Competitiveness

what would happen to the 3rd division play off?

i guess it would be cancelled?

So will those teams be compensated for the loss of revenue?

"I am just calling for the rules to be applied fairly."

Were the rules fair when Falkirk won the first division and were not promoted because their stadium was not up to scratch?? not in my book.

The situation with Stranraer and Airdrie is different because there were gaps to fill in the higher divisions and these sides were basically next in line having been the playoff finalists.

After all that moving around, the last position at the bottom of the third division had to be filled, and thats where Rangers were allowed back into the setup having been voted out and forced to reapply.

Rangers, in winning the third division, will effectively be team 10 or 11 in the second division when the reconstruction happens.

The reconstruction plans take some but not all teams from the second division up to the new second teir....and their league place the season prior to this is what dictates if that promotion happens or not....so Rangers will be bottom of the second division effectively.

Expecting Rangers to be promoted to the second teir by winning the fourth teir, or being promoted ahead of teams that finished 5th, 6th or wherever in the third teir the season prior, when Rangers effectively finished 10th or 11th in that teir.....that to me is unfair, and is basically what some bears are asking for, and is what their argument about the season being meaningless and promotion not being worth anything is all about.

Reconstruction has to happen at some point if it is going to be happening......we like the rest have to just accept it and move on.

The rules stated we were not allowed to vote when we were allowed back in as provisional (or whatever the word was) members of the SFL, this was clearly stated in the rules.

The rules were applied fairly and were consistent when every club that should have been relegated was actually relegated. like Dunfermline, Ayr, QOTS and Stirling Albion...all were relegated because they finished bottom of their league or failed to win the playoffs/reach the final.

They were again also applied fairly when the "next in line" was promoted, ie those that were pipped to the post in the playoff finals and Dundee finishing second in the first division.

Rangers would not be "next in line" to go up to the second teir just purely down to how the reconstruction works. At the start of this season, we knew come the end of it, if we won the third division, our place in the pecking order would be the bottom team in the second division, fresh from the third....this will still be the case, regardless of reconstruction or not, so to me its fair

I get where you are coming from, its simply a case of wrong place wrong time....but for reconstruction to happen, someone has to suffer something, and playing one more season against the sides we are playing just now as opposed to the second division sides is not exactly a huge bugbear for me really

"comment by St3vie (U11028)
posted 1 minute ago
"I am just calling for the rules to be applied fairly."

Were the rules fair when Falkirk won the first division and were not promoted because their stadium was not up to scratch?? not in my book.

The situation with Stranraer and Airdrie is different because there were gaps to fill in the higher divisions and these sides were basically next in line having been the playoff finalists."

=================================

Stevie,

First point - "Were the rules fair when Falkirk won the first division and were not promoted because their stadium was not up to scratch??"

Answer - Yes, the rules stated that they needed a stadium of a certain standard to be in the SPL. The rule was nonsense, but it was correctly applied.

Point 2 : "The situation with Stranraer and Airdrie is different because there were gaps to fill in the higher divisions and these sides were basically next in line having been the playoff finalists."

Answer : I dont think you know the full situation here. Stranraer were promoted, jumping around 8 teams who were higher placed in the pyramid from them. It was not a case of there not being higher ranked teams, there were. It was a case of them having their earned promotion honored, letting them move into a division above their standings.

Stevie you are usually spot on but you are way out on the stranrar precedent.

This wasn't last season this was during the last league reconstruction. the rules are still in place and everyone agreed it was the correct thing to do based on "sporting merit" back then.

As we know rules can be broken when it suits the spl Inverness stadium did not meet the criteria yet they were allowed to come up they were allowed to ground share when that was not in the rules at the time

Chuckyboy, not when their is a specific rule preventing the winding up of the sfl if it will lead to a team being denied a promotion.

This could easily be challenged in court.

I thought we started pretty poorly on Saturday....

Quite possibly the worst 45 mins Ive seen from any opposition this season.

3 up without doing anything....
The goals were nice but we were against skittles.

They did do better in the 2nd half (Clyde that is) but the game was done and we simply went through the motions.

Its a pash take...


"Right rangers now we've held ye to blackmail for allsorts including no voting rights...we'll be reconstructing the league and you get no say whatsoever"

Pre-meditated pash-take...no more no less

The season effectively became a write off as soon as this reconstruction began to be mooted in earnest...look at the performances from the the last two month...reekin' the majority of em. Not hard to figure out why....

Seems I got the wrong end of the stick.

I've read up on the Stranraer 94-95 situation

Still dont see how that can be applied to this years situation.

If Stranraer were not promoted that season, they would have won the second division and been in the same situation, ie would have been required to win the second division again to progress, and would still have been two promotions away from the top flight....thats what was unfair, and thats why, as second division champions they earned their right to compete in the first division.

They did not leapfrog 5 teams......it was clearly set out that the bottom 5 in the first division would be relegated that season, reason being the spaces to fill up were DOWN the leagues, not up, thats the big difference here.

That is not the case with Rangers and these new proposals, as in effect every third division team is being moved up a level when reconstruction comes in, so yes it demeans Rangers league win a bit, bit as said above, we will still be progressing, as we would still only require two further promotions instead of three, thats where the precedent with the Stranraer situation is exactly the same, Stranraer earned the right to move closer to the top flight and only be one promotion away having won the second division.....we will still be two promotions away having won the third division.

the only thing is, EVERY club in the third division will be given that reward becasue the reconstruction is moving teams, all teams, CLOSER to the top flight this time and not further away from it like the last reconstruction with a third division being introduced.

I just dont see what the uproar is all about, I honestly just dont get it.

Under no circumstances without reconstruction, would Rangers this season win the third division and be one promotion away from the top flight, it just would not happen.

As ALL teams are moving up, more teams are being PROMOTED, so instead of mid table place finishes resulting in RELEGATION this season like with Stranraer in 1994, mid table place finishes are resulting in PROMOTION, and thats only fair on all clubs with no prior warning to changes being made or brought in so quickly. You cant force clubs down without notice, but you can move them up.

You just cannot use the Stranraer situation as an example where a club's promotion was honoured as some sort of reasoning for getting Rangers from the third division up to the new second teir and one league campaign away from the the top flight, its just nonsensical in my book