In the current Scottish Premiership format the top six and bottom six teams are split mid-season to battle for the championship or relegation. This format isn’t only outdated, it simply isn’t in the best interest of Scottish football. Instead, a bigger eighteen team Premiership expansion without a mid-season split can bring huge benefits and must be considered to modernize and improve Scottish football.
In the 2023/2024 Scottish Premiership season Aberdeen FC gathered 48 points, more than both Dundee FC (42 points) and St Mirren (47 points). But all that hard work did not put Aberdeen FC above Dundee FC or St Mirren on the table, in the bizarre Scottish top division Aberdeen FC ended the season in the sixth spot and Dundee FC and St Mirren on the fifth and fourth spot respectively. To top it all off, Aberdeen FC missed out on European football, while the less performing St Mirren gained access to European qualification. This is just one of the odd symptoms of having a mid-season split for the top six and bottom six. In Scotland teams are not rewarded for their results and development over a full season, but rather for peaking early in the season.
So why maintain a mid-season split with twelve teams? The best argument seems to be to have more matches among stronger teams. This in Scotland essentially means to have more Old Firm matches between Celtic FC and Rangers FC, the two giants that have dominated Scottish football for decades. In a twelve team mid-season split situation both teams practically meet at least four times in one season. Usually the Scottish giants also meet in the Scottish Cup or League Cup, saturating the Old Firm games in a season even higher.
The dominance of the Old Firm and the high number of repeat matches among the same clubs suppresses variety and the ability of smaller teams to develop. It’s in a sense a mini-Super League, the much debated league proposed by a small number of rich clubs like Real Madrid and Juventus in which they would break away from the UEFA-based competitions. The many repeat matches among the same big teams may generate more cash for broadcasters and clubs in the short term, but ultimately it stifles the entire football piramid and doesn’t encourage progression or sportsmanship.
Imagine a Premiership expansion to an eighteen team format without a mid-season split and in which each team plays each other twice per season. The benefit of this would be that a far larger number of teams would have a higher chance to develop and compete. For example, take the victory of Hearts over Celtic in 2021 (2-1). With much effort Hearts may pull that off once, and perhaps with some luck a draw the second time round in a season. In a league where you play each team twice that could mean a team like Heart of Midlothian may have a serious chance to become champions if they beat Celtic or Rangers once and draw them another. In a league set up where Hearts has to play the giants four times, realistically they will unlikely manage to win two or four times from them in a season.
But aside higher chances for smaller teams, also consider the benefits for teams that currently reside in the Championship, the second tier of Scottish football. A team like Raith Rovers FC has missed out on promotion to the Scottish Premiership for several decades. Last season the Kirkcaldy side had to face a far more financially powerful opponent in the form of Ross County in the play-off finals. The narrow loss of promotion meant once again Raith Rovers missed out on valuable extra money, broadcasting income, advertisement deals and experience that Scottish Premiership football brings. By allowing eighteen teams into the Scottish Premiership the smaller teams have more chance to develop financially and progress the level of football they play. This ultimately makes the whole piramid stronger and more financially viable, not just the infinite loop of just a handful of teams.
There are plenty of examples out there that show the eighteen team no-split format works. Take the Dutch Eredivisie in which a team like FC Groningen relegated to the second tier two seasons ago, got promoted last season, and now has a serious chance to play for European football this season. Moreover, aside from a relegation play-off, there is a play-off for the final UEFA Conference League qualification ticket among teams ranked five to nine in the Eredivisie. Instead of just a championship battle and a relegation battle, this also makes the mid-table teams more interesting to watch as there is something at stake for them too. In Scotland an eleventh placed team in December must already fear relegation and has few hopes to drastically turn their fortunes around in the remaining season, the season could already be lost. In an eighteen team no-split format with a European play-off an eleventh placed team can still turn things around by January and may end up playing in the UEFA Conference League or perhaps even become champions.
In a sense the current football pyramid in Scotland is a snobby one, where a few powerful and rich teams rule and the smaller teams have pretty few chances at progressing. You only have to look at who won the championship in the last five seasons and who promoted and relegated in that same period to see how the current model isn’t working in the best interest of Scottish football. In the end the thing that makes football great is to see a team progress, a team win against all odds, or a dark horse ultimately win silverware. In the current set up it is unlikely we’ll see any different team play in Europe or win the title that hasn’t in the past decade, and those moments of magic and complete surprise are a lot harder to come by.
