Football’s better without manipulation
I’ve no fondness for Stuart McColl but I’m disappointed the wheels have fallen off Motherwell’s bogey this season. Delivering two consecutive second place finishes in a league populated with mostly better finances teams was exceptional. Over the last three years they have lost players instead of paying money they couldn’t afford, otherwise they would almost certainly be challenging at the top of the table.
I like Gordon Strachan. One of the things I like about him is he is almost impossible to get on-message. Talk about manipulating football in order to get the ‘right’ teams in the top division is ludicrous, Gordon knows this, or he wouldn’t have used a word like “manipulate”. On a substantive note, I think he’s wrong on this point.
The game changed when Rangers were liquidated, and it changed again when Hearts and Hibs were relegated. Fewer people buy tickets as there is not genuine competition for the league title, but some things we can do without.
Scottish football survived without the ticket money these clubs brought them, and the country’s streets, pubs and A&E departments have benefited from not having to cope with the sheer hassle we used to put up with.
I’ve enjoyed our four lower tier-only games this season, they were atmospheric and entertaining. If this was our future, I’d bite your hand off for it before I’d want to go back to the old ways.
Celtic, Motherwell, Aberdeen and the rest are defined on their own merits, and many of us are enjoying our football.