A tale of two leagues.
Or the same league that just isn't really a league.
This is what I don't like about the SPL split. It's actually an affront to the very idea of a "league."
Imagine that Wednesday's 12 goal thriller piqued interest in the SPL elsewhere. So today people are looking out for SPL results and table: what do they see?
The team in seventh with more points than the team in sixth.
Are they going to take the time to find out that we have a split for the last five games? Or are they just going to come to the conclusion that we're all mental and run a mile?
All will be put right, of course, if Hearts beat Celtic tomorrow.
(Thanks to @madsainty for the screengrab of the As It Stands table.)
Yeah, i blogged about the same thing yesterday, only never figured on Accies beating St Johnstone :-)
ReplyDeleteStill, you'll learn to love the split; we all do in the end. and sure, if we didn't have it, we'd have nothing to write about!
Not learned to love it yet. Doubt I ever will.
ReplyDeleteAnd if we are going to have it we could market it much better. At the moment it just seems like a stick on compromise to get the number of games up (which it is.)
The SPL should make it a more positive thing. It's as if they're embarrassed by it just now. As well they might be, but still.
"at the moment it just seems like a stick on compromise to get the number of games up".
ReplyDeleteNot quite.
As Motherwell proved with their pathetic appeal, it's about getting more games against the Old Firm. In the SPL, there's as much incentive to finishing 6th as there is finishing 3rd to 4th. For some it's Europe, for others it's the po$$ibility of an extra game again$t the Old Firm to boo$t rapidly emptying coffer$.
I agree though, having a team with more points in 7th than the team in 6th is daft. Perhaps we could promote them into the top six, but unless there's a Euro place up for grabs, or extra cash, why bother?
As for positives, this year (not to mention the two years before that) have given us a rollockin' end of season fixture list, with plenty of thrills 'n spills.
The league split is here to stay, either in its current format or as a 6+8 split with fourteen teams. The Old Firm aside, the rest of the teams are close enough to make whichever half of the split they end up in exciting enough for now.
Until something better comes up (by which I mean the McLeish report findings, or the Old Firm joining the MLS), there really is no better alternative.
Repeat to yourself: there's no place like 6th, there's no place like 6th, there's no place like 6th...
:-)