"1985 Aberdeen is the answer , laugh at our game all you want . We accept our standard is poor....." --------- Very poor actually, we'll leave it at that shall we? Mods close this benighted article now. cheers.
Scottish football has been on the decline for years, possibly because there's not enough investment at grass roots level. I saw a documentary of what it was like growing up in Scotland in the 70's the other night and it showed how youngsters weren't interested in playing football, they were more interested in stabbing people and fighting. It was called 'NEDS' and was a fascinating insight into the Scottish Psyche.
decline or no decline, Im sure that as soon as the winter is in, I wll be back at the match, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, because as they say, we rise and fall, sink or swim together Up the Boro.
Well, while I think calling English football is a joke is daft, the OP does raise a good point, but one that some posters seem to be missing. A lot of the replies on this thread are quick to point out how much more successful English teams are than their Scottish, Spanish, German etc. counterparts in Europe, but that's not really what the original post was getting at - it was mainly stating that at the minute the level of competition for the Premier League title is very, very slim. Not a single Scottish football fan would, in their right mind at least, even try to convince anyone that the quality of our football is anything but dismal at the moment. However, the most consistent argument I've heard for our league being so bad (from those outside Scotland) is 'only two teams can win it'. At the moment, how many teams are truly capable of winning the Premier League? Or, even more pointedly, the Spanish league? Very, very few, just as there are in Scotland. In fact, just this year in Spain, the president of Sevilla claimed that La Liga is becoming another SPL, not in terms of quality obviously, but in terms of competition, or lack of. And the Deportivo fans unveiled a banner saying 'We don't want another Scottish League'. Yes, Valencia won the league six years ago, but can anyone honestly anyone other than Barca or Madrid winning the league for the forseeable future? The gap has now widened to massive proportions, just as it has in Scotland. I'm a Celtic fan and I'm fed up with the league for that reason, but I'm willing to hold my hands up and say that the Old Firm as as much to blame as anyone for it, as we've continually poached the other teams best players, and taken all the money from Europe, while the other teams stagnate. But therein lies the problem - no football fan will ever be able to see beyond the end of their own nose. As a previous poster has already pointed out - any club that suddenly finds themselves with pots of cash wouldn't be ALLOWED to sit back and do nothing, because the fans wouldn't allow it. So no, English football isn't a joke, and it's ridiculous to say so, but I think it's going to be very interesting to see if supporters of teams outside the three challengers in England become disillusioned in the future, if only those teams continue to win the league. It's starting to happen in Spain right now, and happened in Scotland long ago. That's my tuppence worth!
Is English football a joke ? Possibly , is the League structure a joke ? For sure , but there is one saving grace thats will always save English football from others around them , in fact all , there is no other Nation on this planet where support for their local team is stronger , for this reason alone fans will always watch their side , the population is a size where by is can handle the cling on and glory supporter from afar . Scotland can not do that , at the very very very maximum Scotland has 2 large sides and 4 small/medium sides and no more , in England even included x10 population there are far larger clubs all around and far better supported , an example all round into one is this . Edinburgh 500,000 population and two teams in the SPL , both never sell out and probably never will again bar a huge match , look in the 3rd tier of English football or even the 4th and there are larger attendances on a Saturday . The EPL will eat itself and I for one will laugh very very hard , all teams should be on a level playing field but you can not and never will stop the cling on regardless of what exact glory they are chasing , why should someone in Glasgow only support 2 teams ? How many are there in Glasgow ? 3/4 ? Why does Queens Park get **** crowds ? Celtic and Rangers may say they are huge when in fact the only thing large about their clubs is the attendance on a Saturday and that is to the detriment of other Scottish sides , slowly but surely it will end up like the Norwegian League .
That is the best and most concise analysis of the root of the problems within football. You are a star sir and your tuppence was well spent.
There is a bit of a difference between Spain and EPl in terms of what teams people support as most people support their local team PLUS either Barcelona or Real Madrid depending on where they come from, and which side of the political divide, I suppose that possibly is more in line with Scotland and secretarianism, the proddies will probably have their team and Rangers, the Papists theirs and Celtic. We don't really get that in England, our rivalries are usually football based (apart from Lancashire and Yorkshire).
what is the problem Celtic recoreded an easy 6-0 win in qualifying , which English team bettered that result !!!!
I love the way people have already decided who's going to win every trophy and who's going to fail massively and it's barely September. Football is like the rest of society in the fact that the rich will always get richer and reap the benefits, yet the poor will never improve their lot and will always struggle, the only difference being that some poor clubs get sugar daddies to help them out, but no bugger will give poor little me a billion quid. As for the relative strength of leagues, I confidently predict that England will be the only country to have 3 clubs in the knock out stages of the CL this year and I'd stake money on all 4 being there. I'd also stake money on whoever finishes just above relegation in the PL being a far better team, with a massively stronger squad than whoever does the same in ANY other league and if you want to go further, I'd bet everything I could that the top 3 from the Championship would beat ANY team who finishes in the bottom half of ANY top division outside England with ease, we'll never find this out of course as there isn't a Europa league for mediocrity.
The aberration is that the 3 teams assertive English football are accomplished abandon, in actuality one of them is additional best in Europe. The 2 teams assertive Scottish football are actually acute and can't even authorize for the Europa alliance, never apperception consistently extensive the Champions alliance semis (or bigger) like the top English teams accept done over the endure 5 years or so.
