The Flaws in a 10 team SPL, and my vision for a better league, Part 1

It has been announced this week that the SPL have provisionally decided on a 10 team SPL, with a 12 team "SPL2" featuring new regulations such as a requirement for a minimum of 3000 seats and undersoil heating at teams' stadia, along with full-time youth players. Over a few parts (I'm thinking 3) I'll explain why I, along with the majority of Scottish football supporters, feel this is the wrong route for Scottish football to go down, and give my vision for an alternative. In this first part, I'll explain why an 18 team SPL is the way forward.

The basic structure I, as self-appointed Head of All of Scottish Football Administration, would consist of an 18 team SPL- each team would play each other twice. The Scottish First Division would consist of 16 teams, again each playing each other twice, with the Scottish Second Division again consisting of 16 teams, each playing each other twice. The Scottish Third Division would cease to continue, with the teams currently residing in it moving up to the new enlarged Second Division. Between the SPL and the First Division, there would be 3 automatic promotion places at the end of the season, with 3 automatic promotion places also available between the First Division and the Second Division. No promotion/relegation play-offs would be entered into, although this, along with the number of places, would be reviewed annually.

In the SPL, each team would play 34 games, with the First and Second Division teams playing 30 games each. This would allow for all 3 leagues to take a proper winter break of 4-6 weeks from roughly the middle of December to the middle of January, during which time climactic conditions usually prohibit the playing of much football anyway. To accommodate this, the 3 leagues would all start late July, then after returning from the winter break playing until early-mid May, with the final SPL fixtures 1 week after the final First and Second Division matches. The reduction in the number of games will lead to a reduction in the requirement for leauge matches to be played midweek, when crowds tend to be lower.

The Scottish Cup would continue in its existing format. However, the SFL Challenge Cup would be discontinued, in order to allow the SFL to focus on improving the strength of the First and Second Divisions, in order to ready their teams for the SPL.

The existing SPL stadium rules of a requirement for undersoil heating and 6000 seats would remain in place in the SPL. There would be no new ground rules for the First and Second Divisions, and teams promoted from the First Division to the SPL would have 6 months from the end of their promotion season to install enough seats to give them 6000, and a further 6 months to install undersoil heating, in order to minimise disruption to the playing surface mid-season.

The structure of an 18 team SPL, 16 team First Division and 16 team Second Division would require a total of 50 teams. There would be no "pyramid" structure below this, as contrary to popular belief, there is a limited level of desire among the Junior and Highland League clubs for it- the last time a place in the existing structure opened up (when Annan Athletic joined the SFL) there were only 5 applicants. That demand could easily be met by the 8 new places that would be available by clubs such as Spartans and Cove Rangers.

Well, that's my blueprint. Part 2 will follow soon

Shifty's Season Preview: the SPL

My Thoughts

Both halves of the Old Firm have seen their squads change significantly- while Celtic have added quantity and quality sufficient for the SPL (how the likes of Daryl Murphy and Charlie Mulgrew will cope in the Europa League remains to be seen, however), Rangers have lost a significant number of players. While the losses of Steven Smith, DaMarcus Beasley and perhaps even Nacho Novo may not be felt, they will surely miss the goalscoring ability of Kris Boyd, and the balance in midfield offered by Kevin Thomson (the merits of having a left-footed player alongside a right-footed player in the centre of the park are much under-appreciated), and the loss of promising centre-back Danny Wilson to, in all probability, Liverpool's reserve team, will be a blow. While it's unlikely Rangers will be playing Champions League football after Christmas, their continental exploits will surely stretch their slimmed-down squad to its limits. Admittedly, Celtic are unlikely to go much further in the Europa League, but their bigger squad means they are better-equipped to compete on 2 fronts, which is why this writer is tipping Neil Lennon's side to reclaim the title. Lennon adapted well to life as an SPL manager, with Celtic winning all their league games under him last season, losing only to Ross County in the Scottish Cup Semi-Final.

Behind them, the rest of the top 6 looks fairly clear-cut. Dundee United look solid, if perhaps short of a 20-goal striker, while Motherwell look set to continue their improvement under Craig Brown, and can't be ruled out from a challenge for 3rd. Hearts could well move above Hibs if Australian comedian Jim Jefferies can keep Kevin Kyle fit- as long as referees continue not to penalise him in the SPL, he'll continue to climb all over defenders for headers, while Hibs' season imploded towards the end of last season- John Hughes' side never really recovered from their Scottish Cup exit at the hands of Ross County.

Down nearer the bottom, Aberdeen and St Johnstone have outside chances of making the top 6, with the other 4 teams (Hamilton, Inverness, Kilmarnock and St Mirren) battling (often literally- don't expect much football to be played at this end of the division) to avoid the drop. The caravan-dwellers from Inverness have SPL experience in their ranks, and look arguably the best placed of the 4 to survive. Hamilton will miss James McArthur, but have the ability to scrap their way out of trouble, and as long as they can find a reliable goalscorer, they should just be OK. Kilmarnock under new manager Mixu Paatelainen have adopted a novel transfer policy this summer of signing players who have the same name as established quality players, namely Mohammed Sissoko and David Silva. Unfortunately for them, Juventus and Manchester City are likely to notice should Paatelainen attempt to swap his players for their more famous namesakes, although this writer is considering changing his name to Bastian Schweinsteiger in an attempt to get a game at Rugby Park. The favourites for relegation, however, must be St Mirren. Gus Macpherson has left to be replaced by former Cowdenbeath boss Danny Lennon, who has taken a number of his old players with him to St Mirren. Lennon clearly trusts these players, but there's no getting away from the fact that Paul McQuade and Gareth Wardlaw were 3rd division players 12 months ago. Factor in the loss of the excellent Andy Dorman, and St Mirren look set for the drop.

Bet: St Mirren to be relegated @ 11/4 general

Graeme belongs to James Richardson

Graeme's well-prepared for this weekend's action. Enjoy

After last week's accumulator that I never wrote up and nearly won £19K on, your intrepid stupid bet evoking columnist is getting his act together for this week's round of matches.
Once again we have a weekend of international silly punt madness to peruse over so here are some ill-thought out tips:

• Bahrain to score 1st away to New Zealand, with Nigerian-born Jaycee John Okuwanne providing the firepower upfront. He is good at scoring important headers, ken' which put them into the playoffs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1nMBPPum-M&feature=related 3 minutes in
• Ireland to beat France. Croke Park, bitching atmosphere and Raymond Domenech will all combine to secure a 1-0 victory for the Guinness drinkers. France to win on aggregate though. Glorious failure is the rule for Celtic teams
• Uruguay to beat Costa Rica. Forlan is ace
• Brazil to pump a highly-overrated England. Glen Johnson is the weak link and he has silly hair

Rugby Union Special:

Scotland v Fiji

In the words of Jim Mason, "New coach, new team, new challenge"

These two sides haven't met since the 2003 Rugby World Cup where Scotland only prevailed by a two point margin. Over the past 6 years both sides' fortunes have changed. Fiji are now a genuine top ten team while Scotland are managed by a failed English coach and sit behing Fiji in the world rankings. Scotland will win this one though, just. I predict a tight match with Scotland winning infront of a sparse crowd at Murrayfield by under 10 points.

Here's that new feature I was on about

Shifty's Last Word is delighted to confirm the arrival to the blog of our new columnist, Graeme. Representatives from The Ross-Shire Journal, The Turriff Advertiser and la Gazzetta Della Sport gathered at a press conference this morning, where it was confirmed that Graeme will write a weekly column entitled "Graeme's Silly Bet".

Graeme

Here's Graeme's musings for this weekend:

Thought I'd let my first post be Scotland-orientated;

1) The Old Firm notoriously struggle to perform after their midweek European excursions so this weekend, after Celtic's shambolic 2nd half display in Tel Aviv in which they seemed to wilt in the heat in Israel, the last thing Mowbray's men want to face is a resurgent Hearts side well pumped after their first victory in the league against Kilmarnock last Tuesday.

Silly prediction: Celtic to slip up again with a half-time/full-time bet of a Celtic/draw. 23/1 at Betfair

2) Coupon of the week:

I'm getting into the Scottish lower tiers this year and after seeing Stirling Albion last weekend myself, and the man who burnt £40 infront of the beggars, I can safely say that the Albion boys are awesome going forward on the pitch despite their deep financial problems off it.

That said, Alloa were equally strong and well organised at the back with impressive young goalkeeper David Crawford leading the way.

I also dislike Caley and Airdrie with equal venom so want to see them drawing, leading to relegation for these disgusting shams of teams and managers.

Silly treble of:

Alloa to beat Stenhousemuir @ 11/10

Airdrie to snatch a point with Caley @12/5

Stirling Albion to beat East Fife @ 4/6

If placed at WIlliam Hill £1 gets you £11.90

Cheers and see you next week

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