League Reconstruction.


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https://news.stv.tv/sport/plans-in-motion-to-introduce-new-fifth-tier-conference-league-to-scottish-football

"The proposals would see the new level of competition introduced just below SPFL League Two in Scottish football’s pyramid structure, and would also feature sides invited from the Highland and Lowland leagues.

Restructure of the leagues to accommodate Colt sides from the top flight clubs has been discussed for some time, with Celtic and Rangers B teams having competed for the last two seasons in the Lowland League and Hearts B team joining the league this season."

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3 hours ago, garydavidson said:

https://news.stv.tv/sport/plans-in-motion-to-introduce-new-fifth-tier-conference-league-to-scottish-football

"The proposals would see the new level of competition introduced just below SPFL League Two in Scottish football’s pyramid structure, and would also feature sides invited from the Highland and Lowland leagues.

Restructure of the leagues to accommodate Colt sides from the top flight clubs has been discussed for some time, with Celtic and Rangers B teams having competed for the last two seasons in the Lowland League and Hearts B team joining the league this season."

Cheers GD.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 5 weeks later...
9 hours ago, garydavidson said:
looks like the new plan is to create a new fifth tier to promote the Glasgow two b teams and relegate all but six Highland and lowland league teams.

Hearts and Aberdeen now also implicating themselves. An utter disgrace.

 

I'd love to be able to hear clubs' rationale for voting in favour of this. Obviously the four SPFL clubs who want their Colt sides involved must see some benefit to it, but what's in it for anyone else? Are Saints in favour of it, and if so why? (Perhaps this is something to be asked at the next fans' meeting!).

It needs a 51% vote to go ahead but I haven't been able to find any explanation of which clubs get to vote. Is it every club in the pyramid, or just clubs above a certain level? I find it hard to believe many non-league clubs are going to vote to relegate themselves, and what would the SPFL clubs have to gain from it?

It feels like such a shame to me that this is going to happen after the great steps forward that were taken in integrating the leagues together into a proper pyramid system. This just completely ruins so much of that.

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I can see how this appeals to League Two sides. If they are relegated, they get a season playing the Colts sides, bringing in income and having a 1 in 6 chance of coming back up. Currently, if they go down they have to win the league, then a play-off just to have a chance to play the bottom club.

It shouldn't make the top non-league side stronger, so doesn't increase the chance of relegation, but does the chances of coming back in. That will appeal to League One/Two sides who might see themselves potentially finishing bottom at some point.

I suspect many SPL/Championship clubs will see this as a solution for the Colts sides which doesn't impact them. It appeases the bigger clubs and prevents a larger restructure being suggested. So there's little incentive for clubs like Saints to get involved in this.

I'm not saying it's a good option. The best option would be for the top Scottish clubs to join the top sides in the North of England to have a Northern Colts league, allowing Rangers and Celtic to test themselves against the Manchester and Liverpool clubs. I can see the arrangement being miserable for fans of real teams watching them play youth teams half the season. But I can understand why from a business perspective clubs are in favour of it.

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20 hours ago, Gekko said:

This was retweeted by the Jeanfield Swifts Twitter account, so I can only presume that this is their view as well.

It's a short but decent post from Nairn County which makes good points and also pretty much sums up my thoughts on this subject.

https://nairncountyfc.co.uk/news/supporters-update-proposed-conference-league/

Well put by Nairn.

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  • 1 month later...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65816200

This line is rather strange: "Maxwell pointed out that the proposal had stemmed from a previous review that suggested the inclusion of B teams from Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibernian, Dundee, Dundee United was a priority."

Why should four clubs that have suffered recent relegations be priority for this supposed youth development in Scotland? 

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9 minutes ago, garydavidson said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65816200

This line is rather strange: "Maxwell pointed out that the proposal had stemmed from a previous review that suggested the inclusion of B teams from Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibernian, Dundee, Dundee United was a priority."

Why should four clubs that have suffered recent relegations be priority for this supposed youth development in Scotland? 

I guess the review possibly found those clubs to be best set-up in terms of youth facilities etc to run a B-side? No idea, though. Dundee are a particularly weird one to name-check. And doesn't he know that Hearts already have a B-team in the Lowland League?

Undoubtedly this is going to raise its head again in the next year or so with another tweaked proposal of some sort. They really need to just stop. And I really resent Maxwell's implied notion that clubs should be willing to put their own best interests aside in order to do something that may or may not be of any significant benefit to the Scotland national team.

 

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2 hours ago, blueheaven said:

I guess the review possibly found those clubs to be best set-up in terms of youth facilities etc to run a B-side? No idea, though. Dundee are a particularly weird one to name-check. And doesn't he know that Hearts already have a B-team in the Lowland League?

Undoubtedly this is going to raise its head again in the next year or so with another tweaked proposal of some sort. They really need to just stop. And I really resent Maxwell's implied notion that clubs should be willing to put their own best interests aside in order to do something that may or may not be of any significant benefit to the Scotland national team.

 

My only thought is the review was the one done ages ago by Henry McLeish? 

Maxwell is not really doing a tasteful job at the SFA, this along with the cup final time change are a sign of him making some increasingly bad calls. 

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Rangers' announcement about pulling their B-team out of the Lowland League is really quite staggering. Absolutely no acknowledgement of the concerns of the numerous clubs who would have been relegated by their plan.

Am I not right in thinking they only had a B-Team in the Lowland League in the first place because they campaigned for it? It wasn't the other teams who asked for it. Whatever they're given, they always come back and say it's not good enough and they want something else - even when they're given exactly what they'd asked for.

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3 hours ago, blueheaven said:

Rangers' announcement about pulling their B-team out of the Lowland League is really quite staggering. Absolutely no acknowledgement of the concerns of the numerous clubs who would have been relegated by their plan.

Am I not right in thinking they only had a B-Team in the Lowland League in the first place because they campaigned for it? It wasn't the other teams who asked for it. Whatever they're given, they always come back and say it's not good enough and they want something else - even when they're given exactly what they'd asked for.

As we no they only think about their own interests , feel fir the other teams it may affect.

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12 hours ago, blueheaven said:

Rangers' announcement about pulling their B-team out of the Lowland League is really quite staggering. Absolutely no acknowledgement of the concerns of the numerous clubs who would have been relegated by their plan.

Am I not right in thinking they only had a B-Team in the Lowland League in the first place because they campaigned for it? It wasn't the other teams who asked for it. Whatever they're given, they always come back and say it's not good enough and they want something else - even when they're given exactly what they'd asked for.

From the statement of Ian Maxwell it seemed very much like the SFA was the one suggesting the new structure was what made it even more worrying for me. He should have gone out the door with his proposal, plus his changing of the Scottish cup final. Really isn't what I was hoping he would be in that role.

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