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#1
Problems, problems, problems! That is the Elite League!
Every season the smaller clubs just have the life squeezed out of them, Newcastle, Manchester and Basingstoke all struggled in the Elite League before dropping down to EPL.
Edinburgh have been teetering for a few years and of course Cardiff and Hull are no strangers to the financial struggle either.
This year Dundee, Fife, Edinburgh and Hull are the bottom 4 teams and will be happy to see the season through, and now Coventry have declared they too are suffering financially and had to release probably their best import player.
Meanwhile in Sheffield.........it's spend, spend, spend just like any other year. Nottingham and Belfast loading up with the better imports and a full roster hell bent on leaving the rest of the teams to struggle in their wake.
How can this crazy situation be allowed to continue?
Personally I would advocate the Devils dropping down to the EPL and hopefully the rest would follow suit......minus Sheffield, Nottingham and Belfast.
I would like to see the EPL welcome Cardiff, Coventry, Braehead, Hull, Fife, Dundee and Edinburgh into their league to join the existing clubs there. With perhaps an 8 import limit and the league structured into regions, perhaps Northern, Midlands and Southern, hopefully then we will arrive at a good sustainable product that all times can compete in and are capable of beating any team on any given night, thus creating a good, credible league run under strict guidelines.
More importantly this league would have no Sheffield, no Nottingham and no Belfast, they should be barred entry. How can a league exist with 90% of the teams playing out of small to medium sized rinks and then 3 teams playing in 6000+ arenas?
It doesn't work, they will always spend bigger than everyone else forcing the other teams to try to keep up.
This scenario occurred a few years ago when Superleague was left with 5 teams in it after the other clubs dropped down through financial worries, and here we are again at the same spot. No lessons have been learned at all and the arena teams have been allowed to dictate the pace to the others.
The EPL should expand their league to incorporate Cardiff, Coventry, Braehead, Hull, Fife, Dundee and Edinburgh and go with regional divisions to keep costs low with inter-divisional games in the fixture schedule less frequent than division games. The teams in the South would then have a Scottish double header away weekend or 2 when they are away to the Scottish teams and vice versa to create a better and more financially sustainable schedule keeping travel costs to a minimum.
As for Sheffield, Nottingham and Belfast? Well they are ruining the sport with their big arenas driving the smaller clubs to ruin, so cut them adrift and let them play in their own 3 team Elite/Superleague while the EPL grows a good sustainable league for the vast majority to prosper.
Pleximan
Every season the smaller clubs just have the life squeezed out of them, Newcastle, Manchester and Basingstoke all struggled in the Elite League before dropping down to EPL.
Edinburgh have been teetering for a few years and of course Cardiff and Hull are no strangers to the financial struggle either.
This year Dundee, Fife, Edinburgh and Hull are the bottom 4 teams and will be happy to see the season through, and now Coventry have declared they too are suffering financially and had to release probably their best import player.
Meanwhile in Sheffield.........it's spend, spend, spend just like any other year. Nottingham and Belfast loading up with the better imports and a full roster hell bent on leaving the rest of the teams to struggle in their wake.
How can this crazy situation be allowed to continue?
Personally I would advocate the Devils dropping down to the EPL and hopefully the rest would follow suit......minus Sheffield, Nottingham and Belfast.
I would like to see the EPL welcome Cardiff, Coventry, Braehead, Hull, Fife, Dundee and Edinburgh into their league to join the existing clubs there. With perhaps an 8 import limit and the league structured into regions, perhaps Northern, Midlands and Southern, hopefully then we will arrive at a good sustainable product that all times can compete in and are capable of beating any team on any given night, thus creating a good, credible league run under strict guidelines.
More importantly this league would have no Sheffield, no Nottingham and no Belfast, they should be barred entry. How can a league exist with 90% of the teams playing out of small to medium sized rinks and then 3 teams playing in 6000+ arenas?
It doesn't work, they will always spend bigger than everyone else forcing the other teams to try to keep up.
This scenario occurred a few years ago when Superleague was left with 5 teams in it after the other clubs dropped down through financial worries, and here we are again at the same spot. No lessons have been learned at all and the arena teams have been allowed to dictate the pace to the others.
The EPL should expand their league to incorporate Cardiff, Coventry, Braehead, Hull, Fife, Dundee and Edinburgh and go with regional divisions to keep costs low with inter-divisional games in the fixture schedule less frequent than division games. The teams in the South would then have a Scottish double header away weekend or 2 when they are away to the Scottish teams and vice versa to create a better and more financially sustainable schedule keeping travel costs to a minimum.
As for Sheffield, Nottingham and Belfast? Well they are ruining the sport with their big arenas driving the smaller clubs to ruin, so cut them adrift and let them play in their own 3 team Elite/Superleague while the EPL grows a good sustainable league for the vast majority to prosper.
Pleximan
