Option Four: UK Wide Football Reform
A year ago I’d have said that this wasn’t impossible but that it was seriously unlikely, about as unlikely as any other option on the table.
But that was before the Global Health Emergency and suddenly it’s not such a crazy idea.
Suddenly it might be up for grabs.
The question you have to pose is this; what kind of state will football be in if this crisis drags on?
If Scottish football loses a dozen teams what do the rest of us do?
If English football suffers the effects to the extent some think is likely what then?
There is logic and sense in the idea of amalgamating the two national league bodies.
There is something to be said for giving the game that kind of shot in the arm, if it needs it.
The effects of the health crisis would need to be pretty severe to put this on the table, but it’s no longer a flight of fantasy, no longer something we can readily dismiss.
These are unprecedented times and that might call for an unprecedented solution. The Challenge Cup now involves teams from outside Scotland, and talk of a British Cup – possibly by combining both domestic League Cups – has been going on as long as I can remember.
It’s not the worst idea in the world and the more you examine it the more logical it becomes.
The question is what level the Scottish clubs would enter at and how you would determine where each goes.
As someone who supports independence, I would hate to see this come off … it would be used forevermore as a wedge issue in a future referendum …
But as long as this island remains a unitary political entity the arguments against this are weak and I’ve never thought that in certain circumstances – and a global pandemic qualifies – that they’d stand up to serious question or serious assault.
We may yet be able to put that idea to the test.