If you could change ONE THING about Scottish Football, what would it be?

[General dissaray]

League construction a bigger league could easily have a league as big as England Premier we could have Dundee derbies Ayrshire derbies Lanarkshire derbies Renfrewshire derbies Fife derbies these teams bring mote to the league support wise than Livingston and Ross County 

I know Rangers and Celtic don't want it though so it probably will never happen but having all those derbies might attract more interest in our league from TV or maybe investors

[Honestman1954]

On 04/01/2024 at 01:24, General dissaray said:

League construction a bigger league could easily have a league as big as England Premier we could have Dundee derbies Ayrshire derbies Lanarkshire derbies Renfrewshire derbies Fife derbies these teams bring mote to the league support wise than Livingston and Ross County 

I know Rangers and Celtic don't want it though so it probably will never happen but having all those derbies might attract more interest in our league from TV or maybe investors

Agreed, tho I think a 16 league is the biggest we should consider.  I am not in favour of 'B' teams being involved further down the league.

Id go for three divisions of 14, a conference, also of 14 at tier 4 and the Highland and lowland leagues below, maybe reducing to 16 (no B teams).  There would be automatic promotions between ALL of the divisions.

[Bully Wee Villa]

I'd change it so that Clyde were occasionally vaguely competent.

[General dissaray]

2 hours ago, Bully Wee Villa said:

I'd change it so that Clyde were occasionally vaguely competent.

Why couldn't you get Crownpoint to play at what was the issue?

[Bully Wee Villa]

I don't really know the ins and outs but Finnart seem to have more friends in high places, and we have spent the last thirty years pissing off various local authorities.

[General dissaray]

2 hours ago, Bully Wee Villa said:

I don't really know the ins and outs but Finnart seem to have more friends in high places, and we have spent the last thirty years pissing off various local authorities.

I thought Finnart used Springburn park?

[EdinburghBlue]

Change the financial distribution model. Always seemed bizarre to me that sponsorship of the league is handed out as prize money rather than as basic support for member clubs. And of course the distribution model reinforces the current hierarchy, making it difficult for teams finishing in lower positions to mount a challenge in future seasons. In practice the sponsorship cash ends up in the pockets of second/third rate overseas journeymen, with little or no long-term benefit to Scottish football.

[MarkoP]

Banning the BBC from having any access anywhere audio included until they pay the amount equivalent “national broadcasters”* pay in leagues such as Denmark Switzerland Austria Norway etc would be a start

They are the main source of easy funding that amazingly enough no one ever mentions

There should be an extra £20-30m around our system from them alone.

It won’t happen though as our country’s high heid yins are all doing fine the way things are

 

* they are not our national broadcaster, their loyalties and priorities lie south of our border

[Piehutt]

On the subject of refereeing, I think we have a growing problem that is getting worse. (apologies for the long post)

Now this may well be a problem that hasn't really gotten that much worse but is exacerbated by VAR and more and more cameras at games (especially lower league games). I don't know if this is the case, and in any event - surely we should still aspire to improve things. 

I think on the whole, referees are reasonably well paid and I'd question if increasing the pay or having professional refs would be much of a game changer. I believe £850 plus expenses for a Premiership game seems like a decent 'side hustle' for most people. 

I believe the issue is not having enough people in the pool of potential referees and so even the best ones aren't that great with v little depth below the top league. Certainly that's an issue that could be controlled at a Scottish level - issues with laws and VAR aside. 

My understanding is that most of the top officials in Scotland are fast tracked from a relatively young age and will become grade 1 referees at about the age of 30, setting themselves up for c.10 years at the top of the game. Not sure why or when this was decided as the best approach however I'd guess there are a few reasons; 
1. serving your 'apprenticeship' doing 5 or 10 years of non-league and lowland league is probably very unappealing & is surely a tour of duty reserved for community heroes and masochists. 
2. they probably don't have enough referees (esp. under 30) to have such a buffer of dozens of potential grade 1 refs doing a real apprenticeship and possibly getting disillusioned with the abuse and threats of violence for a modest reward. 
3. they also don't want people getting to grade 1 in their late 30s and only having 2 or 3 years in the top league, leading to additional churn at the top of the game. 

I can understand the reasons for that, but at least we should have some guys working their way up and becoming top officials later in life, even if it's only for a few years. I'm of the view, if you can pass the fitness test you can be a ref regardless of age. No doubt plenty could continue into their 50s if they kept in shape. 

Other more general issues

1. A culture among players, coaches and fans at all levels to shout / scream and abuse the ref even if a throw-in goes against them. This is something that is clearly unacceptable yet we allow to happen, spurred on by players / coaches at the top level as well as pundits who pick apart refereeing decisions every week. It must take a certain type of mentality to actually WANT to be a referee, which goes far beyond a love of the game. 

2. Absolutely zero former players ever going into refereeing that I can see or remember. This may be down to the age restrictions on new entrants to the role (& isn't a problem unique to Scotland) but it seems that it's an untapped pool of potentially decent referees who know the game and could do a good job (& earn a few hundred a week into the bargain). 

3. VAR - narrative suggests that grade 1 refs have been 'used up' due to the need for additional VAR officials in Prem games and this has led to poorer standard of onfield officials (especially at lower league games). Why not have older or injured refs brought in as VAR studio people? 

Potential solutions

1. greater penalties for dissent either through new rules or consistent enforcement of existing rules. (remember we used to have a fair play table and potential European qualification)
2. encourage older people and former players to be referees at a later stage and promote the ones who perform well and pass the fitness tests
3. allow retired or injured officials to be VAR officials (at least as a stop gap until there is a bigger pool of officials for all games)

Sorry for the long post, but just seems we are sleepwalking to a very obvious issue of a smaller and smaller pool of decent referees and I doubt if there is really anything pro-active being done about it. 

 

[cyderspaceman]

On 02/09/2023 at 14:57, Raven said:

How would this work? Would we expect the players to get pissed before the game, or down a shot for every goal/corner won etc?

Football gained its popularity when most fans stood on the terracing, had a drink if they wanted, argued about one-off, irreversible decisions and lived off the memories of the goals and incidents that they alone witnessed.   

I accept we can't return to those days but I feel that  "they'"are trying to strait-jacket all aspects of football to an anodyne, antiseptic formula, along with some very dubious (no, outright wrong) interpretations of the rules of soccer.

See 'VAR'  , handball and offside.

My only suggestion is to leave UEFA and FIFA, and just do our own thing with our own rules. Any fans who miss 'big European games' can adopt Man City or Barcelona as their big team.

A Scottish club or national team is never going to win one of their competitions in the future anyway.      

So there!

[Stag Nation]

39 minutes ago, cyderspaceman said:

Football gained its popularity when most fans stood on the terracing, had a drink if they wanted, argued about one-off, irreversible decisions and lived off the memories of the goals and incidents that they alone witnessed.   

I accept we can't return to those days but I feel that  "they'"are trying to strait-jacket all aspects of football to an anodyne, antiseptic formula, along with some very dubious (no, outright wrong) interpretations of the rules of soccer.

 

"Soccer"?

Anyway, wouldn't leaving FIFA etc. mean no more international movement of players? All the non-Scottish players would b*gger off ASAP, and any ambitious and talented (don't laugh) Scots players wouldn't be happy.

[cyderspaceman]

19 hours ago, Stag Nation said:

"Soccer"?

Anyway, wouldn't leaving FIFA etc. mean no more international movement of players? All the non-Scottish players would b*gger off ASAP, and any ambitious and talented (don't laugh) Scots players wouldn't be happy.

I used soccer deliberately.

I was thinking outside the box. I'm now climbing back in.

[Piehutt]

On 04/01/2024 at 01:24, General dissaray said:

League construction a bigger league could easily have a league as big as England Premier we could have Dundee derbies Ayrshire derbies Lanarkshire derbies Renfrewshire derbies Fife derbies these teams bring mote to the league support wise than Livingston and Ross County 

I know Rangers and Celtic don't want it though so it probably will never happen but having all those derbies might attract more interest in our league from TV or maybe investors

As a Morton fan, I agree with a lot of what you've said. 

Problem is the biggest single source of revenue (Prem TV deal) is dependent on having 4 OF games so the reality is there is virtually no chance of a change in the current format. 

That said, I don't think it's a game changer to have a bigger league in terms of crowds and interest. I don't share the view that many seem to have that playing Motherwell or Kilmarnock twice a season is going to suddenly increase the attendance for that game and that fans get bored playing the seam team 4 times. 

Bigger issue is that the media in Scotland (& even a lot of the clubs) do such a horrendous job of marketing or promoting any team or game other than those involving Rangers of Celtic. As a neutral regarding the Premiership teams, you very quickly lose sight of the Prem teams and it's tough to maintain a passing interest in Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs etc. as so few of their games are televised and you don't know the players or the dynamic. 

Sky are primarily to blame as they really only televise Rangers or Celtic away from home and don't even bother with Edinburgh Derbies half the time. If Sky can broadcast Burnley v Nottingham Forest on a Friday Night, they can surely do a better job of telling the story about the other Scottish teams and actually have a strategy to build the audience through decent marketing and coverage.

Personally think clubs (outside the OF) must embrace streaming of all games in order to build the audience pool. Appreciate the argument that fans will stay at home and watch on their ipad, but most match going fans will still turn up to the games. And what you do then is build up a larger fan base of armchair fans who become engaged with the team, the players etc. And actually end up attending a few games. 

[roman_bairn]

I’d ban grass pitches from the SPFL as they are dangerous, with often bumpy and slippy surfaces that regularly cut up in winter and likely cause more injuries than a good plastic pitch. Also many are poorly maintained in the lower divisions.

Apart from anything else we are a northern hemisphere country with poor weather in winter that causes cancellations, inconveniences travelling supporters and forces midweek games that are usually more poorly attended. Usually due to waterlogged surfaces.

Plastic pitches also allow smaller clubs to train on their home surfaces or rent out their ground therefore making them more cost effective in the long term.

I’m also fed up with the same mistruths being laid out time and time again by the same bandwagon jumpers that think we should only play on grass. Buffoons the lot of them…..

Edited February 11 by roman_bairn

[Bully Wee Villa]

The results.

[Robalot]

On 16/01/2024 at 15:29, Piehutt said:

As a Morton fan, I agree with a lot of what you've said. 

Problem is the biggest single source of revenue (Prem TV deal) is dependent on having 4 OF games so the reality is there is virtually no chance of a change in the current format. 

League of 20, play each other once. Then league splits in two (Premier 1 and Premier 2) and play each other twice. ,

19 + 18 = 37 games 

Winners of league v Winner of Split plays for league title. or winner of league v 2nd in split. If one wins both.

Then you have a superbowl OF scenario and they play each other 4x.

1st and 2nd of Premier 2 play each other for Premier 2 League title, or European qualification.

[Robalot]

On 11/02/2024 at 18:26, roman_bairn said:

I’d ban grass pitches from the SPFL as they are dangerous, with often bumpy and slippy surfaces that regularly cut up in winter and likely cause more injuries than a good plastic pitch. Also many are poorly maintained in the lower divisions.

Apart from anything else we are a northern hemisphere country with poor weather in winter that causes cancellations, inconveniences travelling supporters and forces midweek games that are usually more poorly attended. Usually due to waterlogged surfaces.

Plastic pitches also allow smaller clubs to train on their home surfaces or rent out their ground therefore making them more cost effective in the long term.

I’m also fed up with the same mistruths being laid out time and time again by the same bandwagon jumpers that think we should only play on grass. Buffoons the lot of them…..

Or just move to a summer time league. No competition with the neighbours down south. Pitches in Scotland become 100x easier to manage. Problem solved 

[realmadrid]

4 hours ago, Robalot said:

Or just move to a summer time league. No competition with the neighbours down south. Pitches in Scotland become 100x easier to manage. Problem solved 

And how are you ever going to fix a pitch at the end of a winter season?

Unless we have a 3 or 4 month break thats not going to work at all

The leagues like Norway who do have a break from December to April still had big issues with grass pitches at the start of last season. (Most teams play on Astro in Norway)

 

[realmadrid]

4 hours ago, Robalot said:

League of 20, play each other once. Then league splits in two (Premier 1 and Premier 2) and play each other twice. ,

19 + 18 = 37 games 

Winners of league v Winner of Split plays for league title. or winner of league v 2nd in split. If one wins both.

Then you have a superbowl OF scenario and they play each other 4x.

1st and 2nd of Premier 2 play each other for Premier 2 League title, or European qualification.

Having the winner of Premier 2 or even the runner up qualify for Europe is like giving a spot to the winners of the Championship.

That aside for the majority of the teams you have nothing to play for in the second half of the season,

Do you reset the points after round 1?

[Robalot]

20 hours ago, realmadrid said:

And how are you ever going to fix a pitch at the end of a winter season?

Unless we have a 3 or 4 month break thats not going to work at all

The leagues like Norway who do have a break from December to April still had big issues with grass pitches at the start of last season. (Most teams play on Astro in Norway)

 

As a Greenkeeper, I can tell you. It's 100x easier moving football to summer than winter. The damage done in winter is far harder to repair than damage done in summer, which is not comparible to the same extent. Not in the least.

Also, Norway is a lot colder than Scotland. They need Astro far more. 

Plus it would do away with postponements.