Scottish domestic football is a poundstore brand no serious player will touch
Yet again Harry Redknapp points to the elephant in Scottish domestic football’s dressing room. Yet again it will be ignored. Every Old Firm delusional swallowing the latest marquee signing rumours and Scottish domestic football apologist needs to accept Redknapp is right when he says “whatever way you box it up, if you get £100,000 in England and you’re offered £50,000 a week here but you might win a trophy – you ain’t coming! It’s just not going to happen. Players are not going to take a massive wage cut to come up here for a trophy... if you’re going to get ‘names’ up in Scotland it’s going to be guys at 33-34.”
In 2011 Redknapp’s Tottenham Hotspur went three months without a competitive match. The club was in chaos due to rioting in their part of London, the team riddled with injuries and illness – yet their scratch side destroyed Hearts in a UEFA Cup match 5-0 at Tynecastle without breaking sweat. Redknapp tried to joke on TV afterwards, “maybe Scots teams need to go back to eating their porridge”, but he was clearly shellshocked by how poorly our third best domestic side fared against a side there for the taking.
He pointed out: “You have to be fair and realistic, we have obviously got better quality players who earn a lot more than their players.” On that basis, today’s full-strength Spurs could easily rack up 10-0 against an Old Firm select.
Scottish domestic football is a poundstore brand no serious player will touch. Its Powers That Be emasculated their own competitions into a sectarian duopoly, with the rest providing the facade of competition, with the inevitable result – fans and investment crashed at the century’s turn. Mickey Mouse football run by those without a clue about the modern game “Disney” appeal when you can watch top quality English, French or German football on TV at home or the pub.
With over half of Scotland’s “professional” clubs now averaging gates of under 1,000, Scottish domestic football is heading for wilful extinction.
MARK BOYLE,
Linn Park Gardens
Johnstone, Renfrewshire