4 THINGS ENGLISH FAN WOULD CHANGE ABOUT SCOTTISH FOOTBALL
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- Опубликовано: 21 мар 2022
- I'm an English football fan who lives in Scotland and loves Scottish football.
Here are the four things I would change about football in Scotland:
1 - TV coverage
2 - Pyramid system
3 - Hatred of the Old Firm (Celtic & Rangers)
4 - Pitches
Let me know what you would change about Scottish football in the comment section below!
My Social Media:
INSTAGRAM: / footy.adventures
TWITTER: / the_sam_north
#Rangers #Celtic #Football 
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What would you change???????
I live in South Africa so i might sound a bit out of touch or naive, but here goes.
Encourage residents of many towns and cities outside of Glasgow to start supporting their local team. Yes, I get it - it is going to be difficult to get 80% of the population to stop supporting Celtic and Rangers, but for the sake of a healthy game you need better supported clubs outside the the Old Firm
I never forget the day when I spoke to someone who was born and grew up in Edinburgh and told me he was a Celtic fan.
We get ESPN Africa down here, and it almost amuses me that I can see more Scottish games down here (and not just the Old Firm, we get other Premiership matche, the Scottish Cup and LC matches and the odd Championship and League match - and we get a highlights package as well). It's actually quite sad when you think about it.
Your comment about the pyramid system is spot on - non league teams need a better incentive than what they currently have. Last 2 in L2 should go down automatically, top team in L and H should go up. Bottom 3rd in L2 go into 3 match playoff with 2nd placed H&L teams.
Reduce the leagues - reduce the Championship and L1 and L2 to 2 divisions - expand Premiership by 2, and shuffle rest into 2 divisions.
Playoffs should be changed - 2 automatically relegated in each league, Champs go up, next 4 go into playoffs.
I have no issues about artificial turf - I don't think you have the weather conditions to have real grass, or move the sport to summer.
Summer football. What is the point in playing at the worst time of year?
Automatic promotion from highland and lowland league with two teams down automatically from league 2
I'd like to see more Scottish teams getting the chance to qualify for Europe I think it's terrible that the league winners still have to qualify for the group stages when teams in other countries get 3 or 4 teams straight into the group stage
@@Mark-gl1so Why would you want to see more when no one other than Celtic and Rangers have got through qualifying for aboht 28 years.
Even Celtic amd Rangers get routinely humiliated by teams "they think they should beat"
By the way no other league gets direct entry for 3-4 teams in the Champions League.
Should the Scottish National team have their World Cup and Euros qualifiers be shown live on free-to-air television? I lot of scottish footfall fans are annoyed that you can watch England's qualifiers for free but not Scotland's.
On STV no less! Shouldn't be happening. We have to pay to watch Scotland games on sky while England reap the benefits of the sky money. No thanks.
That's a joke, all international ganes should be free to watch
That's shocking. Last year was special the country felt united like I've never known backing Scotland. It gave me hope the future isn't as bleak as it seemed
BBC Alba should get the rights to broadcast them in Gaelic, like S4C does in Wales with Welsh commentary (English commentary is only available on sky sports)
Thats the SFA's greed as usual
On the TV rights you are right, I am surprised that someone like Amazon Prime have not purchased the rights and included them as part of their streaming service. It also means the Scottish football would be available to a huge audience that might not have watched the games. The people running and selling the SPFL need to be doing a better job and think outside the box
Why not broadcast a set number of games not involving the old firm to a free-to-air broadcaster? Perhaps 8 to 10 fixtures a year for instance Motherwell v Hearts could be shown on a broadcaster like Channel 4. This would get a much bigger audience than would sky would muster and bring in sponsors. What harm would that do to scottish football by showing some games for free?
I’m a Celtic fan but i want a more competitive and stronger league, not saying I don’t want to see us win leagues obviously but would be nice to see other teams at least give a challenge to the old firm for the title instead of it being a 2 horse race all the time every October.
Gates should be halved - when the Ugly Sisters forced through the change where clubs kept their home gates, the financial advantage tipped irrevocably towards the US.
6:16 - Don't forget the Edinburgh derby. You'd expect at least one of the derbies to be on tv.
Overall, you are right though. Scottish football massively undersells itself. This is also the case when it comes to transfer fees.
We do so on a personal level as individual it's just a Scottish trait in built in us & difficult to escape from.
All top fight derby games in Scotland should be broadcast it's a joke that's not the case hell if they can fo in in Argentina over a weekend then why not in Scotland.
It was derby weekend in Argentina over the weekend & every single game was available to stream worldwide on Fanatiz.
Scottish football is so far behind it's a joke 🙄.
Yeah ik even if it's not a big Derby I would expect to see at least the top 6 teams on sky instead of just top 2
@@itszander152 not a big derby? Hibs hearts is the 2nd biggest derby in scotland, and top 5 in UK. Beat it. Clearly no nothing about football zander wander
@@gilberthickenbottom7688 I was meaning in general not just the Edinburgh one
The lack of money invested in Scottish football has led to some pitches being no better than an acne breakout. The best thing to come from the pandemic is teams being able to sell streaming to their games!
Agreed - bring more money to the Scottish premiership and gorgeous pitches and new players will follow
Do you understand where the money in football comes from? It comes from a demand to watch the games. It's market forces. Unfortunately no one outside Scotland wants to watch st Mirren vs Ross County or Dundee vs Motherwell.
@@asensibleyoungman2978 do you think Stoke v Hull has a bigger appeal to many that only watch Premiership games?
@@NormanCampbell Agree, the English market their league far better. Fitbaw is fitbaw and if someone tunes into Hull Vs Stoke, it's likely they'd tune in to "less appealing" Scottish games, simply because there's not much else on
@@asensibleyoungman2978 to an extent, but the first few minutes of the video explains we are outcompeting English championship in viewing figures but obviously not getting anywhere near financial parity. So it’s just a badly negotiated deal, and if SPFL had any balls or imagination they’d tell Sky to shove it, and set up something much more lucrative. Sky have absolutely zero fvcking interest anyway.
The biggest change I would make would be to have a top flight of 16 or 18 teams, play each other twice only for a total of 30 or 34 games. In theory any team could win the league and it would certainly be a much closer table than it is now. Even if a team lost all their games v Rangers and Celtic they could still win the majority of the others and be right up there. I don't think it would have a detrimental affect of attendances and finances (for most teams anyway), more fans would go to the games as they wouldn't be playing the same teams week-in-week-out. Of course it will NEVER happen as two teams only would be potentially negatively impacted by this setup and we know which ones they are and how much power they wield.
I agree, too many clubs too. I am not saying they should disappear but only should be 2 leagues in SPFL.
We've had all that the reality is there are too many teams with little or no support. I suggest what they do in Rugby League and have a league of 8 with teams playing each other twice then the League splits into 2 fours the bottom 4 play for who gets relegated and the top 4 for who wins the title.
I agree with you that the top flight should have more teams, playing each other twice a season.
I don't agree with your assessment of who would be negatively affected by it, though, or would object to it. It's the smaller teams that perpetuate the current set-up, as they're guaranteed at least one, and they hope two, sold-out home games against the big two per season. Celtic and, maybe to a lesser extent Rangers, are not reliant on matchday income as much as the lesser lights are, and the loss of two or three home games per season would not hit their finances as hard as it would the others - especially that extra visit they get from the big boys.
You may not be old enough to remember Scottish football in the fifties and sixties. A top division of 18 clubs meant the Ugly Sisters were playing weak teams for half the year and ran up cricket scores. Mega yawn Now the top ten strongest teams are playing each other and games are much more competitive. Left to myself I would go back to a top division of ten teams.
Some fair points, the problem with Scottish football outside the big 2 being huge to the others, is the size of teams in the lower divisions. We call it 4 professional leagues. The bottom 2 divisions are essentially all part-time and are glorified junior sides with crowds of less than 1,000. These are not professional outfits. We should have 2 professional leagues. Been stuck in a rut for years, too many dinosaurs who don’t want to rock the boat and no visionaries.
So u saying Falkirk isn't a big club 🤔 ul be surprised to know they are full time and one of biggest clubs just going through a bad time in recent years but season tickets 3500 more than most clubs in spl and championship, but I agree with two leagues all full Time clubs atleast but if Scottish football got a little more money would help obviously all 4 leagues need VAR but SPFL to selfish only cares for the big two ( who made sure Sky sports walked away in 2003 what would of been very big deal for all 4 leagues but typical rangers and Celtic wanted 90% of games covered and income sky walked away from the deal)
@@TheUniversalGamer87 yes mate, pick the 1 anamioly out of the 20 teams. And, no, they're not particularly, they're just bigger than the others in those leagues. Falkirk are of the size that they should be full time and be classed as a professional club. But on the pitch they've been poor so find themselves in league 1. No one should stop sporting integrity, if they failed on the pitch they deserve to be demoted, regardless of size. But reality is, generally league 1 and 2 clubs are part time clubs with very small attendances. In all but standing in our nonsense 4 division setup, none of these teams are truly "professional". They are part time community clubs. Regardless of history, they are glorified just Jordan teams. Some junior teams are actually significantly larger.
@@TheUniversalGamer87 no falkirk are not a big club at the moment they are a basketcase right now and deserve to be where they are what a stupid comment
Yep. Expand the size of the premiership/championship and ditch the end of season split.
Falkirk should be in the prem
Two of Scottish soccer’s big problems is that one no one can compete with Rangers or Celtic for trophies or champions league spots which kinda makes it stale. The other problem is that it isn’t talked about at all at least in the US (before I started watching you I could name 4 teams)
Don’t call fitba soccer 😤
And it’s still better than the MLS.
Not really a HUGE problem. I don't think we're really aiming to be the talk of a hot-wings-and-Bud-Light-serving-sports-bar in Ohio. "Hey Bret did you see the Mothers Well and the Saints of Johns-town in the soccer on Saturday? Mothers Well scored from a cross ball, Tony Watt was their MVP!" Sorry I just can't lol.
You've got a man in Neil Doncaster who has fundamentally failed at hos job. He is an utter waste of space but still picks up a salary.
I'd have a 16 team top flight. With automatic relegation in the bottom league. The lowland league and the Highland league champs should both be promoted.
I agree with you. Doncaster is useless and 16 teams is the perfect amount for the top flight.
I'd like to see two leagues of 16 teams. As Scots, we tend to sell ourselves short as well. We absolutely shouldn't. So, I'd like to see those changes. Love your vlogs dude! 👍🏻
I would go with a Premier League of 16 & a Championship of 10 as I believe in terms of Professional clubs that's all we can justify population wise the rest must go part time we simply dont have the population to support so many clubs.
Actually made a comment with this in mind on one of your other vlogs the other day, it’s good that you’re highlighting these issues.
As a fan of a team which isn’t the old firm, there’s no point in subscribing to Sky, Scottish football not only undersells itself, it doesn’t give a monkey about the fans (unless they support the old firm)
It's always been the same.
Same could be said with Premier sports TV's coverage of the two domestic cups since they won the contract over the past two seasons have yet to see a live game that doesn't involve either Rangers or Celtic unless they had already been knocked out of the competition
I've felt for a long time now, that we need a top flight of 18, and 1st division of 16. Scotland is too small to have 42 'professional' teams.
I feel a huge part of the problem with Scottish football is the familiarity each team has with eachother. Playing eachother 4 times per season in the league, is too much, and then we often see teams playing eachother in both cup competitions too. The split too is getting old, it looks silly when a team finishing 7th ends up on more points than the team finishing 6th, or even 5th.
Keep it simple. Play eachother twice, bring back the simple knock out in the League Cup, forget the league aspect.
I'd keep the pyramid system, but again, simplify it. We have 16 teams in the 1st division, 4 down, 4 promoted(2 from the North, 2 from the South), further down the pyramid, you could still have play-off's.
Something certainly needs to be done regarding TV money, and even league sponsorship. Perhaps all the Clubs could come together to produce an all in one 'app' where you pay £70 or £80 per season, you log in and can pick and choose what club TV channel you're going to watch at any particular time. That could be the answer. Sponsorship is the stumbling block. Perhaps look to get an up and coming company to sponsor the league.
As for the Old Firm. I don't think they help the game that much in all honesty. Yes, they bring in a certain revenue, but then they take the lions share, which only continues to widen the financial gap between them and the rest. No other teams really get a look in. Foreign fans only really want to watch the Old Firm games, they're not interested in the Edinburgh, or Dundee derbies, and they're certainly not interested in Ross County v Livingston for example(lets be honest, looking at attendances, most Livi, and County fans aren't interested in that game). It's a difficult one to be definite about. I do feel were the Old Firm to leave Scottish football, we'd struggle for a while, but the game would become so much more competitive. We saw even when Rangers were in the lower leagues, Aberdeen won a trophy for the first time in 20 years, Hibs won the Scottish Cup for the first time in over 100 years, St Johnstone, and Inverness won their first ever trophies, then you had Killie winning, St Mirren winning... It opened the game up for these teams. We'd see the trophies being spread amongst teams, perhaps occasionally we'd see the likes of Aberdeen, or Hibs win a double or a treble, and that would then be a real achievement. Over time i feel we'd attract better sponsorships, and TV deals, and we could eventually see 4 or 5 teams challenging for the title every year. It could be the best thing to happen to Scottish football. We wouldn't see an end to sectarianism though, as that's a social issue which spilled over into football.
I’m a Celtic fan but what you’ve wrote here makes total sense and full respect to you for it
I agree the old firm don’t really add anything to our football… I mean I’m 36 this year and the only 2 teams to win our league in my lifetime are the old firm. How appallingly boring is that?? The competitive system is broken and the old firm just exacerbate it
Dont think 18 team league is a good idea too many games that I and others won't care for. You would get too many dundee united v forfar or hamilton vs inverness potentially or livi vs county which you said fans dont care for but in your system thats a guarantee at least twice a season. I would take the current system for all its flaws over a ton of uninteresting fixtures that wont get the crowds or interest at all from the supporters.
I disagree with having less teams. I think the more teams we have the better. The more chances for young Scottish players and managers to develop. What towns and cities would you take away a club from. What is the purpose of taking away a league team from Fife, Ayrshire, the North East of Scotland, It would just take away a club for no reason.
@@invernessfan3017 They'd still be part of the pyramid system, it's not like they'd disappear.
Agree with all the points Sam, apart from the old firm comments! They may bring exposure to the Scottish game but the hate but they have towards each other that has nothing to do with modern Scottish football. The songs that they sing and things they believe in has no place in football and is an ugly game. There is no need for Celtic fans to be chanting for terrorist organisations when they are playing Ross County at home! Make it make sense! We need to do what we can to kick sectarianism out the game!
The money they bring to the Scottish game is in equal measure to the shame and reprehensible bigotry it it brings too
They also cover up kiddly fiddlers yet you lot all hate us more cos we are Unionist nae bother
Dundee pitch is generally good usually, just the wrong game to display it lol
Great vid as always Sam - well done for highlighting the shambles that is the SFA 👏🏼👏🏼
Another excellent review thanks Sam, I totally agree 100% with all your remarks. Thanks again.
Great summary of the Scottish game. The old firm and tv money discussion, as you said at the beginning, Norway, Denmark, Sweden don't have the teams with the global presence of Celtic & Rangers yet they have a better tv deal than the SPFL.
No but they are a more competitive league.
The problem with any TV deal is that 80 percent of the money it would go to Celtic and Sevco, making our league even more boring and uncompetitive than it already is.
@@jascam74 nob
@@jascam74
SPL T.V was the right solution back in 2008 when The Setanta Sports deal was went down the tubes but only The Old Firm & Aberdeen voted in favour of it in Scottish football it's all about self preservation not the big picture a C.B.A agreement would fix this as all none match day profets League wide would be shared equally per season.
All club would have the same kit manufacturer & sponsors aswell as well as sharing streaming rights revenues but you might as well bash your head against a wall as it will never happen.
Honestly I am proud to be Scottish but I highly embarrassed buy how our football league structure is operated I am scunnerd with it to be honest.
Brilliant video mate. Throughly enjoy it 👍
As a Celtic fan I've been praying for the day that more money is invested into Scottish football. I'd rather have much more competition between all of the clubs and not so it becomes a 2 horse race by October every season. We are in a vicious cycle of having to need massive financial backing to improve the game but nobody to take the plunge. I do feel Scottish football sells itself short too easily in the negotiations of TV deals. Gone are the days of expecting a few percent more each time.
Well, I would argue that Celtic & the club's fans want a one horse race, the main aim at CP this season isn't winning the league as such but ensuring that Rangers don't get direct entry into the so called champions league by as it happens, winning the title. Quite simply, Celtic don't want Rangers getting that revenue which they of course need & are basically pursuing a scenario where the only club with monetary clout in Scotland is Celtic. In 2012 when Rangers imploded I chuckled at reading in the comments sections of the Herald, Scotsman & elsewhere, how marvellous Scottish football was going to be without these DOB's, Sevco's, blah blah blah. Well......that worked out well! No competition worthy of name proceeded to be the end game culminating in 9 titles & four back to back trebles & various other Scottish football trophy's. Celtic don't want competition in Scotland, what they really really want is to play in England & that they just won't get. Of course out of all these jibes & derogatory names thrown at Rangers & their fans, yer club's deid etc, whether these jibes were justifiable or real...... came a decision that should not ever be reversed, that is Celtic fans getting anything more than 800 tickets for games at Ibrox. I believe that this causes far more resentment by Celik fans than it does with Gers fans when reciprocated at CP but since we're allegedly deid, I am baffled how often it is raised by sports journalists, fans & high head's as a wrongful move by Rangers.
@@KeithWilliamMacHendry well, I for one certainly don’t see that scenario as being something to celebrate.
Of course, the pot available is substantial, and, as things stand, only two teams will ever be in a position to take that, however, the conversation is more about the financial disparity, and the Scottish game being undersold, as it is.
Its an absolutely valid argument that if more money filtered down through our game ( which our administration doesn’t take as seriously as it should), there maybe a chance to redevelop facilities, improving pitches, etc etc.
@@JamesBond-si7xs Well, I for one am not doing much celebrating over the demise of a once great footballing nation, it has saddened me as a Scot. I did however justifiably point out that when Rangers imploded matters worsened, they did not ramp up in the technical ability or ball skills & much contrary to all the claims, matters deteriorated as is shown by the inability of our clubs to get past the preliminary stages of UEFA tournaments season on season.
You will still be praying for decades if not century's to come because it's simply never going to happen.
@@JamesBond-si7xs it not substantial (relatively) as the bottom team in the EPL gets 4 times that (£120m) for just being in the league. 🤷🏻♂️
Great video, very thought provoking!
Neil Doncaster, sit up and take notes here. Great video Sam. I couldn't agree with you any more on each of the points. I used to hate artificial surfaces but since the St Johnstone vs Rangers game recently and the Dundee vs Rangers game at the weekend I feel like artificial can't be any worse than these.
Brilliant video Sam as always!! David 💥👍🇬🇧
Here’s what I would do…
1. Expand the size of the Scottish Prem and Championship to around 16-18 teams and ditch the split rule.
2. Invest in stadiums. Give football stadiums across the country some TLC (including pitches) and re develop the ones that need it. If fans know they have a nice modernised stadium, more will attend the games.
3. More TV time and not just for Celtic and Rangers.
4. Lose the sectarianism, please. It gives the league and your teams a really bad name outside of Scotland.
5. This one goes for the UK as a whole. How about a new “UK Cup” where teams from the top divisions in Scotland, England, Wales and NI all compete with eachother. It could replace the Scottish Premier Cup and the English Carabao Cup.
I have to disagree with the sectarianism thing that is one of the main things that make the old firm the best derby in the world it's not just the battle over Glasgow and the 2 best in Scotland it is the religion as well that makes it pure hatred
Tbh we don't want to make the old firm a weak derby like the ones down south
@@AlphaAbyss_ Bigotry doesn't make anything better. You can hate each other without going down that path, it's not like they are all going to church. It's just wind up mentality.
Agree with top comment on expanding the leagues, will also make them more competitive.
A UK cup would be awesome. Can't imagine the Southern English clubs would agree to a competiton that required them to travel up to Inverness on a Wednesday night though.
An annual game between the English/Scottish cup winners would perhaps be more realistic. Would give teams outside the Old Firm the chance to play the likes of Liverpool and City.
Some excellent ideas there Sam for better access to the viewing public world wide and a better league system.
SAM. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR CONTENT; SCOTTISH
AND OTHER.
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.
Great video as always.
Thanks for raising awareness of these issues bud. 👍
IMO one of the things that should be done to improve the SPFL is return to an 18 club league with 3 teams relegated and promoted, re the abysmal £30 million paid per year the only people to blame for this are the crooks at the SFA, is it any wonder that Rangers and Celtic want their future in the EPL .Anyone under fifty will find it hard to believe that in the early 1990s Ian St John, Ruud Gullitt and Jimmy Greaves described Rangers as "not just the biggest club in Britain but in the the three biggest in Europe" of course since then the likes of Man U, Man city, Chelsea and Liverpool have spiralled while Scottish clubs have plummeted.
Need a 18 team premier league and a 24 team second tier.
Four up/ four down
Never seen someone talk up Scottish football as much as you Sam and you're English haha. Love the content and keep it coming.
The West of Scotland League is relegating 7 and promoting 3 to reduce the league numbers by 4. Its currently got 20 teams but will be 16 next season. This will be the first completed season of the West of Scotland League so it's still just taking shape. Next year it will be fairly clear with 4 divisions each with 3 promotion/relegation spots. It's also the first year with leagues below the Highland League so I would also wait a year or 2 before judging it.
Enjoyed this video, ……..loved it.
Ensure that a specific percentage from the Scottish league's TV rights are shared equally to teams in the SPFL to be specifically spent on pitch maintenance.
This would help give the lower sides in the SPFL a chance to keep their pitch up to a high standard that the top half teams can.
Teams promoted to the SPFL with a plastic pitch given sufficient help to ensure they can install and then maintain a grass pitch -with appropriate protections should those teams be relegated to the Scottish Championship.
Hi Sam. I have been over this for the past 20 years with friends. It's needing a clear out tbh. I take an interest in this as you'll soon read. 🤣
The WOSFL league with 6-8 relegation places is to remove the conference structure and take the WOSFL back into a league ladder as opposed to three conferences at the same level. There was a proposal to regionalise the conferences last year but it was kicked into touch. Teams not happy with the amount of relegation slots, but nothing they can do I don't think.
At the top end, yes they need more promotion slots. However, turkeys ain't voting for Christmas. That's the issue with Scottish football.
Division 4 of the WOSFL. Promotion is dependent on each club getting their facility up to a relevant standard. So you could finish 8th of 8 but could be the only team to be promoted. I think only Harthill Royal are compliant at present although their team is towards the low end. Champions Finnart are trying to get a home, Kilsyth unknown, St Peters share at Renfrew, but have been told they can't get promoted as groundshare cannot be promoted. Harmony Row were groundsharing at Benburb FC but they have a good facility of their own, but not quite compliant to the league. Hence why they need to groundshare.
At the top end, as long as TV get 4 x "old firm" games a season, they'll be happy. It should be 16 with a split for me.
4G pitches. Follow the Hamilton Accies Academy on twitter. You'll see how much they use that pitch. It's used all the time. They'll never get rid of it.
You must be the best liked English man in Scotland! Said it before the respect you show every club in Scotland is superb👌 The history etc really appreciate your channel! Respect & Regards ⭐👍
Bet he’s the only one 😂
@John Baird To be fair he's good at being neutral & does put alot of effort in Vlogs. Unlike the clowns 🤡 take a iPhone from house to game upload & it's a Vlog lol 🤣✌👍
Hope you go in see the Scotland under 17s this week … free games at Falkirk this week and full off talent in that Scotland squad… hopefully go in see the main team too … love your vids mate
Fantastic rant, the business awareness of Scottish football is pants!
I think the average fan is well aware of the issues of TV coverage ( celtic or rangers Live every week).
Sam, is this a full time job for you now or did something else bring you north of the border? Excellent channel btw, and without doubt the best football vlog online.
A lot of good points mate, but there are more than just the top and bottom two teams fighting it out for winning the league or being relegated, as all teams are fighting to be in the top six, as well as qualifying for Europe. If you look at coverage of the last-minute goal scored by Dundee United at St Mirren over the weekend (19th March 2022) and see the reaction of both players and fans, you will be left in no doubt how important every point is to both of these teams and yet neither team will be in the top or bottom two.
SFA and SPFL. Give this man a job and listen to him he makes sense. Maybe Scotland would be respected more. 😡😡
I live in Portugal and when you talk about scottish football all we can know is the old firm derby. It is hard to have audiences and people interested in the league when in nearly 40 years there's only 2 champions. And both celtic or rangers don't do well in European competions (despite current years). It is like the German league. It is becoming boring because there's only 1 champion dominating the last 10 seasons...
I’m from Scotland and the problem here is that almost all the people support Celtic or rangers. I was from a rangers stronghold about 12 miles east of Glasgow; an area with a perfectly good football team of its own in the lower leagues. I know in most countries folk will gravitate towards the bigger teams but in Scotland it is exacerbated. To be honest though, almost nobody in the uk watches Portuguese football either… so at least in part you must understand
Portugal is no different to Scotland…only three teams have one the league more than once…and Sporting won the league last year for the first time in a generation…..Spain is no different…usually the big two…..France has a monopoly with PSG…..it’s all about economics!
@@kjm5155 yeah but we have more teams every season In European competions
@@xpto41 Well I support Rangers..and we have played the top 4 in Portugal in the last few years...and have come out on top...so what's your point?
@@kjm5155 don't compare scottish teams with portuguese teams in Europe... Porto won 7 European titles Benfica 2 Sporting 1 and Braga another 1
A league where only 2 teams have won the title every year for nearly 40 years is never going to get the funding it wants
And a league where ex sevco season ticket holders get to officiate sevco matches.
No other country in world football would allow it due to a conflict of interest and sporting integrity.
Tin pot.
@@jascam74 don’t forget a league which has legitimised rangers years of cheating by somehow allowing them to keep 54 titles won by a club that went bankrupt without paying its creditors or hmrc either, utterly spineless and then devalues the lowland league by letting them play their b teams, absolutely pathetic
The shame is Scottish football was far better in the 1960's the 1970's AND the 1980's, they even produced some seriously great players
Sam. I couldn’t agree more in your suggestions and you make so much sense but in terms of the tv revenue goes it’s to do with the league authority acceptance for the first deal on hand and like you’ve said we’re the most supported league per head in Europe so were really unselling the league but at the same time we need the other Scottish teams to do well in Europe for us progress as a country
Your video is spot on. I’m a hibs fan, and got so fed up with the state of the game up here. I like your idea of restructuring the leagues. Many fans want bigger leagues, so we’re not playing the same teams 4 times a season. I also think there’s too many teams for the size of Scotland. Yes there’s history there, but when some clubs are struggling to get 300 through the gates… it’s damaging to all football up here.
Worst thing thistle could have done this year was ground share with queen's Park, our pitch is in bits
Just happened to come on to this video. You got a new sub👍 Keep doing great vids
Thanks mate, welcome aboard 📽🙌🏼
Agree with every point especially the money and the pitches
SUBBED from Glasgow,,,keep em comin HH
I remember years ago Celtic had just won the Scottish Prem with Gordon Strachan in charge and they came to Coventry to play us for Richard Shaw’s testimonial, and we battered them 3-1. There is a vast gulf between the quality of English football and Scottish football which I hope they address.
Some good comments there agree with the structure and tv. but I would challenge you to go to the away end at one of the old firm when some other teams are playing and the you will see the reason people don't like them.
Totally agree, Sam. The league games should be available to watch on SKY. And they should make more of a fuss about it. Bear in mind the Saturday 3pm rule though, where games in Britain aren’t televised. Midweek games though, there’s no excuse why SKY couldn’t show you any given SPFL match.
I'm a big fan of the 3/4G pitches 1 factor being the community aspect which in turn will bring on the next generation of supporters. The weather is another factor like if you have a bad winter you will have fixtures pile ups especially at the time of the season. And the cost of the maintenance side of the pitch (getting relaid) something not all SPFL teams can do every season.
More live TV coverage will mean less bums on seats especially at the lower end of the leagues.
Great video Sam, as always mate. As the resident West of Scotland Football League podcast, on promotion and relegation for the West Premier League. The winners obviously need to go through the play offs. If the winners go up then only 6 will be relegated, if the winners don't go up then 7 will be relegated. There could have been potentially 8 going down if the bottom team from the lowland league were a team that would have fallen into the West. As they bottom team are looking at going to the South of Scotland League that means it will only be 6/7 down. The reason for the large number of teams going down is to balance out all the leagues into 16 teams.
Haha...as a German who's watching your channel regularly, but not more than about once a week, I've always thought you were Scottish but hiding your Scottish accent very well for the sake of being understood in a better way or not even having one at all. Never thought about the possibility that this could be an Englishman just living in Scotland :)
Great video! Agree with a lot of what you said here.
I understand what you are saying about there being more jeopardy in the EFL Championship. However, this year in the SPFL Premiership, 4-10th are competing for Europe so there is still a lot to play for. European money could really accelerate the growth of some of these clubs.
Agree the leagues should be bigger. Maybe the top 3 tiers or just the top flight could be 18 teams. 34 games a season. Home + Away. Might keep the league fresh knowing you won't have to play the same opposition 3/4 times a season.
I'm old enough to remember a big league and it got changed because half way through each season half the teams had nothing to play for and attendances for those teams plummeted.
We need more TV you are absolutely 100% right Sam, but Rangers European run has not been mentioned once by football focus on BBC 1 but the game on Sunday is massive and being shown live in Japan and got a massive write up in Spain that said it is the biggest Derby in the world.
Grass can grow 10 months of the year on west coast. Cumbria has huge dairy cow population ( eating grass) for this reason. Goes a long way to explain the state of pitch in Barrow v central belt of Scotland.
The whole structure of the SFA top brass , old boys network. Incompetent.
Scotland does not have a national broadcaster, hence the poor TV deal. Sky only cares about the epl. Denmark, Norway etc have their own broadcasters who want to show their own league, we don't and that's why we suffer In comparison.
The old firm have always been a necessary evil for non-old firm fans. Without them there's no money, it's just the reality of the situation. The problem most fans, I've talked to, have are not with them winning everything or even the fans, it's the poaching of players and rumour mill that kicks into gear around players. Every time we see a player start to perform well, all of a sudden the old firm start circling, and put in low bids. Players see the amount of money they can get offered, and then they want away. It's not the player's fault, they have a limited career and they should want to get paid, but it's the way the Old Firm (and the press) start the stories about them leaving that is frustrating. If they came in and gave a fair offer, fans would be fine as that money goes into the club, but players putting in a transfer request, refusing to sign a new contract, etc drives their price down to nothing in a lot of cases. It means our clubs can't go out and strengthen the squad. I'm a Hearts fan, it happened with Neil McCann or Paul Ritchie in the past and it's happening to John Souttar right now but there's hundreds of players around the league. I don't blame him, but Rangers have been talking about signing him for years now so of course signing a new contract with Hearts is out of the question. Same thing happened at Hibs with Riordan (to show I'm not biased, although I am totally biased). I bet every team outside the old firm can point to an example of this happening. They are just happy sitting back and waiting til the player's contract runs out.
Cheers. Our game has been undersold massively, but my old skool self would rather there were very few games on TV. We have the best percentage going to live football, and we should encourage that, not put these people off with stupid kick-off times to suit telly… the atmosphere etc is what makes a game, not the sofa!
We need to have people like yourself being ambassadors for our game and sell it as a proper football experience… come up for a weekend and watch a cluster of games at all levels, and move away from bending over backwards for TV’s crumbs. We have a great product that we should sell on our terms.
Fully behind your restructuring however, two teams are not keen for change and they hold too much power. 14 teams would mean 3 games vs each team at 39 games. One less Old Firm won’t be allowed to happen. For the rest of us, four games a season is often dull. I love St Johnstone, but even I struggle to get excited for the fourth meeting of the season between us and Livi!
On to the Old Firm. The bigotry and power is not things I could back. Yes they are the big draw to Scottish Football, but they also strangle it, and not just by winning most silverware. They don’t care about our game, brushing the crumbs off their table after their big feast, signing our best players to play in their reserves and always on the look out to play in a more lucrative league and jump ship. Can’t stand either and as much as I respect your views, I can’t turn myself to think more highly of them.
Pitches. I hate watching our game on plastic, but totally see why we have them. I coach a girls U14 team, and we’d really struggle to train without them.
There’s a future day out for you. Come and see Jeanfield Swifts Jags one morning then in the afternoon onto Jeanfield Swifts or St Johnstone 👍
This ties into Sam's point about the condition of pitches and plastic pitches in Scotland. I think Scotland should move from a football season over the winter months to one over the summer months. No other countries in Europe as far north as Scotland play their seasons in the winter. This year's World Cup being held in November / December would have been a great opportunity to move the season. A summer season would mean it would be much easier for clubs to keep their pitches in better condition.
On TV coverage, I think the BBC in the rest of the UK should show the Sportscene highlights programme on a Saturday night after Match of the Day. This would allow viewers down south to see that Scottish football can be as entertaining to watch and generate a lot more interest down south. In Scotland, the Sportscene highlights should be shown first on a Saturday night, then the English highlights on Match of the Day (this is how it was in the 80s and early 90s). ALL Scotland international matches should be shown on free to air TV, eg BBC or STV. It is a national disgrace that full coverage of England matches are regularly shown on STV, but Scotland matches can only been seen on Sky. That has to change.
On the two large clubs from Glasgow, people not liking them is just a fact of life. If I'm being honest I wouldn't miss them at all if they left Scottish football. I think a lot of the resentment towards what are known by some as The Ugly Sisters comes from the fact that there is not a level playing field with all the other clubs and that there is a strong perception that a lot of the decisions affecting Scottish football are made not on what would benefit all clubs in Scotland, but only on what would benefit Celtic and Rangers. There is also a problem with a perception of a very condescending attitude from the OF towards what they call and what they treat as "Diddy Teams", which are all the other clubs in Scotland, without which we would not have Scottish football at all. Add to that all the political / religious baggage that these clubs and large sections of their fans bring. When I go and watch the club I support, it's because I like that club and I'm only interested in the football. I'm not interested one bit in anything to do with Northern Ireland, religion or battles from hundreds of years ago before football was even invented as a sport. But whenever Celtic or Rangers come to town, that's what you are forced listen to them chant about for 90 minutes. If they want the rest of Scottish football not to resent them, then drop all the sectarian nonsense and politics, get rid of the Union Jacks and Irish flags, and start treating Scottish football as if ALL teams matter, not just the two biggest ones.
Another major issue is the Scottish football establishment running the game is extremely outdated and backwards looking. I don't know what could be done to address the problems with refereeing standards - perhaps VAR in the Premier League and later stages of Cup competitions would help? Also there are the blazers who run the game. Totally out of touch and only looking after their own interests, like an exclusive Old Boys club. These dinosaurs have been detrimental to our national sport for many decades. I would like to see a lot more clubs owned and ran by the fans, for the fans. It won't happen overnight, but it would be a huge improvement.
The reason your idea dosent work is that sky want 4 rangers vs Celtic matches. So do rangers and Celtic witch is part of the problem
I always make a personal database on Football manager each year if I am going to do a Scottish football save. I tend to change quite abit from having much higher TV revenue to a much better pyramid system.
I would absolutely love to see an 18 team top flight league and 24 teams in the championship. If there is more revenue to go around then the 'non league' teams should be alot more sustained financially to travel further. But it's really fun to create a custom database like this and it does tend to make a Scottish save alot more dynamic and fun!
I'm old enough to remember a big league and it got changed because half way through each season half the teams had nothing to play for and attendances for those teams plummeted.
An 18 club top fight is not realistic for this Country ( Scotland ) we dont have a population to support it if you ask anyone in Scotland they will tell you 14 to 16 is realistic 18 would end in a bad way from a financial point of view.
@@jascam74
As I am saying & hate to say as well we dont have a population size to support an 18 club top flight that's not realistic even 14 to 16 night be difficult to make work in modern times money wise.
@@alanfox691 yeah, but it's all fantasy mate. I really enjoy doing these databases and making it a fantasy, yet realistic style league - something that would challenge the Portuguese league for example.
Te problem with your 18 team concept - SKY and the SFA want, nay, NEED 4 Celtic versus the rangers matched each season. The lower leagues need to have about 10-15 Clubs replaced by hungrier, ambitious Clubs from the juniors.
There is teams in 9th and 10th still in contention for Europe in Scotland though. With a split as well everyone usually has something to play for. I do follow the Championship but it has a huge number of dead rubbers at this point of the season with teams that have nothing to play for.
I can see why people accept the split as, like you said it gives teams something to play for. However as you point out there's only 4 points between 4th and 10th and with one game before the split clubs that would have a realistic shot at Europe will be stuck in the bottom half and chance gone. And because it's so close there's a good chance we're also going to have one of they seasons where the club in 6th has less points than clubs below which frankly looks ridiculous. It can also throw up an uneven fixture list for the season, with some clubs having to play a certain club 3 times away from home. It will probably happen to either us or Celtic this season and whoever is unfortunate enough to get an extra away match there fans will be raging. There's two many negatives about the split that outweigh mid table clubs having something to play for imo.
@@rossmiller5929 Most comparable European leagues use a split so I wouldn't worry how it looks. Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece etc all use a split. The guys on Talksport are going to call it a pub league regardless so I think we should focus on what works best for Scotland.
I know what you mean about this season cutting teams off from competing for European places. A solution for that would be to have a European playoff. Now that we have 5 European spots the teams in 5th, 6th and 7th could play-off at the end of the season to decide the final European place. This would give the top end of the bottom 6 something to play for. A playoff for a European spot is also a very common format used in split leagues and even some that don't like the Eredivisie
@@paulot4646 that's a good point about the Eridivisie. They have play offs for Champions league if I remember correctly. It's an interesting idea but would have to be played at the end of the season obviously because positions change. This season is the closest I can personally remember outside the top 3. Aberdeen are 10th but 4 points from 4th. It's crazy, in a good way and I think an exception, although I'd gladly be proven wrong.
I don't care what talksport says about the league, it's been getting called a pub league for years. But I still think the split doesn't work in our league compared to other leagues that do it because of how small ours is. That's why we get discrepancies like some teams having to play another 3 times away to even out the matches each club plays home and away over a season. Having the split with only 5 matches left doesn't help with that.
You make a good argument but and as I said it's just mu opinion. I think a compromise with more clubs in the Premiership and a split could work. There needs to be a proper change in the way the game is run in Scotland and league reform should be top of the agenda. And proper reform this time, not like when they brought in the spfl to take over from the SPL and SFL. They kept the same idiots that ran the SPL and gave them the same positions in SPFL.
@@rossmiller5929 bigger league or splits will change nothing.
The only things that would affect change is if all games had a 50 50 split of gate revenue and or European money got filtered down the league.
The last but most unlikely thing that would affect positive change is if the average 5hyte bag Scottish football fan grew a pair of testicles and supported their local side instead of celtic or sevco.
Increased league size and splits changes nothing except create many meaningless games from mid season onwards.
@@jascam74 a 50/50 split in gate revenue would be fine but it's a fact that Rangers and Celtic are the one's that have full stadiums and season ticket waiting lists. They also have massive travelling support aswell, many away game's have more away fans when it's one of the big 2 Glasgow clubs that are playing. There also the only Scottish clubs that make any kind of impact in Europe so it's understandable they get the lions share of gate receipts and European money, although all teams benefit to some degree when a Scottish club does well in Europe. I've no idea what the percentages are however and that's maybe something to get looked at.
The above reasons lead into your final statement however. I'm from the southside of Glasgow so Rangers is my local team but I went to school in Paisley for 2 years and it was equally divided into Rangers, Celtic and St Mirren fans. Then again my uncle has lived in Edinburgh for 30 years and all his in-laws are Hearts fans and whenever I've been through there his mates were almost all Hearts and Hibs fans. Both Edinburgh clubs are big in there own right but I was at Easter road early in the season and they had plenty of empty seats. Same with Aberdeen, another big club in Scotland and Rangers are there biggest rivals. Some clubs give us two stands as away fans, livingstone give us three but you expect a full house from the Edinburgh clubs, Aberdeen and Dundee Unt especially. The latter two had success domestically and in Europe early to mid 80s. They or someone need to put in a challenge again or make the group stages of a European trophy or it will never change.
Restructuring the league system won't solve everything but it's still needed.
Hi Sam thanks fort he great video, here in Australia the SPFL is on BeIN Sports, it pretty popular over here due to the Aussies players over and and of course Ange Postecoglou being the manager of Celtic. Coverage of A League in Australia on tv and online has also had many complains.
Your painting a picture that is not true your painting a picture though Celtic classes that is only part of a story.
Rangers have plenty of ex pat fan in Australia aswell & have had a fair few Australian players in there history aswell.
Take your green & white glasses off MATE as you all say.
@@alanfox691 I was talking about the whole of the SPFL, I am not even an Celtic fan.
- Need to expand the top flight 12 teams is not enough
- Plastic pitches need to be banned from the top flight
- Refereeing standards are an absolute joke. Needs massive overhaul.
- Need more coverage especially when you consider the Edinburgh derby isn’t on Sky
- Need a better financial deal than the current pennies we get
- Neil Doncaster needs the boot. Undersells Scottish football and is unbelievably inept.
- An ambitious team like Kelly Hearts shouldn’t be intentionally kept down the divisions. Teams like that need to go up and represent Scottish football not sit down in lower leagues
How are kelty hearts intentionally kept down?
Need to ban these snobs that moan about artificial turf pitches.
Absolutely agree with most of the points you pointed out Sam. The one I’m more on board with is the amount of teams that could be playing in the top flight. I’ve actually said for a number of years that the Scottish league system in general is awash with lots of historical and successful clubs that would’ve easily prevailed if the SPFL gave them the budget they deserve. There was even a point where the Scottish top tier had 20 clubs competing in it and I feel that structure has to be brought back at some point and something similar with the lower leagues. Thank goodness you put this situation into words.
Again keep up the amazing work you’re doing Sam and keep giving the Scottish game the recognition it deserves.
Greetings from a Rangers fan! 💙🤍❤️
Also, may I add; When you spoke about the fact that the Old Firm has staggering amounts of hatred from a lot of fans from other clubs around the country, it reminded me of when I watched Copa90’s video of Eli watching Scotland in the Euros last year (fantastic video btw) and they were talking about the clubs of Scotland and I noticed that they didn’t even mention the achievements of the Old Firm at least once. Call me bitter all you want but if you’re making a video of Scottish football, you at least might want to talk and appreciate the achievements that the Old Firm have brought. Also, if the Old Firm didn’t exist, the game up here as we know it wouldn’t be where it is and it would’ve been like the Welsh league right now.
The sheer arrogance of the Last sentence is astounding. It's on the same level as "Scotland wouldn't survive without England as Scotland are just benefit junkies that England always have to pay for."
You could argue that all the glory hunters outwith Glasgow, that make up the vast majority of Celtic and Sevco support/income, would instead support their local team, making Scotland one of the most competitive leagues in Europe and raising the standard across the board as the wealth would be more evenly distributed.
@@jascam74 agreed. I've always thought that without the old firm, the spl would be so much more competitive. A cold Tuesday night against motherwell would no longer be a pointless game. Most of the clubs would be competing for something.
What a great comment and great read
@@jascam74 totally agree man… take airdrie for instance… a perfectly good once small top division team/big second tier team, has for the last 15 years or so been dwindling in the 3rd tier. Almost everyone from airdrie supports rangers which is a real shame. They struggle to get 1000 fans for home games. These traitor glory hunting fans owe their home clubs
@@smth830 yeh the sectarian thing is by far the most embarrassing thing about Scotland in my opinion. I used to live in Spain and everyone would constantly ask me about rangers and Celtic when they found out I was from Glasgow. It was cringey
Saturday 3pm games are never shown on public access TV. There's some archaic rule/law that football games cannot be shown on the traditional Saturday afternoon football slot. I believe this rule applies in England also?
100% agree with changing the pyramid system!
You're absolutely right, Scottish football does need to change big time!! Should reconstruct the league to either 16-14-14 or a 18-24 setup. Would like to discuss this with you in person
Sound let’s meet at north Berwick McDonald’s Saturday 2pm see you then pal walk in and shout IM LOOKING FOR DAZ at the top of your voice so I know it’s you. Can’t wait to discuss this topic on scottish football and how to change it with you 👍
I don't live anywhere near North Berwick sorry about that
@@scottteller6230 I’ll pay for your Uber x
@@gilberthickenbottom7688 no thanks mate, when I said discuss league reconstruction in person. I meant with the guy who made the RUclips video
@@scottteller6230 wow what a rude little man. Shut it n yer a helmet
Summer football (better weather sometimes, better pitches, better TV coverage - no other action), expanded main league (16 teams), proper relegation and promotion from league 2, proper business people looking at expanding the reach of the game, better standard of refereeing
Summer football is all good & well must most seasons it would have a detrimental impact on European result of our clubs in Europe..
Great video
Thanks!
Controversially (though it’d never happen) I’d love to see celtic and rangers have a crack in the English league system
They’d have to start at the bottom of the leagues though, will never happen
I’d hate to see that as a rangers fan.
@@Jamie-kv9eg I don’t mean this in a ignorant or rude way but is it because it’s relatively easy with the duopoly the old firm has in Scotland?
Or is it just due to the fact you’ve always been in Scotland and it’d be stupid to suddenly move them?
Gers fan and I'd love to.
Yes but it never happening
Love your idea on the 14-14-14 and then split for the SPFL 42 👏
However I would change the names. I never got the fact that they are called Prem, Champ, L1 and L2. I know in England it’s different because the PL is separate to the EFL, but it doesn’t make sense in Scotland. It should be something like “First League, Second League, Third League” or “A, B, C”.
Like the regionalisation still underneath that though.
I would love two leagues of 20. With a proper pyramid system like you said. Repetitively playing the same teams isn’t good for the game either. Those running our game need chased. They’re not doing a job for the benefit of our game. All teams should have grass pitches and be made to keep them to a standard. The images of that Dundee pitch on Sky the other week was an embarrassment. The smaller clubs who struggle for fans need to do more community intervention to get more locals going. Giving kids free tickets would be a good starting point. But the money men in charge don’t know if they’ll be there in 5/10 years to reap the benefits of doing this, so they’ll never bother. They just want all the money they can get now!
A top league of 20, like we did 30 years ago and it was changed because it was utterly uncompetitive and so much dross in it that many games were complete non events.
Yeah, sounds great 👍
@@ruaraidhmorrison5879 What's changed? Most games are non-events today. The matches are so 1 sided.
@@itellyouwhy6957 nonsense. There’s 4 points separating 4th and 10th
@@ruaraidhmorrison5879 Agreed i dont know why people want us to go back to that. wahey more county v livi or hamilton v inverness such exitement /s
You and this channel have done loads for Scotland’s football leagues!
Sheikh Mansour hugging President Assad for me is the end my interest in the English Premier League!
I really like Scottish football. It is a really good standard IMO.
The people who administer and run the game could learn a lot from this video.
I support Annan. I think we got lucky with our promotion. Success in junior and lower leagues should be rewarded.
Jimmy pal, think you just need to take a chill pill eh
@@gilberthickenbottom7688 thanks for advice.
@@gilberthickenbottom7688 like I say, I will take the advice; but if the sight of a club owner; of a club I have always liked hugging a man who has committed acts of genocide on his own people, including use of chemical weapons; if that isn’t something a person doesn’t find sickening that’s pretty shocking.
@@jimmycburfield5997 see what a mean, putting words in my mouth like I justified that 😂 just chill out try not to cry and don’t accuse people of having views they never said they had 👍
@@gilberthickenbottom7688 ok, what did you mean, why does someone else holding an opinion require you to formulate that they ‘need a chill pill’?
Secondly, why not try to articulate your point Gilbert?
I'd happily pay a tenner a month for SPFL TV.
Most of the issues you raised where about finances IE you said about the pitches having to be all grass if in prem but some might not afford thag, push for better tv deals (which i agree with) etc
But i feel that you missed 2 major issues :-
1. The split, yes you said about a league revamp with a split but i mean the current one where who plays who and where can be decided by the previous season doesnt make sense.
2. Player development, we have developed a lot of great players in the last few years with tierney, robertson, hickey, mcginn, gilmour and non scots like edouard, van dijk, schmeichel etc but we could have even more
Solutions would be helpful I think. Maybe to expand the league to draw in clubs from the lower Scottish divisions and in doing so spread the money around so that the teams can use the money for player development. They need to sell their product more and increase derby games as a result. Possibly bring into it teams from Ireland to spice things up.
Pitches in Scotland are generally poor for a few reasons but a significant one is that there is a lot less sunlight this far north in winter. This means the grass growing season is shorter and hence by the time it gets to spiring the pitches as gash. The solution in my opinion is not plastic pitches but a summer season. If it works for Norway, Sweden etc, why not us?!
No artificial pitches in spl ✌
great video
I know that’s it down to the number of Gaines contracted to for Rangers and Celtic, but it’s hard to believe that the recent league Edinburgh Derby wasn’t shown live on TV,. This was shelved in place of St Mirren Rangers. Only in Scotland would the second biggest Derby in the country, not be shown on TV.
I reckon a 18-14-14 system is the way to go (inviting the top two from Highland/lowland league up).
There's no reason for 4 games between the same teams in a season for the top league. Make it a 34 game season for the Prem, allowing for more flexibility in the schedule for cup replays and weather disruptions. Automatic relegation for 18th position, relegation play off between 16th/17th.
Div 1 and Div 2 could be run as you suggested - but include 2 automatic promotion spots and then again 14th automatic relegation with a playoff between 12th/13th.
I agree that there needs to be a total reconstruction of the lower leagues, especially given the likes of Talbot and pollock are still in the 6th tier and likely far better than a lot of teams above them. there simply has to be more promotion spots available to these teams
They knocked it back, more money in the league there in, but agree totally there needs to be a total restructure of Scottish football needed,
Scottish TV rights don’t sell for a lot because there aren’t very many people in Scotland. Tiny population. I agree that there should be an affordable streaming package covering every match - that’s the future of all sports coverage.
It isn't just the title and bottom positions to play for.
Just look at all the teams right now competiting for the European spots
I love your videos mate. It's great to see your passion for Scottish football and I share some of your frustrations (if not your appreciation of the OF). I get that they bring money and exposure, but our game was at its best in the 80's where our game was more equitable and we had DU, Hearts and Aberdeen vying for titles as well. The bigotry (Rangers) and self righteous victimhood (Celtic) is pretty nauseating too.
What I would change is the voting system in the top tier. Currently any resolution has to have the consent of 11 out of 12 clubs to pass, which means that any resolution that favours, say, more equitable TV revenue sharing, will never pass as one of the OF can veto it. We had an opportunity to change this when Rangers were out of the league (incidentally attendances at all premier clubs except Celtic increased when Rangers died) but Aberdeen spoiled the party.
I'm an Anglo-Scot (my dad English, my mum from Aberdeen) and am myself now a U.S. citizen. The Scottish Prem now has a few games shown on U.S. TV but just as in Britain tends to focus on the Old Firm. Even though I am a Rangers fan it grates when both sets of Old Firm fans think they can compete in the English Prem...they'd be lucky to survive the Championship.
Playing Hibs,Hearts,Aberdeen and St.Mirren is not the same as playing West Brom,QPR and Middlesbrough *for example) every week.
The divisions need to be even numbered in Scotland and the money divied out equally to give teams outwith the Old Firm half a chance of competing.
The Scottish championship is pretty interesting league this . We get a game on BBC on Friday nights
This is the first year of the West of Scotland league so will wait to see how they do it next season. Would expect 3 or 4 teams getting promoted from first division to premier division next season.
Should have been the second but for Covid.
Pollok fan myself.
It'll be three like it was in the Juniors
@@mboothy more of a hope with 4 and it being a play off just so more places have something but yeah more than likely will be 3.
Are you going to the SPFL Trust cup final Sam?
i would take a % of the money rangers and celtic get from European competitions and split that between the other teams, that money could grow teams in the lower divisions by improving their stadium or signing players etc and eventually will make the standard of football better
Never going to happen in the next 500 years Scottish football is all about self preservation & not about the greater good.
We are a small closed minded backwards Country here in Scotland if you personally want to try & change that the the very best of luck you will still be trying when I am dead in the ground I am 40.
@@alanfox691 don't confuse "Scottish football" with sevco and celtic.
The Glasgow based national football association, the Glasgow based national media and the Glasgow based Scottish referees ensure that the only thing that self preservates, is Glasgow, not Scottish football.
There are only 2 clubs that people in Scotland regard as "small minded and backwards" with their songs about potato famines, dutch princes, sky wizards and being up to their knees in catholic blood.
You can't get much more backward, closed minded and self preservation than having a former ibrox season ticket holder/supporter officiating a sevco match.
So much for sporting integrity and anti corruption.
It's why they are collectively referred to as "Scotland's shame" and why Scottish football is seen as tin pot.
Long-time fan (touring grounds is a passion). You make many good points and have certainly got your base into a decent debate. I would disagree that the majority outside Rangers and their rivals hate those two teams. Certainly those in the SPL do, but they also hate their own rivals just as much. Outside of that, many are appreciative of the money Rangers put into the lower leagues and their towns on our journey back over the last ten years. And yes, it would have been the same if it had been celtic. Without Rangers and celtic, Sky wouldnt put a penny into the league, and without 4 games a year, they wouldnt either (to the point of increasing teams in SPL). I am in the states and get CBS coverage of league games (1-2 a week) and ESPN coverage al every Scottish Cup game for about $10 a month. I dont how much they pay for that contract, but without the Old Firm, yeah I still call it that, those deals are off the table. P.S. Just finished Iain Banks The Bridge and recognised the cover behind you:)
Scottish football will never change because the people with the power are too invested in keeping it the way it is.
Pretty sure Dundee are in the process of relocating stadium and have already purchased a plot of land are have plans drawn up for a 15,000 seater stadium, no building has begun yet though, I was pretty shocked seeing the pitch in your Dundee V Rangers video as the pitch is usually well kept.
Old news it will never happen in realty the same as Aberdeen's Stadium situation.
From his video Dundee need to get out of Dens Park ASAP. The ground is a disgrace. A new purpose built stadium perhaps shared with Dundee United would be the best way forward.
@@kriskruz3792 well said I'm a Dee and I've been saying that for years .
@@kriskruz3792 I’d agree with that too, just some fans can’t see the bigger picture or just don’t want to share, but if the Milan teams can do it I don’t see why we can’t.
Hi ! I am your French guy support 😉
About pyramid system I rather agree with you. It may be better with 3 professional league. The last one, at least, have to be with more club in order to have more relagation. 2 or 1 and and a half is better for me, with the 2 champions promote in professional league. Because we know it, several club in tier 5 (and many in West (tier 6)) are better than professional clubs
However as lowland league is better than highland, why is there not a match between the 2 champions, the winner is promote. And the runner-up of this winner plays a match against the winner loser. And the winner be promoted or play a last match against the second to last from professional league. It will allow with time to have the same level betweeen lowland and highland. Because just with East Junior league club (Keltly and Bonnering) they are becoming better than highland. But with the arrival of West Junior clubs i twill create a really bigger disparity between Low and High. (as West are really better than East club, and the North junior the worst, exept Bank O dee maybe).
And be carfull in West (6 tiers) I imagine there are 7 relegations only beacause they will change the number of club in top 6. The year laterr it may be not like this year.
Other problem is the number of promotion between tier 5 and 6 especialy in Low where West (tier 6) are better than all Lowland league club, and some East who can play in first half of Low . Moreover, exept top 7 in High, and top 5 in High now, there is a great disparity in level. That is why for me i twill have 3 promotions in Low (2 best champions because South is a bad level compare to the other, and one runner-up which beat the other runner-up and the third champion not promoted) That would say 2 club from West and 1 from East majority of time.
For the broadcast, be carfull to not broadcast match at 16pm on Saturday in order to fan continue to go to stadium. And for the app, I am afraid that i twill decrease the number of fan in stadium. But if not, it will be very interesting. But if you do it and, people do not come to stadium, i twill be impossible that they return for me beacause they are more confortable at home and they will be used to it …
I am totaly agree that I prefer Dundee derby and Edimburg derby must be broadcasting instead of Rangers vs St Mirren ! Or other big match such as Aberdeen- against Hibs or Hearts.