Scottish Football Is Not Irrelevant.
I have noticed that recently people who want to put down
Scottish football have been labelling it irrelevant. Loads of negative minded
people have been saying that.
I think only arrogant people without a sense of self-awareness
would dismiss a sports league as irrelevant.
It is relevant to the people who play in the game, even if
only a few hundred people play in front of a crowd of their family.
But it is a utter joke to call the Scottish Soccer scene as irrelevant.
From a historical and present perspective the Scottish
league has never and is not irrelevant,
From the historical perspective;
The Scots were one of the first two nations to play international
football.
Scotland was the best nation at international football in
the 19th century.
Scotland have been to 8 World Cups, and 3 European Championships
at men’s football.
Scotland have been to a Women’s World Cup and Women’s
European Championship.
Scotland were one of the nations that encouraged the global
take-up of soccer.
Aberdeen, Rangers and Celtic have won European trophies.
Dundee United have reached a European final.
Scotland have produced great managers such as Sir Alex Ferguson,
Jock Stein, Matt Busby, Bill Shankly, Graeme Souness, Alex McLeish, Gordon Strachan,
Derek McInnes, Alex Smith, Joe Jordan, Dave Halliday, Billy McNeill, John
Greig, Eddie Turnbull, Jim McLean, Steve Clarke, Craig Brown, Walter Smith,
Bill Struth, William Maley, Hugh Shaw, Andy Roxburgh, Scott Symon, George
Ramsay, Alex Mackie, Frank Watt, Matt McQueen, Johnny Cochrane, Kenny Dalglish,
George Graham, Tommy Docherty, Willie Waddell and others.
Great players like Kenny Daglish, Denis Law, Jim Leighton,
Alex McLeish, Willie Miller, Billy McNeill, Graeme Souness, Gordon Strachan,
John Greig, Jimmy Johnstone, Joe Harper, Ron Yeats, Iain St John, Darren
Fletcher, Gordon Smith, Bobby Johnstone, Lawrie Reilly, Eddie Turnbull, Willie
Ormond, John Collins, Tom Boyd, Paul McStay, Kenny Miller, Colin Stein, Asa
Hartford, Billy Bremner, Scott Brown, Barry Ferguson, Roy Aitken, Richard
Gough, Eric Black, Jimmy McGrory, Kris Boyd, John Robertson, Joe Jordan, Alan
Hansen, Jim Bett, Davie Cooper, Stevie Nicol, Steve Archibald, Alan Hutton, John
Campbell, Alex Young, David McLean, Willie Moir, Eoin Jess,, Duncan Shearer, Charlie
Nicholas, Alan Gilzean, Mark McGhee, Benny Yorston, Brian McClair, Hughie
Gallacher, Lawrie Reilly, Ally McCoist, Kenny Miller, Robert Hamilton, James
McFadden, Mo Johnston, Robert Smyth McColl, Andrew Wilson, John McDougall,
Jimmy Quinn, Derek Johnstone, John Smith, Ted MacDougall, Andy Gray, Robert
Snodgrass, Billy Steel, Alex Jackson, Jimmy Ross and many others.
There are also big Scottish names in women’s football history
such as Caroline Weir, Erin Cuthbert, Kim Little, Jen Beattie, Jane Ross, and Rose
Reilly who were from Scotland.
There have been great non-Scottish players who have played
in Scottish football such as Zoltan Varga, Henrik Larsson, Brain Laudrup, Paul Gascoigne,
Terry Butcher, Ray Wilkins, Trevor Steven, Genaro Gattuso, Pierre van Hooijdonk,
Marco Negri, Adam Rooney, Roy Keane, George Best, Chris Woods, Chris Waddle, Theo
Snelders, Paul Elliot, Mark Hateley, Paolo Di Canio, John Harston, Robbie
Keane, David Healy, Mark Viduka, Lorenzo Amoruso, Chris Sutton, Shunsuke
Nakamura, Stefan Johansen, Claudio Reyna, Georgi Nemsadze, Nacho Novo, Michael
Mols, Shota Arveladze, Ronald de Boer, Arthur Numan, Frank de Boer, Stefan
Klos, Russell Latapy, Peter Løvenkrands, Tore André Flo, Hans Gillhaus, Mark
Walters, Craig Bellamy, Andrei Kanchelskis , Hicham Zerouali, Mateusz Żukowski,
Marius Žaliūkas, Maciej Żurawski, Juninho, Steve Davis, Kyle Lafferty, Fabrizio
Ravanelli, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Claudio Caniggia, MIkel Arteta, Oleg Salenko, Jorge
Cadete, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Jorg Albertz.
How can that be declared as irrelevant to football history?
There have been great clubs like Glasgow Celtic, Glasgow
Rangers, Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs, Dundee United, Dundee, Queen’s Park, Motherwell
and others.
The record official attendance for a club game in the UK is
in the 1937 Scottish Cup Final between Aberdeen and Glasgow Celtic.
Hampden has hosted 3 European Cup / Champions League Finals.
Plus one UEFA Cup and two European Cup Winners Cup Finals.
Dundee United has hosted a UEFA Cup Final.
Aberdeen has hosted a UEFA Super Cup Final.
Ibrox has hosted a European Cup Winners Cup Final and a European Super Cup Final.
Scotland hosted 4 games in the EURO 2020.
Even now at this point in June 2022.
Scotland qualified for the last European Championship.
Scotland reached the play-offs for the World Cup.
Looking back at last season Glasgow Rangers reached the
Europa League Final.
Glasgow Celtic made it past Christmas in Europe.
Glasgow Rangers had international plyers from Nigeria, Zambia,
Jamaica, Croatia, Canada, Colombia, and Wales.
Glasgow Celtic had internationals from Japan, the USA, Australia,
Israel, Sweden, Croatia, and England,
The Old Firm were getting attendances of over 50,000 for some
games.
Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs and Dundee United had good average attendances
last season.
People are still linking Scottish players with big moves to
other leagues. To go with the many top players who play in the big 5 leagues of
Europe.
Players like Lewis Ferguson and Calvin Ramsay have been linked
with big movies to the big 5 leagues of Europe.
There are top players moving to the Scottish soccer scene. With
links from top players all over the World coming to Scotland.
There should very likely be a Scottish team in next season’s
Champions League Group Stages.
There will be other Scottish sides playing in the Europa
League and Europa Conference League.
Plus to the people of Scotland, Scottish football is the
most relevant to their lives, A nation of over 5 million people sees football
as it’s national sport. There is no way that can be seen as irrelevant.
It is utter nonsense to say that Scottish football is irrelevant
when you consider the hundreds of thousands of people who watch or play the
game in country each year.
Scotland has and is relevant to football.
No matter what results Scotland has over the next decade at
club and international football. Scotland has had a vital part in global
football.
