Gordon Smith has outlined a reconstruction proposal which he thinks would help Scottish football emerge from the global health crisis but says in the long term, the lower leagues should be regionalised with ‘B’ teams from Premiership clubs drafted in.
With a number of teams condemned to relegation by decisions taken to end all tiers of the SPFL early, reconstruction has been discussed as a way to prevent these clubs being punished as a result of circumstances beyond their control.
Proposals put forward by a Reconstruction Group were rejected by Premiership clubs earlier this month, but Hearts owner Ann Budge is currently drafting up a new proposal which is set to be distributed this week.
Smith, who served as both SFA chief executive and Rangers director of football following a successful playing career, says he has been pushing for a temporary reshuffle ahead of the 2020/21 season.
“Before the Reconstruction Group was put together, I was actually putting a plan forward to some people in the game,” Smith told Rangers News. “Because of what’s happening with Covid-19, it’s one year of real problems and as a result, we should alter the leagues to three 14s.”
“We should definitely have done that. Then, the fact was, you could still appoint the teams that won the leagues – Celtic won their league, Dundee United in the Championship – fine. But, then, you weren’t punishing people by relegating them unfairly.
“I mean, Hearts were in more of a relegation position than Partick Thistle were, for example. Partick Thistle had a game in hand and were a point behind – so, it’s really unfair.
“Now, if they had gone to three leagues of 14 for one season only, then we might have had a situation where you say – ‘ok, let’s look at this scenario only being for this season and then we can look at putting the leagues back to the normal positions and we’re not punishing anyone.”
Looking longer-term, though, Smith continues to back a long-held belief that the lower leagues of the SPFL should be split geographically.
He believes this would be considerably more efficient and would generate more revenue.
“I have been pushing before that the two bottom divisions – League One and League Two – should be regionalised,” said the former Hampden executive. “The six most northerly Premiership ‘B’ teams would go into League Division One North, and the six most southerly ones would go into League Division One South.”
“Then, that way, you’ve got sixteen team leagues and they play each other twice. You would have less travel, more derby games, and for these ‘B’ teams – not youth teams but reserve teams – playing in the league would actually give them bigger crowds as well.
“It would be a much better scenario without all the travel and the difficulty of having to play these games midweek. But they would also make more money from it and save money, and that’s why I can’t understand why they can’t look at regional leagues.”
Over recent years, Rangers and Celtic have both lobbied for their ‘Colts’ teams to be introduced into the SPFL.
Smith makes it clear that in his plan, though, there is no room for sides with age restrictions.
“I don’t think it should be just Colts teams as the ‘B’ teams,” he said. “The main idea of having Reserves teams, in my opinion, has always been – and I benefitted from this myself – that you play against men but you’re also alongside experienced players who can help you, who can talk to you.”
“If you’re just playing alongside boys, why don’t you just play in a kids league? That shouldn’t be the case.”
“You should be playing alongside men, against men, and that’s why it should be Reserve football and not Colts football.”
