What Action Should The SFA/SPL Take If Rangers Go Bust??

 

Whilst we all know the implications straight away for the SPL were rangers to go out of business, there are implications that I’m some people may have considered and certain things Scotland may need to do, when what looks like an eventuality comes around.

• Everyone’s been talking about the TV revenue in Scotland; they already receive less than our Championship clubs, and who’s going to buy the TV rights to a Scottish procession for the next 5-10 years? It would be like ESPN buying the league rights to the Lithuanian league.

• One thing people have been banging on about is Rangers getting into Europe this season, but that is the least if their European worries, not just for the Old Firm but Scotland as a whole. Scotland’s UEFA Coefficient is already poor comparatively, Scotland’s’ coefficient is currently 25,686, which sandwiches them between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, not having a competitive Rangers, will certainly see that coefficient slide and slide, to fall possibly below Slovenia and Latvia, the fiscal implication for Scotland and its football for me is too much to comprehend at this time but i seriously worry.

• The last point is the redistribution of wealth in Scotland. Currently the top two struggle to compete with Championship sides, but Celtic and Rangers just about cope particularly with the players already based in Scotland, quite regularly a bidding war ensues between the clubs for domestic players, helping raise capital for those in the 2nd half of the split, and those in the lower leagues. With just one club with a serious budget, they’ll be able to hold the smaller Scottish club over a barrel in transfer negotiations and their incomes will deplete at a drastic rate. This coupled with the decreased TV Revenue and less European money arriving into these smaller clubs pockets could spell absolute disaster for the Scottish leagues. This will leave clubs that are already in trouble due to Rangers’ plight such as Dunferlime in serious trouble of finding themselves in administration.

So how will Scotland sort this situation out, I’ve been mulling this over now for the past couple of days, and it is a task I’m not at all envious off, the people in the corridors of power at the SFA have a decision to make that could make or break the future of Scottish football. But here are my ideas that if they wish to take note feel free.

• They have to revitalize the league and sell their souls for some investment. Beg, steal, borrow, whatever they must do to get some money and distribute around all the clubs.
• They need to find a way of creating competition within the league, there are a few ways of doing this:
A) A Youth draft similar to the MLS and American Sport, get all the best Scottish talent under 20 each year, and draft into the SPL, the newly promoted team picks first and so on, one by one, until the champions and then back over, three times over.

B) Split the league into groups, involving the 2nd division with a play-off final. Groups of between 4 and 5, each team plays each other twice, the top two (or one) go into a play-off structure, where they play home and away legs (ala champions league) with knock-outs resulting in a large final at Hampden Park, This may boost interest in the competition with more chance of a dominating side such as Celtic getting knocked out, adding more drama and intrigue to the league, and a rotating champion rather than one dominating domestic force.

C) The SPL may have to engineer a way of moving Celtic into the English league, like above mean there is a rotating champion which generates more wealth in different clubs, and hopefully improves a few sides enough to increase Scotland’s overall UEFA Coefficient.
These ideas may not be fantastic but supply a bit of out of the box thinking which the SPL desperately need. My favorite idea is B, which I think would generate much more interest and TV Revenue than the others which would boost Scotland on a whole.

Please feel free to comment on my thoughts, and add your own.