As we are all aware Scottish football has declined in quality in recent years and the rate of its decline is alarming.
The days of Larsson thrilling 60,000 fans at Parkhead and Gascoigne thrilling and antagonising Scottish football fans in equal measure are well and truly gone. Names like Larsson, Gascoigne, Di Canio, Laudrup, Sutton and Hartson will never come back and players of a similar quality are plying their trade south of the border in the mega-rich English Premier League.
So what next for Scottish football? Rangers appear to be in a precarious financial position, provincial teams are struggling to even compete with lower end Championship clubs. Celtic are the only team in Scotland who can spend any sort of cash and have shined a light in dark days with the signings of Efrain Juarez and Joe Ledley, both of whom have impressed in the few games they’ve played and both of whom could easily ply their trade in England.
That is not to say Scottish football isn’t declining in quality, though. What initiatives could the Scottish FA put forward to buck the trend? The need to keep Scottish players in Scotland should be imperative, Steven Fletcher, Danny Wilson, Kevin McNaughton, Kris Boyd amongst others have left to move to the glitz and glamour of England.
A winter break? Scottish winters, so I’ve been told are tough, cold and ruthless and make foreign players less likely to come. Competitiveness I think is key; since the 80s when Aberdeen and Dundee United broke the trend Celtic and Rangers have dominated Scottish football and snapped up the best talent from provincial clubs (those players who didn’t already move South) and created a vacuum of about 25 points between the second-place and third spot.
Hopefully, in a couple of years time, the SFA will have thought of and put on place guidelines to keep Scottish football teams competitive in Europe. If they haven’t then I’m afraid our league will have slipped into the lower echelons of Europe along with the likes of the Irish League and others.
By DavidT_CFC
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