CELTIC’S resounding Champions League victory over Astana was not the only noteworthy football event of last Wednesday night. Some 20-odd miles away, a Rangers youth team was being knocked out of the Irn-Bru Cup away to Dumbarton. On an admittedly miserable night, some 389 people watched it unfold.
A total of 110 people were at Dens Park to see Dundee’s under-20s lose to Alloa Athletic, while 168 were in Stirling to watch Motherwell’s colts come from behind to beat Queen’s Park. The previous evening 278 people had ventured out to see Annan Athletic beat Celtic’s under-20s 3-1. In the ongoing pursuit to find ways of breathing fresh life into the game, this is one experiment that looks increasingly like a step in the wrong direction. But that is not to say we should stop trying.
The status quo naturally suits Celtic. Standing on the brink of a return to the Champions League for the second season running and adding another £30m to a bulging bank balance, they will be happy to see things continue as they are ad infinitum.
Rangers’ financial meltdown has downgraded Scottish football from a duopoly to a one-party state. Given their vastly superior resources, Celtic will continue to motor further away from the rest. That is not their problem. Having a representative in the Champions League will help raise the profile of Scottish football and earn each of the other 11 Premiership clubs a cheque in the region of £365,000. Beyond that, Celtic are more than entitled to look out for number one. The bigger picture is not their responsibility.
Similarly, the other 41 senior clubs and beyond are within their rights to try to shake things up to their advantage. There is more chance of a day going by without another Trump diplomatic disaster than there is of the Scottish Premiership becoming genuinely competitive again. With the passing of the years, it has become increasingly apparent that the days of Aberdeen and Dundee United putting the Old Firm regularly to the sword were down primarily to the singular management abilities of Alex Ferguson and Jim McLean respectively.
If anything, the financial gulf has grown even starker since the early 1980s. Even the likes of Pep Guardiola or Jose Mourinho would find it impossible to take over at a lesser Scottish club these days and turn them into champions.
Instead, the chasing pack must find other ways to stimulate interest and reinvigorate the game. What can be deduced from the midweek results and attendances in the country’s third cup competition, however, is that innovation can sometimes look like desperation. The much-vaunted notion that Celtic and Rangers fans would turn out in huge numbers were they to be allowed to enter youth sides in the lower leagues has now been debunked as a myth.
There has been little interest in these cup ties either this year or last, while, for the most part, under-20 teams have also struggled to last the pace against senior opponents. Even the addition of two older “mentor” figures this season – Rangers fielded Jason Holt against Dumbarton while Hibernian gave a run-out to Deivydas Matulevicius in their defeat to Elgin City - has made little difference to a competition that already also includes places for non-league, Welsh and Irish teams. It is a fine line between trying something different and taking it too far.
Further changes to the game, then, need to be both measured and sustainable. The introduction of summer football ought to be back on the agenda. It remains a divisive topic but deserves to be at least discussed at length. Playing in the milder months may not improve the UEFA coefficient as hoped for but ought to at least improve conditions for the paying spectator. Treat them like adults and let them have a beer at the match, too.
The league set-up should be revisited, too. A bigger top division with a smaller risk of relegation ought to remove the fear factor that seems to inhibit many sides, especially towards the end of the season. Consider introducing bonus points for free-scoring sides similar to rugby union. Put anything and everything up for discussion. It is worth at least having the debate. If not, then clubs lose the right to complain about Celtic disappearing far into the horizon.
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