A dark night for Scottish Football signals the need for change

THE football giants of Celtic and Rangers were left humiliated last night as both sides along with Hearts crashed out of  the UEFA Europa League leading to wide spread criticism of the Scottish game. The furlong figure of Ally Mc Coist at the end of what was a humiliating defeat to Slovenian champions Mairbor spoke volumes as the new Rangers boss experienced the tough reality of crashing out of both the Champions league and the Europa League before the August bank holiday. Similarly Lennon who put on a brave face at his press conference following his side 3-1 away defeat to the Swiss cup winners Sion claimed there was some positives to be taken from the performance.  The  real reality is the Scottish game needs to be completely revised on so many levels. It is very easy for people south of the border to  criticise the standard of the league, the lack of competition and the relatively poor attendances outside of the Old Firm but the truth is the Scottish game has given and produced the heart beat that keeps the Premier League alive. Alex Ferguson, David Moyes, Owen Coyle, Alex McCleish, Paul Lambert, Steve Kean, and Kenny Daglish are all managing in England’s top flight and a widely acclaimed for their managerial skills.  Scottish football has every reason to be proud of its history, players and managers. From Celtic who were the first British team to win the European Cup, to Busby and Ferguson,  Scotland has be renowned for it’s impact both in Europe and domestically.

Therefore it is clear the Scottish game which  has produced some the jewels of the English game deserve  at the very least be offered the chance to state their case for a move into the English League. Two great giants are sinking in a league with no real revenue and a standard that leaves the Old Firm struggling against the Solvenian champions and the Swiss cup winners respectively. The Bolton chairman  Phil Gartside has championed the Old Firm case for moving to the Premier League for a number of years now. One of his many proposals was to split the Premier League into two leagues which would then allow the Old Firm to be incorporated into a second Premeir League. This  proposal was widely criticised and with some justification. The excitement and the unpredictability of the English Premier league is one of the biggest factors in drawing millions of  TV audiences from around the world. For clubs like Bolton, Stoke, Wolves the opportunity to test themselves against Liverpool, Manchester Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal not only allows the chance to take on England’s elite  but also provides fantastic exposure for their  club in a what is not a global  football market. One of a number of  proposals i would suggest to improve both Scottish football and the EPL would be to place to the two Old Firm clubs in League Two in England. Discussions with the Blue Square Premier League , the Football League and the Scottish FA would surely  lead to some compromise and agreement to allow entry into the football league.This would allow the Old Firm to begin their initiation process in the English game, no clubs no matter size or stature is owed anything and therefore progression through the English leagues is the only fair and feasible way for the Old Firm to make their way to the mass riches of the Premier League. If Celtic and Rangers were to take this path there has to be agreements put in place to ensure the remaining Scottish clubs can reap the benefits from the Old Firms involvement in England. Therefore a cut of the Old Firms revenue depending on the league in England that they were playing in would be filtered back into the Scottish Premier League.

I would also propose that the Old Firm continue to play in both Scottish domestic cup competitions to ensure that other Scottish teams are still given the chance to test themselves against the big two and retain some level of continuity for the Scottish game. The Scottish cup games would be tied into the tv package for the English Premier League to ensure that Scottish clubs are given extra revenue combined with their slice of the Old Fims involvement in England  leading to a much needed investment  in developing Scottish players. Finally, all top ten Premier League clubs would sign an agreement that would lead to their reserve teams playing each season in the newly revised Scottish league. This would add greater competition and allow Scottish teams to test themselves against quality youngsters and fringe players at England’s top clubs. Of course these proposals are radical and there still remains a number of issues that would need to be resolved for this proposal to work. The most pressing question of course from many south of the border would be why bother? I would counter that with why not? Celtic and Rangers after Manchester United and Liverpool are by far the two biggest clubs in Britain. The amount of shirts that these two clubs sell outside of the UK is incomparable with the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City. It makes sense for the TV companies, it makes sense for the global brand that is the Premier League. If Cardiff and Swansea can compete in England why can two far superior clubs with massive fan bases not be accommodated into the English game?  If a change does not come soon then these two giants will be left reminiscing on past glories and their status as two of Europe’s elite clubs will soon be forgotten.