I’m not entirely sure I recognise this happy-clappy world of corporate cooperation described by Hibs owner Ron Gordon.
Speaking at the launch of the action plan to almost double the SPFL’s annual income to £50million by 2029, the Easter Road chairman said: “I sense a spirit of what can we do together to make us all better?” Really? I’ve always been of the belief our game runs on spite, malice and mistrust. It’s more like a shotgun wedding than a marriage of convenience, given the number of domestic disputes we’ve had to deal with in recent years.
For a start, is it not still Rangers ’ official stance that they consider the SPFL’s chief executive Neil Doncaster to be unfit for purpose and would prefer to see him removed from office while taking a couple of others with him? I’ll let them fight it out amongst themselves. What I can recognise, in the meantime, is a game of football at Celtic Park today that will vividly display the kind of occasion that would help generate more interest, and therefore cash, in the domestic product because of the standard of entertainment on offer. Hearts haven’t won a match at Celtic Park for the last 15 years but it’s conceivable they could end Ange Postecoglou ’s 35-game run of league games without loss.
And, at the same time, do what no club could manage in league or cup throughout the whole of last season by winning at Parkhead. The game’s only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. So Celtic and Hearts are putting on a sales pitch while one is in the Champions League group stage draw on Thursday and the other one has a real chance of progression into the Europa League by virtue of a home win on aggregate against FC Zurich on the same day.
Celtic’s early season explosion of goals is self-explanatory. There’s been a voluntary vowel movement. Jota, Liel Abada, Daizen Maeda and Kyogo Furuhashi have come to the fore.
Others whose surnames don’t end in a vowel, like Matt O’Riley, Greg Taylor and Giorgos Giakoumakis, have joined them in delivering exhilarating performances.
Everything Postecoglou does is measured against the defeat from Hearts at Tynecastle that was his first domestic game in charge.
Celtic’s growth since then has been unmissable – but so has Hearts’ consistency while strengthening their side. Robbie Neilson will bring an assortment of threats to Celtic Park.
There’s a formidable goalkeeper, Craig Gordon, who demonstrated his worth in Switzerland in midweek, and a cutting-edge quartet up front in Barrie McKay, Alan Forrest, Liam Boyce and Lawrence Shankland.
If McKay isn’t the best player in Scotland outwith those who are at the Old Firm then I don’t know who is at this time. If the grand plan is to grow the SPFL brand then this afternoon has to be seen as a textbook example of the existence of life outside of the Glasgow derby.
What Hibs’ owner Gordon and his strategy group need to do in order to maximise broadcasting revenue is ensure that there are more clubs who can pose the threat Hearts will in front of a full house this afternoon.
The game could have been live on television – which it’s not – and still attracted a capacity crowd. That’s the kind of show-business that sells.
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