DAVID Longmuir has copped some flak during the on-going debate into league reconstruction. He has been accused of being in Charlie Green's pocket - perhaps he is, but, there is not the same circumstantial evidence of Charlie Boy having his arm up Longmuir's arse working him, than there is of a similar relationship between Peter Lawwell and Stuart Regan (Lawwell's right arm) and Neil Doncaster (Lawwell's left arm).
I did like his retort to the jibe - to state he is working on behalf of 30 clubs, rather than just the one large fallen one. The trouble is, the case for sustaining all 30 SFL clubs is at best dubious and is probably flawed.
Between the Premiership and the Football League, England has 92 "senior" football teams, fighting for a piece of a 55 million population cake. By these numbers, Scotland's 5 million population cake should only be supporting at best 10 clubs, rather than 42.
The numbers don't add-up; but, they haven't added-up for years and that hasn't stopped the SFL repeatedly adding clubs. In the heyday post-World War II glory days of mammoth attendances, Scotland had fewer senior clubs.
In 1953 we had 32 clubs, playing in two 16-club divisions. In 1955, the year the European Cup was inaugurated, the league was extended; Motherwell and Stirling Albion dodged relegation from Divison A, Airdrie and Dunfermline Athletic were added to make an 18-club top flight, with Berwick Rangers, East Stirlingshire, Montrose and Stranraer added to make-up a 19-club Division B.
This format continued until 1966, when, following the fall-out over the Steedman brothers' efforts to re-locate East Stirlingshire to Clydebank, the Bankies became the 38th senior club and we had an 18-club First Division and a 20-club Second.
Third Lanark's demise meant a return to 18-19 clubs in 1967-68, before, in 1974, Meadowbank were introduced to return us to 18-20, just in time for the shift to a three-division 10-14-14 format with the start of the Premier League in 1975.
We managed fine with 38 clubs until 1994, when Inverness CT and Ross County came in and we went to four 10-club leagues, which have since grown to a 12-club SPL and three 10-club SFL divisions.
I would argue, Scottish football was better-off with just 32 clubs than it is today with 10 more. OK, the football world was smaller than, but, even though the SFA "blazers", through panic changes, poor selection, even-poorer organisation and by totally under-mining the team manager (whom they didn't even trust to pick the team), made a total dog's dinner of our 1954 World Cup Finals campaign - we still finished that campaign in 15th place - somewhat better than our current 66th place in the FIFA rankings.
In that final 16-club top-flight season of 1954-55, Aberdeen won the league by three points from Celtic, with Rangers a further five points away in third, followed in turn by League Cup-winners Hearts, Hibs, St Mirren, Clyde (who beat Celtic in the Scottish Cup final), Dundee, Partick Thistle, Kilmarnock, East Fife, Falkirk, Queen of the South, Raith Rovers, Motherwell and Stirling Albion.
Albion were well-adrift at the foot, but, there was a mere nine points covering the teams in 7th to 15th places - a lot closer than in today's SPL.
Scotland has changed since then. Back in the 1950s, we shopped locally, we didn't travel as widely as we now do, not even to work. These days, we go to the nearest Tesco, Asda, Morrison or Sainsbury's rather than to the local Co-op or corner shop. So we shouldn't complain when we prefer to do our shopping for football in the SPL rather than SFL2 or SFL3. Although, too-many of us are "shopping" on-line for EPL football for my liking.
So, rather than trying to sustain the present 42 senior clubs, I feel we should be reducing their number. However, this would mean a radical re-think to somehow find a role for those clubs liable to be cast adrift in any reduction in numbers.
If this circle could be squared, the future might yet be bright for Scotland.
However, I fear the "blazers" will, as so-often in the past, do the wrong thing.
SANDAZA sacked - what took Rangers so long?
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