SCOTTISH FOOTBALL IS IN DECAY. The realisation of this fact came on the showpiece day of Scottish football, the cup final. Dundee, undoubtedly a major club in Scotland who have a history and heritage that belies the fact that they have not won the cup in almost as long as Hibs. Yet despite them having a genuine chance of causing an upset, a point that was surely borne out by the actual game, they could not muster enough fans to fill their half of Hampden. You know it is a sad state of affairs in Scottish football when you see significant gaps in the stands at the cup final. Empty seats at the final are not the problem however; they are merely an all to familiar symptom. It is what they represent that is ominous for the future of football.  

It seems there are two possibilities as to why Dundee could not sell out their allocation. Either they do not have twenty thousand odd supporters anymore, or they do but those supporters are too infected by apathy to even bother going to a game against one of the Old Firm, cup final or not. Either scenario is worrying. 

If the former is the case, then it means that the support base of Scotland’s ‘other’ clubs has been eroded to such an extent that they can no longer muster twenty thousand fans, an amount that was easily surpassed by the two teams who contested the English second division playoff final. Where have these fans gone? It seems pretty obvious that they simply ‘turned’ to the Old Firm, but is it really the case, or have these fans simply been turned away from the game altogether, bored by the absolute hegemony of the Old Firm. How appealing is the prospect of winning a two team league, where the eventual winner is decided by the team who can score the most goals against their hapless opposition, in what turned into a spectacle of glorified long bangers.  

Chris Sutton had a valid point when he claimed that Dunfermline lay down to Rangers. Every non Old Firm team lies down to both on just about every occasion they play. Us ‘provincial’ fans now judge ourselves against them in terms of moral victories, i.e. who puts up the pluckiest resistance before ultimately succumbing to the inevitable, oh so unlucky winning goal. 

The futility of games against the Old Firm is now being felt by the fans, who no longer even see the visit of the Old firm as a big game the way they used too, and thus we come to what I believe to be the real reason why Dundee could not fill their end on Saturday. Fans are falling out of love with football in Scotland, and therefore have lost the habit of attending games. The only way in which it appears the decline can, or will be reversed is if the Old Firm get their wish and join another league, anywhere. Hopefully those conspicuous empty seats at Hampden will shock the powers that be in to taking action, sadly at the moment that looks about as likely as one of the also-rans winning the league.

News Today from the Editor:

Ayr United boss Campbell Money has confirmed that he is hoping to have Hibs defender Darran Thomson on loan until January - although the Ayr United boss it seems is reluctant to name his man!  As reported by Hibs.net earlier this week, Hibs boss Bobby Williamson has had a change of heart over the young defender who was first told that he would be free to find a new club this summer, but then after a couple of impressive outings for the first team earned a new deal.  However the Hibs boss is not prepared to start the new season with an inexperienced defender in the starting line-up, so has arranged for Thomson to spend the first half of the season with first-division Ayr United.  Ayr boss Money said last night: "I have spoken to a defender and his manager and it's virtually agreed that he will come here until the transfer window in January.  He is a quick attacking player and has good delivery of the ball. He has SPL experience after playing in the first team towards the end of the season."