Hacker: SPL without Old Firm would be great for the Capital

The past week has seen a good deal of discussion of the possibility of the Old Firm leaving the Scottish Premier League some time soon. Of course, most of these musings have focused on the ways in which abandoning ship for pastures new in England or Europe would benefit these two self-proclaimed “big, big clubs”, but little attention has been paid to the ways in which the departure of the Old Firm might benefit the remaining ten SPL Clubs, Hibs and Hearts in particular.

There have always been two leagues operating concurrently within the SPL: the first between Rangers and Celtic decides the destination of the League Title every season while the second is contested by the other ten teams, with the top prize generally being a place in the UEFA Cup in one of its many guises. While the gap between the second placed Old Firm team, and the “best of the rest” is generally substantial, the competition for third place is always as fierce as is that for the Title itself. In recent years, it has often come down to the final day of the season, with only a few points separating the teams placing from third down to sixth in the quest for European football.
These matches towards the end of the season, when the “provincial” clubs (to quote a famous ex-Celtic player turned pundit, have something to play for) see the biggest crowds of the season, and the re-emergence of many fans who had given up on their local side. The support of these fair weather fans makes an enormous financial difference, and if the clubs had more games like these end of season crunch matches, there is no doubt that crowds and interest in non-Old Firm SPL football would increase markedly.

The Scottish league could only improve as a competition without the Old Firm. A non-Old Firm SPL would be among the most closely contested Leagues in Europe: there is very little to separate teams like Hibs and Hearts from other clubs such as Dundee United and Aberdeen. All of these Clubs, and in fact most clubs in the SPL, have had their glory days in the past, when local people came out to watch them in their droves, and there is no reason to suppose that a return to these times is an impossibility, with the impetus that the real possibility of success would give.

Hibs have taken over 35 000 supporters to the National Stadium on numerous occasions over the past few years, as have Hearts, with the two capital sides consistently enjoying the biggest crowds in the nation outside of the Old Firm. This has been achieved in an environment in which there is no possibility of either side winning the League championship, something Hearts last achieved in 1960, with Hibs’ last League flag coming eight years earlier. Imagine, then, the possibilities that would exist for the Capital clubs was there a real chance of winning the League title every season. This will never happen while the Old Firm remain in Scotland. If Rangers and Celtic want to leave the SPL then good luck to them. We would all be better off.