Newsgroups: rec.sport.soccer
From: J.M.Ross@man0507.wins.icl.co.uk (J.M.Ross)
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Subject: Re: SSL: The Celtic Defacation
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 11:25:44 +0000







In article <1993Jan11.093729.9801@spider.co.uk> scottj@spider.co.uk
(Scott Jackson) writes:

>As previously mentioned, Celtic have defected from the ranks of the SSL back
>to supporting the Scottish League for a structure of 14-12-12. Over the
>weekend, it became clearer as to why Celtic have decided to do this.

>The proposal for the 14 team Premier League is outragous. After playing 26
>games, the league splits up into two with the top six playing each other
>twice to decide the Champions. However, the teams will start with zero points!
>If you take a look at the Premier League at the moment, Rangers are *twelve*
>points ahead of Celtic with a game in hand after only 24 games. One can see
>the self motives here.

What a great idea! Even better, why not just play the season as normal, and
then at the end pick 10 Saturdays at random and declare the team with the
best record the Champions. Or even just put the team names in a hat and draw
out a lucky winner.

>This proposal is a joke and makes the preceeding 26 games meaningless. After
>all, Rangers, Aberdeen, Dundee United, Hearts, possibly Celtic and another
>will occupy the top six places. It is possible for the sixth club to win the
>league in the ten game sprint after being a massive amount behind the leaders
>after 26 games.

>I was sceptical at first about the Super League but now it seems a good idea
>as there is a chance to leave Celtic out in the cold as there is no guarantee
>that they would be invited to join any league if it got off the ground. They
>could be left playing First and Second division teams.

If this is the alternative that Celtic would have then I'm all for the
Super League (perhaps Clyde should be invited to replace Celtic?). I
almost feel sorry for the Celtic fans, the directors are turning the club
into a joke, the fans deserve better.

Three more sensible options for a Championship play-off:

1) Retain half points (rounded up) from the first phase - adds a bit of
   excitement by reducing the gap between top and bottom, but is it fair
   to the leading clubs? 

2) Retain full points from the first phase - doesn't give a second chance
   to teams which started badly and are now picking up, but why should
   they get a second chance anyway?

3) Retain points from the first phase against teams qualifying for the
   play-offs. If you beat all the best teams, then you're the champions.
   On the other hand, if you can't beat the relegation fodder, you don't
   deserve to be Champions.

I prefer (2), but (3) is interesting.

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