Bigger Premiership not the answer to Scottish football’s woes

In partnership with

The Celtic Star

·3. März 2025

Bigger Premiership not the answer to Scottish football’s woes

A bigger league set up is not the solution to our woes. It runs much deeper than that…

Easter Road, photo The Celtic Star

Calls for League Reconstruction getting louder

There’s recently been calls for a shake up of our football landscape in the shape of a bigger league set up, with an 18 team Premier League the most popular option amongst supporters, mostly from those connected to clubs outside the big two.

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We’ve become something of a backwater in European football, or indeed we’ve been viewed as such for a very long time, something that is hard to argue against when you look at our record on the European stage, occasionally outwith the big two.

This can easily be explained in three reasons and not having a bigger league set up isn’t one of them. Something that those with intentions of improving our game just don’t understand.

Dens Park Dundee. Dundee v Celtic. 14th January 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Scottish Football’s main issues

Reason one is down to us not holding the financial power of the other leagues due to our unattractiveness to the outside world, which holds us back in terms of lucrative broadcasting deals. This in turn makes clubs charge outrageous ticket prices that don’t appeal to the working class supporter base that football is built on.

That has negative implications in more ways than one. Firstly it prices the ordinary man and woman out of the equation. The life and soul of the game, and it denies the club the chance to attract a new generation of supporters.

Secondly, it doesn’t look good for our football when games are played in front of near empty stadia. Surely a more reasonable affordable pricing system would benefit the club and see a lot more faces come through the turnstiles, and in turn pack those stands? It’s a win-win situation for clubs.

Dens Park, Dundee v Celtic. 14th January 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

A neglectful attitude at grassroots and youth development level

That is down to our neglectful attitude at grassroots level, and I include our own club in that as our recent record of nurturing young talent is shocking truth be told. But it’s the same all over the country as clubs ignore their responsibility to the future stars of the game, with the governing body also highly complicit for not investing in more facilities and coaches at grassroots level.

Reason three is down to the product on the park. The quality of football on offer in our game is sub-standard at best. Yes a few teams try to play the game the right way, but the overwhelming majority still adopt the tactics that were common place in the 1980s. Managed by dinosaurs who still believe in implementing the kick and rush style of football, just lump it up the park and hope for the best, complete with a side full of hammer throwers whose main objective is just to stop the opposition playing.

Scottish football’s problems run much deeper

All those reasons are holding us back from making our football more competitive and attractive, not the size of our league. Is bringing the likes of Falkirk, Ayr, Livingston, Partick Thistle, Queen’s Park, and Raith Rovers Into the top flight going to dramatically improve our game and make it more appealing? No it won’t, our problems run much deeper than that.

Celtic Park ahead of the match between Celtic and Motherwell on 26th December 2024. Picture by Mark Runnacles Shutterstock

Maybe an 18 team reserve league is where we should start

Maybe an 18 team reserve league should be a starting point will all the clubs with aspirations to play in the Scottish Premiership having to do their bit to develop the game via the next generation. Remember when Celtic were able to win the European Cup with players all from the greater Glasgow area if you include Saltcoats in that. Too many Scottish clubs neglect player development – we don’t even have a reserve league for heaven’s sake. Sorting that is the first step towards a solution.

Just an Ordinary Bhoy