Since 1985–1986, no team other than the Celtic and Rangers has won the Scottish Premiership (SPL). The last team to win other than these two teams was Aberdeen for their fourth title. Since then, the Rangers have won 18 more titles and Celtic 20 more. While the Old Firm derby between these two teams is one of the biggest in the world, how are other supporters of other teams supposed to stay interested in the league?
Football is ingrained in many communities, especially in Scotland, so it is understandable to see how the other ten teams in the SPL still have passionate fans. However, when will the SPL do something to make those fans experience the joy of winning that only the Celtic and Rangers feel? Even since the creation of the Scottish League in 1890, the Rangers and Celtic have combined for 108 championships, while the other 10 teams have combined for merely 19. That should be unacceptable in the minds of the Scottish fans. There are some ways that the SPL can fix how lopsided the league is.
An important aspect of most American sports is parity and the salary cap, as seen in leagues like the NFL, MLS, and NBA. This gives teams a limited amount of money to use to build the best roster. The importance of this is that it removes the significance of how wealthy a team’s owner is and the market that they are in, allowing for more competition within the league.
The SPL isn’t the only football league that has issues with a lack of competition. Within Germany and France, both Bayern Munich and PSG have been dominating for several years now, and without serious structural change, this dominance will continue. While the salary cap in sports hasn’t gained momentum in European football, the SPL should be the first league to change that. With an even playing field, it also gives the smaller clubs in the smaller communities a boost in morale and also economically. Only having the two major clubs in Glasgow battling back and forth for the title is not a smart business idea for a healthy league.
Scotland needs to try to create a competitive league again. The popularity of the sport in Scotland gives them endless possibilities for development and creating a top-five league in the world. The only significant way they can make this happen is by creating a league that has parity so that every team is competitive. With this type of league, it becomes more marketable for consumers to bring in more revenue than what the SPL is making now.
“Celtic Park” by Iain Mullan is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.