The continuing saga of Scottish football

About a week or so ago, I wrote two articles on this site about the perilous state the Scottish game finds itself in. Back then, I bemoaned the fact that the game north of the border was being haunted by events on and off the field, from financial troubles to crowd troubles, from declining standards to declining credibility, and from a lack of competition to a lack of crowds.

Having been effectively out of action for a week with the combined effects of flu and - let's be honest, total football apathy - I've finally been getting around to catching up with all that's passed since I last updated the site.

Sadly, nothing much seems to have changed while I've been out of action, and most of what I've read doesn't make good bedtime reading.

Earlier on in the week, the English Premier League overwhelmingly rejected Bolton chairman Phil Gartside's proposal for a two-tier league, a setup that would pave the way for Celtic and Rangers to join the English league system.

The decision is not completely unexpected, and the words of chief executive Richard Scudamore seem to put an end to any hopes the Old Firm might have had for a better and brighter (i.e. richer) future down South.

“As regards to Celtic and Rangers it’s a non-starter" said Scudamore. "So we’ve made a clear and unequivocal statement and we’re going to move on from there. No means no. Celtic and Rangers are not coming in.”

While Rangers and Celtic will now need to look for alternative sources of revenue, the decision by the EPL to reject any moves south of the border has repercussions for the game north of the border.

The Old Firm are giants in a league of dwarfs, their once massive financial clout laying the foundations for league domination for years to come. Players, stadiums and managers have been brought in to keep the silver polish stocks high in the trophy rooms at Ibrox and Parkhead.

But while the two ugly sisters of Scottish football have been busy hoarding treasure like a pair of mad pirates, the rest of the league are languishing behind in season after season of mediocrity and quiet acceptance of the status quo.

I have a Higher in Economics, so I am clearly over-qualified to lecture to you on the subject. Allow me to quote to you one of the few things I still remember (it's been a while), something that encapsulates the problem that the Old Firm are facing. It's one of the core principles of economics, namely the Law of Diminishing Returns.

The law states: "...that we will get less and less extra output when we add additional doses of an input while holding other inputs fixed. In other words, the marginal product of each unit of input will decline as the amount of that input increases holding all other inputs constant."

If the context of the Old Firm, you could argue that the more successful the two teams are (in terms of league wins), the marginal product (the perceived quality of the clubs) of each input (the money they invest in order to win leagues and cups) will decline as the amount of money they invest increases, holding all other inputs (the quality of the rest of the league) constant.

In other words, if Celtic and Rangers are to grow and be successful, they need to either leave the Scottish League system, or the Scottish League system has to change significantly in order to increase competition and make the Old Firm credible teams again.

Given that the Scottish League (a blanket term for the league structure as it exists today, and the management structure that fosters the current malaise, namely the SPL and the SFA) are unlikely to change anytime soon, it's in the best interests of the Old Firm to leave the SPL.

This site fully supports Scottish football and fully supports Rangers and Celtic in their efforts to move forward as clubs, but is unequivocal in its belief that Scottish football is best served without the Old Firm as part of that set up.

A world without the Old Firm would open up competition in league where anywhere from 3 to 6 teams (Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs, Dundee United, Motherwell, possibly Dundee if they where to be promoted) stand a chance of winning the title. After nearly 25 years of league domination, a belief that a team could win the league should increase investment in players and facilities, part funded by increased attendances, spurred on by actual competitive games and the promise of European football.

That investment in players might also pay off in another area where Scottish football has been seriously lacking since the late 70's and early 80's, namely the the sharply declining stock of quality international footballers.

On Saturday, this point was neatly hammered home by the capitulation of one of the worst sides ever to put on the dark blue of Scotland. The 3-0 defeat against a second-string Wales side will no doubt mark the end of George Burley, a nice but ineffectual man who has led Scotland from disaster to disaster, both on and off field.

Following our meek elimination from the World Cup qualifiers, Burley has taken his team through two humiliating games, conceding 5 goals and scoring none, both against weakened sides.

Burley needs to go, and his departure from the job comes 14 games too late. This site was never in favour of Burley, and his sacking will not be mourned. Our only hope is that Mark McGhee is offered the job and that he takes it, so that the suffering of this Aberdeen fan is at an end.

The next friendly game is in March against the Czech Republic, the team against which Burley was handed the first of what would eventually become 8 defeats in 14 games. After that, the qualification for the 2012 European championships will begin, but given the current state the game is in, you have to fear for the future.

Earlier on in this article, I said that what I've read doesn't make for pleasant reading. Strictly speaking, that's not really true. If you look carefully beyond the alarmist headlines, you'll find four little nuggets of brilliantly positive news.

While George Burley was busy in Wales with a performance, the only intention seems of which seems to have been to put an end to his career and Scotland's world-wide footballing credibility, the U21's, led by former Aberdeen midfielder Billy Stark, recorded a superb win in Azerbaijan. Two goals from Motherwell's Jamie Murphy where added to a goal each from Falkirk's Scott Arfield and Rangers player Rory Loy made up the 4-0 win, which moves the Scots to the top of their European Under-21 Championship Qualifying Group.

We also told you about Highland League side Clachnacuddin's financial woes. Earlier on this month their local council, the Highland Council, in a move for which the expression "cutting of your nose to spite your face" was written, decided to increase the monthly repayments the club have to make to the "Common Good" fund from a reasonable £400 to a very much more unreasonable £3800.

The strange thing - aside from the somewhat alarming increase in the 'vigorish', as Tony Soprano would call it - is that even if the club went under, the council, unsecured creditors, would not recover a single penny of their debt.

Anyway, the club, one of the founder members of the Highland League, immediately went into administration in an effort to protect itself from its creditors, but vowed to continue playing while alternative sources of income where found.

Last Wednesday, Celtic sent a select XI north to Inverness to play the Lillywhites in a money-spinning friendly designed to add to the coffers of the Highland League side. The result, a 5-0 win for Celtic, was irrelevant, but the 600 supporters who watched the game ensured a tidy £5000 was raised. While the club still have a long way to pay off their debt (somewhere around £46k), the money generated will go some way to ensuring Highland League football remains in the capital of the Highlands.

Another club in danger of being wound up was Stirling Albion. We also mentioned last week that Stirling Albion where again faced with a bill from the Inland Revenue for £48,000. Thankfully owner Peter McKenzie managed to find the funds from somewhere, saving the club from closure. The Beanos had been leading the Second division, but defeat at Alloa at the weekend sees them overtaken by Cowdenbeath. Still, they're still in business, and that's the important thing.

Meanwhile, back in the Highlands, the Highland League will meet this Thursday to discuss the SFL's draft proposal to open up the Third division to relegation and promotion from two new feeder leagues.

The proposal calls for two new leagues to be created, the "Fourth Division North" and the "Fourth Division South", each consisting of 10 teams who at the end of the season would play a single play-off game to decide which team wins promotion to the Third Division.

There's a lot more to it than this, but the plan appears to have support from "influential" people at Hampden Park.

The sticking points appear to be the prohibitive costs involved in passing the SFA's licensing rules, plus the fact that selections have to be made for the teams that will form the two new divisions.

The licencing rules are essentially a series of criteria that each aspirant club has to meet in order to be allowed admittance to the league.

The other issue is that the two divisions comprise of 10 teams each, but the three leagues that will be used (probably) to form these leagues, comprise of more teams than that: the Highland league currently has 18 members, the South of Scotland League 14, and the East of Scotland has 11.

Secondly, not all teams are that keen to be involved. Many, like the new boys to the Highland League Formartine United, Strathspey Thistle and Turriff United have already spent thousands to meet Highland League criteria. To now have to reinvest to meet SFL criteria is not welcome news, and many are perfectly happy to play in the current league setup.

Inside Left has always supported a pyramid structure, and we support this proposal totally. We are in favour of strict criteria to ensure quality of both the football played and the clubs playing it, but nevertheless it would be a shame to make these costs so high as to make promotion an unrealistic target, one which only lands the club in deeper water. It would also be a shame to pull apart leagues that work, and in which most of its members are content.

Still, while it's a plan to please the minority, at least it's a plan showing a desire to make changes for the good of the game. If only the SPL and George Burley's paymasters at the SFA had one too.

Who knows, we then might have something to smile about after all.