Should Scottish Clubs Try to Compete in the EFL and EPL?
This question has been ventilated in the past on more than one occasion. Anyone with minimum experience following sports or working with football knows this: stronger rivals means stronger sides.
But on the other hand, overly unbearable competitors can also crush you.
Which is in a way what happens on both situations with the SPL sides. Scottish Premier League teams other than Celtic and Rangers rarely manage to bother the duopoly of the Scottish giants.
On the other hand, Celtic and Rangers fail to develop further technically – and commercially – by not facing the big 6 of England. Imagine what kind of money Scottish clubs could get if they were able to sell sponsorship that was going to aim games against the big 6 of the EPL if they ever reached it. Or even just occasional League Cup and FA Cup games against big sides?
Remaining isolated in Scottish lands and reaching Europe only through it’s domestic footie doesn’t seem to be a great plan in the eyes of many fans.
Also, Scottish Premiership fans also follow the EPL these days as the quality of the league of the neighbors in England is unparalleled, even in continental Europe. Keen APIs are great tools to keep track of the best from British and European football, even if you follow locally the traditional Scottish Premiership.
The Wrexham Case: Something to Learn from This Case?
The Wrexham phenomenon is a topic for a dedicated article. But if the Scottish sides could reach League Two, couldn’t this beautiful story of club revival and commercial overnight success have happened in Scotland?
How to Make A Potential Conversion
If Scottish clubs decided that it’s time to go British and fight against English and Welsh clubs in the English Pyramid, this would require some kind of conversion scheme.
There are countless ways to doing so, but it would be controversial by nature. It would affect the capacity of clubs from England to go higher in the top divisions while the Scottish sides would be absorbed – and after that too.
It’s also hard to predict for sure at what divisions the Scottish teams would ‘land’ after a few seasons. Wouldn’t this reduce radically the number of fixtures between Scottish clubs? What about tradition? Would there still be a Scottish Cup? Would it suffice to remain the torch of domestic Scottish footie alive?
There certainly are more questions than answers in this sense. But there certainly is a trade off which is a bit of an elephant in the room: How much could Scottish footie and Scottish clubs grow by facing better opponents on a consistent basis?
How cool would it be to one day have both Scottish giants in the Premier League? Imagine the spice it could add to an already amazing competition – and brand – that the EPL is today?
Summary
The two Scottish giants are amazing brands, and thinking about the future is a must. It’s true that EPL sides themselves have been involved in discussions of a potential European Super League, which could also affect the future of the EPL itself. But one thing is clear: there is potential that is not being fully developed in Scotland with things the way they are as of the 2022/23 season.
