There isn’t any money in the SPL, but that’s not their fault, it’s merely the result of a very small market. Both Glasgow and Edinburgh have had to reinvent themselves as viable cities because of a changing economic climate, and to be fair, not a lot of talented European players want to live in Aberdeen or Dundee. Should Hibs and Hearts be better teams? Definitely, but they don’t have the money to invest. Somewhere the cycle has to broken, something has to change. But waiting around for homegrown talent to develop in Scotland is like trying to find a trophy wife at a liberal arts college when Arizona State is next door. Just ain’t smart business.

Could Rangers and Celtic better run clubs? Probably, but so could Liverpool, Chelsea, Man U, and Tottenham (I’ll exempt Arsenal here because they are actually pretty well run as clubs go). I don’t think it’s all their fault they can’t compete.

Is the English/Scottish animosity still that strong? I mean on a day to day hatred level. Are we talking about happy Defcon 5 or evil Defcon 1? Do Scots stand at Hadrian’s Wall and taunt their southern neighbors of smelling of elderberries?

Realizing that logic may not enter the picture, north to south, the entire island is about 360 miles long (roughly the distance from NYC to Pittsburgh or NYC to Buffalo in a straight line). The smaller clubs may require a solution to play locally (in divisions – i.e., Blue Square North/South), as their budgets may not permit frequent travel to the south coast of England, but the bigger clubs should be able to travel the longer distances. I do realize a detrimental effect on fans, but really, who worries about them anymore?

Let ‘em start at the bottom (or even some negotiated higher level, other than the Prem) and find out where they truly belong.

/hammy
//still awesome
///No, really, Celtic and Gers are finished as “big clubs”