Scottish Football Restructured - Old Firm to England & New Structure

In the summer of 2023, following secret discussions between the SFA, SPFL, FIFA, Premier League & the FA; it was announced that Celtic and Rangers would both be leaving the Scottish game and join the English league system with immediate effect.

It was also ruled that due to Sheffield United's owners being deemed unfit and unproper and Luton's lack of stadium infrastructure, these teams were ineligible for the promotion they recently earned and the Old Firm would instead be offered these promotion spots. This caused weeks of unrest and a power struggle within the English game with a lot of debate about the legality and sporting integrity. Ultimately, the broadcasting and ownership cabal (who now had some of their closest friends trying to pick up a bargain with new undervalued Premier League clubs) won the day.

The move caused a lot of uncertainty in Scotland as broadcasting and sponsorship deals were voided. As part of the deal, it was agreed that on an ongoing basis 2.5% of the departing clubs revenue would be returned to the SPFL. With an average of nearly £400 million in anticipated revenue for each of these clubs simply participating in the Premier League and better-than-expected renegotiated terms with sponsors who did not want to leave the league outright (anticipating renewed interest with an open field title race and the prospect of more European money to the remaining clubs), the prize pot for the remaining clubs actually rose from £35 to £55m.

It was unclear whether the league structure would remain as is and a special assembly of the remaining pyramid clubs was called. With less dependency on guaranteeing 4 OF fixtures in the broadcast schedule, an expanded structure based on the principle of 16 team national divisions was agreed upon along with a much more re-distributable financial model which would prioritise the sustainability of Scottish Football as a whole and promote the sport at lower levels. Where 42nd Albion Rovers only obtained £63k from the league last season, an equivalent finish would now see over £250k.

It was also anticipated that top flight revenues would be increased with enhanced access to Europe (given that 5 clubs now benefited from the Old Firm being ineligible for this seasons competition) and better gate revenues in a new more competitive set-up.

As the cross border rules had been relaxed, it was speculated that some sides in the North of England or further afield may see the Scottish game as more lucrative and provide an accessible route to accessing continental football or sustain themselves consistently within the full-time game. After discussions, it was announced during the assembly that Carlisle United had been admitted to the Premiership and Workington A.F.C. would join the the new third tier Scottish League 1 division. Both moves were also viewed controversially but with the momentum of the chaos, the moves were ratified within hours.

(I've not fleshed the pyramid out beyond the Highland/Lowland set-up but if anyone has any particular interest in this editor data then I might work on this, for now it's a very simple structure with only the top 3 tiers and three cup competitions configured. I've tried to adjust expectations and simulated a couple of seasons but please do let me know if anything obvious I've missed)