Scottish football in crisis

Posted on Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 at 11:50 am and is filed under News.

The Scottish Premier League is experiencing an unprecedented crisis as Scotland’s top clubs get into gear for the new football season. The league has been hit hard by the fall of broadcast giant, Setanta, whose departure will leave a black hole in the budgets of Scottish clubs.

Many clubs have sold top players to stay afloat, and fans are beginning to feel that the national league would struggle to rival England’s second tier Football Championship, particularly given the dismal performance the national team put in against Norway in Oslo last week.

While reigning champions, Rangers, have secured a lucrative place in the group stages of the Champions League the club has gone a year without signing new players, and may struggle to compete with an aging squad.

Meanwhile Celtic, who did fork out money for new players in the transfer window, face an uphill battle for Champions League qualification as they prepare to take on Arsenal in the Champions League playoffs.

Some of the more pessimistic football forecasters are predicting that several Scottish clubs may not survive the 2009/2010 football season, and that the SPL is destined to see Celtic and Rangers absorbed by the Premier League as these two clubs attempt to maintain their status as two of Europe’s greatest clubs.