SPL

[Tevez]

The most boring league in the world?

You decide.

[Zingari]

The most boring league in the world?

You decide.

it probably is but the premier league is going the same way, in terms of the number of teams capable of actually winning anything ( if thats what you mean )

or are you commenting on the standard of football ?

[Stevosevic]

At least the premier league has some quality players that everyone can enjoy to watch, the SPL does not.

[Manwell Pablo]

Who here actually watches it. Or has watched it.

[davieG]

In terms of who can win yes, just like the Premier and I'm not that sure the quality in the Premier is that great, sure they have some quality players but so do the the Italian, Spanish and German Leagues, however when football is played at 90 mph, British style quality has very little opportunity to surface; some of the most boring Premier games have also been between the 'better quality' sides.

Until they create a level playing field the Premier will never be seen by me as anything other than predictable.

It's also why I'm not to fussed about getting there, the only real reason to get promoted is to get your nose in the pig trough so we don't get left further behind, there seems to me to be little to look forward to football wise.

[Zingari]

In terms of who can win yes, just like the Premier and I'm not that sure the quality in the Premier is that great, sure they have some quality players but so do the the Italian, Spanish and German Leagues, however when football is played at 90 mph, British style quality has very little opportunity to surface; some of the most boring Premier games have also been between the 'better quality' sides.

Until they create a level playing field the Premier will never be seen by me as anything other than predictable.

It's also why I'm not to fussed about getting there, the only real reason to get promoted is to get your nose in the pig trough so we don't get left further behind, there seems to me to be little to look forward to football wise.

agreed ; all the genuine hopes of teams in the "Leicester city bracket" has all but evaporated in this era ; personally i now would not mind if all the top teams in europe broke away to form a euro- super league and leave the rest of us to have a genuine competetive league with realistic hopes of actually winning trophies

[davieG]

agreed ; all the genuine hopes of teams in the "Leicester city bracket" has all but evaporated in this era ; personally i now would not mind if all the top teams in europe broke away to form a euro- super league and leave the rest of us to have a genuine competetive league with realistic hopes of actually winning trophies

I've long advocated it

Turn the Champions League into a full European League and then they can have a simple Knock Out Cup based on the FA Cup as well, leave the rest of us to play domestic football, after all we've got very little chance if any of playing meaningful European games they might just as well be pre-season friendlies, several steps up from Pompey anyway.

[Zingari]

I've long advocated it

Turn the Champions League into a full European League and then they can have a simple Knock Out Cup based on the FA Cup as well, leave the rest of us to play domestic football, after all we've got very little chance if any of playing meaningful European games they might just as well be pre-season friendlies, several steps up from Pompey anyway.

would you say that this arrangement should be permanent in its make-up ; or would the other teams from the domestic leagues be competing for entry into the euro-super league ?

[davieG]

would you say that this arrangement should be permanent in its make-up ; or would the other teams from the domestic leagues be competing for entry into the euro-super league ?

Well it would be nice if there could be some form of 'relegation/promotion' but I rather think the financial inequalities that currently exist would be there and they would have problems competing, so I'd plump for permanent.

We could then be left to wallow in our poverty.

It would be interesting to see which competitions would command the biggest TV audiences in respective countries, would a competitive English League attract a greater English audience than some 'distant' Euro League game?

What would have to be part of the equation is that all income form the new domestic league would need to be divided fairly amongst all the competing clubs in all divisions.

[Zingari]

Well it would be nice if there could be some form of 'relegation/promotion' but I rather think the financial inequalities that currently exist would be there and they would have problems competing, so I'd plump for permanent.

We could then be left to wallow in our poverty.

It would be interesting to see which competitions would command the biggest TV audiences in respective countries, would a competitive English League attract a greater English audience than some 'distant' Euro League game?

What would have to be part of the equation is that all income form the new domestic league would need to be divided fairly amongst all the competing clubs in all divisions.

true ,i also think it would have to remain permanent in its make up, the logistics ( if thats the right word ) of selecting who should replace a relegated team would be very complicated ( eg should it be a team from the same country or a team more worthy by its achievements )

interesting point about the attaction of audiences and i also think you are right in saying that the domestic games would prove more popular to most supporters ,

if it did happen maybe after a few years the "super teams " would come to think they had shot themselves in the foot and be trying to re-enter its own domestic league.

[davieG]

true ,i also think it would have to remain permanent in its make up, the logistics ( if thats the right word ) of selecting who should replace a relegated team would be very complicated ( eg should it be a team from the same country or a team more worthy by its achievements )

interesting point about the attaction of audiences and i also think you are right in saying that the domestic games would prove more popular to most supporters ,

if it did happen maybe after a few years the "super teams " would come to think they had shot themselves in the foot and be trying to re-enter its own domestic league.

Piss off would seem to be an appropriate response to that request

[Zingari]

Piss off would seem to be an appropriate response to that request

beatifully expressed

[McFox]

Um.. back to the original question... i feel i should stick up for the SPL (since i live up here..)

No, the standard of football in the SPL is nowhere near the Premiership (or the Premier League as they now seem to be calling themselves again).

But then, thats the most bloody obvious statement in the world.

Nobody in Scotland is claiming that the SPL is the same quality as the Premier League. Nobody.

There are, of course, the Old Firm folk who think that they could 'mix it' with the likes of Man Untd, Chelsea etc but thats a complely different argument.

So anyway, yes the standard isn't great but then neither is the standard in the Championship a lot of times- let alone Leagues 1 and 2.

Football doesn't have to be top quality to be entertaining- otherwise, you might as well scrap all football except for the top flight stuff.

Re: the footballers themselves- there are a lot of entertaining players in Scottish football, but we're not saying they'll all move to Old Trafford.

I've been to Pittodrie and the Walkers Stadium roughly the same number of times- and to be honest, i've enjoyed both equally.

[Finnegan]

Digs at the SPL are so fooking boring, man. Blah, blah, blah lesser quality blah blah. Of course it is, but then 90% of the world's footballing leagues are of poorer quality than the Premiership. It's like going "ahahaha, look at Zambia, your country's poorer than ours - ahhaha so shit".

It's not like anyone's claiming the SPL's better and certainly no one's making you watch it, which is a shame, because it's pretty fooking entertaining. If I'm given the choice of watching Man Utd play Chelsea one-more-fooking-time or watching Hibs and the Jambos kick the shit out of each other for ninety minutes, I know what I'd choose.

[The People's Hero]

Digs at the SPL are so fooking boring, man. Blah, blah, blah lesser quality blah blah. Of course it is, but then 90% of the world's footballing leagues are of poorer quality than the Premiership. It's like going "ahahaha, look at Zambia, your country's poorer than ours - ahhaha so shit".

It's not like anyone's claiming the SPL's better and certainly no one's making you watch it, which is a shame, because it's pretty fooking entertaining. If I'm given the choice of watching Man Utd play Chelsea one-more-fooking-time or watching Hibs and the Jambos kick the shit out of each other for ninety minutes, I know what I'd choose.

I'd choose 90 minutes of sex and red wine.

And by that I mean 80 minutes of dosing her up on wine. 5 minutes of sex. And then 5 minutes of catching the end of the football.

I appear to have lost half time somewhere there - but bollocks to it. They're professional athletes. They can run for 90 minutes.

[Thracian]

Digs at the SPL are so fooking boring, man. Blah, blah, blah lesser quality blah blah. Of course it is, but then 90% of the world's footballing leagues are of poorer quality than the Premiership. It's like going "ahahaha, look at Zambia, your country's poorer than ours - ahhaha so shit".

It's not like anyone's claiming the SPL's better and certainly no one's making you watch it, which is a shame, because it's pretty fooking entertaining. If I'm given the choice of watching Man Utd play Chelsea one-more-fooking-time or watching Hibs and the Jambos kick the shit out of each other for ninety minutes, I know what I'd choose.

After some of the shit we and our opponents have served up in the Championship these last two years I'd say we should look to ourselves first before worrying about other Leagues.

I'd could count at least 12 Leicester games over that period which I'd rank as the worst English League games I've ever seen.

[Lord Nibblington]

I'd choose 90 minutes of sex and red wine.

And by that I mean 80 minutes of dosing her up on wine. 5 minutes of sex. And then 5 minutes of catching the end of the football.

I appear to have lost half time somewhere there - but bollocks to it. They're professional athletes. They can run for 90 minutes.

5 minutes?

That's impressive.

Not for her obviously. But from a neutral stand point, very much so.