Edinburgh infighting hurts all of Scottish football

By: Ian Rose | April 16th, 2007

I hear it over and over in the international football press: The SPL is thought of internationally as one of the most lopsided leagues in the world, with the Old Firm of Celtic and Rangers consistently dominating the other ten teams. This is especially true in European play, where Scottish teams outside of the two Glasgow sides have just not been able to compete. Last season, there was a glimmer of hope for the future, as Hearts made a great run at the SPL championship, eventually finishing second above Rangers. It went a long way toward making fans believe that, at the very least, the two Edinburgh sides (Hearts and Hibernian) could compete and even break the Old Firm.

This season, however, has seen two major collapses in the two Edinburgh clubs. First, Hearts’ owner Vladimir Romanov made a number of destructive statements about his players, and continued to make the Hearts manager position the hardest and least secure in Scotland. In one of his tirades, Romanov threatened that any and all players on the team could be fired if they lost their next match. This led, eventually, to the departure of both Steven Pressley and Paul Hartley, arguably the best two players on the team.

Now, Hibs is going through its own problems. A player revolt against manager John Collins has distracted the side and led to a long run of poor play since the Hibs took the League Cup 5-1 over Kilmarnock. While captain Rob Jones has tried to diffuse the situation, Collins himself just seems to make it worse every time he speaks, saying most recently that he has learned which of his players he can trust, and which he can’t. Since he didn’t name names, that ought to spread confidence widely throughout the camp.

The infighting that has torn apart the Edinburgh sides this season has had much wider implications. Just as they were both nearing the form that could challenge Rangers or even Celtic, both have fallen back, and that is bad for the SPL and Scottish football overall. If these two sides, both of which are relatively well-funded compared to most of the league, fall back into their old comfortable status as second-tier teams, content to compete for a UEFA Cup spot, the Scottish game suffers. If we want to be respected as a league, we must have more than two European-quality teams, and with the poor showing of Aberdeen against the Old Firm this season, that means Hearts and Hibs.