Where does Scottish football go from here?
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Nobody is going to pretend that this country hasn't always been dominated by two clubs. But it is now beyond deniable that the situation has almost become terminal. Two clubs that always had a financial advantage have now been so enriched by the money to be earned in Europe that the gap is insurmountable.
For all I lambasted Hibs for our inept performance last night there is simply no denying that the gulf in quality of player was stark, with them being able to bring on 5 subs all of whom would have walked into our team ... and the scary thing is that this is a club who can't lay a glove on Celtic, who are at the point of outstripping even them, never mind the relative paupers who make up the league's cannon fodder.
Never mind sitting hoping that one day they will gravitate to the EPL or some mythical European league. If that was to happen within 20 years kids simply wouldn't be able to resist the difference between a fixture list that says Celtic v Liverpool and Rangers v Arsenal and one that says Hibs v Dundee and Hearts v Motherwell where they can find the match report in the paper after scrolling through 20 pages of English fitba until they come to the page devoted to the Scottish premiership.
But. If the English FA with the support of the majority of clubs decided to create a league that was absolutely designed to allow the cream to rise to the top, then what is to stop a breakaway league in Scotland that excludes two clubs that are so far ahead in resources that season after season it renders our league competition absolutely meaningless .... If a country can create a breakaway league that is designed to enrich its clubs, why can a country not create a breakaway league that is designed to save the actual integrity of it's league competition?
The other night over 8,000 people paid to watch Dunfermline play Falkirk at the top of Division one, not even the Championship, but division one. Their motivation certainly wasn't a chance to play a season in the Championship that would give them a shot at a premier league where they would get the dubious privilege of seeing their clubs pumped by the Glasgow giants on a regular basis.
I'm not blind to the fact that such a move would require courage from the owners, especially the ones latched to the Ugly sisters teat, that has been in short supply in the history of our game and some bloody world class negotiation with UEFA ..... But I'm seriously at the point of thinking unless Scottish football goes down this route the future is as bleak as it has ever been ... If folk need any encouragement that it could work that Dunfermline v Falkirk crowd is surely it.
For all I lambasted Hibs for our inept performance last night there is simply no denying that the gulf in quality of player was stark, with them being able to bring on 5 subs all of whom would have walked into our team ... and the scary thing is that this is a club who can't lay a glove on Celtic, who are at the point of outstripping even them, never mind the relative paupers who make up the league's cannon fodder.
Never mind sitting hoping that one day they will gravitate to the EPL or some mythical European league. If that was to happen within 20 years kids simply wouldn't be able to resist the difference between a fixture list that says Celtic v Liverpool and Rangers v Arsenal and one that says Hibs v Dundee and Hearts v Motherwell where they can find the match report in the paper after scrolling through 20 pages of English fitba until they come to the page devoted to the Scottish premiership.
But. If the English FA with the support of the majority of clubs decided to create a league that was absolutely designed to allow the cream to rise to the top, then what is to stop a breakaway league in Scotland that excludes two clubs that are so far ahead in resources that season after season it renders our league competition absolutely meaningless .... If a country can create a breakaway league that is designed to enrich its clubs, why can a country not create a breakaway league that is designed to save the actual integrity of it's league competition?
The other night over 8,000 people paid to watch Dunfermline play Falkirk at the top of Division one, not even the Championship, but division one. Their motivation certainly wasn't a chance to play a season in the Championship that would give them a shot at a premier league where they would get the dubious privilege of seeing their clubs pumped by the Glasgow giants on a regular basis.
I'm not blind to the fact that such a move would require courage from the owners, especially the ones latched to the Ugly sisters teat, that has been in short supply in the history of our game and some bloody world class negotiation with UEFA ..... But I'm seriously at the point of thinking unless Scottish football goes down this route the future is as bleak as it has ever been ... If folk need any encouragement that it could work that Dunfermline v Falkirk crowd is surely it.