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Scottish Premier League considers play-off introduction

By Andy CampbellBBC Sport Scotland

Last updated on .From the section Footballcomments29

Airdrie United v Dumbarton

The introduction of a promotion/relegation play-off between the country's top two divisions appears to be the most likely change in Scotland's league make-up.

After a protracted period of discussion, proposals to reconfigure the leagues, merge the Scottish Premier League and Scottish Football League and revise financial redistribution have been ultimately rejected.

However, , with four different models having been discussed.

Here, BBC Sport Scotland compares past and present play-off systems.

Scottish Football League, 2007-present

Play-offs are well established in three of Scotland's senior leagues. At the end of each season, the second-bottom side in Division One and the teams finishing second, third and fourth in Division Two enter a two-legged semi-final stage with the winners progressing to a two-legged final. The eventual winner takes up a place in the First Division.

The same system exists between Divisions Two and Three.

Last season, Dumbarton earned promotion to Division One via the play-offs (pictured above), while Albion Rovers survived relegation from the Second Division through the end-of-season matches.

Scottish Football League, 1995-97

Owen Coyle and Christian Dailly
Owen Coyle scored the goal which gave United an aggregate win against Thistle

Prior to the breakaway of clubs from the SFL to form the SPL in 1998, there were, for a brief period, play-offs between Scotland's top two divisions.

The traditional 'two-up, two-down' system that existed between the First Division and Scottish Premier Division was replaced by one automatic promotion and relegation exchange and a two-legged play-off between the second-bottom side in the top flight and the second-top team in Division One.

Through this system, Dundee United earned promotion by beating Partick Thistle on aggregate in 1996 and Hibernian survived relegation the following year by overcoming Airdrieonians.

English Football League

Play-offs in England's senior leagues solely concern promotion, with all relegation from the Premier League, Championship and League One automatic.

Teams finishing third to sixth in the Championship, League One and League Two enter a two-legged semi-final stage before a one-off final, traditionally played at Wembley.

This season's play-offs will begin on 9 May.

Europe

Promotion play-offs that follow the same format as England's Football League have been used in Italy and Spain.

VVV Venlo players Yuki Otsu and Robert Cullen
VVV Venlo secured a top-flight berth through last season's play-offs in the Netherlands

In Belgium, the bottom two teams in the Pro League play-off over four matches to decide which team will be automatically relegated and who will progress to compete for a place in the top flight with three teams from the Second Division (those finishing second, third and fourth).

The four teams meet in a league format, with the winner taking up a spot in the Pro League. In 2011, after Mons and Waasland-Beveren finished on the same points, a one-off tie between the two sides was organised, with Mons winning and gaining a top-flight place.

Dutch football also features a promotion/relegation system between the Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie.

These play-offs are played over three two-legged rounds with second- and third-bottom sides from the top flight joining at the second-round stage. Ultimately, two teams win places in the Eredivisie.

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29 comments

  • Comment posted by U15702552, at 12:24 1 May 2013

    turkeys wont vote for xmas, so no play off no pyramid =slow death, either keep giving them your money or take up golf/snooker, these people think your all daft, they have another think comin unfortunately it will be too late for most of them

  • Comment posted by U13896647, at 11:55 1 May 2013

    I remember my club Morton involved at the end of 1996 season, didnt make the play off by goal difference, but had a crowd of 13,500 another 3,000 locked out at cappielow v dundee united finished 2-2 they went on to beat thistle in the play off), and the excitement and tension of that day still makes me smile even though we lost out... bring back the play offs asap.

  • Comment posted by el diablo, at 12:32 1 May 2013

    The play off issue is purely on the table to appease the Div One clubs on it's own adds nothing to the game.
    Consider this it costs approximately half the price to get into a Bundesliga game than it does to an SPL game!
    We need two professional leagues, x 14 (i.e. Poland) and a pyramid below feeding the game. fair wealth distribution, fair voting structure.
    cheapest tickets the same as Bundesliga

  • Comment posted by U15692994, at 12:30 1 May 2013

    No play off and no pyramid , im no goin, off to carlisle it is, poor side but they play in a proper "structure" the scots league is a shambles, will not change, no chance, allow east stirling to stink up the place and dont allow anyone to aspire, can that system work in any business?

  • Comment posted by U13896647, at 11:44 1 May 2013

    i dont see a problem with the english model works for them and should work here too.. nothing to do with the size of the country, cant see any of the 4 ideas being voted for though!! thats why the SFA has to take charge of this mess instead of hiding like they do, as the usual clubs at the bottom of spl would rather die than change for the better.

  • Comment posted by U15710977, at 22:25 30 Apr 2013

    Yes we will be forced to blood more scottish into our teams( celtic & Rangers) is that such a bad thing and cant be bad when you can fill your stadium full of happy fans not spending a fortune have a great day out watching and supporting there team .. Our league is screwed lets take it back 50 years.

  • Comment posted by U15710977, at 22:04 30 Apr 2013

    Simple 2 leagues .

    3 up and 3 down . Automatic promotion for top 2 . 3rd,4th,5th,6th do playoffs with final at National stadium. same as in England yes i know lets copy it .

  • Comment posted by pnelord, at 00:44 3 May 2013

    Rugby League-ish; Cup and second Euro place for League (this year would be Europa), play off top 4 for Championship & first Euro spot. If Old Firm do re-establish dominance, they will get Euro but not be gauranteed top spot. Would excite the 'lesser' (excuse me) clubs, thus increasing end of season crowds.

  • Comment posted by U12525194, at 23:41 2 May 2013

    The '95-'97 format for me please. Gives 2nd more importance in the First Division without rewarding failure - finishing 4th in the First Division isn't really good enough to give you a shot at the SPL.
    Morton would deserve it, but not Accies or Falkirk.

  • Comment posted by shadow warrior, at 19:13 2 May 2013

    Play off or pay off, or piff off

  • Comment posted by ramondo999, at 10:29 2 May 2013

    So the charade goes on !! There is absolutely no chance of agreement at any of these SPL get togethers. Any play off system which means an extra relegation spot will not get an 11-1 vote. Why go through the motions ? I did not agree with 12 - 12 -18 , but at least we would have had a change. St. Mirren & Ross County have got what they wanted... Why would they change ?

  • Comment posted by U15412361, at 17:44 1 May 2013

    This is out of the box but a MLS system may improve meaningful games.
    -playoffs for title
    -games at the end of the season to get in playoffs
    -more local derbies
    -could have a West 1/East1 top league with relegation to a West2/East2
    So you have traditional promotion/relegation with local derbies/interesting games
    I see it as a win-win

  • Comment posted by U15602191, at 15:15 1 May 2013

    "If sporting integrity allows for play-offs for relegation/promotion, it has to allow the same for the championship. The Old Firm may still win most years, but it'd be far more open and interesting."

    I think this is a good shout. After all, one-off matches are how AF sides get beaten in cup finals. But then some would cry foul if there were 10+ points between 1st and 2nd and 2nd won the Play Offs

  • Comment posted by U14747216, at 13:35 1 May 2013

    #22
    Fair point but you are not comparing like-with-like: relegation is decided between clubs in different divisions, while your suggestion is an additional 2 games (6 in total over a season) between clubs in the same division.

    I thought sporting integrity didn't want more games between the same teams?

  • Comment posted by U14419900, at 13:29 1 May 2013

    Why does everyone obsess with what happens in the middle of the game but ignores the top? If sporting integrity allows for play-offs for relegation/promotion, it has to allow the same for the championship. The Old Firm may still win most years, but it'd be far more open and interesting.

  • Comment posted by OneNineSixSeven, at 12:46 1 May 2013

    If we are to still go with the current 12-10-10-10 league system that is in place currently then adding a play-off system between the SPL and SFL1 would get rid of any meaningless games that would occur in the bottom half of the split. 12th place gets automatically relegated while the 2nd from SFL1 and 11th place from the SPL play a 2-legged play off for the position in the SPL.

  • Comment posted by Kevin, at 07:23 1 May 2013

    @6. Hit the nail on the head! As long as the same two (or one for now) teams are continue to dominate on the pitch (and in the boardrooms) nothing will change. The other 10 will continue to sell their souls for the scraps from the old firm and we will fall further into the abyss.

  • Comment posted by U15526729, at 07:18 1 May 2013

    So much waffle...so few characters to respond...

    The problem is the standard, not playing each other 4x/seas, not splits, not artificially created competitiveness (which can only bring standard down) and all efforts must be to raise standard, instead of spending all available money on new stands, youth academies, etc.
    Spend it on players.

  • Comment posted by U15710977, at 22:15 30 Apr 2013

    As for the money , screw the money scottish football is done for no matter what table they sit round they cant make it better . Our game is about money and thats all they care about so let it fall ,give the game back to the fans they deserve it ,Force all clubs to run there clubs around the money they can generate via sponsors and gate receipts .

  • Comment posted by thetorch, at 19:28 30 Apr 2013

    Scots footy is on a fast track to death until they change the format of the leagues.Until they do that,they will never grow attendances and increase revenue/TV viewers.Scotland and beyond is full of people,like me,who love football,spend a lot of time thinking and commenting on the Scottish game,but have far too much intelligence and dignity to be ripped off in such a stale format.Lost to the game

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