The future of Scottish Football

There has been great length of talk over the past couple of months about just how poor the SPL is becoming. As a country the standard continues to drop. The crowds dwindle and the football just hasn't got the same feel about it.

What do you think needs to be done to bring it back to what it once was?
Do we need to increase or decrease our league's number of teams?
Where are the masses of up and comers we were promised all those years ago?


Look forward to some of the things you guys have to put forward!

Theres talk of a winter break cup
During the winter break going abroad to play.

half time cheerleaders and free bovril

I'd have a 4 week winter break, last 2 weeks of the year and first two weeks of the year, the league cup would be played and finished in the 1st half of the season, all games would be midweek and the final would be the last game before the Shutdown

The League Champions would start at home to the Runners-Up with the team who finished 2nd giving them a guard of honour onto the pitch (try and get respect back into the game)

I'd use a 10 team league with 2 teams relegated, bottom team automatically down and 8th vs 9th would have a winner stays up relegation play-off and teams who finished 2nd and 3rd would have a CL qualifier Play-Off (if there isn't a 2nd CL place then 3rd and 4th would have the Europa League Play-Off, so while the 10 team league has been done before hopefully with the European and Relegation Play-Offs it would keep fans enticed and keep intrest going for as manz teams as possible

Ticket Prices should be set and agreed with all clubs before a ball is kicked (prices must be reduced) and standing sections surely have to be looked at again seriously

Also we need to merge the SPL/SFA/SFL and allow referees to publicly explain their decisions and what they believed they saw at the time they gave a decision

-18 team top flight league
-24 team 2nd division like the chamionship this would ensure no teams under the current structure would need to be kicked out.
-Same playoff structure as the championship for promotion to the top flight. Meaning 3 teams go down from the top flight.
-Regional leagues bringing in junior clubs and highland league teams and having relegation from the bottom of the SFL.
-More done to get fans into stadiums. Cheaper tickets even giving away tickets to school kids.
-Set pricing for away fans no more Old firm fans getting charged £30 to go to Tannadice and the rest being charged £15-£20
-Merging of the SPL,SFL and SFA why do we need 3 orginisations we only have 42 top flight clubs?
-Summer football and a long winter shutdown. People are more likely to attend games in nice weather than pissing rain.
-Killing George Peat

I'd love a top league of 18 but it just doesn't make any sense

Neither does 12 Inverness finished with more points than 2 of the clubs above them.

Thats because the split is just the most ridiculous idea we've adopted up here, but an 18 team league just hasn't got any money in it and we're losing enough cash without losing anymore

the quality will not get better no matter what you do with the league reconstruction.it all come down to money thats what players are looking for most these days.if clubs drop there prices they lose revenue.so that means less money to spend(obviously).one of the times i went to watch my mate playin away from home against dundee in the 1ST DIVISION it was £15 .imothe only way for our clubs to get closer to europes elite to mid teams is if platinis plan well comes to plan

Its a scandle mate, 1st division games should be £10 max and £20 max for the SPL

Summer football mate I don't want to go up north in the winter anymore it's far too cold.

Motherwell might actually be able to use grass instead of mud as a pitch.

I wouldn't be totally against the League running from March-November

Kids go free would at least make the the crowds bigger and think of the extra money they would spend

I'm not sure there's much you can do to make it better, but you can perhaps do things to stop it getting any worse.

The big problem is there is no commercial interest in it because it's a poor spectacle. With no European action likely in the next few years clubs might get a better grip of their finances and the league will naturally settle to a more realistic level similar to the Welsh, Belgian or Irish leagues and no one wants to pay to watch those leagues.

Gaffer, why would you be against playing in the more clement months?

Sorry but the Welsh and Irish leagues are totally incomparable to the Belgian and Scottish league, they both have two fully professional leagues and can afford significantly higher wages. Fair enough Shamrock rovers have done well to get to the group stages but its nothing more than a flash in the pan im afraid.

Monty, what I mean is that they share a similar amount of interest. Interest is dwindling in the SPL due to the quality, and the Scottish game in general with no European football on the horizon in future years will almost guarantee a reduction in already pitiful TV revenue and it is likely to fall into great anonymity.

It's just not an attractive product anymore.

I'm not sure there is anything that can be done to make the league better, and certainly nothing that can get the teams back to a European standing or make it a more attractive proposition for TV to invest in vis a vis, in time it may be no better than the Welsh or Irish leagues.

The only way I can see that some Scottish teams could compete on a European Level again is with an Atlantic League.

The Atlantic League is a proposed international association football competition to be played in a number of European countries. The aim of the Atlantic League to allow clubs who have been successful in their national competitions to participate in a more competitive league that would be more attractive to fans and television viewers, resulting in higher revenues and the ability to attract more talented players. An Atlantic League would aspire for itself and its clubs to achieve parity with the largest existing national leagues in England, Italy, Germany and Spain

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_League_(football)