HeraldScotland poster GEORGE MACNEILL argues that football in Scotland needs a radical overhaul
Most Scottish football supporters and followers would agree that the state of the game in this country is truly in a right mess.
Dunfermline Athletic are the latest club that has gone into administration, while SPL clubs such as Hearts, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock are heavily in debt to the banks and other financial institutions.
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And Scotland look likely to finish bottom of it's World Cup Qualifying Group.
There are no guarantees that, even if the league construction proposed by both the SPL and the Scottish Football League goes ahead, it will resolve these ills.
All of which begs the question whether there is a more radical way that would get the backing and support of the fans (the majority who wish for a 16-team top division), greater income from a television company, the backing of the SFA and even more crucial Uefa.
It is my view that it is now the time for everybody to think outside the box.
We should look again at the previously proposed Atlantic League.Qualification for the competition would be through existing national league set-ups (hence likely approval by Uefa), with spots for the champions of the SPL and second to fourth-placed clubs.
It could played immediately following the completion of the national leagues, which with a 16-team league could be finished by mid-March if started in July.
The Atlantic League could start in April and be played on Saturdays and Sundays until its completion at the end of May.
It could start initially with even as little as two, three or four northern European national football associations but would evolve in time to become an end-of-season football competition that meets the aspirations of the larger northern European clubs such as Ajax, Feyenoord, Anderlecht, Brugges, Copenhagen, Brondby, Celtic, and Rangers (they will eventually be back at the top of the Scottish game) who are continually financially up against the main clubs from the big five larger European nations.
Since the competition would be played on Saturdays and Sundays, it would leave clubs from smaller nations still in Europe after Christmas to play in the Champions League and Europa Cup on Tuesdays,Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
So far as I understand there has been a precedent for this type of competition in the form of the Intertoto Cup (the tournament was founded in 1961–62, but was only taken over by Uefa in 1995).
And what about the Scottish clubs that do not qualify. I would suggest that the SPL teams who finish in fifth to 12th place after 30 league games then form two groups of four, placing being decided in their final position.
These teams would play home and away with the winner of each group playing at Hampden in a new cup final.
The bottom four SPL sides would play in a similar format with the top four from the Second Division to decide relegation and promotion, with a play-offs that could also be held at Hampden.
How exciting would it be for supporters to look forward to these finals at the end of the season? There could be three or four if you include the Scottish Cup and possibly an Atlantic League Cup Final.
The administrators could be also rubbing their hands with glee with the likely income that could come from these end-of-season matches.
I repeat: it is time for everyone to think 'outside the box' and not continually look back on the ills that have affected the Scottish game in the recent past, or dwell or the present and the likely ills to come in future.
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