Red Wizard

Scottish football as a whole needs root and branch reform. As long as the OF remain at the centre of the universe then nothing will change. Producing good footballers and stimulating competition should be the TOP priorities. Changing the amount of teams is a token effort and will do little to improve the quality of football on offer. How much did Henry McLeish get paid for his super duper report because it’s a complete load of shit. His report is a basically a financial report and has nothing to do with improving the game as a whole IMO. To improve the SPL we have to look at all the bad things and attempt to change them. There are a number of issues with Scottish football. Most of them mentioned in this thread. 1. The OF share of revenue TV money. TV money should be shared equally and fairly. If ESPN/SKY want to show every OF away match then fine but it shouldn’t be to the detriment of the other teams. It takes 2 teams to make a football match. All gates split equally between teams. Who’d pay just to watch Rangers or Celtic kick a ball about themselves with no opposition? 2. Too many football teams in Scotland not enough fans. This is a big problem. There are too many teams but there is no easy fix for this one. 3. Revenue/Debt Wages to be no higher than an agreed % of a teams turnover. This will be phased in over x years (Think UEFA are looking at this also). 4. Too many governing bodies One body for all football in Scotland. Get rid of people we don’t need. Saving money. 5. Youth Players/Coaching Encourage youth development. Each club can have a B side is the 3rd division to give competitive match experience. End the “jobs for the boys” culture of appointing coaches. I think there are too many ex pros masquerading as coaches within our game. Being a good player does not guarantee you will be a good coach. We need more coaches from out with the professional game to bring in new ideas. Are coaches actually appraised regularly to make sure they are doing a good job?? 6. Facilities Boils down to money but training facilities in Scotland are poor. No quick fix. 7. SPL Voting system There should be a majority voting system. If it’s a tie keep negotiating until there is a consensus 8. Weather Why do we play our season during the darkest coldest months of the year? We need t move the season. March to November seems to be the best option. During world cup/euro championships years the season could be started 2 weeks earlier and ended 2 weeks later and just postpone the season for a bit during the tournament.. 9. Price of tickets Price of tickets is a joke for the product on offer.. There should be more offers. i.e. if you buy a season ticket you are entitled to one free ticket for every home match. Let under 16s in for free etc etc. 10. League Structure There are currently 4 divisions with a total of 42 clubs. Change the league structure to 3 leagues overall. Keep it simple. Top league (SPL) will have 20 teams, 1st Division will have 20 teams and 2nd Division will have 22 teams made up of 20 “B” teams from the SPL and the remaining 2 SFL teams (The B teams cannot be promoted to the SPL but can float between league 1 and 2. Simple. No splits. Playoffs etc. Just play each other home and away. Look at changing the scoring system to 1 point for a no score draw, 2 points for a score draw and 3 points for a win to encourage attacking football. That’s just some ideas but I fear Scottish football will still be is the same sorry state 10 years down the line. For change to happen there has to be a willingness to change. As long as the OF call the shots REAL change will never happen.