The insignificance of Scottish Football

So, who will win the SPL this year? Celtic or Rangers?

It’s this question that underlines the insignificance of the other teams in Scottish Football, and again raises the point that perhaps the two Glaswegian giants should be allowed to play in the Premier League.

Having watched last weekend’s Derby match, it’s plain to see that the standard of Scottish Football is very poor compared to the Premier League, often dubbed as the best League on the planet. Yet the hype surrounding the Scottish game seems unusually over-the-top.

It was an exciting game, but not for Footballing reasons. Both sides struggled to string more than 5 or 6 passes together, challenges were flying in left, right, and centre, and aerial balls were the flavour of the tie. Very little flowing Football was played.

On commentary it was said that the Celtic – Rangers Derby is bigger than most other Derby’s around the World, yet I’m struggling to put my finger on why that is. Glasgow is certainly a City divided into Green and Blue, so the supporters play a major role in bigging up the clash. But does that make a Football match a classic? Its supporters?

A few years ago it was said that Celtic and Rangers should be allowed to make the switch to play in the Premier League, allowing the other sides in the SPL the chance to compete for the title, for the first time in as long as I can remember. With the gulf in class between the Glasgow Clubs and the rest of the SPL sides, not only does it bring into question the standard of the teams down the bottom of the table, but it gives us reason to doubt their involvement in the League altogether. I mean, what are they competing for?

It’s very likely that 3rd position is held by Hearts come the end of the season, which means they qualify for the newly-named Europa League. This leaves 9 other teams effectively battling it out to survive the drop. If we took Celtic and Rangers out of the SPL, it would open up competition for the likes of Motherwell, Kilmarnock, etc. to actually aim for some silverware. There’d be some motivation.

Not only is the SPL a seemingly pointless inevitability, but the two Scottish Cups are too. While Celtic have been on the receiving end of a few shocks in recent times, most notably to Inverness Caledonian Thistle, having one of Celtic or Rangers in the Final is seldom a rarity. Compare the CIS Insurance Cup to the FA Cup and there’s nowhere near as much romance, as many shock results, or as many classic moments, simply because the standard of the teams in the lower divisions is so bad that they don’t have a hope of challenging the bigger teams.

Last year it wasn’t much of a surprise to see East Stirling, of the Scottish 3rd Division, being beaten 7/8/9-0 every week. In fact it actually became a regularity by the end of the season. I guess the reason for the poor standard of Scottish Football is lack of interest, or at least not as much interest, as in other Leagues. It doesn’t get as much publicity around the World, certainly not as much as the Premier League, therefore less money is pumped into the game.

But I believe if you took The Bhoys and The Gers out of Scottish Football, it would give much more opportunities to the lesser sides to cause a few upsets and put themselves on the Footballing map. As for two Scottish sides playing in England, I don’t think anyone would have a problem with that so long as they’re being beaten, which I think would probably happen.

There have been a few occasions whereby English and Scottish sides have clashed in the Champions League, but that’s a different situation to playing in the PL every weekend against Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool, etc. It’d be a tough change.

Battle of Britain part 1..

We usually have to wait until the latter stages of the Uefa Champions League before we are treated to the mouth-watering prospect of a match between two British (usually two English) teams facing each other. However, Christmas has come early this year and our present? Celtic vs Arsenal in the final qualifying round for Europe's most illustrious trophy.

It will be the first time ever the sides play each other in a competitive fixture, and Tony Mowbray's men will be sure to cause an upset when they host the Gunners at Celtic Park in mid-August. Celtic's victory in the pre-season Wembley Cup tournament, in which they beat Tottenham, will give them confidence ahead of the clash with Spurs' North London Rivals.

As for Arsenal, they need to put behind them some dubious season starts in the last few years and make sure they're at the races come 2 or 3 weeks time.

No doubt should all English participants make it through to the knockout stages of this year's competition, we will be in for a lot more 'Battle of Britain' match-ups. The most notorious and frequent of recent years has been Liverpool vs Chelsea, a fixture that always brings a disappointed sigh from Blues fans when their ball is picked from the infamous Champions League bowl. Liverpool certainly have the wool over Chelsea in this competition, so I won't be complaining should there be yet another replay of this match.

I always look forward to an England v England clash in the Quarters, Semis or even Final. Something about it just makes it more enjoyable and exciting than watching the Italian teams, or the Spanish battle it out against each other. Possibly because both teams play in the League that we watch, and we know that they'll always provide exciting attacking football usually thrown in with a bit of drama. But the fans seem to rise to the occasion as well. There seems nothing better than to get one over on your League rivals in a European competition, hence why Liverpool are practically invincible at Anfield when it comes to playing Chelsea in this competition, although one could argue about that in the last year or two.

They make the best matches because they have the best players and the best fans, who make the best atmosphere. I've never been that interested in watching a Champions League match between two sides from Italy, Spain or any other country for that matter, neither have I been interested in watching a match between sides not from this country. The English League, the players involved, and the charismatic, energetic, fanatic supporters make for brilliant England-on-England tussles.

Other matches to look out for in this, the final stage before we progress to the groups, are Fiorentina's 1st leg visit to Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon, and French Champions Lyon hosting Belgian outfit Anderlecht.