MOST folk never cottoned on to the fact that England’s top flight stopped calling itself “The Premiership” more than six years ago.

Its name has been the Premier League since 2007 but “Premiership” was such a successful and recognisable term that it stuck and is still widely used.

That didn’t dissuade those in charge of the new SPFL from hijacking the word and bolting it to Scotland’s “new” top division. Copying the English naming model of Premiership, Championship, League 1 and League 2 amounted to a numbing lack of creativity or imagination – was there nothing else they could come up with? – but it wasn’t worth losing any sleep over. Criticising the new lion logo has been equally irrelevant. Roll on the day when all Scottish football has to worry about is its names and logo.

The game continues to be all things to all men. Optimists highlight that a single league body, play-offs and a fairer financial distribution model have been delivered. Celtic, Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen and Partick Thistle have all recorded more season-ticket sales than at the same point last year and the numbers have held up for the Highland clubs too. St Johnstone have just delivered an excellent Scottish effort in the Europa League.

Pessimists groan that the top flight can’t even attract a title sponsor, remains so soul-destroyingly uncompetitive that Celtic can be had at 1/40 to win the league and has just lost its two reigning players of the year as well as its two most valuable assets (Leigh Griffiths, Michael Higdon, Victor Wanyama and Gary Hooper respectively). Hibs have just delivered a disgraceful Scottish effort in the Europa League.

The truth lies somewhere in between. There has been no dramatic transformation of the landscape, only a series of little steps which should be welcomed as progressive. The amalgamation of the SPL and the Scottish Football League – the extinction of the latter deserved to be mourned – into the SPFL scratched an itch which had been present for years and will remove some of the debilitating tension which existed between two previously fractious bodies.

Ventilating the bottom of the Premiership via a play-off will sustain interest, especially in a season when the relegation battle will be shaped by Hearts starting on minus 15 points for going into administration. Their attempt to claw their way back up from the bottom of the well will be compelling. Partick Thistle, Hibs, St Mirren and Kilmarnock will be around the wrong half of the table too, with Pat Fenlon looking by far the most vulnerable of all 12 managers.

Celtic fans have been singing about winning “ten in a row”, which says it all about how pitifully uncompetitive the top flight has become. What a hard sell Scottish football is to everyone else when one set of fans can – legitimately – project ahead to uninterrupted success for the next eight years. Last season, Celtic’s league form was shaped entirely by the thrilling Champions League run which kept them in Europe until March. That resulted in all those weekends when they couldn’t motivate themselves for humdrum league games and were temporarily vulnerable, finishing with one of their lowest recent points totals. Still, they enjoy vast advantages over the others and they are likely to win the league earlier and by more than last season’s 16 point margin.

Motherwell, Aberdeen, St Johnstone and Dundee United should challenge for best of the rest. Derek McInnes cannot claim he has not been backed handsomely by his directors and Aberdeen have substantially added to their squad without losing anyone they wished to keep. Stuart McCall has signed well at Motherwell but he had to, having lost Higdon, Nicky Law and Darren Randolph among others. The Highland clubs have had busy summers but both look likely to slip down a couple of places.

So it’s farewell to Griffiths, Higdon, Wanyama, Hooper, Johnny Russell, Andrew Shinnie, Kenny Shiels, Steve Lomas, ESPN, Clydesdale Bank and the SPL. Hello to BT Sport, Friday night and Saturday tea-time kick-offs, Allan Johnston, Tommy Wright, Amido Balde, James Collins (for a £200,000 Hibs cheque!), more seats and a new pitch at Ross County, The Lowland League and the SPFL.

Dundee and Falkirk are likely to lead the title race in The Championship while Peterhead look best-equipped in League 2. The issue in League 1 is not who will win, but whether Rangers will do so with less of the stress and embarrassments of last season. Ally McCoist has repeated last summer’s signing template – cherry-picking from the top flight – but must address fitness and motivational issues which were evident while winning Division Three far less impressively than 38,000 season-ticket holders demanded. The support has responded again this season and McCoist is under pressure to deliver a team which, unlike last year, can compete in the two main cups.

Two uncompetitive divisions out of four ought to be dull, but Scottish football never is. 

Whatever name those in charge come up with, it continues as a sporting madhouse, and a generator of stories and 
fall-outs, which is second to none.