A Return to the Beautiful Game
So Charles Green is to challenge the right of Rangers to play in English football through the courts. He ascertains that the current restructuring of Scottish football does not act in the best interests of his club. I ascertain that it is not meant to. Agree or disagree with what the SPL and SFL are currently proposing, it is their belief that it is for the good of ALL of Scottish football. It is not designed to be to the benefit of a single club and nor should it be.
An equal playing field that promotes sportsmanship and fair competition is what all should be aspiring towards. Green only wants money and feels Scotland is not the best playing ground for his entrepreneurial skills.
Of course, this is not the first time we have heard rumblings from one side of the Old firm (a discussion on the merits of the old firm still existing is for another article). Both Celtic and Rangers have constantly been trying to find their way into the English league structure over the last few years. Citing Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham’s existence as a precedent they can use to this end. I shall dispel this right here, as there was no Welsh league at the time they entered and thus it is a Football League for England and Wales, not Scotland. Now, Green wishes to challenge this and has the backing of Eoghainn Maclean, an expert on competition and commercial law with the Ampers and stable of Advocates in Edinburgh. MacLean states that Rangers could claim a Bosman style ruling that can see an exodus of Scottish clubs into the leagues of our southern neighbours.
Rangers and Celtic feel they cannot grow in the SPL, doomed to play as the big fish in a little pond and then find themselves all at sea as they swim into the vastness of the Champions League. Unable to compete against the big clubs of Europe, their plan is to seek a more lucrative arena to play their weekly on field trade. Rather than work with the “diddy” teams they currently share the pond with in order to enlarge their surroundings and find ways for the domestic game to prosper, their intent is to pimp themselves to each tier of the English pyramid system. With Green’s current eyes set upon the Blue Square Premier.
My first thought? Let them go. How many times have you heard someone affiliated with Celtic or Rangers say that the league would not be what it is without them? Well, they would not even have a league without the rest of us. I’m sick to the bone of them belittling our game and condemning it as poor quality that damages their chances of success in Europe. Their constant childlike griping is derisory to the rest of us and is born out of greed. The views of Green and Lawell are not built around what is best for our game, whether it be in Scotland or elsewhere but purely on what will make their clubs more money. Can you blame them? I guess not, football is a business like it or not and thus doing what’s good for their business is their job. Would the loss of their revenue and TV pulling power hurt us? Yes, financially at least. However, from a business point of view, the condemning of our national league must hurt sponsorship deals or discussion on TV rights. Not to mention that the effort they put into finding ways of jumping ship, should it have been used in bettering our game from grassroots up, would mean we would never have reached the dysfunctional miss we currently lie in.
So, what would life without the ‘Old Firm’ mean for the rest of us? Less TV money, smaller sponsorship deals and… well that’s about it really. Clubs would in the short term have to cut costs no doubt but in the long run they can prosper. Investment in youth is already paying dividends for the rest. Debts are being reduced for the most part yet crowds are abysmal. Many reasons can be attributed to this, high cost of attending a game, the increase in the number of people working regularly on a Saturday among others. However, for me the biggest problem is the lack of competition. Celtic and Rangers moving south would certainly change this. Currently 8 points separate 2nd from 2nd bottom. With that level of competition and the chance of European football, surely crowds would flock back and offset the loss of income from Old Firm sell-out crowds. Without their self-interest dealings in keeping the status quo – just in case they don’t fly the nest and without the rest pandering to these cash cow teams – they could look to create a game worthy of the fans who shell out hundreds of pounds every year. It’d be hard work, but the rewards could be more than anyone had imagined.
We don’t need vast amounts of money to have a game; there will always be more profitable leagues. Yet, starting from scratch with a truly level playing field we can create a buzz and build from the grassroots up. As always England will be the destination our better players dream of heading to, but with the transfer fees befitting their talent we can use the money to make the game even better. Personally, I’d prefer them to stay and for everyone to work together and give the fans the game they deserve. If they do depart our little pond then it does not need to evaporate into the heavens but rather have a shining light shone upon it turning it into the beautiful game it was always meant to be.
Munro
Dundee United "supporter" who is tired and grows restless, wishes he had stormed the Bastille. Ranting is a sport I can get behind.
Good piece.
Might it not benefit the national team in the long run if Celtic and Rangers were to get to the promised land of the English Premier League? The spread of Scottish talent in the top teams in England is a lot thinner now than it was 30-40 years ago, and the national team are poorer for it – less players playing at a higher level and all.
Then again, how long would it take to reach the Championship and would they even make it to the Premier League out of such a competitive league like the Championship? Without European football for the years they spend climbing the ladder, could Celtic keep attracting top Scottish youngsters and hidden gems from overseas? I think it benefits them as well the Scottish leagues that they stay put. Their global brand would suffer if they went to non-league English football.
Scottish talent in the Premiership is up within the last 10 years however, progress is being made in terms of talent. I firmly believe we have the best pool of players since the World Cup team of 1998. In regards to Celtic and Rangers I fear they wouldn’t use Scottish talent once in the Promised Land but rather become another generic multi-national team with no real identity.
Look at the Estonia squad: 2 Celtic players started, 1 on the bench; 4 from the Premiership started, 6 on the bench. So if Celtic don’t help the national team now why would they in England? I exclude Rangers just now given their current situation.
If Rangers and Celtic left the SPL, it would be easy for someone else with too much money to invest in, for example, Aberdeen or Hearts.
That is all it would take, to turn the league into a 2 horse race.
If a competitive league is going to be the main factor in attracting fans back which is forming a large part of the club’s income, some strict financial rules are going to have to be brought into play to ensure that the clubs stick to it.
Right now there is no point in investing heavily outside of the Old Firm, as Romanov showed, even with the money he put forward he still was unable to win the league – although he came close one year. But that’s not a great achievement given the level of investment.
Agree mate, I don’t want a game flooded with money that spawns the type of players who waste their talent (eg Riordan, O’Connor etc), using UEFA’s financial fair play most clubs in the SPL would be on an equal footing and create a league as competitive as say the french league, we can then build from that.
Romanov though is a mental case, if Burley was allowed to just get on with it, you never know they may have won it that year.
A very intriguing perspective on the lunacy of the Celtic and Rangers overseas/other leagues project.
The bottom line is, they should make up their mind once and for all, but surely the sensible move would be to actually ask their supporters what they would like to see…after all they are the ones that would need to face potential trips to the south coast of England, south Wales and the West Country.
Cheers, yeah, openly talking about it on a regular basis does no one any good.