Scottish Football re-construction on hold
The Scottish Premier League voted against the re-construction of the national game at Hampden Park this afternoon.
Voting rules ensured that an 11-1 majority was required for any league re-construction motion to be passed, however both St.Mirren and Ross County opted to vote against the proposed re-organisation of the Scottish game today to the dismay of several Scottish Premier League club chairmen.
At present, the Scottish League setup consists of four separate leagues in a 12-10-10-10 team format however declining attendances and widely acknowledged ‘staleness’ within the Scottish game had led to calls for a change in the footballing landscape north of the border.
The proposal on the table was for the reduction in the number of the leagues to three in a 12-12-18 format with the top division splitting into two leagues of 8 after 22 matches have been played. The belief would be that the top 8 teams would play each other home and away once more to compete for the title and European spots with the bottom 8 sides having their points reset before battling it out for 4 places in the top 12 at the start of the following season.
This format had been tried in Switzerland previously but was shortly abandoned after being widely condemned by Swiss clubs and their supporters. Scottish football fans had also voiced their opposition to the new plans with a recent poll revealing that 87% of supporters favoured the expansion of the top division to a minimum of 16 teams as is the case in Sweden, Norway, Greece and Belgium.
Those chairman who voted in favour of the changes today believe that the decision to maintain the ‘Status Quo’ in the Scottish game may lead to the financial oblivion of their clubs as a reduction in television revenue and ticket money has edged several teams closer to administration and potential liquidation.
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