The Gulf in Scottish Football

[FilipinoHibs]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/sep/02/celtic-rangers-old-firm-intrigue-cant-mask-troubling-broader-picture-scotland-premiership?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

[Jones28]

Not really saying anything a normal Scottish football supporter doesn’t know.

The gap is increasing, the rich are getting richer and retain the balance of power thanks to their effective vetoes because of the weird voting set up and the rest of the clubs are looking for the crumbs from the table.

The only thing that will change anything meaningfully is if their spending was curtailed by bringing in caps or they **** off to England and spend 10 years working through the pyramid which they can’t do because their current spending levels are maintained by European football.

[hibsbollah]

I wouldn't argue with the broad conclusions, it's just that this particular hack has been writing this kind of piece regularly for literally YEARS in the guardian. For a Scotsman to write solely negative stuff on Scottish football for a predominantly English publication again and again just feels a bit likepunching yourself repeatedly in the face. Still, he seems to be enjoying himself.

[Fuzzywuzzy]

Bizarre thing is, when the Huns went bust they would have lost any voting right they had but were still able to pull all the strings they wanted!!

Scottish football was ****ed from that point

[stuart-farquhar]

So the bloated brothers go marching on basically. And neither cares for a change or challenge.

[Keith_M]

I wouldn't argue with the broad conclusions, it's just that this particular hack has been writing this kind of piece regularly for literally YEARS in the guardian. For a Scotsman to write solely negative stuff on Scottish football for a predominantly English publication again and again just feels a bit likepunching yourself repeatedly in the face. Still, he seems to be enjoying himself.


He's a Hearts Fan.


The 'face like a slapped ar5e' is a bit of a giveaway.

[superfurryhibby]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/sep/02/celtic-rangers-old-firm-intrigue-cant-mask-troubling-broader-picture-scotland-premiership?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

The link isn't live for me unless I /someone quotes the post.

[cabbageandribs1875]

The link isn't live for me unless I /someone quotes the post.



Old Firm intrigue can’t mask deeply troubling broader picture in Scotland | Scottish Premiership | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/sep/02/celtic-rangers-old-firm-intrigue-cant-mask-troubling-broader-picture-scotland-premiership?)

[1875godsgift]

Not really saying anything a normal Scottish football supporter doesn’t know.

The gap is increasing, the rich are getting richer and retain the balance of power thanks to their effective vetoes because of the weird voting set up and the rest of the clubs are looking for the crumbs from the table.

The only thing that will change anything meaningfully is if their spending was curtailed by bringing in caps or they **** off to England and spend 10 years working through the pyramid which they can’t do because their current spending levels are maintained by European football.


That's a good point actually, I've never considered that.

Their only hope is to be fast-tracked into the EPL and I can't see many English teams being happy with that!

[He's here!]

The two-team league within a league is absurd (as is a league in which you can play the same opponents 4 times a season) yet there rarely seem to be any proposals put forward to do anything other maintain the sterile status quo.

A bigger top tier would at least add some variety but a UK league would be the most adventurous way forward.

[Keith_M]

Imagine the scenario where Hibs reach Hampden again this season and you want to travel by train, from Waverley to Mount Florida.

The current return ticket price?

£16.90


How much more evidence do you need of the Old Firm influence.

[Kato]

I wouldn't argue with the broad conclusions, it's just that this particular hack has been writing this kind of piece regularly for literally YEARS in the guardian. For a Scotsman to write solely negative stuff on Scottish football for a predominantly English publication again and again just feels a bit likepunching yourself repeatedly in the face. Still, he seems to be enjoying himself.He's a strange geezer. Snide as they come.

Sent from my SM-A528B using Tapatalk

[cocteautwin]

I'm surprised he didn't bring up the fact that even though Hearts have spent over £40m of James Anderson's and FoH's cash they still have an empty trophy cabinet since their administration. It would be a prime example of how far ahead the OF are of everyone else and an indication of how much cash it would really take to compete.

[ScottB]

I’m not sure I buy it as some sort of unique problem. Bayern are on for 10 in a row, PSG dominate French football, England tends to just have 1 or 2 teams genuinely fighting for the title (though those have changed in recent years), Juve had years of dominance, Porto / Benfica in Portugal etc.

Doesn’t make it any less boring for us of course, but it’s no longer something unique to our game.

[Lost_Mackem]

It’s the same in every league now. I utterly detest the “Sky 6” in the Premier League who have killed competitive football in England. My dad used to tell me stories about charismatic men like Brian Clough who could take over a provincial club and take them to the pinnacle of the game.

Modern football is ****.

[HoboHarry]

I’m not sure I buy it as some sort of unique problem. Bayern are on for 10 in a row, PSG dominate French football, England tends to just have 1 or 2 teams genuinely fighting for the title (though those have changed in recent years), Juve had years of dominance, Porto / Benfica in Portugal etc.

Doesn’t make it any less boring for us of course, but it’s no longer something unique to our game.

True but we in Scotland have had this duopoly for 40 years now.

[Moulin Yarns]

The two-team league within a league is absurd (as is a league in which you can play the same opponents 4 times a season) yet there rarely seem to be any proposals put forward to do anything other maintain the sterile status quo.

A bigger top tier would at least add some variety but a UK league would be the most adventurous way forward.

And that opens the door for other countries in Europe and further afield to say only one team from the UK in the Euros and World Cup?! But then that's OK for the 'better Together' view. :rolleyes:

[ScottB]

A UK league wouldn’t change anything unless you find us a billionaire owner.

Equally applies to the Old Firm, cut off from Europe they’d have no guarantee of even staying in the top flight.

[mjhibby]

I'm surprised he didn't bring up the fact that even though Hearts have spent over £40m of James Anderson's and FoH's cash they still have an empty trophy cabinet since their administration. It would be a prime example of how far ahead the OF are of everyone else and an indication of how much cash it would really take to compete.

The return for all the money anderson has put in is shocking. If we had spent that money wed be raging at one third place finish and nothing else. As for this pointless article its always laughable when they bleat after a euro horsing about the money gap to the likes of real madrid etc and of course nothing said of the huge advantage they have in scotland. He obviously doesnt do irony.

[mjhibby]

It’s the same in every league now. I utterly detest the “Sky 6” in the Premier League who have killed competitive football in England. My dad used to tell me stories about charismatic men like Brian Clough who could take over a provincial club and take them to the pinnacle of the game.

Modern football is ****.
👍

[sambajustice]

True but we in Scotland have had this duopoly for 40 years now.

Try 130 years.

We all go on about this but it's literally been the same since celtic came on the scene. In 125 years or something of league football rangers and celtic have won something like 106 titles. Every other team that's competed in Scottish league football over the years, maybe 50ish teams? Have about 19 titles between them.

It's never been any different and will never change, well not least until crazy money floods into Scottish football either as a whole or some nut job decides to pump serious money into a team.

We just need to accept this is our lot and not worry about it

[BegbieHSC]

Celtic look like Bayern in the Bundesliga in recent years (excluding this one) - miles away from everyone. They’ll finish 20 points ahead of the huns, who will probably finish by the same margin ahead of 3rd.

[Carheenlea]

Try 130 years.

We all go on about this but it's literally been the same since celtic came on the scene. In 125 years or something of league football rangers and celtic have won something like 106 titles. Every other team that's competed in Scottish league football over the years, maybe 50ish teams? Have about 19 titles between them.

It's never been any different and will never change, well not least until crazy money floods into Scottish football either as a whole or some nut job decides to pump serious money into a team.

We just need to accept this is our lot and not worry about it

Rangers and Celtic would be pretty big clubs on their own anyway, but the years of padding out their natural local support with hundreds of thousands of glory hunters and bigots aligning on either side of a sectarian divide the length and breadth of Scotland saw them operating on different financial levels to the rest long before the modern day discrepancies. Another £30 million or so added to the coffers this season doesn’t really make any odds such was the gulf to start with.

[HoboHarry]

Try 130 years.

We all go on about this but it's literally been the same since celtic came on the scene. In 125 years or something of league football rangers and celtic have won something like 106 titles. Every other team that's competed in Scottish league football over the years, maybe 50ish teams? Have about 19 titles between them.

It's never been any different and will never change, well not least until crazy money floods into Scottish football either as a whole or some nut job decides to pump serious money into a team.

We just need to accept this is our lot and not worry about it

Sorry I was talking about since Aberdeen were winning titles. What you say is correct historically.....