Not only does it divide our top flight in two but it also divides fan opinion – are you pro or anti split?
Watch A View From The Terrace now on BBC iPlayer
by AViewFromTheTerrace
Not only does it divide our top flight in two but it also divides fan opinion – are you pro or anti split?
Watch A View From The Terrace now on BBC iPlayer
by AViewFromTheTerrace
20 Comments
I find them unwatchable
Wonderfully impressive of them to speak for one whole minute without saying anything interesting, amusing, new, or insightful.
Dye like the playstation? Ah like the playstation
Utterly ridiculous views. One season out of what, 25? Where there’s meaningful competition outside the top two teams and suddenly the split is the best thing ever?
I think bloody well not.
I hate that these guys are about as good as it gets for coverage/analysis of the Scottish game. We desperately need some more serious, impartial and genuinely insightful analysis. Between this and Open Goal (admittedly far, far, far worse than this) the bar is so fucking low.
I’ve never been a fan of the gimmick, but then i’ve always favoured a 16-team league where you play each other home and away and that’s it.
I was a massive fan of the split until this season.
Could do with a title run in without playing all the best teams 😀
Gimps
Can’t beat the split seasons were Hibs would miss out on the top 6 by a few points, safe from relegation, and have 5 utterly meaningless games against the rest of the manure of the bottom six.
The happy clappers would then try to say we’d actually finished 5th because by the end of the split we accumulated more points than the teams in 6th and 5th.
What a laugh…
Would have to look it up but I’m not sure if there are many (if any) other leagues where the financial imbalance between the top two and everyone else is so huge, in terms of wage bill and transfer spend.
This season Hearts managed four victories over the old firm in a row. In many other leagues they’d have ridden off into the sunset, but because of the way our league is structured there are another four fixtures against them after that.
Having to face the five other strongest teams in a row, at the business end of a tiring season, is also situation where richer clubs with better squad depth have a far bigger advantage.
If we were structured like many other leagues, Hearts would have had easier fixtures peppered throughout the season to take the pressure off. If we had a 16 or 18 team division for instance, it would be possible that they could be going into the last 6 games with fixtures against the likes of Dundee, Livingston, Patrick Thistle and Arbroath included in that run (no offence to those teams of course).
As much as the top six is exciting for once this year, doing away with it and increasing the size of the division is the only low hanging fruit available to the SFA if they want to increase our league’s competitiveness. As it stands, the way our top flight is structured just cements the inequality.
Who are these wankers, why are these wankers?
The split is better for our league, I’d even be a fan of 14 teams and split after 2 games and play 2 games post split
They need to just restructure the leagues – 3 leagues of 16 teams, fewer games and institute a winter break so there’s fewer postponements.
They talk about imbalance – I think the very bottom and very top have to switch leagues – and this creates an imbalance going down to the Highland, Lowland East and Lowland West where champions can stay year after year.
I’d rather they just played each other twice – 16 team league, 30 games – 3 up/3 down. The championship teams that would join them right now are: St Johnstone, Partick Thistle, Dunfermline Athletic and Arbroath. There’s a few teams there with good supports and stadiums, ideally top league is full time teams only, grass pitches, better facilities etc.
Championship of 16 teams in a similar fashion, so current teams would be Airdrieonians, Ayr United, Greenock Morton, Queen’s Park, Raith Rovers, Ross County PLUS Alloa Athletic, Cove Rangers, East Fife, Hamilton Academical, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Kelty Hearts, Montrose, Peterhead, Queen of the South and Stenhousemuir. Part time teams and astro pitches are allowed but cannot be promoted.
National League of 16 teams, so currently would be Annan Athletic, Clyde, Dumbarton, East Kilbride, Edinburgh City, Elgin City, Forfar Athletic, Stirling Albion, Stranraer and The Spartans PLUS Brora Rangers and Brechin City (HL), Linlithgow Rose and Clydebank (LLW), then Hill of Beath Hawthorn and Jeanfield Swifts (LLE). 3 down to the regional leagues here, 3 up from each (champions only).
This means fewer teams miss out. And each subsequent year, the pyramid can send up their champions to join the national league. 48 teams total.
Respectfully, I’d agree with Ann Budges stance on the number of teams – we’ve too many in the senior leagues. If it were two leagues of 16 that would be enough – there are teams in League One currently who in my lifetime have achieved little, before we examine League Two, where the most exciting thing in my memory is the performance of the teams that have come up from non-league.
I don’t see anything wrong with a split, it’s just that we choose to do it in an idioitic way.
It would be nice to go to a 16/18 team top-flight, but that’s not going to be realistic because the teams aren’t voting against their financial interests. The best path forward that has a realistic chance of getting through remains 14 teams that splits to a top-6/bottom-8 after 26 games. Balances fixtures, only adds two extra team, largely maintains fixture numbers, TV would like the two month mini-league and can sell the bottom-8 rights separately for a little extra cash.
As shit as our system is, at least we don’t do the bullshit they do in Belgium when they half teams points totals when the league splits.
The split is just absolutely garbage. Never understood it (not in terms of how works, but why anyone would think it is a good idea) when first introduced and even less so after the years it has been running.
Why does anyone think a team fighting for lives against relegation wouldn’t give Hearts or Rangers a tougher game in 2nd or last day of season than the team in fifth or sixth place with zero to play for?
Just a nonsense, rubbish idea.
There’s a reason why we’re the only league doing this
Edit: Turns out I’m a dafty. Who knew? I genuinely thought we were the only league doing this. Well, still a shite idea designed to generate more Glasgow Derbies but
The guy with the Egon Spengler glasses said he liked the split but didn’t give any reasons why he likes it but instead rattled off a bunch of reasons why people don’t like it
Ive always liked it. Genuinely no idea why people don’t. Going for the title, making all the top teams play each other is better.
I like the split just not out split.
Belgium have it the best, take what they have.
16 Teams playing 30 games then splits into 6-4-6 with everyone playing each one in their split twice more.
Although scrap the points being halved which is woke nonsense even though it creates drama
Hear me out…could get booted in the baws for this but I think the 4th place conference place should be a one off playoff spot between 4th and 7th. Gives every team in both tables something to really play for.