Is the SPL a better standard than the Championship?

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bravo21

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The SPL has been absolutely slaughtered in recent years and been compared to the standard of League 1 and League 2. Fair enough, there is only 2 sides who would cope in the Premiership, but is it actually better than the Championship.

Mediocre SPL players are often shipped down to the Championship for a small fee. Here is a few examples. Barry Robson scored 4 goals in a total of 42 appearences for Celtic and this was against 'diddy teams' like Hamilton and Falkirk etc. Since joining Middlesbrough, he's already scored 5 goals in 10 appearences. Lets be honest, Celtic are a bigger club than Middlesbrough and had much better players around him there. He still scores more goals in the Championship, is he playing better because he is playing poorer oppostition in the Championship?

Another example is Charlie Adam, who was laughed out of the SPL, is showing that he is far too good for the Championship. What about Lee Bullen and Burton O'Brien, who were regulars in the Championship before failing to impress in the SPL :)D:D:D).

The SPL could piece together a side who would easily make the top half of the Premiership.

Does the league deserve to be ridiculed? Discuss

I know that English people's dislike/hate of Scotland must come into consideration. So no bias, just football talk!

Even Jason Scotland, who played in the league below the SPL humped the Championship last year, earning himself a move to the Championship.
 
FoxyCFC said:
I'd rather watch Championship football
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Yes, but that isn't the question, does it deserve the criticism it gets? Surely it matches the Championship, if not, it's better.

If you asked me the same question, I'd rather watch the SPL as I know the league better and I'm more interested in Scottish football. Vice-versa for you, I presume
 
Championship football bores me. I'd say the SPL is of a higher standard.
 
I think if you take Rangers, Celtic & Hearts out (mainly Hearts because I think there owner is just crazy lol), you're left with 9 pretty much dull sides? I do think with abit of extra money and a revamp (ie making league abit bigger than 12 lol) it could be a decent league because there ARE good players in the SPL imo.
 
Championship.

It's a better standard and the teams are a similar standard so gives a close and exciting season.
 
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bravo21 said:
Yes, but that isn't the question, does it deserve the criticism it gets? Surely it matches the Championship, if not, it's better.

If you asked me the same question, I'd rather watch the SPL as I know the league better and I'm more interested in Scottish football. Vice-versa for you, I presume
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I find championship football more exciting as its not like the spl, there isn't always 2 contenders. Like Blackpool are showing and Leicester, Leicester just promoted and there up their, cant predict it,
 
chrisstanley1987 said:
I think if you take Rangers, Celtic & Hearts out (mainly Hearts because I think there owner is just crazy lol), you're left with 9 pretty much dull sides? I do think with abit of extra money and a revamp (ie making league abit bigger than 12 lol) it could be a decent league because there ARE good players in the SPL imo.
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Dundee United, Motherwell, Hibs and Aberdeen are good sides.

But yeah they need to sort the Scottish leagues out, I think they were talking about making the league bigger because 12 teams is just pathetic.
 
Agree with expanding the league. My club (St Mirren) will play Rangers a total of 6 times this season, which is laughable. We need to chuck another 4 teams into the SPL for more challenge.
If we can get a bigger league and a new TV deal as the SKY money is terrible. If this can happen, it will be much better, I can see St Mirren challenging the Old Firm as we're the side with no debt and if we win the League Cup on Sunday, we'll get a cash windfall, not to mention that the club is up for sale and new owners will be expeted to provide a cash injection.
Interesting article on it here

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article7063281.ece
 
How can you ask that question. Championship is far better than SPL.
 
Meh I think in both leagues there are plenty of **** teams and in both leagues there are some decent teams.

One could argue Rangers and Celtic are superior to all championship sides. But then there are teams like Hamilton, St Mirren and Falkirk who, in my opinion are no better than the likes of Peterborough, Ipswich etc...

It's a toss up. I'm going to say the championship is better to watch, but that's mainly because my team are in it and I have only seen one SPL game this year (10 minutes of Hearts v Dundee on 7th March) and it was the worst 10 minutes of football I have ever seen.
 
The SPL is a poor division and in my opinion Celtic and Rangers could probably just bout hack it in the Premier League. The SPL is not as good as the championship and is not as entertaining as its the same two teams every year but in the championship, yes you get one or two teams that get relegated from the premier league that do very well and get promoted easily but generaly its and exciting league because any team can get in the play offs. In order for Scottish football to progress i think that Celtic and Rangers need to join the English game and allow the other Scottish teams to battle it out, rather than just turn up against Celtic and Rangers and get thrashed, they would be able to win something or at least try and win something if Celtic and Rangers wernt in the same league. Also both Celtic and Rangers would improve by being exposed to better teams week in week out. :)
 
Extremly good point and one ive been making Bravo.

I dont watch much Championship tbh but it does seem medicore SPL players are going down and doing amazingly well.

Id add Ross McCormack and Chris Burke to that list as well
 
You may be right by suggesting that its bias to what you watch week in week out. But in terms of neutral excitement the Championship is far better as it is always a really tight season with surprises.

the SPL is the old firm and 10 other teams that just cant compete, because as soon as they get any decent players the old firm buy them!

and in terms of quality of players with teams like newcastle and west brom in the championship who will probably gain promotion and stick with a lot of the same players, that means they are premiership players respectfully.

There wouldn't be many SPL players that could compete in the premiership and excel
 
The Old Firm have played a major part in the SPL's decline in recent years. Every time a non-sectarian side get a good young player, they steal them for peanuts.

Ie. Kirk Broadfoot, Alan Gow, Lukasz Zaluska, Paul Slane, Kevin Thomson, Scott Brown, Steven Whittaker, Steven Naismith, Kris Boyd, Andy Webster, Nacho Novo and this is only a few players from the current squads, there has been many, many, many, many more over the years.

In the future, the OF will probably take the likes of Scott Arfield, David Barron, Fraser Fyvie, Peter Pawlett, Tam Scobbie, Murray Davidson, David Wotherspoon, David Goodwillie, Chris Maguire, Jamie Murphy, Leigh Griffiths and Chris Mitchell. They will do this for years, preventing other sides from challenging them in the SPL when these 'ambitious' players rot on the bench for years to come when they can get regular first team football, then later move to another non-old firm team to expand his career, allowing the club to get the best out of the player that was created in their own youth system and get a good bit of cash for him.

All you have to do is compare James McCarthy's potential with Alan Gow's because moving to an Old Firm side destroys players careers and ruins the SPL's quality.

Then they have the cheek to want to move leagues critisizing the quality of other clubs when the truth is staring them in the face, they have played a major, major part in this.

---------- Post added at 06:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:05 PM ----------

mfage1 said:
You may be right by suggesting that its bias to what you watch week in week out. But in terms of neutral excitement the Championship is far better as it is always a really tight season with surprises.

the SPL is the old firm and 10 other teams that just cant compete, because as soon as they get any decent players the old firm buy them!

and in terms of quality of players with teams like newcastle and west brom in the championship who will probably gain promotion and stick with a lot of the same players, that means they are premiership players respectfully.

There wouldn't be many SPL players that could compete in the premiership and excel
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How about Steven Fletcher, who has made a bigger impact at Burnley than he did at Hibs? Just to name one!
 
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