Fuctifano

just to piggyback on this, the usual argument is it allows managers to play more youth players without fear of losing games but in reality: 1) there are actually far fewer "meaningless" game than you'd imagine. Even in the English Championship this year, a league of 24 teams and 46 games, with 3 games to go there were only 3 teams who were arithmetically both safe from relegation and out of the promotion play off race (plus Rotherham who were already relegated). With 6 games to go literally everyone still had something to play for. 2) going back to the Scottish second tier, we've seen on here in the last few weeks the discussions about how much prize money means to a team at this level and that the difference between finishing a place or two higher is effectively an extra couple of players wages for the following season. yes, that bit is a slightly harder sell to casual fans rather than diehards but there's always something to play for. In a 2nd tier of 18 you'd probably have the same playoff system as now as Prem clubs still unlikely to agree to 2 down automatically but you'd also have 3 going down at the bottom, 3rd bottom can either be automatic or playoff. I think folk would be surprised about the low number of "meaningless" games in that scenario.

This used to be the set up in Poland but I think they went to 18 during covid. The teams that finished top half of each section got the extra home game.

I think the issue with playing teams repetitively is more of an issue outside the top tier. Premiership clubs don't play (their first teams) in the Challenge Cup, and the nature of the playoffs means they can't play another Premiership team in them whereas in the Championship you're guaranteed to do so meaning a minimum of 6 games a season vs the same team before cup draws- and in leagues 1 & 2 you will do so if you finish 2nd or 3rd (or 4th and then beat the team from league above). I think there's an argument for a bigger second tier -with split if need be- with the current Premiership / Championship play off format, at least if you finish 4th in a league of 14/16 it seems more reasonable to get a shot at promotion rather than 4th in a league of 10.

Not sure what the disagreement is tbh but there's no scope in the model, or in real life, for a nonsensical GD overturn.

I should add that as Morton are safe this year, they will complete ten years in the 2nd tier next year to equal QoS, so if they don't go up or down in 24/25 then they will be the new holders of this very niche record.

I generally like this sort of idea but I think it would need a playoff system for the last European spot else teams 5-13 are playing for not much- this is easier since the Conference League has come in. Currently, the Czech and Bulgarian leagues are both 16 team leagues which split 3 ways after 30 games but split 6/4/6. In Czech league the 4 teams in the middle play a straight 2-leg knockout series for the last Conference League place. In Bulgaria the team which finishes top of the middle section plays off against the team sitting in the last qualifying slot in the top section for that last Conference League place. Romania is also a 16 team league but splits 6-10 with the top half playing a double round robin and bottom half playing once for 40/39 games. Again there are playoffs where the top team in the bottom half can get into Europe. That's probably too many games though given the already congested calendar

Got home from primary school at about 3.05 in time to see the finish. 6 minutes injury time in those days must be equivalent to about 25 minutes now.

Only the final which is now set in stone given Aberdeen can't be in both that and the SC final on 25th- those are Thu 23rd and Sun 26th May. I'd be very surprised if the others aren't Tuesday and Friday nights given they're on BBC but nothing official as yet, maybe get confirmation tomorrow, they maybe had contingency plans if Aberdeen won yesterday which are no longer required

For next season we already have a relatively large number of players signed up both for a club at this level and for our recent past. GK: McCready, Stewart (if we exercise option). Erm. Not great. Defence: Milne, McBeth, Williams, O'Reilly and there was a lot of talk Muirhead had triggered an extension even if nothing official. I'm keeping McBeth here for now but we might try him in midfield again next year. Midfield/ Wingers: Fitzpatrick, Lawless, Bannigan, Stanway, Mackenzie, Lyon, Robinson Forwards: Graham, Diack. That's 16 players - although I don't think we'll sign Stewart (if Doolan has a functioning pair of eyes), Lawless has got to be a large question mark moving forward given the severity of his injury and his age, though obviously I hope I'm wrong on that, and Lyon might get moved on during the summer especially if we're signing another young midfielder. f**k knows what we'll do with half these guys if we go up , but I'm willing to find out.

I think even if Airdrie lose to DU on Friday which would realistically confirm us as 3rd given our GD advantage, we'll start this game with our strongest team available, but depending on how it's going the likes of Graham and Fitzpatrick might only play 60 minutes or so. The argument for resting players in this game and not at Tannadice would be if we played a shadow team on the last day and got thumped then does it affect the team morale going into the playoffs? You can argue these things either way, probably one of those situations where the result vs Airdrie means we've done the right thing if we win and wrong thing if we lose regardless of what option we take. I agree with playing O'Reilly ahead of Muirhead to get him some game time as well

To sort of answer the original query: Since we went to 4 tiers in 1994-95 the longest spell in 2nd tier without moving up or down is 10 years by QoS from promotion in summer of 2002 to relegation in 2012. A couple of teams have done 9, Falkirk and Morton. The longest in the 3rd tier (and this surprised me) is Brechin who spent 11 years without going up or down from 2006 to 2017, when they got promoted into the championship. Tailed off a bit after that it's fair to say. Airdrie next best with 10 which ended last summer. So Elgin quite comfortably in the lead albeit it still is harder to get out of the 4th tier in the wrong direction. Morton have had the most seasons in the 2nd tier since that date with 22 and Forfar in the 3rd tier with 20 , but Forfar have never had more than 7 in a row in the third tier.

Has that ever happened before for us? Seems unlikely - certainly prior to 10 team divisions.

Model has QP just about odds on vs Arbroath. Re: the playoffs, even thought we've finished 4th last 2 seasons and could still do this season, I still think it makes more sense for 2nd vs 3rd to play off followed by the winner vs 11th as that evens the number of games played and also 4th in a ten team league shouldn't have a shot at promotion. Then the argument is there's no real advantage for finishing 2nd over 3rd other than having the 2nd leg at home. Part of me likes the idea that the 2nd place club would go through if it's a draw in such a scenario, but that's effectively giving them a goal of a start and if you phrase it like that it seems like madness. As said, unless we somehow end up with a stronger TV deal meaning we're less reliant on gate money, the format isn't changing any time soon. 12-10-10-10 is certainly the most stable it's been in my lifetime, been like this for nearly 25 years whereas in the 80s and 90s the top flight kept changing between 12 and 10 teams.

They named an incomplete bench for both legs (7 subs for first leg and 6 for second) while we named a full one. While we would have had a couple of kids on the bench that had no chance of getting on I'm not sure that the larger squad argument is true.