Kick Off.

Before the timeline starts in earnest, here is the background..

15th April 2002: Scottish Clubs reach a deal agreeing to form their own television channel, the SPL Sports Network to cover SPL games, following the collapse of negotiations with Sky. Alongside SPL games, the channel quickly acquires the television rights to Magners League Rugby Union, Scotland home international football matches and the Scottish Open Golf. They announce they will bid for individual European games involving British clubs.
27th November 2007 : Saw an historic agreement as the Football Association of Wales made a deal with the Welsh clubs based in England so that from the 2008-09 season onwards Welsh clubs would once more play in the Welsh Cup, thus enabling the likes of Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham the opportunity once more to gain entry into the UEFA Cup and European football. In addition to all of this, Uefa have agreed to give special dispensation for the Welsh clubs, should they opt to play in the Welsh Cup. Opposition to the move emerged as the chairman of Leeds United, Ken Bates has made a stinging attack, asking the Welsh clubs to decide once and for all “whether they were Welsh or English”. He asked how it could possibly be fair that the Welsh teams could almost certainly be guaranteed Europe ever other year and asked why this advantage should be allowed. He also promised to raise the matter at the next meeting of the Football League.
31st August 2008 : Following the entry of Cardiff City into the UEFA Cup, the Leeds Chairman Ken Bates put forward a motion calling for Welsh clubs to be thrown out of the Football League at the end of the 08/09 season . The motion passes by one vote. Cardiff and Swansea announce they will appeal the decision, offering to withdraw from the Welsh Cup, to no avail.
1st February 2009 : The appeal reaches the Court of Appeal, with an agreement being made that no decision would be made until the case reaches its conclusion. As such, the final decision on the Welsh teams leaving the league is postponed for a season.
20th June 2009 : The Scottish Premier League announces expansion to 14 clubs from the 2010/11 season.
1st September 2009: The Court of Appeal reaches the conclusion that the Welsh teams should leave the league, but that if they are to leave they should be compensated. The Court orders £60 million in compensation be paid. The Football League, following discussions with the Welsh clubs see a deal done whereby they agree not to appeal the decision, but rather pay Cardiff, Swansea, and the other Welsh clubs in the English set up £35 million, and build the stadiums and facilities of the other Welsh Premier League Clubs. It is agreed that the Welsh Clubs based in England will join the Welsh Premier League from season 2010/11 onwards.
1st November 2009 : Welsh Premier League reaches agreement with English-based clubs. WPL will retain its 12 club format, although they will follow the system that was previously used in Scotland of playing each other 3 times before the split for the final round of fixtures.
1st February 2010 : SPL Sports Network, the Scottish Premier League television station makes an agreement to televise the Welsh Premier League from the 2010-11 season onwards. The Welsh Premier League will for this receive £3 million per season, in a four year deal rising if the number of Welsh subscribers rises.
2nd May 2010 : Sheffield Wednesday and Plymouth Argyle are spared relegation from the Championship as Cardiff and Swansea leave the Football League to join the Welsh Premier League.
 
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Dominance..

MY first thought is that Cardiff and Swansea would dominate the WPL just as Celtic and Rangers dominate the SPL.

Newport County and Wrexham aren't good enough to challenge the top two and teams like Bangor City would be in mid-table.

On the tv front, would the SPL Sports Network also cover the more traditional Scottish sports such as gaelic football and what about trying to grab coverage of Scottish and Welsh horse racing?
 
Gaelic football has never been a traditional Scottish sport, shinty I suppose could be shown and I expect horse and dog racing from across the UK and the rest of the world could also be shown. Cardiff and Swansea will dominate. It'd be foolish to say otherwise but the gap will close and the Welsh leaguer will clearly improve.

One thing I would mention is football is a traditional game in Scotland. James I(I believe) banned the sport of football as it was diverting thre locals from archery.:D
 
Sports..

I was going to say something about shinty but then I realised I didn't know what it was.

To broaden out the TL, how about the Scottish and Welsh racecourses forming a united group and negotiating their own coverage with the Sports Network?
 
I was going to say something about shinty but then I realised I didn't know what it was.

To broaden out the TL, how about the Scottish and Welsh racecourses forming a united group and negotiating their own coverage with the Sports Network?
Why not go for the whole of Britain, or at least as many Scottish, Irish, English and Welsh racecources as possible? The point would be expanding the appeal of the channel as wide as possible so the clubs make as much profit for the SPL clubs as possible after all.

I've loaded the game now, so I'll put the opening day results for the SPL and WPL up tommorow.
 
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4th July 2010.


Following their entry into administration, Dundee have been given a 50% chance of survival by administrator Bryan Jackson after he made nine players redundant.
Manager Gordon Chisholm and his assistant Billy Dodds also lost their jobs with the First Division club. Jackson, of PKF, revealed the club's debt was around £2m, of which £420,000 is owed to the tax authorities.

Jackson then warned that the Dens Park outfit only had enough funds to operate until Christmas and would fold unless fresh investment is found.
"This club is facing the most difficult fight of its life," said Jackson, who has overseen similar situations at Clydebank and Motherwell. "We must get money in before Christmas. If I had to guess, I would say there's a 50-50 chance of survival."

Brian Kerr, Mickael Antoine-Curier, Eric Paton, Dominic Shimmin, Njazi Kuqi, Paul McHale, Scott Fox, Colin McMenamin and Charlie Grant are the players who have had their contracts terminated. Youth coach John Holt and kit-man Neil Cosgrove have lost their jobs, while it remains unclear if four on-loan players, Milan Misun, David Witteveen, Jamie Adams and Scott Findlay, can stay on. However, the jobs of office staff at Dens Park have been secured until at least the end of the year.

The club now just has eleven first team players as they head into the new season following their promotion to the Scottish Premier League. Doubts have been raised as to the club being able to fulfill the fixtures, but Neil Doncaster, the SPL Chief Executive made the position clear. "According to the SPL rules, any club entering administration will incur a ten point penalty. Dundee are no exception to this." Barry Smith will take charge of the club as caretaker manager on a temporary basis.

This is the second time in seven years the Tayside outfit has entered administration and investor Calum Melville has paid £200,000 into the club lawyer's account to help steer the club through the process. "I know a number of people have come forward to pledge funds, which is fantastic," said Melville.

"I'm hoping if there is anyone else out there who can help the club financially, they will come forward and do so." Chisholm and Dodds joined the club in March, when they were persuaded to leave Queen of the South after Jocky Scott was sacked while Dundee were sitting on top of the First Division. This is the lowest point in my career

"We're angry and people have to be made accountable," former Scotland striker Dodds told BBC Scotland. "We don't have regrets about taking the job but questions need to be answered. "I've been involved in a few highs and lows in football. This is the lowest point in my career. "There is no doubt it's a grim situation and this had to be done for the club to go on. For the club to survive people have to go, it's as simple as that.

"But as long as this club survives, that's the main thing, from an overall perspective." Dundee previously entered administration in 2003 but survived and retained their Scottish Premier League status until 2005, when they were relegated. The shock of them entering administration just as they regained their place in the top-flight was palpable.

Defender Paton admitted that he felt let down by those running the club. He said: "For a club to go into administration so quickly after coming out of administration, there is no hiding where the problems have lain. "It must have been on the horizon for a wee while but they've still been signing players up to three weeks ago."
 
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Had a thought about doing a "soccer" timeline when I posted https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=198718 about a unified Welsh/English (perhaps British) team with game by game breakdowns of each tournament (Euro 92, USA 94, France 96*, Italy 98, Japan/Korea 2002, Portugal 2004, Germany 2006, Austria/Switzerland 2008 and South Africa 2010).

The start premise was João Havelange deciding (circa 1974) that the "Home Nations" should be forced to field a single team. After an appropriate period of protest/international exile, "Britain" or "England & Wales" would have been coaxed back into the international community between ~1977 to 1983 from a mixture of pressure from the domestic clubs (eager to play again in UEFA tournaments) and/or the inducement of hosting the 1990 World Cup*. But then I realised I'd have to go through a list of players I've barely seen play and decide whether they were good enough to play for a unified side. It's one thing asking whether Ian Rush/Neville Southall would displace Gary Lineker/Peter Shilton in Mexico 86 and laughing about how Andy Sinton would never get an England cap. It's another debating Clayton Blackmore (who?) vs Kenny Sansom (who?). Don't even get me started on the Jocks. Most that played north of the border are a blank for me.

Have often wondered where Scottish nationalism would be if there wasn't a Scottish football league/team. Oh, and if the ball hadn't crossed the line :)

I'm pretty cynical about people's interest in "soccer" on this board. But enough about me! Bookmarked this thread, looking forward to seeing how it progresses!
 
Had a thought about doing a "soccer" timeline when I posted https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=198718 about a unified Welsh/English (perhaps British) team with game by game breakdowns of each tournament (Euro 92, USA 94, France 96*, Italy 98, Japan/Korea 2002, Portugal 2004, Germany 2006, Austria/Switzerland 2008 and South Africa 2010).

The start premise was João Havelange deciding (circa 1974) that the "Home Nations" should be forced to field a single team. After an appropriate period of protest/international exile, "Britain" or "England & Wales" would have been coaxed back into the international community between ~1977 to 1983 from a mixture of pressure from the domestic clubs (eager to play again in UEFA tournaments) and/or the inducement of hosting the 1990 World Cup*. But then I realised I'd have to go through a list of players I've barely seen play and decide whether they were good enough to play for a unified side. It's one thing asking whether Ian Rush/Neville Southall would displace Gary Lineker/Peter Shilton in Mexico 86 and laughing about how Andy Sinton would never get an England cap. It's another debating Clayton Blackmore (who?) vs Kenny Sansom (who?). Don't even get me started on the Jocks. Most that played north of the border are a blank for me.
Go for it!
Have often wondered where Scottish nationalism would be if there wasn't a Scottish football league/team. Oh, and if the linesman made the correct call in the 1966 World Cup final.... :)
Fixed. ;)
I'm pretty cynical about people's interest in "soccer" on this board. But enough about me! Bookmarked this thread, looking forward to seeing how it progresses!
Ta. Work in progress. Going to do a season preview shortly. Any club you want me to give you the results for?
 

Falkenburg

Monthly Donor
Queen of the South (for sentimental reasons :eek:).

I realise they might not make it ITTL SPL but if the prize is greater results could change. ;)

Falkenburg
 
I'd like to see Hearts results. Hopefully one outcome will be success for teams other than the OF, and Edinburgh (not Leith :) ) deserves some trophies....
 
Both certain to be added. If you want any results from England/Wales/France/Germany/Italy etc.am pleased to do also. :)
 
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Bit worried about your POD date - you're pretty much going to be dealing with "future history".

Are you going to try and break up the Glasgow dominance?
 

star

Banned
kick off

worse thread title ever

reading title, yo get "red thread", "blue thread" and "yellow thread" or this one "not gonna say what color is this thread about, if you want know get in"... nobody get in

remember that next time, good luck
 
worse thread title ever

reading title, yo get "red thread", "blue thread" and "yellow thread" or this one "not gonna say what color is this thread about, if you want know get in"... nobody get in

remember that next time, good luck
If someone said Kick Off, I would link that to football. Perhaps thats just me...
Falkenburg said:
:rolleyes: Okaaay.:p

Falkenburg
I know.

james31 said:
Bit worried about your POD date - you're pretty much going to be dealing with "future history".

Are you going to try and break up the Glasgow dominance?
Not for the fist season(2010/11) and will do my best, but don't expect an overnight miracle.
 
Not for the fist season(2010/11) and will do my best, but don't expect an overnight miracle.

Was thinking about a draft system recently (been watching Manchester United's US tour). Now such a system is ASB for soccer since club's very much like their current arrangements, i.e. managing things in-house - and you also have a league with promotion and relegation. Could you really send your very best young players to the absolute bottom tier of football?

Whilst the draft system keeps US leagues competitive and stops any team dominating in the same way Real Madrid/MUFC/Barca/Liverpool/Rangers/Celtic have done, it also dilutes talent. This is fine in a closed system but when these teams play sides from outside of these restrictions, they're at a real disadvantage.

New England Revolution = Karl Marx
Real Madrid = Ayn Rand. Sadly.

This is long way of saying that I have no idea how you could make Scottish football more contested! But good luck figuring a way for Aberdeen or Dundee to win the title by 2020 :)
 
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