They're debating change - what are the odds they will get it wrong again?

IT HAS BEEN a harbinger of summer almost since I was a boy. To what do I refer? Why, the annual outpourings of shite from the red top rottweilers of the popular newspaper sports desk, usually announced with a banner headline:

 “Celtic keen on O'Bogtrotter” 

“Rangers set to bid for McGlumpher”

Generally about 2% of these “Exclusives” turn out to be true; the modern expression is “Clickbait.” The gullible will buy the paper, or log onto the website, just to see who their club's next big signing is going to be – or more likely not be.

Harmless fun for the most part, except, these days this click bait is put up on a regular basis, year-round when it used to be an April to August phenomenon. Well, it keeps the weans off the streets. Another difference between then and now, is these transfer targets are now more likely to be foreign players than Scots, and that worries me.

I long, increasingly in a forlorn and hopeless manner, for the day when the SFA “suits” will grow a pair and start doing what they are supposed to – put Scottish fitba first. But, for as long as all clubs are equal but two clubs are more-equal than all the rest combined, we will not see the changes which are necessary to restore Scottish football to oor guid conceit o oorsels, far less where we seek to be in reality.

And, when the mighty brain power of our paid officials and elected officers is put towards change, they generally get it wrong – badly wrong. Take their latest wheeze; it's a doosie – except, in this case there can be no even subliminal reference to the mighty Duesenburg Model J, supposedly America's finest pre-World War II automobile, and the origin of the phrase: “It's a doosie.” Naw, this one is more Chevrolet Corvair, supposedly the worst car Detroit ever produced.

It seems the SPFL Premiership could, in season 2020-21, become a 12-club league, rather than the current 10-club one, with the clubs playing a total of 44 games per league season. This change would be made, by abolishing relegation next season, promoting the top two in League One automatically, abolishing relegation from League One, promoting the top two from League Two and either – bringing both the Highland and Lowland League Champions, or, perhaps, bringing two Premiership “Colts” team into League Two.

Would anyone like to hazard a guess on which two Colts teams? Thought not.

Actually, putting Young Celtic and Young Rangers into League Two might well help the teams in that division. Look at it this way: if Celtic were up in Aberdeen, with only 8000 Hoops fans allowed to see the game live, perhaps a decent number of the 42,000 Celtic season ticket holders denied access to the game, might feel inclined to go along and see the Young team playing at Albion Rovers or Clyde.

Similarly, when Rangers are well out of Glasgow, might a similar percentage of their 32,000 temporarily disenfranchised season ticket holders not feel the urge to go to a local ground to see their young talent? Such a scenario would boost the smaller club's gates.

But, that is the only reason for allowing the big two to put their Reserves into the main league. It does have greed behind it, so, it might prove popular and therefore work.

What I think they ought to be doing is:

• Coming up with a definite criteria as to what facilities and staff a “Senior” football club should have.
  
  
• Something like – an all-seater stadium with a minimum number of seats
  
  
• Be full-time
  
  
• Have a certain number of qualified coaches
  
  
• Minimum standards for floodlights, and for the pitch and ground
  
  
• No relegation, but, clubs excluded from the initial leagues could join as expansion teams if they met the minimum facilities standards and had been consistently high performers in the minor leagues.
  
  
  [And, after the moger which emerged this week, over Bonnyrigg Rose seeing the rules changed at the last second, to prevent them being promoted to the Lowland League - a wee bit of consistency would help]

I would like to see consideration given to mimicking rugby's PRO14, and operating a two conference system. Say, and this is I would say eminently possible, the SFA and SPFL went for this, and some 20 clubs were considered fit for purpose and could be classed as “Senior Clubs,” split them into two x ten club conferences.

As with the PRO14 each team would play every other team in their conference home and away, and play each of the teams in the other conference once per season. This would give a 28-game regular season.

At the end of the regular season, the top four clubs in each conference would play cross-ties, the clubs finishing first to fourth in one conference facing the clubs finishing fourth to first in the other – home and away. The four winners would go on play down to a Grand Final, and a third v fourth play-off to settle the positions for the European competitions the following season. And, if we ever get high enough up UEFA's rankings to have more than four clubs in Europe in any one season, the four quarter-final losers in the play-off cross ties could play down for that honour.

I would also, if I was on the SFA, INSIST that we put Scottish players first. I would follow the example of the English Rugby Football Union and make it compulsory for the receipt of central funding distributed by the SFA or the League, that clubs have, in every game, a squad of players of whom 75% are Scotland-qualified.

Each club would name a 16-man squad (11 starters, three from the five on the bench to be used as subs), but, at least 12 of these 16 players would have to be eligible to play for Scotland.

I would also insist, since the League Cup does not bestow European competition on the winners, each club's League Cup squad should be made-up, entirely of Scotland-qualified players. Let's stop importing third or fourth rate non-Scots and give our own guys a chance.

But, what about the other clubs? I hear you asking that question. That issue I will deal with in my next blog, as I further investigate the state of Scottish fitba.