The Monopolies and Mergers Commission should investigate the SPL

Scottish Football / Alsy / 02 November 2007 / Leave a Comment

Morgan in the driving seat - Alister Morgan considers the dominance of Rangers and Celtic in Scottish football and why this isn't good for the game

Everyone south of the boarder dismisses the Scottish Premier League (SPL) as vastly inferior to the English Premiership but lately Scottish football has plenty to be proud about with Rangers and Celtic enjoying early success in the group stages of the Champions League. More impressively the national team is on the brink of qualifying for the European Championships.

Even if Scotland fails to emerge from a group of death that includes France, Italy and Ukraine they can be very proud of their effort having played with passion and no little flair. For a country with just over 5million inhabitants and a dismal recent record of football success, it's an impressive campaign.

As a kid I remember the passion (and occasional violence) of the Home Internationals, the sublime skills of King Kenny and the infamous Old Firm clashes. Decades later I'd love to see the Home Internationals return, I still revere King Kenny but I find it hard to get excited about SPL Old Firm clashes. Their dominance is bad for the SPL and Scottish football at large. These old foes play four times a year in the SPL in addition to Cup matches and I simply don't care anymore because they're so far ahead of the local competition it's like watching Federer and Nadal play in a junior tennis tournament year after year.

The financial disparity between the Old Firm and the rest of the SPL has created a two-tier system that grows wider every year. The rest of the SPL teams have long since been reduced to a supporting cast and if the SPL was a commercial business the Glasgow giants would be charged with anti-competitive practices.

If further proof was required, consider the recent SPL decision to postpone matches including Rangers and Celtic before the forthcoming European qualifier between Scotland and Italy. The decision is sensible insofar as the national team should take precedence on this special occasion but what does it say about the competitive nature of the SPL that only Celtic and Rangers games need be postponed?

Checking SPL archives makes for a mighty boring read. From 1998 to the present, only two teams have won the SPL title (Celtic 5, Rangers 4) with the Glasgow teams usually finishing light years ahead of the rest. In 2003/04 Celtic won the title with 98 points. Rangers finished second on 81 and Celtic finished 30 points ahead of third-placed Hearts with a goal difference of 80 to Hearts' 16.

Moreover, Betfair even run a market on who will win the SPL without the Old Firm teams (Dundee United look good to me at 4.4) as there's not much value to be had backing Celtic (1.72) or Rangers (2.42) to take home yet another title.

The current situation may not be good for Scottish football but Celtic and Rangers are finally beginning to make an impact in Europe. They're attracting better players (with bigger wages not the purity of Scottish football) and finally look at home against Europe's elite. This is likely to widen the domestic gap but it makes Old Firm clubs more attractive in the Champions League betting markets.

Celtic is (4.1) to qualify from Group D while Rangers is (1.65) to qualify from Group E. Both have a good chance of navigating their way out of their respective groups but, with Lyon stuttering for form, I'd prefer to lay Rangers (2.8) to avoid elimination at the group stage - especially when European campaigns are assisted by easy domestic games every weekend.

Celtic and Rangers have now been invited to expanded G-14 talks and in years to come European competition, not SPL titles, will become the yardstick against which the Old Firm will gauge success.

If you think I've been too hard on Scottish football then let me know but I doubt you'll back Dundee (95) to win the SPL this season...