The Move to Summer Football in Scotland

*Originally Published 13th April, 2020*

France 98 was the last major tournament a Scottish men’s team qualified for; 22 years and an entire generation of players have come and gone without going to a World Cup or Euros now this Summer’s tournament has been postponed. And, we still have a chance of qualifying for the tournament which would have been held across 12 European cities to celebrate UEFA’s 60th birthday.

So, if we are to stay away from the definition of insanity commonly attributed to Einstein (although he never seems to have actually said it), maybe we should look at changing how the domestic game is set up. Every few years, the idea of Summer football is proposed as a possible solution to games being called off due to bad winter weather and as a way of helping develop Scottish footballers by having them play in better weather on better pitches.

Given that football in most of the world has ground to a halt due to Covid-19 and is unlikely to get started until late this year, is this the time to take the leap and move to a summer season? That might seem counterintuitive given that European football normally kicks off the new season in the second half of the year and the European Championships will be next summer too. The reason I’m suggesting a change now is to put the matter to bed. Do it now, when we have been forced to evaluate what we’re doing and how to proceed; or leave it be.

I’m not going to dive into the promotion, relegation and champions debate, I will naively assume that the authorities will come to a sensible solution for resolving this current season. This approach is regarding a bridge between starting back later this year and the new summer football season. It will be interesting to see what solutions National FA’s and Leagues decide on to close up this season but, I have heard a suggestion from Belgium that could see teams being promoted, no one being relegated, and the end of next season the leagues being reduced to those original numbers.

I’ve picked September as a potential kick off date for a bridging tournament purely off the back of some podcasts I’ve been listening to and some things I’ve read or seen on tv. I’m not saying this is going to happen or should happen, it’s purely a way of kicking off this hypothetical scenario.

If we can kick off in September, given that teams have been able to get fit again, I can see two Cup competitions taking place in Scotland over the following 13 weeks - The start of September to the end of November. The first would be for teams from the Premiership to League 2, 42 teams in total, which is outlined below. The second would be for all 64 teams in the Highland, Lowland, East of Scotland and South of Scotland Leagues which I may cover in a future article.

The idea behind these tournaments would be to try and give clubs as many meaningful, competitive games as possible in the given time co-ordinating with the final 13 weeks of next year’s summer season. Many of the ‘Summer Leagues’ I have looked at run between February or March to October or November. This hypothetical Scottish Summer League is based on a February to November schedule.

Using a reduced league format would diminish the idea of a true season and it would forever be seen as ‘less’; in much the same way this season’s champions would have their accomplishment reduced if the fixtures were not completed. However, a cup win, with a minimum of 17 games across multiple rounds may be viewed as a proper achievement.

It gets a little convoluted but the idea would be:

Round 1: The 42 teams of the would be broken into 7 groups of 6 teams. These groups would be geographically based to help reduce monetary and time expense for clubs and fans alike. These 7 groups would see each team play 10 games across 5 weeks utilising midweek and weekend fixtures in a home and away format.

Round 2: After each team has completed 10 games, the top 32 teams across all groups would be split into 8 groups of 4 teams. The bottom 10 teams would be split into 2 groups of 5. Again, these would be geographically weighted. The top group of teams would play 6 games, home and away, across 3 weeks whilst the lower 10 teams would play 8 games across 4 weeks.

Round 3: Based on points, the Top 16, Middle 16, Lower 8 and Bottom 2 teams splinter into separate knockout stage cups. The bottom 2 teams from the groups of 5 will play off over a 2 leg final to finish their route. The other 8 will be drawn into quarter final brackets playing in a 1 leg knockout game. The Top and Middle 16 teams, based on points (then goal difference, goals for etc.), will be drawn into 1 leg knockout games.

Round 4: Quarter finals for Top and Middle 8 teams and semi finals for the last 4 Lower group teams. 1 leg knockout games.

Round 5: Lower group final and semi finals for the Middle and Top groups. 1 Leg knockout.

Round 6: Middle and Top group finals ideally played over a Saturday and Sunday for maximum attendance and tv viewership.

I understand that some may see a minimum of 17 games in 9 weeks as excessive for a first team squad of 23 however, I would propose that any player registered for the a club be eligible to take part in these games. This would, hopefully, allow players from the U20 Development Squads, U18s and maybe even the U17s an opportunity to taste senior football in a meaningful capacity. There is also 1 week slippage built in, just in case of bad weather as this competition takes place over 12 weeks.

I know there are gaps in this plan however, it is merely a starting point for discourse. If anyone else has an idea for Scotland’s move to summer football, I welcome the chance to hear it.