vikingTON

There are larger top flights all across Europe that have a similar number of European spots up for grabs. The solution to the shrill cry of 'no meaningful games past Christmas' is exactly the same as the one already used by the SPFL: play-offs. The Eredevisie and other leagues use play-offs to allocate some of their league European spots. The current play-off system for relegation can be expanded (two spots instead of one - 3rd bottom can even progress straight to the final to placate the utter shitebags). In the tiers below you can have as many clubs qualifying for the play-offs as you decide and under any criteria: the English National League uses 2nd to 7th to decide one winner. There is no reason why Scottish leagues can't be 18-18-18 (or 14-14-14 as a stepping stone) in the present day. References to the 1980s are just no longer relevant.

But it wasn't the "non-league voting block" that directly scuppered the SFA's proposal. If it had been decided by 42 SPFL clubs, it still had no chance of passing.

Imagine supporting a truly vile outfit like West Ham because there's 'a Scottish guy in the dugout'. Parochial nonsense.

Nothing another private charter jolly/'fact-finding' mission to the Inner Hebrides won't be able to solve though.

How would that achieve 'revenge'?

Why would the SFA want to do this? The more that voting rights in the SFA becomes de facto SPFL clubs, the more irrelevant the SFA becomes as a body organising or (haha) 'proposing change for the sake of improving' the game. Either the SFA accomodates a much larger membership beyond 42 national league clubs or it serves absolutely no purpose. Which it doesn't right now, but is hardly what its blazers actually want to underline.

I agree that the SFA's current hold on voting rights is an untenable farce. I just don't agree that one member club, one vote - 'nobody is more equal than others' rhetoric aside - is a sustainable setup to run the game either. Any attempt to retroactively remove voting rights wouldn't actually achieve much to further their most recent agenda item either.

1) Some members quite clearly are more equal than nonsense outfits like Broomhill who have slithered into the pyramid. 2) There is a clear distinction in interests between football clubs that are run primarily as a business - a (supposedly) professional, commercial operation and those that are not. That's not to say the latter shouldn't have a voice - they absolutely should - but the idea that the voice of Campbeltown Pupils is just as relevant to decisions that might decide how millions of pounds of money is divvied up to a club in the professional ranks runs against reality.

One member club, one vote is a completely unworkable system with the pyramid opening up tbh. While every member should be entitled to a vote, I would give a +1 multiple added to the weight of votes from the higher tiers. So a bottom rung club gets 1 vote, a club in the league above gets 2 votes and so on Either that or there has to be a restriction on which measures can be voted on based on demonstrable impact - one that works both ways.

Neil Doncaster has spent nearly 14 full years in a leadership role in the game. There are Chernobyl cockroaches with less staying power than Scottish football blazers.

A VAR handball took place when Partick were 3-0 up in the tie. The management failed to respond effectively. A 'knock' contributed to a second goal (not sure why the rest of the shocking defending gets a free pass) - the management still failed to respond effectively. Then a player was given the freedom of Victoria Park to thump in a last minute equaliser. That's on the manager. None of the above facts change from the impact that Doolan has made since taking charge. The play-off result was however unquestionably caused by a failure of in-game management - that's inherent in any Hibs-level bottle job.

I'm sure that wild attempt at deflection seemed legit in your head.

Not while eco-frauds like Slater can charter private boats up and down the west coast at the taxpayer's expense.

The manager is also responsible for the last 20 minutes of the game though. All they had to do was not concede *three fucking goals* in that time - they failed. And it's not as if it was some worldy that undid them: it was a spare man at the back post in about 10 yards of free space inside their penalty box. There was no sense of security or control over a game that they only needed to see out - that's a failure of management.