Motherwell, and the luck of the draw

If you look to the right of this posting, you'll see me making a huge mistake.

In a link to an article about Motherwell's intent to complain to the SPL about the fixture list for remaining games in the upcoming league split, I make the schoolboy error of assuming that Motherwell are complaining because after tonight's game at Parkhead, they have got to go to back to Glasgow again for a third time this season when the two teams meet again on 1 May.

But Motherwell are unhappy not because playing at Parkhead might put a dent in their quest for European football, nor that it requires another journey north with all the problems of parking near the stadium. Rather, it's about the enormous drop in revenue incurred because of having to play against Celtic in Glasgow, and not in Motherwell.

My mistake is that I've always thought that match-day revenue is split between the two teams, but apparently in the SPL the home team keeps all the gate receipts. Because of this, according to Motherwell's own estimates, they stand to lose about £200,000 by playing at Parkhead.

Given the average ticket prices at Fir Park are approximately £16, and their last game against Celtic (a rather exciting 2-3 defeat) brought in only 7,807 paying punters, that means that either the concession stand at Fir Park is very expensive (about £9.60 a throw, assuming everyone in the stadium had something at half-time) or Motherwell are over-egging the cake somewhat, because even allowing for some sponsoring, I'm not quite sure where the remaining £75k has gone.

OK, so I'm not an accountant and I can't look into their books, but surely match-day policing and hospitality must eat into the revenue, not to mention the use of stadiums fixtures and fittings such as lighting, stewards, not to mention paying the groundsmen for the overtime needed to drain the pitch and make it ready for a game of football.

But of course, football has nothing to do with any of this. It's about the money, and in particular the money that either one of the Old Firm bring with them to any ground they visit.

It's a moot point, but would Craig Brown have been so incandescent if he had to go to Aberdeen or St Mirren again, the only teams other than Celtic to only have visited Fir Park just once this season, and two games which, based on the attendances at both fixtures at Fir Park this season and going by the formula's above, would have netted the club £92,697 and £119,500 against the Buddies and the Dons respectively?

Probably not.

It is hard to have any sympathy with Motherwell's cause. The luck of the draw (the one that all SPL clubs, including Motherwell voted for) is just against them this year. By way of contrast, in season 2007/08, they hit the jackpot when they played both halves of the Old Firm twice at Fir Park. The half-time pies must have been flying out the door then.

The whole episode speaks volumes to me about the rest of the SPL's need to have Celtic and Rangers in the league with them. Simply stated, the Old Firm are a cash-cow, an easy way to make more money regardless of the results.

Most clubs want to play Celtic and Rangers at home as often as they can in a season. But despite all talk of league reconstruction, what they perhaps don't realise is that the league split gives them the best chances of doing that.

A sixteen or eighteen team league would deprive everyone of the opportunity of a lucrative third home fixture against the Old Firm (depending on how the fixtures come out of the computer after the 33rd games have been played), plus it would reduce the amount of Old Firm derbies from four to two, something which will hit the pockets of the Glasgow giants for pretty much the same reasons that Motherwell are now citing.

Despite all the posturing by clubs calling for an end to the split, these arguments are all perfectly valid reasons for keeping things just the way they are. You'll see. Money talks.

So Motherwell and all other malcontents should just lump it, because the much-maligned league split makes no more of a farce of the concept of competition than the current SPL set-up would do without the split. The real difference is that the final five games of the season are better than nothing, because financially it suits every other team in the league outside of the Old Firm better than they think.

So much is made of the pressure and the need to get into third, fourth, eleventh and even fifth place, but if it's the money you're after, then sixth at a minimum is the place you need to be. And once you're there, all you need is a bit of luck.

Poor, poor Motherwell.