What an opportune time for Hearts to make an appearance in the Scottish Cup Final !! With the club in severe financial difficulties – compounded by a botched marketing campaign for 2012/13 season tickets – the significant income from the Cup run is desperately welcome. Paul Sergio and his players now have a golden opportunity to not only lift the trophy, but to become legends in the eyes of the supporters by beating Hibs on 19th May in the biggest Edinburgh derby ever played.
Amazingly, all the players who were 1 yellow card away from a Cup suspension managed to avoid getting booked on Sunday, so Hearts will be able to field a strong team to take on Hibs – barring any injuries.
The contributions from Messrs Skacel and Beattie this season have been huge, and I hope this extra income will enable the club to persuade them both to stay for another season. It would be almost impossible to find replacement players who could reach the number of goals they`ve scored and created for others.
So while we enjoy the anticipation of a huge event at Hampden, the general outlook for Scottish football is not so appealing. Let’s consider some of the issues –
Rangers – in administration, owned by a professional asset stripper, and potentially owing creditors upwards of £ 100m. Staring total liquidation in the face. Although there are 3 bids on the table, the financial commitment required to meet the debts and to try to keep a competitive team on the park will be huge.
Celtic – a fine season on the park, culminating in the SPL title. However with a weakened (or non-existent) Rangers, they must be wondering how to maintain income and sufficient player quality to make a challenge in Europe next season when they`ll have won the SPL by Christmas. Despite what Peter Lawell says, Celtic need Rangers to create a competition. And then there`s the embarrassing behaviour of their manager – isn`t it satisfying to compare him to our Mr Sergio, who just oozes style, respect and class ?
Hibs – looks like they`ll avoid relegation this time, mainly due to the goals from O’Connor and Griffiths. But the drop in the standard of their squad over the last 3 years has been remarkable – and with so many on-loan players currently, they may have to push the boat out financially to avoid being in a similar situation next season.
Aberdeen – another flop of a season. Even the old master Craig Brown looks powerless to make them any better.
SPL – locked into a voting system where 2 clubs can veto any proposal. That basically means an Old Firm carve-up can continue forever – unless Rangers disappear. Bizarre activity seems to be taking place to try to ensure that a “new” Rangers can be invited back in, despite a points penalty. I`d love to know if Celtic are in favour of this or not !! Oh – and by the way – if any other clubs go into administration, they want to deduct a MINIMUM 15 points next time. How`s that for a “2 tier” rule book ? So if Hearts or Motherwell or Dundee Utd go into administration, a 15 point deduction will plunge them into a relegation fight to survive – whereas Rangers get penalised into ? errm?.. 2nd place. Talk about Scottish football being a farce !! Maybe the latest talk about the SFA taking over the SPL rule-making is worth a try ?. then again, what have the SFA ever done for us – apart from handing out fines ?
Meantime, let`s hope for a back-to-back “double” over the Old Firm, when we play Rangers at Tynecastle !!
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