The Gulf Between the SPL & EPL

As a Celtic fan in my mid- twenties, one of my favourite footballing memories is of the night John Hartson smashed an absolute rocket of a shot past a despairing Jerzy Dudek at Anfield to put the seal on a brilliant UEFA Cup victory. Fans of a slightly older vintage than myself hold the 1970 European Cup victory over Leeds in front of 136505 spectators in similar regard. For Rangers supporters, once again Leeds were the opposition in a genuine ‘Battle of Britain’ during the 92-93 season, the Scots were victorious and the images and emotions from that tie are forever ingrained in the conscience of the Rangers support.

Scottish clubs have more often than not, emerged victorious from cross border skirmishes. The Scottish mentality ensures that these victories are both savoured and celebrated, in fact the only time Scottish football fans ever come close to uniting as one and backing their traditional rivals is when the opposition is from south of Hadrians Wall (and I don’t mean Berwick Rangers).

On Thursday evening the latest instalment of the ‘Battle of Britain’ series took place at Tynecastle. In the maroon corner, representing the SPL, stood Heart of Midlothian, in the white corner we had Tottenham Hotspur of the EPL. I shall extend my use of a boxing analogy to say that if the referee could have stopped it he would have. It was probably the finest example of one team outclassing another in every area of the pitch I have ever seen. The 0-5 scoreline, if anything flattered the Scottish side.

Those of us who had dreamed of the glamorous visitors from down south being sent home, if not vanquished then at least with pride wounded were left crestfallen. Many “experts” had predicted a tough time for Spurs, and expressed surprise at the ease of victory. The question is though, should the fact that ‘the best of the rest’ from England’s top division are so far ahead of their Scottish equivalent be a surprise to anyone but the most blinkered of supporters?

If I was informed that Bill Gates has a bigger television in his living room than I do I would not feel surprise, it would make perfect sense, he’s minted and I’m skint. He can afford material extravagancies while I cannot. The EPL is far stronger, far superior to the SPL purely because it has the money to buy expensive trinkets.

Gareth Bale, the Spurs left winger is valued at £40m and is often (rather generously) described as a genuinely world class player, he is in monetary terms the most valuable player in their side. His opposite number at Hearts is also his team’s biggest on-field financial asset, but while Bale would command an astronomical fee, Andrew Driver could probably be purchased for something in the region of £2m.

The thing is though, the two leagues actually share the same problems, the lack of young players making the move from academy, to first team, to national honours is of equal concern either side of the border. Administration is a genuine issue for both EPL and SPL clubs. You could also throw in the ownership and running of clubs by some suspect individuals and the dwindling of match day attendances.

If you are being harsh (and its Monday so I’m going to be) you could say both the EPL and SPL are turds, the only difference being, in England their turd is more aesthetically pleasing having been polished with the Sky Sports billions.

If the SPL continues on its current path, the days of sending the English home ‘tae think again’ are over. The financial gulf is now too prohibitive to ever be bridged. If Scotland could somehow make its club game more competitive and focus on developing home-grown talent then there is some hope that those days could one day return. Until then it should be no surprise when English teams, who can afford to shop at Harrods, outclass Scottish sides whose budgets only stretch to the Asda value range.

Back to domestic matters, and Celtic fans went into this weekend dreaming of a 5 point lead over their Glasgow rivals, however Rangers produced their most impressive display of the fledgling McCoist reign resulting in a 3-0 win at Fir Park, while Celtic to the fury of their manager, missed yet another penalty and numerous other chances before going down 1-0 to St Johnstone. A hoped for 5 point cushion has become a 1 point deficit.

After their European exploits, Hearts will probably be satisfied with their 0-0 draw at Kilmarnock. Dundee United were surprisingly beaten 1-0 at home by Dunfermline, who have made an impressive start to their return to the top division. St Mirren reinforced the belief that Danny Lennon’s men have made real progress this year with a 2-1 win at Easter Road. Aberdeen finally managed to put the ball in the oppositions net (twice!) and were rewarded with the 3 points in their Pittodrie clash with Inverness Caley.

Mid-week sees the second legs of the Europa League qualifiers take place. For what it’s worth I expect Rangers to go through relatively comfortably, Celtic are surely in for a nervy night in Switzerland but I think they may just squeeze through (as long as it doesn’t go to penalties), I think I can say without fear of contradiction that Hearts are going out.

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Adam Gets His Reward

The Barclays (BEST LEAGUE IN THE WORLD EVER!!!!) Premier League kicked off at the weekend. There were many new acquisitions on show, brought to England from the four corners of the globe, from the bargain basement to the eye wateringly indulgent. In amongst them all though was the worlds’ oldest looking 25 year old, a slightly rotund individual hailing from the far flung shores of Dundee, Charlie Adam took his place in the Liverpool midfield as the Anfield crowd welcomed in the new season.

His debut went well, he was one of Liverpool’s better players providing an assist for Luis Suarez to open the scoring. The Kop were appreciative of his efforts and already some feel his presence may be key to Liverpool’s fortunes this season.

Rewind 3 years to when Adam was still at his boyhood club Rangers. Anyone professing the opinion that Adam would one day play for one of England’s most iconic clubs would have been in danger of being sectioned under the mental health act. These days when Adam looks up and prepares to launch one of his trademark 60 yard passes, a ripple of excitement and anticipation flows through the crowd, back in his Rangers days the imminent execution of a similar pass would more often  than not be greeted by groans from the Iborx faithful.

Adam’s confidence was shot in his final months at Ibrox. The pressure of playing for one of the Glasgow giants had proven too much (he is of course not alone in suffering this affliction). Often in these cases the player slides down the Scottish football ladder never coming close to fulfilling their potential. Adam though took a chance on a move to Blackpool with their ‘love him or hate him’ manager Ian Holloway. Holloway believed in him, embraced his talents and accepted his limitations. The decision to join Blackpool has of course eventually led to his place in the Liverpool midfield via a nomination for player of the year in the aforementioned BEST LEAGUE IN THE WORLD EVER!!!

Adam is now a regular in the Scotland squad, Derek Riordan is not, neither is Kris Boyd, Garry O’Conner may one day force his way back in but at this moment his tally of caps is paltry. There are many, many more examples of players having failed to hit the heights their talents could have facilitated. Sometimes it is due to bad luck, sometimes the players’ attitude means they think they have made it when they still have much to learn (I’m looking at you Gary O’Conner). More often than not though, potential is wasted by bad decisions.

It seems that two youngsters, Gregg Wylde from Rangers and Islam Feruz from Celtic may be on their way south to the land of milk and honey that is the EPL. Whether these moves work out or not is anyone’s guess. However any player with a decision to make should consider the case of Adam who made the right move, (despite its lack of glamour) and is now playing at the highest level, then contrast it with the likes of Derek Riordan who now plays in China or Kris Boyd now plying his trade in a Turkish league riddled with corruption. It’s difficult, but young footballers would be well advised to consider the effects tomorrow, of the career choices they make today.

There was plenty of action in the SPL this weekend. Rangers secured victory in Inverness in a game they dominated but required two penalties to see off the Highlanders.” It’s a conspiracy” cry some in the Celtic support, and while at least one of the awards was clearly incorrect, Rangers did have a goal harshly ruled out earlier in the game. Incompetence is more a more plausible explanation than favouritism. Celtic were impressive, but slightly flattered by the 5-1 win over Dundee United who showed signs they should be able to cope with a raft of summer departures. Dunfermline picked up their first 3 point haul of the season with a 1-0 win over St Johnstone. Motherwell’s title charge continued with a last minute winner at St Mirren. The tabloids will be dusting off the ‘three horse race’ headlines not used since George Burley’s reign at Hearts, especially if ‘Well can continue their impressive start when the Champions visit at the weekend. Hearts continued their impressive start under their new manager with a comfortable 3-0 win over Aberdeen, Craig Browns men are sticking manfully to their plan of refusing to engage the opposition goalkeeper in any way shape or form. They may come to regret this. Kenny Sheils won his first game as Kilmarnock manager since taking charge at the back end of last season, the game shown live on ESPN was an absolute cracker and a brilliant advert for Scottish football, the 4-1 win over Hibs was by far the best game shown on British telly over the weekend until Real Madrid and Barcelona, who seemed to have taken inspiration from the Ayrshire sides passing out from the back strategy, provided some competition for that award.

Three SPL clubs are competing in Europe on Thursday, so next week’s column may be less cheery than usual.

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