BowenBoys Posted May 16, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2022 49 minutes ago, fifexile said: The only way I think we're going to get any meaningful discussion on reconstruction will be when the spfl aren't dictated to by the broadcasters into delivering 4 arse cheek derbies every season and the only way I can see that happen is if they move to another league and the only place they can realistically go is England and frankly they aren't needed to sell the Premier league to broadcasters there. So I think we are stuck with th 12 team top division although I'd be delighted to be proved wrong. With 30 teams outwith the Premiership here would there be any support for 2 lower leagues of 16. Easy to include the champions of the Highland and Lowland leagues to make up the numbers then arrange play offs between the divisions and HL & LL The value of the OF derby, to the broadcasters, must be diminishing with each passing season. It is devalued by the number of times it is played each year. Doesn't matter if you miss it, there will be another along in a few weeks. They are killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodstock Jag Posted May 16, 2022 Report Share Posted May 16, 2022 1 hour ago, e4b said: While there are certainly strong arguments for an increased size of Premiership, the politics of our Old Firm dominated football effectively prevent this easily happening. We also have the incompetent and machiavellian SPFL board running the show. However no such politics exist to prevent reform by way of an increase, at the very least, in the number of Championship clubs - why is it that the are twelve Premiership but only ten Championship clubs? With the arrival of nouveau riche (poorly supported) clubs like Cove, QP, and in due course Kelty (and indeed Ross County in the top league), there’s less and less space for old established well supported clubs like Dunfermline and Falkirk in the two top tiers. Thistle and similar clubs should at least be agitating for an increase in the number of Championship sides - twelve , fourteen, or sixteen - there are various “splits” in fixtures possible as discussed often. This would be in the long term interests of both Thistle and the game in general . Simple reason really: Yo-yo teams in the Premiership and upper Championship generally do not want to spread money from the second tier even more thinly than it is just now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stillresigned Posted May 17, 2022 Report Share Posted May 17, 2022 On 5/16/2022 at 11:22 AM, fifexile said: I'd personally prefer a 16 team top league. One of the previous arguments against it was it would delete the quality. Would taking the top 4 in the championship really dilute the top league? I don't think so. Replacing the 'lost' 4 home games could be compensated to a degree by tweaking the league cup and playing the games on Saturdays. An added bonus would be avoiding the ridiculous December schedule where teams are playing 6 or 7 games. I agree completely! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagfox Posted May 17, 2022 Report Share Posted May 17, 2022 I have no memory of us playing in a 16 or an 18 team division. I do not see clubs agreeing to a drop in home league fixtures. When did we actually play in a league of these sizes? Aside from the Challenge cup league cup games are the poorly attended compared with league and Scottish cup games in general. No amount of faffing with the league cup will make up for the loss of league games and the subsequent revenue drop in attendance, hospitality and matchday sponsorship. I do have memories of us playing in 12 and 14 team leagues. The first had an energy sapping 44 game season the latter a bizarre 39 league season where you would have an uneven amount of home and away games against each opponent all without the joys of a split. The current setup isn't ideal but it is a lot better than playing 32 league games imo. The original post also misses the pedantic point of the split being just that; a split into two sub divisions of a Championship top 6 and relegation bottom 6 so there is more likelihood of say team 7 racking up more points than team 6 as they are playing (at least on paper) an easier schedule in the 5 games. Funny how as a support a lot of fans gravitate to the(foggy) past rather than the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenziejag Posted May 17, 2022 Report Share Posted May 17, 2022 17 minutes ago, jagfox said: I have no memory of us playing in a 16 or an 18 team division. I do not see clubs agreeing to a drop in home league fixtures. When did we actually play in a league of these sizes? Aside from the Challenge cup league cup games are the poorly attended compared with league and Scottish cup games in general. No amount of faffing with the league cup will make up for the loss of league games and the subsequent revenue drop in attendance, hospitality and matchday sponsorship. I do have memories of us playing in 12 and 14 team leagues. The first had an energy sapping 44 game season the latter a bizarre 39 league season where you would have an uneven amount of home and away games against each opponent all without the joys of a split. The current setup isn't ideal but it is a lot better than playing 32 league games imo. The original post also misses the pedantic point of the split being just that; a split into two sub divisions of a Championship top 6 and relegation bottom 6 so there is more likelihood of say team 7 racking up more points than team 6 as they are playing (at least on paper) an easier schedule in the 5 games. Funny how as a support a lot of fans gravitate to the(foggy) past rather than the future. We’ve never had a 16 team league - so this isn’t looking backwards. Making matches meaningful will result in the fans turning out. The league cup winners used to get a European place which gave it some added interest. The downside of the current setup(finance aside) is the playing teams 4 times a season in the league. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagfox Posted May 17, 2022 Report Share Posted May 17, 2022 31 minutes ago, Lenziejag said: We’ve never had a 16 team league - so this isn’t looking backwards. Making matches meaningful will result in the fans turning out. The league cup winners used to get a European place which gave it some added interest. The downside of the current setup(finance aside) is the playing teams 4 times a season in the league. There have been 16 and 18 team top flight divisions in Scotland. Maybe you haven't looked backwards enough? Even that aside the prospect of some extra league cup games fills me with apathy. Why not bring back the Spring Cup or Dryborough Cup and we can aim for three figure crowds? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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