Why is the Welsh Premier League such a turd league? Plan to grow it

Surely the Welsh FA, big 4 Welsh clubs, Welsh celebrities (Bale,Ramsey etc) and some foreign invements should have come together by now to reinvigorate the league and make it bigger and better. Think Indian Super League or Saudi Pro League on a minuscule scale.


Here's the Plan.

Wales has produced a large amount of top class footballers in recent years and has a lot of untapped potential for fanfare and clubs supporting football talent. A lot of players and potential are probably falling through the cracks due to lack of clubs to play for at a decent level. Lots of fans are also being priced out of watching their local team for £30 per game. Just look at the Scottish football pyramid for a good potential comparison (3 Million Wales vs 5 Million population Scotland).

Would start with promises from the FAW and Welsh Government to pour some money into the stadium infrastructure, football pitches, and to broadcast all games free to S4C.

The big 4 Welsh teams (Cardiff, Swansea, Wrexham, Newport) buy controlling shares in four Welsh Premier League teams (Barry, Llanelli, Bala Town (?), Newport City). Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey, Craig Bellamy, Joe Allen + other interested parties become minor share holders with the hope of getting these players to play a couple games for their new teams, or at least publically represent them.

These four teams can use the club sharing model to send their youth players to the league, instantly boosting the quality. Some other interested parties like Brighton (Tony Bloom) or Man City with their CityGroup would be Welcomed in at this point with the plan. Is it beyond the realms of possibility than some of these teams can pull crowds of 5-10 K with decent price points? I think not. Regional Welsh Rugby teams back in the day did this consistantly.

Change the league format to a league & play off format. League season ends and top six are entered into a play offs for the league title. These two semi finals are played back to back in the Cardiff City stadium, similiar to Judgement day in Rugby. You can rotate the venue each year, giving Swansea, Wrexham and Newport income. Final could also be played on a single day in any of these grounds. Sell shirts and merchandise for these clubs at Big 4 team grounds, and vice versa.

With the changes in European football now and the new league formats, teams like TNS have been able to compete in a league format vs teams such as Fiorentina, and prize money has been increased. Imagine a Barry Town backed by Cardiff City and using Cardiff City youngsters playing at a packed and renovated Jenner Park vs Fiorentina.

One more step towards "the big 4" being kicked out of the English pyramid, so the FAW can have us prop up their part-timers.

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Originally Posted by bobh

One more step towards "the big 4" being kicked out of the English pyramid, so the FAW can have us prop up their part-timers.

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Wont happen.

The league will always be poor when the clubs representing the major settlements in Wales plays in England.

Not enough Welsh football fans care because the biggest 2 clubs in Wales are manu and liverpool.
Once they've whacked out for a shirt and sky/tnt subscription there's no more money for Welsh football.