It has not been a great week for Scottish football. Celtic’s defeat in the Champions League at the hands of Aalborg in midweek ended any hopes the club had in competing in the Uefa Cup, and brought to an end Scottish participation in European football for this year. The fallout from the early exits by Hibernian, Rangers, Motherwell and Queen of the South in terms of our Uefa rankings remains to be seen, but all in all it is a disappointing end to what could have been so much more.
Following the Celtic game, there’s been the inevitable talk in the papers and blogs about the current state of football in Scotland. The word ‘crisis’ is getting used a lot more to describe the current state of affairs, a list that – aside from our European (mis)adventures – includes the ongoing problems at Livingston and Stranraer, as well as a whole host of other clubs, details about whose finances are probably yet to emerge. Also mentioned is the lack of competition in the SPL and falling attendances, something that Airdrie chairman Jim Ballantyne is concerned about after a crowd of only 900 watched Saturday’s home defeat to Ross County only several days after 2,500 turned up to see the team play the same opposition in the Alba Challenge Cup final.
And certainly, falling attendances is an issue. From figures we have seen over the period 2004/05 to 2007/08 for 20 clubs that where monitored in the report, 12 (Dunfermline, Kilmarnock. Celtic, St. Mirren, Hearts, Rangers, Hibs, Aberdeen, Queen of the South, Inverness, Ross County and Morton) have all seen fewer fans coming through the gate, with one of those – Aberdeen – having seen a drop in attendances over the entire period of the report. Ironically, the only club with ever increasing attendances over the period the report covers, Gretna, is no longer with us.
The question about why fewer people are coming through the gate is one that needs an answer. Some have suggested ticket price increases are to blame. While we dont have information about the average ticket prices around Scotland, certainly given the current credit crunch people might be less inclined to go and watch a game, but the credit crunch didn’t exist two years ago and yet attendances where still falling. With fewer people coming through the gates, the loss of gate revenue is reflected in a reduction in investment in the team, a point Airdrie’s Jim Ballantyne illustrated when he said that “no revenue in means no revenue out”. With some investment in the SPL coming through from television rights and sponsorship agreements (Setanta’s deal with the SPL is currently worth £13m a season, but will rise to £125m for the 2010/11 season, while sponsors Clydesdale Bank are injecting a further £8m over four years), players are still being bought and sold and investment in the top-flight teams, however small it may be, continues.
Perhaps it’s to do with football saturation. Setanta and Sky, as well as terrestrial television, now provide so much football coverage that you can see a top-flight league game from England, Spain or Italy pretty much most nights of the week. Throw into that mix the World Cup qualifiers, the European Championships, the Olympics and the various domestic Cup competitions and international friendlies and you have a lot of football.
The lack of competition in the SPL could also be a factor. Since 1985 no other team outside of the Old Firm has won the SPL, a fact which some might consider uncompetitive. It makes for an uninteresting competition if you are not Rangers or Celtic, where the only realistic prize is finishing third or fourth with perhaps the odd bit of silverware thrown in.
Maybe the problem lies in the fact that our style of football has never progressed, compared to the massive change in the style of play in the English leagues. Overrun with foreign imports thanks to the massive investment in both clubs and through television deals, the EPL has moved towards a much more fluent, almost continental style of play which has them competing with the best that European opposition has to offer. That transition has never reached Scotland to the same degree that it affected England even when Graeme Souness started bringing in the English players, unable to play in Europe due to the ban on English sides.
Perhaps this is the real issue. When you get down to it, Scottish football has not really changed that much over the years. Even in our glorious heydays of the late 60’s and early 70’s, arguably the best years of Scottish league and international competition, our football was never pretty. Tough, fast, workmanlike. Getting the job done without setting the heather alight. In the intervening years, we’ve been left behind by the rest of Europe in a vicious circle of lack of competition, falling attendances, limited investment, football saturation, a decline in technical progress and a lack of success on the European stage, both at national as well as international level.
The meeting between six of the SPL managers scheduled for early next month to discuss the state of Scottish football hopes to address some, or all of the issues affecting the game today, but should this forum not be expanded to include all Scottish managers, as well as supporters associations and representatives of the players and managers union, the SPL, the SFL and the SFA, because while the problem is simple, the solution a lot harder to define and needs input from all parties involved in Scottish football.
Related posts:
- The continuing saga of Scottish football
- Highland League expansion: Crisis? What crisis?
- The Great Scottish Football Debate
- The Scottish Football Christmas Alphabet
- A Scottish Football Season 2009/10 Wish List
Tags: Opinion
