souls for real, true support like that. We’re out to win because we want to - not so that some detached, porky shareholder can make a return on his punt.  I’m proud to be a Morton supporter - just as you lot reading this will be proud to support Lichties, Dees, the Honest Men or whoever. 

Edited April 17, 2023 by Chippyminton

[Nightmare]

It's not so much the standard that's an issue to me, but the league system in general in Scotland feels a bit stale. Small divisions and playing the same bunch of teams at least 4 times a year (occasionally 5, 6 or 7 if you count cups and the playoffs) is just thoroughly uninspiring stuff. And at the professional level we're paying a relative fortune to do so; you're lucky if you get a match ticket at this level for £20 nowadays.

It's the lower leagues of Scottish football and the standard is never going to be great, which is why I'm not overly fussed about that. In terms of value for money and having a bit of variety in opponents, away days, etc, things could certainly be better.

[Virtual Insanity]

I think the quality of the average team in the Championship is very decent this year, Thistle, Ayr, Caley and Morton all have good teams who in most years would have made the playoffs but this year 2 will not. Where it has suffered is the title contenders the last couple of years. Killie were shite last year (largely by their own admission) and won it, and Dundee have been for large chunks of this season but will probably win it. Even the fact that we were in with a shot until last weekend despite being shockingly poor for large chunks of the season.

Compared to the team we won the league with in 12/13, which was basically a Premiership team in waiting, the standard is way off, the Morton team we beat to the title that year are miles better than Killie last season or Dundee/QP this season.

[TheScarf]

1 minute ago, Virtual Insanity said:

I think the quality of the average team in the Championship is very decent this year, Thistle, Ayr, Caley and Morton all have good teams who in most years would have made the playoffs but this year 2 will not. Where it has suffered is the title contenders the last couple of years. Killie were shite last year (largely by their own admission) and won it, and Dundee have been for large chunks of this season but will probably win it. Even the fact that we were in with a shot until last weekend despite being shockingly poor for large chunks of the season.

Compared to the team we won the league with in 12/13, which was basically a Premiership team in waiting, the standard is way off, the Morton team we beat to the title that year are miles better than Killie last season or Dundee/QP this season.

That's my take on it too.  The last 2 season have been shite. Since coming out the other side of Covid basically.

[Richey Edwards]

The Scottish Championship is by far the most prestigious and most watched of all Scottish leagues. The number of worldwide TV viewers for this season dwarves the Scottish Premiership.

[ICTChris]

I think the quality this season isn't as good as it has been in the past.  From a Caley fans perspective, I think either of our teams who won the title in 2004 and 2010 would walk this league.  The teams we competed with those seasons - Dundee 2009/10, Clyde in 2004, even St Johnstone in 2004 - would also probably be leading this league.  Of course, these comparisons are very difficult and unprovable and no doubt my memories of our great teams are sepia tinged.

ETA, our 'average' XI in those seasons

2003/04 - Brown; Tokely, Mann, McCaffrey, Golabek; McBain, Duncan, Keogh; Bingham, Ritchie, Wilson

2009/10 - Esson; Proctor, Munro, Tokely, Golabek; Cox, Duncan; Hayes, Odhiambo, Foran; Rooney

Edited April 17, 2023 by ICTChris

[Scary Bear]

1 hour ago, TxRover said:

The Scottish Championship is arguably the most competitive league in the UK, so why does everyone call it dugshite?

Yes, four fixtures a year can get old, but it ensures an ability to make up ground on a rival…yes, it’s difficult to gain promotion via the playoffs because the Premiership teams stacked the deck…yes, it sucks having to fight back up from the seaside league…but, yes, it almost always seems to provide a pretty thrilling run in.

Too many fans seem to denigrate the league just because they hate their teams performance, but so they really hate it?

 Can I just shock you…I like the Championship.

[Bring Your Own Socks]

As one of the "whoevers" and a Championship virgin, I've thoroughly enjoyed this season. Matchday atmospheres are much better as is the overall standard of play. If you're scunnered with it, try Berwick or Elgin away on a Tuesday night in January. That'll reset your buttons.

There's no doubt the SPFL have structured it to protect the money teams (ones with big crowds, that is) and everyone else pays the price for that. But then every football league in Europe is much the same, certainly the rest of the UK. And I'd rather be in a division of 10 where nearly all teams have something to play for with a few games left than a division of 18/20 where half the league has gone to sleep. That's why it was reorganised in the first place. 

Lastly, the ones who moan about it are likely the same ones who diss the Challenge Cup. Seemingly inferior competitions they know their favourites won't win, so they like to get the redundancy of it all in early. Comfortably numb they are.

Enjoy yourselves, it's later than you think!

[Spikethedee]

There's no doubt in my mind that the league has been exciting, at least in terms of teams having very few meaningless games. With just 3 games left, every team is still, theoretically, playing for something other than pride. Raith are pretty much out of the playoff hunt, but are still arithmetically alive.

 

However, there's also no doubt that the standard of football has been eye-wateringly awful for most of the season. I've seen every Dundee home game and about 5 away in-person, with a good few more live on TV, and there hasn't been one team that I've seen play great football for any longer than about a 20 minute spell, including the Dees. The fact that we have conceded the fewest goals in the division by a fair margin, despite a defence that is appallingly bad, is a case in point.

 

Despite saying all that, it's much more appealing to watch than the Bigot Brothers taking 3-6 goals off a random selection of teams that are hopelessly outclassed 30-odd times a season each...