Interesting.
I wonder could a Scottish League without the OF open up the possibility of a Celtic League style cross border tournament?
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footba...5875-21288238/
Somehow, I doubt if it will happen but who knows.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
Interesting.
I wonder could a Scottish League without the OF open up the possibility of a Celtic League style cross border tournament?
This story appears every few years(almost as much as the stone roses reform stories). Can't see it happening but then agian it was in The Mirror
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If Cardiff and Swansea can do it I could never see any reason why Celtic and Rangers couldnt
Its really not that complicated!!!
Cardiff and Swansea didn't leave the LOW to join the English set up though. They were in the English set up before the LOW even formed. Indeed, the LOW was only set up so the FAW could keep their national team. It's a completely different situation to what the Old Firm want to do. I can't see UEFA or the SFA allowing it to happen.
This will be backed by yo-yo clubs such as West Brom, Wolves, etc. but I can't see it happening. One club being promoted from the Football League to PL2 is a joke.
That is the key point though for clubs such as Wolves, West Brom, etc. It gives them a much greater chance of remaining in the elite. Other wise, it'd just be a case of renaming the Championship the PL2 and bringing the division under the auspices of the PL rather than the FL.
It could happen in principle, but in practice CeltGers and RangTic moving would likely be unpopular with
a) other leading Scottish clubs, who would lose the income from Old Firm games while still carrying the cost of upgrading their grounds (as insisted on by RangTic and CeltGers)
b) the English clubs who would lose their places to the gruesome twosome
c) some English Police, local authorities etc. who wouldn't want the baggage of more troublesome fixtures
d) Old firm fans unused to not winning almost every game they play. At least initially, even if co-opted straight into the English Prem, who's to say they wouldn't struggle against relegation?
Sealing off English D2 (ie championship) from D3 is a separate issue. D2 wouldn't be an elite, just a rump of clubs protected from slumming it in a bad year. Their chances of going up to D1 for a while would be increased, but not their likelihood of doing any better having got there. They wouldn't have any more money- the Champions' League clubs cream off more and more each season.
With due respect to the mighty Wolves, they aren't a yo-yo club in recent years. One season in the top division since 1984...
36 clubs wouldn't be an elite comparable to the present 20, even if the prize money available doubled and the biggest four teams constantly qualifying for the CL didn't take all of it.
The thing is, calling D3 'League 1' doesn't make it any more elite. You're still two steps away from the real elite (or arguably three, if the first four places in D1 are predictable not just every year but probably for years to come).
Last edited by Gather round; 21/04/2009 at 2:21 PM.
I don't see how this would be passed by 14 Premiership clubs as the article says is required. An 18 team top division with 2 of the places presumably being taken by Glasgow clubs would leave the current 15th placed Premiership club being relegated. They'd be mad to vote for the change.
We're not arrogant, we're just better.
Celtic and Rangers are being proposed to begin life in PL2. Clearly this would be the 2nd tier of English football (ie.the Championship) but not as we know it. They would have the same financial packages as PL1. I think any club which would foresee the possibility of relegation in the not so distant future would go for it as it gives them some security. I don't think the clubs would have a problem with Celtic and Rangers taking 2 PL spaces as there would still be 34 more places up up for grabs compared to the existing 20. Basically the whole point of it is to make it less damaging financially for a club (namely Bolton!!) to be relegated. I think it's an interesting idea but more than one team should be relegated from/promoted to PL2 in a given season.
Scotland should have its membership of UEFA and right to field a national team revoked if this ever happens.
A leading authority on League of Ireland football since 2003. You're probably wrong.
BL, you aren't explaining here how English Division 2 would generate this extra money. I can't see any way in which D2 strugglers (maybe teams like Blackpool, Doncaster etc. from the current season) would get anywhere near the income from prize money, TV deal that teams like Villa, Everton, Spurs etc. could expect.
Abolishing or severely restricting relegation from D2 might give security (although it risks atrophying the league, without the possibility of promotion from below). That's completely different from the point above though, surely?I think any club which would foresee the possibility of relegation in the not so distant future would go for it as it gives them some security
Do you seriously think Barnsley against Celtic or Rangers (or even Newcastle or Sunderland against one of them) would have the same attraction as the likely Champions' League qualifiers, if either or both the Scots were mired in D2 mid-table?I don't think the clubs would have a problem with Celtic and Rangers taking 2 PL spaces as there would still be 34 more places up up for grabs compared to the existing 20
Reducing the number from three to two will only protect one team per season, hardly a big deal. Reducing it to one or potentially zero (through a play-off, or maybe a certification scheme where you need a demanding miniumum standard of facilities, say 20,000 seats) risks distorting the whole system by reducing the realistic incentive of promotion to most lower division clubs.Basically the whole point of it is to make it less damaging financially for a club (namely Bolton!!) to be relegated. I think it's an interesting idea but more than one team should be relegated from/promoted to PL2 in a given season
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