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Zac Sapsford played the full 90 minutes for Dundee United in their 1–0 away loss to Dundee in the Dundee Derby. Fun fact Dens Park (Dundee's stadium) and Tanndadice Park (Dundee United's stadium) are only 183 metres apart and are the second closest city rivals in the world after Malmö Derby rivals IFK Malmö and Malmö FF (170 metres apart).
 
HonestSpursFan said:
Zac Sapsford played the full 90 minutes for Dundee United in their 1–0 away loss to Dundee in the Dundee Derby. Fun fact Dens Park (Dundee's stadium) and Tanndadice Park (Dundee United's stadium) are only 183 metres apart and are the second closest city rivals in the world after Malmö Derby rivals IFK Malmö and Malmö FF (170 metres apart).
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Only made 10 of his 21 passes at 48% according to Fotmob and 1 of 2 shots on target for Zac. Looked like a pretty tough night at the office for the United side of Dundee.
 
HonestSpursFan said:
Besides Celtic, Hearts (this season) and Rangers the Premiership is mostly EFL Championship quality. Celtic and Rangers would need a miracle to even touch European football if they got their wish and joined the Premier League. Celtic's Champions League qualification via the playoffs (which they didn't even get this season since they lost to Qairat from Kazakhstan) and their otherwise high profile for multiple reasons (fan culture, domestic trophies, etc) has elevated profile of the Premiership. I really hope Hearts do shake things up this year (same goes for Lens in Ligue 1) just to see a different winner for once.

You mentioned Belgium and you're right, the Belgian Pro League is better than the Scottish Premiership. While rankings are often misleading, Belgium is ranked eighth in Europe in terms of UEFA coefficient, while Scotland is now 18th (down from 14th). In between Belgium and Scotland in the rankings is Turkey, the Czech Republic, Poland, Greece, Denmark, Norway, Cyprus, Switzerland and Austria.
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Very interesting, i always thought, aside from celtic and rangers, the rest of the SPL was league one at best, hence why so many a-league players have done well there.
 
HonestSpursFan said:
Also guys kinda unrelated but since we all pronounce their names right can we please in 2026 start to spell the names of Yugoslav (well, ex-Yugoslav) footballers right? Not complaining (also not Slavic myself) just think it's best if we spell their names right. Fran Karačić, Nicolas Milanović, Daniela Galić, Alana Jančevski, Josip Šimunić, Miloš Degenek, Christian Pulišić, Luka Modrić, etc? If it's at the end of the name then ch is ć, if not it's č.
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This is actually a mental request, ocd much?
 
SMFAN7 said:
Very interesting, i always thought, aside from celtic and rangers, the rest of the SPL was league one at best, hence why so many a-league players have done well there.
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Probably depends on the team. The bottom of the Premiership is League One level but the midtable (Hibs, etc) is probably Championship.
 
SMFAN7 said:
Very interesting, i always thought, aside from celtic and rangers, the rest of the SPL was league one at best, hence why so many a-league players have done well there.
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It is League 1 at best and the OF not much better - especially this year.

Also, the Australians who go there tend not to be top tier, but most of them do well enough. A few don't but that is mainly because of their inability to adapt to the cold weather, slow pitches, faster pace, unrelenting media scrutiny and massive fan expectation that is well beyond anything experienced in the AL.

They do say it's a shop window but there are few Aussies who've gone on to better leagues from the SPFL. Viduka did... Rogic turned down Arsenal but I guess he had the offer...

If I was a young footballer and not good enough for a top 5 league I'd still be happy to go to Scotland, if only to experience life in a totally football bonkers culture. The standard being within my measure would be the cherry on top.
 
Mr Cleansheets said:
It is League 1 at best and the OF not much better - especially this year.

Also, the Australians who go there tend not to be top tier, but most of them do well enough. A few don't but that is mainly because of their inability to adapt to the cold weather, slow pitches, faster pace, unrelenting media scrutiny and massive fan expectation that is well beyond anything experienced in the AL.

They do say it's a shop window but there are few Aussies who've gone on to better leagues from the SPFL. Viduka did... Rogic turned down Arsenal but I guess he had the offer...

If I was a young footballer and not good enough for a top 5 league I'd still be happy to go to Scotland, if only to experience life in a totally football bonkers culture. The standard being within my measure would be the cherry on top.
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Would a team like Dons or Hibs be League One level?
 
HonestSpursFan said:
Would a team like Dons or Hibs be League One level?
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I've watched plenty of SPFL over the years and quite a lot of Champo lately (with so many AA involved), but pretty much no League 1. Therefore I'm guessing about that quality but it has to be lesser than the bottom of the Champo, right?

Hearts are top of the SPFL right now but they struggled last night against Livingston who were recently promoted and currently sit bottom.

From what I've seen this season every Scottish club would struggle in the Championship. I daresay Hearts, Celtic and Rangers would survive but not many others.
 
Mr Cleansheets said:
I've watched plenty of SPFL over the years and quite a lot of Champo lately (with so many AA involved), but pretty much no League 1. Therefore I'm guessing about that quality but it has to be lesser than the bottom of the Champo, right?

Hearts are top of the SPFL right now but they struggled last night against Livingston who were recently promoted and currently sit bottom.

From what I've seen this season every Scottish club would struggle in the Championship. I daresay Hearts, Celtic and Rangers would survive but not many others.
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So you would agree that the Celtic fans who want to see Celtic in the Premier League are foolish?
 
HonestSpursFan said:
So you would agree that the Celtic fans who want to see Celtic in the Premier League are foolish?
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Not at all. A decent share of the TV money and regular exposure to better competition would lift their level but it wouldn't happen overnight.

Personally, I'd be interested to see a fully British football league - at least in the top two leagues - but that would have the unfortunate effect of killing off the unique culture of the Scottish league which, while it lacks in quality, massively compensates with passion and atmos unmatched in most other places.
 
Devlin played the whole match as hearts won again. Rangers also beat celtic so hearts are now 6 points and goal difference ahead of Celtic and on same amount of games.

In other Scottish news Priestman played 30 mins for Motherwell in their win, Milanovic (I'm not putting the accent, I refuse) played 20 minutes in Aberdeen's loss to Falkirk.
 
Mr Cleansheets said:
Not at all. A decent share of the TV money and regular exposure to better competition would lift their level but it wouldn't happen overnight.

Personally, I'd be interested to see a fully British football league - at least in the top two leagues - but that would have the unfortunate effect of killing off the unique culture of the Scottish league which, while it lacks in quality, massively compensates with passion and atmos unmatched in most other places.
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Such talk is always dangerous territory as it riles some people really up. I wouldn't mind something like a Home Nations Cup but who'd take it seriously?

You've got 4 Welsh teams in the EFL and Northern Ireland have one or two clubs of League 2 or lower standard.

I saw a draft for expanding the SPL and it looked good. The issue is money but if they worked on sustainability then it could work.

I think if Scottish clubs entered the English system it'd allow for potentially more money and sponsorship. League One can deceive as sometimes it looks pretty good with two teams in a large stadium and other times it looks really poor kick and rush.
 
JS96 said:
Such talk is always dangerous territory as it riles some people really up. I wouldn't mind something like a Home Nations Cup but who'd take it seriously?

You've got 4 Welsh teams in the EFL and Northern Ireland have one or two clubs of League 2 or lower standard.

I saw a draft for expanding the SPL and it looked good. The issue is money but if they worked on sustainability then it could work.

I think if Scottish clubs entered the English system it'd allow for potentially more money and sponsorship. League One can deceive as sometimes it looks pretty good with two teams in a large stadium and other times it looks really poor kick and rush.
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I'd prefer North England clubs (Yorkshire and Lancashire up to the border) and Welsh clubs Cardiff, Swansea, Wrexham and Newport join with Scottish clubs to form new leagues replacing Scottish Football Leagues. Perhaps renamed British Premier League, British Championship etc. Then both English and British top tier league would comprise 18 teams, followed by 20 teams in each of the 3 leagues below. So the British Premier League might have the following teams, in no particular order:

1. Leeds
2. Newcastle
3. Celtic
4. Rangers
5. Sunderland
6. Boro
7. Burnley
8. Hull
9. PNE
10. Wrexham
11. Sheffield United
12. Swansea
13. Blackburn Rovers
14. Cardiff
15. Hearts
16. Hibs
17. Aberdeen
18. Huddersfield
 
dr. bellows said:
I'd prefer North England clubs (Yorkshire and Lancashire up to the border) and Welsh clubs Cardiff, Swansea, Wrexham and Newport join with Scottish clubs to form new leagues replacing Scottish Football Leagues. Perhaps renamed British Premier League, British Championship etc. Then both English and British top tier league would comprise 18 teams, followed by 20 teams in each of the 3 leagues below. So the British Premier League might have the following teams, in no particular order:

1. Leeds
2. Newcastle
3. Celtic
4. Rangers
5. Sunderland
6. Boro
7. Burnley
8. Hull
9. PNE
10. Wrexham
11. Sheffield United
12. Swansea
13. Blackburn Rovers
14. Cardiff
15. Hearts
16. Hibs
17. Aberdeen
18. Huddersfield
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Mr Cleansheets said:
Not at all. A decent share of the TV money and regular exposure to better competition would lift their level but it wouldn't happen overnight.

Personally, I'd be interested to see a fully British football league - at least in the top two leagues - but that would have the unfortunate effect of killing off the unique culture of the Scottish league which, while it lacks in quality, massively compensates with passion and atmos unmatched in most other places.
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The Scots would hate the idea of not being able to drink or have flairs in the stadium though (since England doesn't allow that).
 
Levante head to Seville to face midtable Sevilla today (tonight at 12:00am AEDT). Levante desperately need a win as a win would put them only two points off staying up. They currently sit dead last with 10 points in 16 games.
 
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