The Old Firm Must Stay Relevent
Scottish football needs to change & IBWM's latest debutant feels the recent Old Firm derby was symptomatic of exactly that. Welcome Graeme Crawford.
After yet another scrappy, tedious Old Firm derby the question has to be raised whether this match can still fulfil its billing as one of the greatest derbies in the world. The massive derbies in England, Spain, Italy, even Brazil must surely be taking centre stage ahead of Scotland’s ‘finest’ due to the lack of sparkle, creativity or excitement produced by both sides.
Rightly the Old Firm contest has been put on a pedestal due to the history and passion of the two sides and I’m not for a minute saying it should be forgotten about, which it could never be. The standard of football being served up in recent times though is frankly shocking as both teams shell passes forward and try to feed off the scraps. In the latest derby, Kenny Miller, prolific this season with 22 goals before the New Year, barely touched the ball as Celtic sat in, as has become customary as the away side in a game. The Walter Smith approach in big games of setting out his team to see the opposing half as a minefield they don’t want to venture into, seems to have rubbed off on his counterpart across the dugout. Celtic beat Rangers at their own game, drawing them forward then countering quickly to force mistakes in the backline. While this is the benchmark for the two best teams in the country, Scotland will continue to struggle on the international stage and also to attract a sufficient audience for the domestic product to progress.
If you go back a decade ago to 2000, in five Old Firm games there were 22 goals and three red cards with countless bookings, including results of 6-2 and 5-1. Contrasted with recent times there has only been 19 goals in the previous 10. This illustrates the difference in attitude that both teams have adopted, with the fans facing a drought of thrills and the most contentious moments coming from referees. It is plain to see in the approach of both teams that they wait for their opponents to make an error rather than trying to create their own piece of magic, which was in evidence at the most recent game. With a defensive Celtic frustrating Rangers, it needed a touch of class to change things which is all too rare nowadays. Gone are players like Laudrup, Kanchelskis, Moravcik, and Berkovic who could unlock the opposition with a bit of skill and the spectacle is beginning to suffer due to the lack of quality that the modern big two don’t have.
The other famous derbies of the world further heighten the expectations of Scottish fans and mean disillusionment won’t be far away. Watching the football produced by Spain, Holland and Germany among others at the 2010 World Cup is giving the average football fan a thirst for possession, which Scottish teams are struggling to fulfil. El Classico, in which Barcelona made the Galactico's of Real Madrid look like a Sunday league team, was a football lovers’ dream. The skills Messi, Iniesta and others put on display was a joy to watch as the Catalan club kept the ball as if it were member of the family. This derby was one of footballing perfection and in footballing terms is in a different world to the defensive and almost scared teams that Glasgow has produced in recent times.
If the pattern of game quality continues then it’s unlikely anyone will be clamouring to renegotiate a television deal, so the coffers won’t exactly be bursting for Scottish clubs to invest and get back to a level which will allow us to compete on an even keel in Europe. Therefore it is essential the excitement is injected back into the game rather than the stilted product we have at the moment.
Every now and then both Glasgow clubs are showing flashes of good football, be it from a Paddy McCourt wonder-run or a Vladimir Weiss solo effort, but reproducing this in the biggest game of the domestic season has been a rarity as both teams cancel each other out. Overall, the burning passion and desire of every Old Firm fan to see their team succeed will mean that the significance of the occasion will never be lost, however, unless the quality matches the quantity, Scottish football could be in for a tough future.
The Old Firm are a major part of the lifeblood of the Scottish game and their future affects football in the country far deeper than just the two clubs themselves. For all the remaining SPL clubs, the gate money they receive from clashes with the big two helps keep them in business. This is a key aspect of SPL finance and if the revenue from television begins to dry up, prices and costs will have to be raised meaning the purse strings will have to be tightened even more than they are already. This adds credence to the argument that the Old Firm have to address this issue immediately before the lives of clubs other than themselves move further into danger.
Solutions are few and far between in the current financial climate, with the days of a £12 million player walking up the steps at Ibrox long gone from memory and it won’t be happening any time in the near future. Scottish football has long needed to get its act together and the Old Firm need to be at the forefront. One answer may be developing academies, be it at Murray Park or Lennoxtown, or creating new facilities which will benefit not only the domestic clubs, but the international scene as well. Barcelona is a prime example of how to run a football club using players from within. With the likes of Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol among many others graduating through the youth ranks, it shows that money is not always the answer and having fashioned a team widely-regarded as one of the best ever seen, Scotland can learn a great deal from the benchmark placed at such a high level.
Often the Scottish lower divisions are disregarded and not given a second thought but the expansion of the set-up will lead to a better standard of player being developed and the quality level increasing at every stage. The idea of the reserve sides of the SPL clubs playing in a lower division has often been discussed and this could be the perfect solution to giving players the chance to improve and gain experience. Therefore those in the SFA need to sit down and assess where our game is headed, with the likelihood of no Scottish teams in the top level of Europe becoming a distinct possibility very soon.
Change is needed, and needed fast.
You can read more from Graeme on his excellent blog stoppagetime120