The State of Scottish Football
As Celtic, Rangers and Hearts crash out of the Europa League in qualifying, it becomes quite clear that something has gone quite wrong North of the border
It is rumoured that Glasgow Celtic Football Club have 9 million ‘fans’ worldwide, Rangers have less, but, in the numbers being spoken of here, only marginally. Hearts have somewhere in the figure of 10. Not, 10 million, just 10, but they are still one of three Scottish sides that crashed out of the Europa League somewhat hideously at one of its earliest stages last night.
In fact, if we take Celtic and Ranger’s average attendance figures for last season into account, it is clear that, in terms of ‘true’ fans, the two Glasgow clubs are amongst Britain’s elite. Celtic, with an average crowd of 48,968, and Rangers, with a similar sized audience of 45,304, would have been placed 3rd and 6th respectively in the Premier League attendance table for last season, had they of taken part.
Therefore, even though low crowd numbers may be a problem for the rest of the division, there is no doubt that, at home at least, neither club are lacking that much-spoken-about ‘12th man’. There is a deeper problem here, and it may not even be financial. FC Sion, Celtic’s Europa League conquerors* are members of the Swiss Super League, which as little as a month ago signed a new television deal earning the league a reported 26 million euros a year. That’s just over £23 million, or, if divided equally between all 10 sides, £2.3 million per club. Conversely, the SPL signed a deal in 2009 earning each one of its 12 teams £13 million each, every year. Financially, during these early stages of European competition at least, there is no excuse for SPL sides to be crashing out. Rangers, who missed out on the group stages of the Europa League to NK Maribor, can feel more ashamed than their neighbours. While there were no easily accessible figures on the Internet, the top Slovenian league, the Prva Liga, where Maribor ply their trade, is only broadcast in one country – Slovenia. And a company that was only established in 2006 – therefore rendering it, most likely, incapable of big money deals, broadcasts it.
Certainly, more money would help, but with the suggestion that Rangers and Celtic join the English Premier League falling through some time ago now, the two clubs must look to other solutions to their problems, another way to bridge the gap between England and Scotland. For sure, the gap is by now ever increasing. Hearts’ humiliating 5-0 aggregate loss to Spurs proves it takes a lot more quality to finish amongst the top 5 places in the English top flight as compared to Scotland’s take on top tier football. But Stoke’s demolition of FC Thun yesterday night – a 4-1 victory over two legs - shows just how much the two Glasgow clubs may have struggled had they been permitted to show their worth in Britain’s finest division. Thun finished just one place and 5 points below Sion in last season’s Swiss Super League, and yet, while they were dispatched with ease by last year’s F.A Cup runners-up (who finished just 13th last season), Celtic failed to cope with a side barely any stronger.
One way to begin repairing the rift may be to crank up the quality of home-grown talent emerging from Scotland’s academies. It is no secret that, while England have qualified for each and every one of the last 4 World Cups, Scotland haven’t qualified for any of the last 3. When they were last competing in a World Cup finals match, in 1998, Scotland’s squad comprised of, amongst others, Colin Calderwood and Paul Lambert. Both are now in management. Goalkeeper Jim Leighton is now 53. Not one member of that squad is still playing.
Even if getting to a World Cup looks like an impossibility in the present climate, the SPL could at least look at producing players that can crack the English game. In the 2008/09 season, Kris Boyd and Scott McDonald came first and second in the SPL top scorer’s chart with 27 and 16 goals respectively. In the last Championship campaign, Kris Boyd finished joint 19th with 12 goals, Scott McDonald joint 24th with 11.
So certainly there is a starting place. Begin producing players that are capable of playing in England and use them to improve the standard of Scottish football, whether that be domestically or internationally. There are, without doubt, many problems with the Scottish game, but these are problems that are duplicated across Europe. Maybe the issues sprout simply because of Scotland’s geographical positioning. The fact the country is placed right next to England, which, domestically at least, is flourishing, is actually a hindrance. As compared to the English Premier League, the SPL will of course appear as a minnow. The gulf between the two leagues, is, for now, incomprehensible. But there are only a handful of European leagues that are as good, if not better, than the Premier League. It’s time to treat the SPL as it is – a small league whose clubs struggle to succeed internationally. Only once the Scottish public begin to realise that it’s football will never again be as successful as it’s southern equivalent, will it finally be accepted for what it is, the 17th best league in Europe, and nothing more.
*Despite being denied the chance to compete in the Europa League group stages by FC Sion on Thursday night, UEFA are still likely to disqualify Sion, who are charged with fielding 5 ineligible players. In this event, Celtic would replace Sion in the competition.
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