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The Herald Scotland
06-05-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
SPFL propose plan to cut play-off games to reach Premiership
Under proposals put forward by the Competitions Working group Championship club three would potentially play club four over one leg instead of two from season 2026-27, with club three enjoying home advantage. The winner of that tie would then play the league runners-up in a one-off game with club two at home. The side which comes through that process would then face the side which finishes eleventh in the Premiership over two legs to decide who takes their place in the top flight. If applied to the current play-offs Ayr United would have hosted Partick Thistle at home in a one-off game for the right to play Livingston in West Lothian. The plans put to Championship sides during a virtual meeting with league Chief Executive Neil Doncaster and Chief Operating Officer Calum Beattie yesterday would also see the 50% gate levy on play-off ties scrapped and the even sharing of gates from play-off games. The blueprint is part of a package of reconstruction proposals which could see the Championship expand from 10 to 12 or 14 teams. Depending on what size the Championship settles on a new League One of 16 or 18 teams would then be constructed- with an eight team League Two consisting of teams invited to take part via a 'participation agreement' rather than league membership. That move, designed to help traditional community clubs who have dropped out of the league, seems likely to irk ambitious clubs lower down the pyramid. League Two sides would also receive invitations to domestic cup competitions. Chairmen and Chief Executives from teams in Leagues One and Two are scheduled to meet league office bearers to discuss the plans today.
Scottish Sun
03-05-2025
- Sport
- Scottish Sun
Jim Delahunt gives his big Rangers vs Celtic prediction as Ibrox side bid for third Old Firm win in a row
SIMON Murray's goal was enough to give DUNDEE a 1-0 win at Hearts last week and I'm backing Tony Docherty's players to pull further away from relegation play-off peril by beating Motherwell at 6/5. Dundee's win in Gorgie was enough for the Hearts board to pull the trigger on hapless boss Neil Critchley and a 4th win in 6 games can be another massive step towards Premiership survival whatever the outcome of Ross County against Hearts in Dingwall. 2 Simon Murray celebrates Credit: Alamy The Staggies host the managerless Jambos off the back of 5 straight defeats which has them staring a third straight play-off in the face and Dundee have a huge incentive to go and beat the Steelmen whatever happens elsewhere. The Dens Park side had beaten Motherwell home and away before a 2-1 defeat at Dens in February and while the visitors are trying hard to top the bottom six, Dundee can send nominated Murray off to tomorrow's Players' Player Of The Year Awards with another 3 points in the bag. HIBS and ST MIRREN also make the top 5 from today's Premiership card but with the Chapionship settled last night and few attractive ties in Leagues One and Two, I'm off to England's lower leagues for the final two places in the Acca. League One READING need Huddersfield to do them a favour by beating Leyton Orient but the Royals have to win their own game at home to Barnsley first and they look a good bet to do just that at 8/11 after winning their last two road trips at Mansfield and Bristol Rovers. Leyton Orient may well hold on to that final play-off place by making it 6 straight wins at Huddersfield but they lost at home to today's hosts in November and the home side will be keen to end a losing run in front of their own fans for the final time this season. BRADFORD haven't won any of their last 4 games as they've looked to secure the third and final automatic promotion place in League Two but they've drawn two of those matches and can finish with a much needed win over Fleetwood at 4/9. The Bantams could falter and still go up if Wallsall's end of season collapse continues at Crewe but this is a glorious chance to get the job done at a banker price for Graham Alexander's players and the champagne is surely on ice at Valley parade. Today's kick-offs in the Championship are laced with tricky scenarios for punters to ponder but I'm going to suggest a treble with BRISTOL CITY, BURNLEY and SHEFFIELD UNITED all taken to win and pay out at better than 5/1 with most firms. Bristol City need to beat Preston to be absolutely sure of securing a play-off place but the Robins have been in excellent form at Ashton Gate and relegation threatened Preston arrive after losing their last 4 matches by 2-1 margins. Burnley are going all out for the title now that promotion has been secured alongside Leeds United and with the Elland Road side away to all but relegated but still battling Plymouth, defensively sound Burnley look rock-solid at 4/7. Celtic fans demand 'build him a statue' after Daizen Maeda trolls Rangers during four-in-a-row title party Sheffield United appear to be over their late season wobble as they're set to finish third and the Blades will want to maintain their winning mentality at 17/20 against visiting Blackburn after 2 wins and a narrow defeat at Burnley in their last 3 matches. The home side can make sure they don't face Blackburn in the play-offs by ending Rovers' 4 match winning run today and that could leave the way clear for Frank Lampard's COVENTRY to secure that place by beating Middlesbrough at 11/10 although defeats for Millwall and Blackburn would make that task attainable with a draw. European football has forced most of the key Premier League matches on to tomorrow and West Ham's match with Spurs strikes me as draw material at a general 27/10. Manchester United's trip to Brentford and Liverpool's match at Chelsea look worth a swerve but NEWCASTLE should be firing on all cylinders in the 2pm kick-off at Brighton and look the Sunday best at 13/10. Saturday SINGLE CARLISLE have been relegated to the National League despite some excellent end of season results and I'm backing them to dent Salford's play-off hopes with a home win at 4/1. Weekend ACCA Dundee 6/5 Hibs 3/4 St Mirren 8/5 Reading 8/11 Bradford 4/9 5 homes across 3 divisions this week and the Saturday 3pm acca pays out at 23/1. RANGERS V CELTIC Sunday 12noon Sky Sports Rangers get one last chance to give their home fans something to celebrate this season but their home form has been awful for a while now and Celtic could be in the mood to pile on further Ibrox misery. Rangers haven't won any of their last SIX matches at Ibrox since a 4-0 win over Ross County on February 2 and they'd actually lost a club record five in a row before their goalless draw against Athletic Bilbao. 2 Ianis Hagi celebrates his goal in the previous Ibrox clash Credit: Kenny Ramsay Throw in the fact that Rangers haven't won ANY of their last 5 matches and you can see why Gers are available at 27/10 with my win selections CELTIC at 17/20. HIBERNIAN V DUNDEE UTD Hibs long unbeaten league run came unstuck at the 18th hurdle at Pittodrie last week but they're back at Easter Road against United where they've won 8 of their last 9 games. I fancied David Gray's side to beat the Dons but they looked to be heading for a well deserved point when Kevin Nisbet produced his moment of magic and an appreciative Easter Road crowd can play its part here. United found themselves hosting Celtic's title party last weekend but they might still be in the race for 4th if Aberdeen lose at St Mirren and HIBS can stay in the driving seat for third with a win at 3/4. ST MIRREN V ABERDEEN Saints landed my 14/5 draw tip with their 2-2 share of the points at home to Rangers last week and I'm backing Stephen Robinson's side to repeat November's 2-1 win here and make it 3 in a row after a 3-0 win at Pittodrie. Mark O'Hara and Conor McMenamin scored successive equalisers for Saints against Rangers and a glaring miss from Mikael Mandron might have added another nought to the striker's new contract signed this week. Nisbet will have to be fully shackled by Richard Taylor and Alex Gogic but Robinson's worked another miracle in getting ST MIRREN into the top six and the unshackled Paisley side can win this at a generous 8/5. ST JOHNSTONE V KILMARNOCK The Perth Saints have been holding up the bar in the last-chance saloon for weeks now but the win over Celtic was an oasis in the desert and today is surely a must-win. St Johnstone have actually won 2 of their 3 meetings with Kilmarnock this season and current home form points towards this being a winnable fixture at a general 2/1 despite their current predicament. Kilmarnock produced when they had to against Ross County last weekend but their road form has been desperate with 6 straight league defeats dating back to December and the home win looks the value. Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page
The Guardian
03-05-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Football League heads for dramatic finale, Bayern chase title and more
Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Hello and welcome to live coverage of another super soccer-filled Saturday. This is our home for all the latest news and previews ahead of today's action, which begins at 12.30pm with Aston Villa v Fulham and the last day of the regular Championship season. Then we have the final round of fixtures in Leagues One and Two, plus Bayern Munich's chance to win back the Bundesliga after a shocking one-season drought. At 11am we'll have a special Q&A with Ben Fisher, who knows more about the Football League than 99.82 per cent of sentient beings, so please send in any questions for that. You can contact us at or post below the line. Before we get started, these are some of the key matches we'll be following today. Premier League Aston Villa v Fulham (12.30pm) Everton v Ipswich (3pm) Leicester v Southampton (3pm) Arsenal v Bournemouth (5.30pm) Championship (all 12.30pm) Bristol City v Preston North End Burnley v Millwall Coventry v Middlesbrough Derby v Stoke Norwich v Cardiff Plymouth v Leeds Portsmouth v Hull Sheff Utd v Blackburn Sunderland v QPR Swansea v Oxford Utd Watford v Sheff Wed West Brom v Luton Bundesliga RB Leipzig v Bayern (2.30pm) League One (3pm) Huddersfield v Leyton Orient Reading v Barnsley League Two (3pm) Accrington v Chesterfield Bradford City v Fleetwood Carlisle v Salford Colchester v Barrow Crewe v Walsall Grimsby v AFC Wimbledon Notts County v Doncaster Port Vale v Gillingham You can peruse a fuller fixture list here. Share
Press and Journal
03-05-2025
- Sport
- Press and Journal
Richard Gordon: No need for Scottish Championship, League One and League Two reconstruction
There was good news earlier this week when the SPFL made it clear any plans for a restructuring of the Premiership were dead in the water. In a statement, the league governing body announced there was 'no reasonable prospect of achieving consensus around a new format' for the top-flight of Scottish football. While that is to be welcomed, I was disappointed to learn that talks are ongoing over potential changes to the Championship and Leagues One and Two. It begs the question why? The present set-up has been in place since 2013, followed the year after by the introduction of the pyramid play-off at the bottom of League Two. In terms of possible league reconstruction, it has been the most stable period during my time involved in the game, and that is no accident. It has been that way because we have a format that works, certainly in terms of the excitement, interest and the drama it creates. Ahead of last weekend's fixtures, almost all of the 30 clubs across the lower leagues still had something to play for. That penultimate round did settle a few of the issues, but even so, a dozen teams went into matchday 36 with their fates still undecided, either in terms of automatic promotion, being involved in the play-offs, or their positioning within them. The Championship winners had yet to be crowned, while at the other end of the ladder, the issue of which side will face a shootout to preserve their SPFL status was also unresolved. Just as it has been since 2013, the SPFL has this season been full-on, the challenges and pressures unrelenting, and every game has mattered. There have been examples down the years of teams dominating divisions like Falkirk did in League One last season, but they are relatively rare, and in the main, our set-up has delivered competition and intrigue in equal measures. It is beyond me why anyone would want to move away from that. I accept it is not flawless, and it can get a bit wearing playing each other four times, but even if the authorities were to move towards larger leagues, that element would have to remain. I have heard three divisions of 14 being mooted, and I can see some benefits there if it were to be implemented properly, but that would still have to involve a split at some point, almost certainly after 26 games, so sides would still have to meet each other four times. Our country is not big enough, nor does it have sufficient strength in depth to sustain 16 or 18 team leagues without a split or extensive play-offs. There is absolutely no point in tinkering for the sake of it, and I would hope clubs firmly reject that notion, but the one area which would make a huge difference to those further down the SPFL is a redistribution of the prize money, and the solidarity cash paid out by UEFA. I accept that the Premiership teams should expect the bulk of the TV and sponsorship income, even if I am sure they could afford to let a little more trickle down to the other 30 members of the league. The UEFA windfall is however a different matter. Millions are paid out each year with the seven clubs who failed to qualify for the European competitions sharing that sum between them. In Germany, part of that pot is handed down to the sides below the top-flight, but not here in Scotland. A sliding scale across the divisions would make a huge difference to all the clubs for whom every penny is a prisoner. If they were to distribute £50,000 each to the Championship clubs, £30,000 to League One and £20,000 to League Two, that would slice just £1million off the overall pot, and that additional income would be a real lifeline for many. If the SPFL is serious about implementing change which would be of tangible benefit, they should be looking at that, not tampering with a league set-up that clearly works just fine.
The Herald Scotland
29-04-2025
- Sport
- The Herald Scotland
Deadlock at the top, green light below: SPFL reform update
Herald Sport broke the news of a fresh move to reshape the leagues on April 1. And discussions will now revolve around expanding the Championship from 10 teams to 12 or 14, with Leagues One and Two merging to form one league of 16 or 18 clubs. Further talks are scheduled for May 7. The move followed a feeling by lower league representatives on the CWG that the time was right for a conversation. SPFL Chief Executive Neil Doncaster has also spoken of the need address the issue of fixture congestion caused by the expansion of UEFA club competitions and to help to secure a softer landing for community clubs like Brechin City and Cowdenbeath when they drop out of the senior set-up to the largely unfunded Lowland and Highland Leagues. While supporters broadly favour an expansion of the top flight to end the practice of clubs playing each other four times, the Competitions Working Group were unable to come up with a plan likely to obtain the 11-1 majority required to for major change in the Premiership. An assessment of ten, 14 and 16 teams found flaws in all three structures with no agreement reached. Read more: In contrast, there was a consensus around the idea of expanding the Championship and reshaping Leagues One and Two. In a statement the SPFL said: The Competitions Working Group met on 29 April to discuss the possibility of league restructuring. 'It was agreed that there was no reasonable prospect of achieving consensus around a new format for the William Hill Premiership. 'There was, however, broad agreement around potential changes to the William Hill Championship, League 1 and League 2. 'These will be worked up with a view to conducting a consultation with clubs and other stakeholders. Any rule changes are unlikely to take place in time for next season, with 2026/27 is considered a more realistic timescale. Any formal resolution put to clubs by the SPFL Board would require the backing of 11 of the 12 Premiership clubs, eight out of 10 Championship teams and 15 of the 20 teams in Leagues One and Two to pass. A recent discussion sent to clubs proposed that the current fifth tier of the pyramid – the Highland League and Lowland League – should be replaced with a new tier of three regionalised leagues, based on the north, the east and the west.
