Old Firm going backwards

The two Glasgow clubs Rangers and Celtic could be described as giants but at the moment I think they are giants in the land of midgets.

The standard of Scottish domestic football has been questioned for along time now and the financial problems of the SPL clubs have not helped the situation.

Not enough resources

Rangers boss Walter Smith is a good solid manager but after taking Rangers to the UEFA Cup final a few seasons ago has received absolutely no financial backing. The Gers basically started the season with the same squad that he had last season.

The only notable signing French winger Jerome Rothen on-loan from Paris St Germain. With lack of resources comes lack of progress. The Scottish Premier League has never received the best in financial backing and the global recession hasn’t helped the Gers.

Celtic hired a new boss this summer Tony Mowbray arriving from West Brom to replace the irrepressible Gordon Strachan. He managed to bring young full-back Daniel Fox from Coventry and striker Marc-Antoine Fortune from Nancy, who he had previously managed at West Brom.

The two players cost just over £5million but when you compare it to some of the teams at the bottom end of the English Premier League and its absolutely nothing. These two are undoubtedly the biggest teams in the SPL and if these two so called giants are struggling the rest of the SPL teams must be on their knees financially.

Too much expectation

The problem for Celtic and Rangers is that the fans have big expectations from their teams. Unfortunately for the Old Firm the quality of the Scottish Premier League has declined even further in recent years. This has made it easier for Celtic and Rangers to rest on their morals and not improve the quality of their squads. When they face decent teams in Europe the lack of quality shows.

Disappointing in Europe

This season has shown that the two teams simple can’t compete in Europe. Two very disappointing results in the Europa League for Celtic has seen the Hoops win just one point from two very winnable games.

Rangers earned a good point at Stuttgart in their first Champions League match but then then were hammered by red hot Sevilla at Ibrox. To be fair to Rangers Sevilla are probably one of the best teams in Europe at the moment as Real Madrid found out on Sunday night.

The need for investment

The need for investment has never been greater for the Old Firm. The prospect of them joining the English Premier League has long been mooted but that looks unlikely to happen. The more realistic hope of gaining more revenue would be if the long talked about European Super League was formed.

That would be ideal as they would receive a equal amount of television revenue. However if they had to qualify for a new European Super League then they could have a problem. Something has to be done as Rangers and Celtic are clubs with amazing histories and tradition. The loyal fans deserve better than the sub-standard fare that is currently being served up by their teams.