This coming Friday’s much publicised Scottish Football League vote will decide where the newco Rangers will be playing their football this season. One thing is for certain: that this year there will be an SPL championship without one of its big guns after 122 years of the Glasgow teams battling it out in the top tier of Scottish football.
Never has a team (Celtic) been such a heavy favourite to win the league title, (1/33) and rightly so.
With a 31 point gap over the first non Old Firm team last year (Motherwell) the defending champions look set to once again ease their way to a 44th League title.
And without their city rivals and eternal foes, doom mongers and pessimists in Scotland are predicting a barren and listless Championship.
The biggest fear that many have is the possible lack of the all-important TV money. This money has become essential for clubs, especially the smaller ones that need to balance their budgets.
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Coupled with the loss of the 4 Old Firm matches and the history, intrigue and drama that those games bring, there are also worries that there will be less enthusiasm and interest over an already ‘hard to sell’ product.
However, there are some signs that point to a more competitive league than many think. Teams like Dundee United, Hearts and Aberdeen have all got experienced and intelligent managers with solid squads bursting with young Scottish talent and are all equally capable of making Celtic work hard. And have consistently taken points off both the old firm in recent years.
Don’t get me wrong, Celtic will win the title, possibly even at a canter, I just think there will be a stronger motivation for the ‘best of the rest’ to do well considering they won’t have to play one half of the old firm 3 to 4 times in a year.
Furthermore, the juicy carrot of a champion’s league qualifying spot for those that arrive second should bring out some real battles and exciting viewing with 5 or 6 teams all believing they are in with a chance.
And for those that prevail it could be a could be an opportunity for them to rediscover some glory and a chance to enjoy some European evenings that the two super powers have mostly monopolised for over 25 years.
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