SPL - How good a standard is it?

[Mellotron]

Is it comparable to the Championship, or League One?

Our own experience tells us the following:

Steven Thomson -Captained an SPL side for a couple of years, made no impression whatsoever on a poor Brighton side.

Graeme Smith - Mainstay at a higher-end SPL side for years, utter disaster at League One level.

Fran Sandaza - Well rated at Dundee United and scored a fair few, unknown quantity at League One level although does not seem blessed with "skills and a good touch" as their fans have suggested.

Thoughts?

 

[hans kraay fan club]

It is a piss poor 'league', but the top two do have 'big club' status by virtue of history / attendances / Europe, etc.

 

[Biscuit]

Top half is probably Championship standard, bottom half league one.

 

[Mellotron]

If you were to stick the SPL teams into the middle of the English Football League, where would they all find their natural place? Would Rangers/Celtic be Championship or lower-end Prem?

 

[Jimmy Grimble]

Playing devils advocate (I still think it's a poor league), Jason Scotland came from a lower SPL side and scored goals for fun in League One.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Half a dozen of the BEST players in the SPL signed for Middlesborough en masse, to take the Championship by storm. How is that working out?

 

[Mellotron]

Gordon Greer spent years at Kilmarnock and to me looks good enough to captain a Championship side (us).

 

[Carrot Cruncher]

Monkey tennis.

 

[sten_super]

Top half is probably Championship standard, bottom half league one.

I think you are being overly generous. Rangers and Celtic are Championship standard, but Hearts in 3rd have players like Kevin Kyle and Rudi Skacel who were pretty abject failures in the Championship...

If you were to stick the SPL teams into the middle of the English Football League, where would they all find their natural place? Would Rangers/Celtic be Championship or lower-end Prem?

As hkfc says, you only need to look at the success of Middlesborough to see that, in their current guises, they would probably be passable Championship teams. However, given a few years in the pyramid to attract players and rake in money they'd no doubt be top half of the Premiership, purely down to the size of their stadia and support.

 

[Tony Towner's Fridge]

Rangers & Celtic - Championship
Hearts League 1
Motherwell and all the others apart from Hamilton Bottom League 1
Hamilton League 2

Don't be fooled by big clubs and big attendence nonsense.

Sunday's Old Firm match was a Conference standard pile of tripe, probably a disservice to the likes of AFC Wimbeldon,Luton and Crawley.

We mauled Aberdeen pre-season remember.

Also Kris Boyd was prolific for Rangers last season and couldn't hit a proverbial barn door in a team who are near bottom of the Championship, this season. So he can't be that good can he? Which re-enforces my argument, methinks?

I have seen enough of football up here for the past 27 years to know when a league is piss poor. This league is piss poor and with a reduction to only 10 teams, seeming inevitable, it will only get piss poorer.

TNBA

TTF

 

[Jambo Seagull]

I would say Rantic at present are high end Championship. We're probably mid to low end championship and I think a game between Hearts and Brighton would be a pretty tight affair. Most of the rest are probably on a par with mid to lower end League 1/top end league 2.

 

[Hatterlovesbrighton]

I reckon they would be low to middle Prem.

I remember back in the early 90's when the European ban was in effect, Rangers were pretty good on the European scene mainly because they could recruit good players. Reckon if they were in the EPL they would attract loads more good players and so play well enough to be competitive.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Rangers & Celtic would struggle in the bottom half of the Championship , the rest of the SPL clubs would be ok at League 1 level.

 

[Hatterlovesbrighton]

I reckon they would be low to middle Prem.

I remember back in the early 90's when the European ban was in effect, Rangers were pretty good on the European scene mainly because they could recruit good players. Reckon if they were in the EPL they would attract loads more good players and so play well enough to be competitive.

Should say that is based on them getting a new squad of players, not on their current crop. Currently I reckon they'd be middle of the Championship.

 

[Lord Bamber]

is it comparable to the championship, or league one?

Our own experience tells us the following:

Steven thomson -captained an spl side for a couple of years, made no impression whatsoever on a poor brighton side.

Graeme smith - mainstay at a higher-end spl side for years, utter disaster at league one level.

Fran sandaza - well rated at dundee united and scored a fair few, unknown quantity at league one level although does not seem blessed with "skills and a good touch" as their fans have suggested.

Thoughts?

this.

it is a piss poor 'league', but the top two do have 'big club' status by virtue of history / attendances / europe, etc.

this

half a dozen of the best players in the spl signed for middlesborough en masse, to take the championship by storm. How is that working out?

this

 

[cuthbert]

Rangers are so bad they would be absolutely thrashed if they played a team like Man U, oh hang on, maybe not.

 

[Mellotron]

Rangers are so bad they would be absolutely thrashed if they played a team like Man U, oh hang on, maybe not.

To be fair it was 11 men behind the ball for 180 minutes.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

To be fair it was 11 men behind the ball for 180 minutes.

Thats the same most weeks in the League.

Its a poor league, there so called best players in the past few years - Hutton, Boyd and Ferguson - have been pretty poor in the Premiership and Championship

 

[Ecosse Exile]

Any team can rise to the occasion as Rangers did against Man U at Old Trafford, however over the course of a season the likes of Norwich and QPR at the top of the Championship would muller them.
I would say like most of the comments above the Old Firm with their current squads would struggle maybe even get relegated from the championship, as for the rest Hearts and Hibs would be mid to top of league 1 and the rest would struggle in league 1 or be ok in league 2.
The Old Firm are capable of attracting star players because of their reputation as big clubs, but struggle financially to afford those players.
For example Rangers could not compete sufficiently to lure Chris Eagles away from Burnley, one of their best players is Steven Davis who couldn't get in Fulhams team.
Celtic have recently signed Freddy Ljungberg, who in his day was of course outstanding, but i dont remember West Ham fans being too upset when he was released by them!

 

[Simster]

I think their attendances say it all: league-wide average gate 13,500, with just two teams exceeding this figure on a regular basis. (Hearts do actually manage to average 13,500 but no other team can do it)

It's so lop sided that if you join an Old Firm team, apparantly you qualify for a free medal when you next buy ten pounds worth of petrol.

It's so poor that Freddie Ljungberg has joined Celtic to get away from the rigours of the far superior MLS.

Absolute gash league.