AH Challenge: Scottish Football bigger than English Football

By the end of the the 19th Century Scottish teams were very much superior to English ones with the National team continously slaughtering Englands and Scottish teams winning the FA cup on many occasions.

So your challenge with a PoD of 1900 is to have asituation nowadays where all the money is in Scottish football and although English foorball is still big it is not to the same standard.
 
Quick thought would be for rugby to take a stronger hold in England after the 1895 split. Apologies if this sounds like a rugby league timeline, but it is a means to an end.

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1895 Rugby splits in two, when 22 northern English clubs break away to form the Northern Union. Over the next few years the new code will amend rules to create a different sport to rugby union.

1903 (POD) Despite overtures from the Football League, Manningham FC and Stockport County, two leading rugby league clubs, remain in the handling code. Many others follow their lead, including clubs such as Leeds based Holbeck, Bradford, North Shields and many minor clubs *

1903-1910 Rule changes create a rugby league game that is more attractive to spectators. Game expands to south Wales, Midlands and north east England. Australia and New Zealand take up the code. **

1910-1914 Rugby league consolidates in northern England, and continues to expand, whilst rugby union declines.

1914-1918 First World War. Regular fixtures suspended in all major sports. Soccer, as a major participant sport, feels impact of huge number of deaths more than competitor of rugby league.

1918-1922 Boom in spectator sport. Rugby league consolidates in England and Wales. Football remains strong in pockets of Merseyside, southern/eastern Manchester, Sheffield/Nottinghamshire and north London. Rugby remains strong in pockets of northern/western Manchester, West Yorkshire, Midlands and south Wales.

1922 onwards - English soccer weaker, rugby league stronger. Soccer clearly still the bigger game, but failed to capture the north of England, thus halting a production line of key players. Soccer thrives in Glasgow and other Scottish urban areas, with an excellent production line of players and becomes part of the national conciousness in a way that it failed to become national in England.

Scottish FA become more integrated and enthusiastic about international game than English counterparts.


Thoughts ???


* OTL both switched to soccer, along with many minor northern clubs. Better rugby league governance leads to clubs remaining in the sport. Manningham FC became Bradford City FC; Elland Road based Holbeck remain in rugby and their lack of demise causes Leeds City and Leeds Utd to never occur.

** Successful expansion leads to a thriving international scene by 1910.
 
1895 Rugby splits in two, when 22 northern English clubs break away to form the Northern Union. Over the next few years the new code will amend rules to create a different sport to rugby union.

1902 (POD) Despite overtures from the Football League, Manningham FC and Stockport County, two leading rugby league clubs, remain in the handling code. Many others follow their lead, including clubs such as Leeds based Holbeck, Bradford, North Shields and many minor clubs.

Also in this year Newton Heath FC go bust. For the remainder of the twentieth century, Manchester will be regarded as a rugby city; the Manchester derby is now a rugby league fixture between Salford v Swinton, not soccer between City and United.*

You now have a situation where Manchester and Leeds are lost to rugby, and not soccer cities. Liverpool never had the rugby tradition that Manchester had, and remains a soccer enclave, as does north east Lancashire (Burnley, Blackburn etc.)

The lost of "Manchester Utd" and "Leeds utd" will have massive implications on the future of English soccer.



* OTL both switched to soccer, along with many minor northern clubs. Better rugby league governance leads to clubs remaining in the sport. Manningham FC became Bradford City FC; Elland Road based Holbeck remain in rugby and their lack of demise causes Leeds City and Leeds Utd to never occur. in OTL Newton Heath FC almost went bust with debts of over £2,500, but were saved and became Manchester United FC. In this ATL they are not. The Salford/Trafford area is lost to soccer, and results in the growing popularity of clubs like Salford FC and Swinton FC, both leading rugby league clubs.

** Successful expansion leads to a thriving international scene by 1910.[/QUOTE]
 
Make the English Euro ban longer or later?

Reduce the interest in rugby in Scotland, particularly the Edinburgh area, if Hibs and Hearts could pull 40k plus home crowds it would make a much stronger league...

Conversely perhaps Celtic never existing could help that? Hibs remain much bigger and stronger as a result and Scottish clubs are more balanced in size.

Change our woeful culture that has young players thinking they can be out in the piss. The conveyor belt of top level Scots talent stalled in the 80's, need to find a way to keep that going.

In general a stronger, more competitive SPL could have captalised much more when the English clubs were banned from Europe.
 
By the end of the the 19th Century Scottish teams were very much superior to English ones with the National team continously slaughtering Englands and Scottish teams winning the FA cup on many occasions.

So your challenge with a PoD of 1900 is to have asituation nowadays where all the money is in Scottish football and although English foorball is still big it is not to the same standard.

I'm sorry but no Scottish Club ever won the FA Cup, but Queen's Park were runners up on two occasions (1884 & 1885). You are right, however, that Scottish football was superior to the English game in the very early days due to the Scots more skillful passing game. The Scottish national team defeated England ten times in sixteen meetings from the first official match in 1872. Some of these Scottish wins were by a considerable margin.
 
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