The Scottish spring

Achieving a common purpose among enough people at time of national crisis has been a centuries old problem in the land of my birth.

In Scotland’s heroic age auld Alba always had a fighting chance of repelling an invader if enough guys turned up for the big show.

Gathering the clans was a vital process.

A suitably Machiavellian foreigner might seek to indulge in a wee bit o divide et imperia.

Buying off a clan chief or two was always a good move.

When that didn’t happen and the dressing room was as one then fair Caledonia could cause a few medieval cup upsets.

As I write this I have just learned that the Perth men have joined in what is starting to seem like a Scottish spring on Planet Fitba.

Six weeks ago it seemed a done deal ion the corridors of power that FC New Co would be allowed straight back into the SPL.

The men in the big leather chairs at Hampden even peddled the risible notion that the NewCo wasn’t a new club.

Yesterday I spoke with a couple of Inverness Caledonian Thistle fellas.

They wanted to remain anonymous, but they assured me that their guys were in rebellious mood and wouldn’t tolerate their clan chief taking the king’s shilling on this one.

The immortal Jock Stein knew that “football without fans is nothing”.

The people who run the national game in Scotland forgot that central reality.

I hope that the rebellion spread to the fans of SFL1 clubs.

Those clubs are more reliant on their paying customers as there is no TV deal.

Moreover the smaller numbers of fans means that people in the boardrooms at Falkirk and Hamilton actually know their supporters.

The only morally defensible choice is Division 3 for the New Club that wants to play at Ibrox.

This is not an extraordinary punishment it is just the rules.

The rebellion started because a parcel of rogues wanted to subvert basic fairness.

This pissing around means that Dundee and Dunfermline still don’t know if they are “Club 12”.

It almost certainly won’t be the new club playing out of Ibrox.

The people in power could have avoided all of this had they simply applied with rules without fear or favour.

Another perennial problem for Scottish kings was the “over mighty subject”.

Rangers (1872-2012) wielded influence in the national game that went beyond their success on the field.

Even in death the people ostensibly in charge of Scottish football seek to give their baying fan base, in denial over their loss, preferential treatment.

The solution to this problem is simple; the new club starts in Division 3.

Now, as is often the case with the rebellions, the top guy has left the country.

What kind of national game will Mr Regan come home to?

Hopefully one where then ordinary people have a greater sense of their own power.

 

Leave a Reply

error: Content is protected !!

Discover more from Phil Mac Giolla Bháin

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading