bogsideloyal

You forgot franny jeffers

Last week i saw mccall buy a fredo and put the change in a charity box

You make some good points Shotts Well Fan. But I disagree with this. “We have tried the 10 team spl and it failed!!!! There was a reason for its failure - too many poor games where teams tried to avoid defeat and relegation.” If anything, there are more negative tactics now than there was 10 years ago. 10 years ago I can never remember teams setting out like Billy Reid, Gus Mcpherson, Csabo Laszlo and even Craig Brown set their teams out now (the men behind ball / scared of losing brigade). It’s easy to say teams will set out to play more attractive football because of less pressure, but what good is it having teams attempting to play attractive football when the players playing struggle to pass a ball 20 yards and have a touch like a goodwillie (see what I did there?). If a young player is good enough I believe they will get a chance, like they did 10 years ago, no matter what size of league we are playing in. More meaningless games would mean more young players will get a chance, but who wants to watch meaningless games? The best way to improve football in this country is to properly invest in youth development and focussing on getting young players to become technically good. As soon as a boy becomes 11 years old we get them to start thinking about fitness and positioning by throwing them into an 11 a side game. Why do children need to think about fitness and positioning when they are this young? We should concentrate on technique and keep them in 7 a side games until their 15 years old then they can learn about fitness and positioning (similar to holland). Until the day we concentrate more on technique, to keep our game alive a 10 team league is the best way. IMO

All of the below IMO Too many people on here aren’t looking at the bigger picture. A 16/18/20 team league = less old firm derbies and less Edinburgh derbies Less old firm derbies and Edinburgh derbies = less tv money 1 home game vs Hibs/Hearts/Rangers/Celtic/Aberdeen and 1 home game vs Ross County/Hamilton/St Mirren/ St Johnstone/Dunfermline, as opposed to 2 home games vs Hibs/Hearts/Rangers/Celtic/Aberdeen = average attendances would drop Falling attendances and less tv money = less money = poorer quality of player Poorer quality of player = even less people turn up and even less money for tv deal And so on. A 16/18/20 team league would lead to a vicious cycle. I’m not saying that a 10 team league is going to see people flocking back to football, sky desperate to get a tv deal done, better atmosphere and a better quality on the pitch. But it is certainly a lot better an idea than anything anyone else anyone has come up with, hence the reason it looks like all SPL chairmen are going to give it the green light. If you think a 10 team league would be boring playing the same teams all the time, it wouldn’t be half as boring as having part time teams in the top flight. People should also remember we are a small country of less than 5 million people (most of which support 1 of the old firm), we aren’t big enough to sustain a 16/18/20 team top flight. Some people should also stop forever comparing our league to the English league; remember that they have 10x our population and crazy amounts of money to throw about (Wayne Bridge 90k a week!!) What we have had in Scottish football the last 10 – 12 years is as good as it’s ever going to get, people should accept this and stop living in a fantasy world where fans are going to come back in a 16/18/20 team league when we’re playing home to Ross County. Haven’t average attendances increased in Scotland since the SPL was started? I read somewhere that they have, weather thats accurate or not, I don't know. Personally, I don’t really care what size of league we play in. I’ll still be at Fir Park to support my team

I would guess 95% of people don't really care if we change from a 12 team league to a 10 team league. I can understand why people would stop going to games if they felt they weren't enjoying it anymore, lack of money, work on a saturday, had to look after weans etc. But to stop going to games because St Mirren and Hamilton (probably) are dropping out the league? edit - steelboy beat me to it

He was a big name as a player, won trophies and played at a high level so I expect the players will instantly respect him. He will have good knowledge of English lower leagues which has served us well the last 2 - 3 seasons. He seems like a really likeable guy, the kind of guy that the players will want to go out on the pitch and do well for. Ok his record at Bradford was crap, but they were on the slide long before he took over, he couldn't stop the slide, and since Peter Taylor took over he hasn't been able to stop the slide either.

+1