Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
George Cran
Bigger leagues best way to give our game a kick up the backside
I WAS all ready to shout out that reconstruction is happening! But then Scottish football clubs do what they always do and get in their own way.
Even before the coronavirus brought life as we know it to a grinding halt, our game needed a kick up the backside.
This playing each other four times a season does my head in. It is tedious.
I know a lot of people feel the same way, players and managers included.
According to some, we already have too many senior clubs right now – so why is it so difficult to have bigger leagues for these outfits?
I get the argument about wanting to play the Old Firm sides twice at home and the money it brings in.
There’s also the feeling that the TV companies are only ever interested in putting Rangers and Celtic games on because that’s where the big viewing numbers are. So four Old
Firm matches a season guaranteed are a selling point.
My counter argument to all that is the game as a whole, the product as a whole, would be better – more valuable – if these games were fewer and further between.
Just look at the appetite for football right now!
It’s been taken away from us by this horrible virus and we are all desperate to see it return – I can’t think what the attendances will be like on the
George Cran Column first day back after all this. Stadiums will be packed, pubs (if they are open) will be heaving and the atmosphere superb.
Having fewer big games a season doesn’t quite level up with having no football for months, I know. But it shows, if you create scarceness, demand goes up – all that panic buying last month is a perfect example.
As much as I hadn’t agreed with the way Dundee managing director John Nelms went about the voting business, I was glad to see he’d forced through a real discussion over league reconstruction.
However, Hibs chief Leanne Dempster left the taskforce before it even started, talking about it being too early to ‘call’ the top flight despite voting for that exact thing in the lower divisions.
And Dundee United joint-owner Scott Ogren says the Tangerines prefer keeping the 12-team top division.
Come on folks, this discussion is all about what is the best way to keep Scottish football going and how it can be better long-term.
Self-interest will always be part of this process, nobody should vote for anything that hurts their business, but having a more valuable product as a whole benefits everybody in the long run.
Just get on with it and give us a game to be proud of once all this is over, please.