Rookie boss Mark Warburton believes that an expanded top division can transform Scottish football.
As he approaches the end of his second year in club management former city trader Warbo thinks that a 16 or 18 team top division would increase interest and income to the game!
The current 12 club top division splits in half after three rounds of fixtures giving each club 19 home matches to budget for.
At the start of each season every club knows that a top six finish will bring them two home matches from the best clubs in the county but Warbo wants to reduce that to one visit a season from each of the other top fifteen clubs.
Looking forward to his side’s visit to Morton today the former Watford youth coach said: “I’m sure that when you look at the quality and variety of a product and what appeals, these are the obvious questions. Should we expand the league? I’m sure it’s an idea that will come up.
“I’m not speaking as an expert, just giving my opinion. In my humble opinion, I think [a 16-team top flight] would be viable.”
While offering his thoughts on how to improve Scottish football Warburton steered clear of Financial Fair Play with his own club heading for another financial crisis.
New chairman Dave King’s appeal for 45,000 season ticket sales was ignored by 13,000 fans bringing forward crisis day for the Ibrox club.
Last season Mr King’s club had to rely on a £5m loan from Mike Ashley topped up by three £1.5m loans from the three bears to scrape their way through to the end of the season.
With expenditure in excess of £30m in each of their three seasons no fundamental changes have taken place since the South African based businessman swept to power more than six months ago.
Since Mr King took charge the company has been de-listed from the Alternative Investment Market and has still to produce audited accounts for the year to June 2015 which would seem certain to carry a going concern warning.
Slashing costs by closing down Murray Park and abandoning the clubs extensive and costly academy network would seem the obvious way to reducing costs but under Warbo lucrative contracts have been handed out to a number of journeymen from English football
“I’m looking from a football perspective but some short-term pain for long-term gain could be a very relevant quote here,” the Ibrox boss added in relation to league reconstruction.
Ha ha he`s been told to stir it up, not a football expert ???
You never said that to King and co, stop spouting shit, they’re using you
1st, your money mates turned King down for share issue,
2nd when and if you are allowed into Premier google Ibroke`s to CP its 5 miles, that’s how far in mileage then you`ll find how far behind not only Celtic but the rest your wee club is.
nothing can save scottish football, we need out asap
Guess what club will be hitting the skids shortly, we need to change the league set up. Seem to have heard this somewhere before.
TICK TOCK !
HH
Smell the desperation n taste the pain yaaasss!!!
Aye , no bother , mister i can beat part time painters/brickies but cant beat an average st johnstone side with EPL players from Arsenal and Spurs in my team
Away and get yourself to …..
Why don’t we have one big league of 40 teams !
The man is being indoctrinated into their mentality – ignore them
Warbs – here’s a better idea… We should make it a one-team SPL, with rangers being the sole representative. That way, your fans can gloat about the number of titles they have, as well as boasting to everybody that they are the only club in Europe. By doing so, you help maintain your superiority complex over everybody else because, as you constantly like to remind us, that you are “ra peepul!!”.
That’s the only way you will ever be able to brag that you are the biggest club in Scotland!!
BTW: will your book “Warbs and The Magic Hat” be out in time for Xmas? I’ve got a two year-old niece that loves colouring-in books, and I’m sure it’ll be a bestseller amongst the Toxic Ted’s as well!!
New ideas are always welcome but expanding the SPL is not one of them. The EPL has 55,000,000 population to draw on, plus a terrific propaganda machine that insists it’s the “best league in the world” despite evidence to the contrary, eg, it so-so performances in the Champions League and Europa League. With 55m to draw on the EPL has 20 teams, therefore, the SPL with less than 10% of 55m to draw on should have a league with 2 teams. Put another way, the SPL with 12 teams means that the EPL should have 120 teams: with the TV money they get they could afford to spread the wealth……
Fifty years ago the National Football League [NFL] and the Canadian Football League [CFL] were pretty much on par then American Television stepped in and parity was a memory. The added factor of the same 10 to 1 population ratio. But the CFL hung in there and today, new stadiums, great place for family outings, top class marketing and the CFL is back: by the way, to the casual observer the two games look the same but they’re not. The CFL is a much more entertaining game.
That’s the way for the SPL to go — marketing; family friendly, a day out. Oh yeah, 2 referees, games spread out over the week and in evening [for television]. Take a look at the MLS: the soccer isn’t as good as the SPL [but improving yearly] but it is the most progressive league in the World and would they consider playing ALL their games at the same time on a Saturday afternoon? Are you kidding! Move on, television rules, the fans are only there to provide atmosphere.
The MLS is expanding at a rate that is astonishing and to get in now costs $100,000,000.00 US and it didn’t get to here being stuck in the 19th century.