Double Jack D Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 3 hours ago, RandomGuy. said: That's something I also think should happen. 11th/12th relegated, 2nd v 3rd in a one off game for promotion. This is the tweak I would make to the current system. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergeant Wilson Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 (edited) 24 minutes ago, jagsfan57 said: I didn’t say that. Like everything to do with football this will be down to money. In Scottish football, the first failing is with Doncaster and Maxwell not being able to negotiate good enough TV and Sponsorship deals. I don't disagree that they're idiots but who would pay more than is paid by the existing tv companies. The perception they have always had is Scottish football is a schedule filler, when there's nothing else on. Edited April 22 by Sergeant Wilson 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagsfan57 Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 29 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said: We're Partick Thistle not pushing for it after being "demoted", only to then decide the current set up is perfectly fine after being promoted again? I've no idea how that has to do with anything we've discussed. I am sure if you thought hard enough about it you would figure it out. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamonds are Forever Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 4 hours ago, Fuctifano said: I think the issue with playing teams repetitively is more of an issue outside the top tier. Premiership clubs don't play (their first teams) in the Challenge Cup, and the nature of the playoffs means they can't play another Premiership team in them whereas in the Championship you're guaranteed to do so meaning a minimum of 6 games a season vs the same team before cup draws- and in leagues 1 & 2 you will do so if you finish 2nd or 3rd (or 4th and then beat the team from league above). I think there's an argument for a bigger second tier -with split if need be- with the current Premiership / Championship play off format, at least if you finish 4th in a league of 14/16 it seems more reasonable to get a shot at promotion rather than 4th in a league of 10. That's true, I also think the issue is one of stagnation in terms of the same teams being in the league year on year because of less movement up/down. Due to the play-offs there are some years when only the league winner goes up and 10th place goes down, so 80% of the league stays the same. If you had what we used, 2 up 2 down, then 40% of the league changes every year. So even if you stay in the league for a few years by year 2 or 3 the league is significantly different from the first season, so you're not as bored by playing the same team multiple times. Plus in that scenario you'd lose the possibility of the extra 2 games due to no play-offs. Obviously the Premiership is even more 'stagnant' in that sense, but as you say not having play-offs within the league and having the split means you're only playing teams 3 or 4 times maximum, plus no Challenge Cup. I think the key to all of it is getting 2 teams automatically relegated from each division, that creates a much higher turnover of teams in each league which gives more variety. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 I’m sure 14-14-14 was mooted at some point. I think 14 - split at 26 games then 12 post split fixtures - is the maximum size with split you could sell to the Old Firm who’ll want to keep their 4xfixtures but only marginally breaks the monotony. A 16 team league is a non-starter as you’re only playing 30 games a season. 18 also, each club loses a home game on what we have now. Expanding to 20, merging the Championship and League One, could work, but is there any appetite for it? You’d have to explained out promotion or play offs spots and relegation spots to keep in interesting. What do you do with League Two? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SerieA Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 Bugger it 3 leagues of 18. Get Cowdenbeath and co back in and whatever spaces are left let’s just get the B teams in. -2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiegoDiego Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 It's times like this I wish Ann Budge was on P&B. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 18 minutes ago, SerieA said: Bugger it 3 leagues of 18. Get Cowdenbeath and co back in and whatever spaces are left let’s just get the B teams in. You could backfill fill three 18-team leagues with Highland & Lowland League sides, and then some, before Cowden would get a sniff. Thankfully there'd be no need to include reserve teams either. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 33 minutes ago, Enigma said: A 16 team league is a non-starter as you’re only playing 30 games a season. 18 also, each club loses a home game on what we have now. Everyone plays twice for 30 games, then a split for another seven games each for 37 matches in total. Not saying it's my preferred choice, but that sounds do-able. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aufc Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 The current set up is fine. As others have said, the play offs should be one legged affairs. No need for two legs. The winners of the highland and lowland leagues should get automatically promoted, especially if Clyde finish bottom. Falkirk should also be made to stay in league 1. Just for a laugh. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuctifano Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 17 minutes ago, BFTD said: Everyone plays twice for 30 games, then a split for another seven games each for 37 matches in total. Not saying it's my preferred choice, but that sounds do-able. This used to be the set up in Poland but I think they went to 18 during covid. The teams that finished top half of each section got the extra home game. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 1 minute ago, Aufc said: The current set up is fine. As others have said, the play offs should be one legged affairs. No need for two legs. The winners of the highland and lowland leagues should get automatically promoted, especially if Clyde finish bottom. Falkirk should also be made to stay in league 1. Just for a laugh. That would end as soon as a 4th place part-time side managed to get past the 11th best team in the Premiership, especially if it was against one of the clubs Gordon Strachan thinks should never be relegated. The horror! Agreed on the Highland/Lowland champs, but you're fucking taking Falkirk and that's all there is to it. No sending Morton back to us either. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 18 minutes ago, BFTD said: Everyone plays twice for 30 games, then a split for another seven games each for 37 matches in total. Not saying it's my preferred choice, but that sounds do-able. I’m not really a fan on split which result in an uneven amount of home and away games, like our current Premiership split, but yeah that is do-able. The problem would be if the Championship goes 16 teams, what happens to the 14 left below? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 3 minutes ago, Enigma said: I’m not really a fan on split which result in an uneven amount of home and away games, like our current Premiership split, but yeah that is do-able. The problem would be if the Championship goes 16 teams, what happens to the 14 left below? Yeah, I was never keen on the idea either, but that's true of a lot of things in Scottish football! I didn't like play-offs either when the Football League in England first brought them in, but they've undeniably made for a more exciting end of season. Play-off matches tend to be much better viewing too, and not just for fans of the teams involved. How about a 14-team third tier with two down automatically, plus the next two in play-offs with some of the Highland/Lowland League clubs? Plenty of movement for the non-league teams, and a decent chance of getting back in for those who drop out. Nothing will happen regarding the pyramid until Celtgers get their way with B teams, though. They'll happily let it stagnate out of spite. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colkitto Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 With the league won and the promotion playoff's teams confirmed, we can focus solely on who will get the coveted 9th spot for the relegation playoff. Remaining fixtures below for all teams who can finish 9th, but in reality Dunfermline are safe, but added them anyway. Some difficult games for all in the last two fixtures... Dunfermline ICT (H) Ayr (A) Ayr Partick Thistle (A) Dunfermline (H) ICT Dunfermline (A) Morton (H) Queens Park Arbroath (A) Airdrie (H) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob1885 Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 If Caley and Queens Park win at the weekend, coupled with an Ayr loss then it could look very tasty going into the last game. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eez-eh Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 10 minutes ago, Rob1885 said: If Caley and Queens Park win at the weekend, coupled with an Ayr loss then it could look very tasty going into the last game. I respectfully disagree. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aufc Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 Ayr going down would be good for Scottish football. Also be good us considering they have pumped us every game this season 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honestmen Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 40 minutes ago, Aufc said: Ayr going down would be good for Scottish football. Also be good us considering they have pumped us every game this season Why have the bankies got it in for Ayr 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunning1874 Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 19 hours ago, Fuctifano said: I think the issue with playing teams repetitively is more of an issue outside the top tier. Premiership clubs don't play (their first teams) in the Challenge Cup, and the nature of the playoffs means they can't play another Premiership team in them whereas in the Championship you're guaranteed to do so meaning a minimum of 6 games a season vs the same team before cup draws- and in leagues 1 & 2 you will do so if you finish 2nd or 3rd (or 4th and then beat the team from league above). I think there's an argument for a bigger second tier -with split if need be- with the current Premiership / Championship play off format, at least if you finish 4th in a league of 14/16 it seems more reasonable to get a shot at promotion rather than 4th in a league of 10. Yeah, even discounting every other issue of what clubs are likely to go for that means you're not going to see a change to the current setup - voting system, greater financial distribution needed which won't happen because of said voting system - I don't think increasing the size of the top flight is a good idea anyway. In isolation you can think that as a self-contained division 18 teams would be fantastic, but while we have enough clubs big enough in Scotland to make an 18 team top flight a great watch, you can't do it without having an enormous gulf between the first and second tiers that would unavoidably make the second tier a financial wasteland in a much worse way than now that would always risk relegation plunging clubs into turmoil. 12 teams is really the ideal size of top division to avoid that issue in Scotland. If you left the top flight at 12 though, then expanding the second tier to 18 simply wouldn't cause the same problem of that gulf between divisions. You get away from clubs playing each other six times a season unless you're very unlucky with cup draws, only drop one home game compared to currently, the meaningless game argument is hugely overstated and there's something in it for everyone. Current Premiership clubs who flirt with relegation regularly know there's far less chance of doing a double dunt relegation once they're down and they'll find themselves in a more stable division. Current League One & Two clubs would not only find it easier to get there but could stay there: where it's now effectively cyclical and whenever the likes of Arbroath or Alloa are in this league they know they're never going to last a decade, that would be a league they could get in and stay in which is a platform to sustainably grow. Chuck another 18 team league underneath it and you've put League Two teams further away from relegation by increasing the number of teams in the SPFL and kept the teams down the pyramid happy by opening up more places. It's still not going to happen, but it would be an improvement. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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