THE coronavirus crisis, resulting in the game being closed down until further notice in Scotland, is going to give the game’s administrators plenty of work to do to sort out how and when the game will resume.
Will it be in early April, the date set by their English counterparts? That seems highly unlikely north or indeed south of the border and the stories that emerged over the weekend suggesting a resumption of play in August seems much more likely. And the reports in the Telegraph and Daily Mail on Saturday morning suggested that the English Premier League sides had agreed among themselves to award the title to leaders Liverpool.
This morning Niall J has an outstanding piece on this implications and the likely outcomes re the awarding of the title now by Government decree and you can read that article, which is titled Glasgow Celtic, Champions – Universidad Catolica, Stan Petrov, Null and Void Merchants Routed HERE.
Yesterday on The Celtic Star we looked at the options in these articles, linked to below and asked for some feedback, so we’ll consider a few of the replies, while Niall J will be back later on with a very interesting proposal, again from a Celtic Star reader.
Thoughts on a way to conclude the Premiership and Scottish Cup….https://t.co/xN76TRzO56 @CelticFC @ScottishFA @spfl
— The Celtic Star Editor (@CelticStarMag) March 14, 2020
Axed till August Fear, a Solution – 14 team, 39 games league, no split and Glasgow Cup Final…https://t.co/4IBI2hlv7B @hamiltonaccies @RossCounty @LiviFCOfficial
— The Celtic Star Editor (@CelticStarMag) March 14, 2020
League reconstruction, 16 League team with a 3 way split 4, 8 and 4
Regarding league reconstruction, if a two-group split is acceptable then why would a 3-way split not be even more acceptable and better?
Consider a 16 team league in SPFL. Everybody plays each other twice creating a nice clean set of 30 fixtures per club. then why not split the teams three-way into 3 playoff groups:
Group 1: The champions and EURO group. each team plays each other twice making 6 intense high-level fixtures after the split with each team having played a clean 36 game season. All top 4 teams win a Euro place. Also make the end of season games higher quality.
Group 2: The middle-tier group: each team plays 7 fixtures and the making a total league season of 37 games. The team finishing top of the middle tier (and 5th in the overall league standings) gets the 5th Scottish European place which will be the new Confederations Cup.
Group 3: The relegation tier: again each team plays each other twice making 6 fixtures after the split with each team playing a 36 game league season.
I am totally convinced that a 16 team SPFL with an exciting 3-way split after 30 fixtures would generate a lot more excitement in our fairly stale system. Each team in each tier after the spfl would have a lot to play for. My suggestion would hinge on removing the Scottish Cup winner Euro slot, but the 4th placed team from the top tier could play-off the winner from the middle-tier in a euro place single match play-off final if we decided to keep the Scottish Cup euro place or if Scotland got reduced to only 4 Euro places.
I have total confidence that my suggestion would be favoured by most Scottish football fans if it was voted on against other league format suggetsions including the status quo arrangement.
Best regards
James Simpson
Celtic fan from Hamburg Germany
New League Set-up
This unprecedented situation offers us the opportunity to re-think our senior football set-up. Unfortunately, self-interest may still scupper this once-in-a-lifetime chance to put together an arrangement that has lasting appeal to the greatest number of supporters. And we still have to overcome the moribund , “muggins-turn” structure of Scottish Football administration that has bedevilled our game for so long.
That said we still have a unique chance to improve things for most. I read an article on here recently (sorry, can’t find it now for reference) which was a thoughtful and eminently sensible way forward, giving us a less unwieldy and fairer structure for the top league .
This would entail NO relegation for this season and promoting the top TWO from the Championship giving us a 14 team league.
Each team plays each other home and away (26 games), then we have a split of the top 6 who play home and away (10 games) giving a total of 36 games in a season.
Promotion and relegation would resume as per now – one up/down automatically, one up/down from playoff.
However, whether this structure of another is adopted there has to be a major change at the top! This country desperately needs a professional administration – not the amateur, cack-handed, old boy’s network that currently prevails, which rewards people who have no proven record of success in any field except how to stick their noses in the trough!
This will be the most difficult exercise as turkeys don’t vote for Christmas – but change is imperative otherwise the same old malaise will set in and we will continue to decline as a football nation.
Millsy
If you have any views on reconstruction, the implications from the coronavirus crisis and how best to resume play – or indeed any other Celtic related matter – we’d love to hear from you. Please email editor@thecelticstar.co.uk
And if you haven’t taken The Celtic Star’s stunning Tour of inside Paradise this morning then do yourself a favour and have a look now. Those close-up pictures of the trophies are remarkable…
Welcome to @CelticFC Park – enjoy a unique photo tour inside Paradise….https://t.co/HgXHpRNJLr @Boola_vogue @McLaughlin_1888
— The Celtic Star Editor (@CelticStarMag) March 15, 2020
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