SPL still has lots to offer....................

[ian1964 10,720]

.........no matter what the doom merchants say

 

Craig Swan finds reason, with just one round of fixtures left, for every one of the 12 clubs involved in this year's SPL to take heart from season 2012/13.

 

 

 

AND so, in the next 48 hours, it will all be over.

 

Although there is a Scottish Cup Final to come between Celtic and Hibs, the SPL campaign will trundle to a halt just before 2.30pm on Sunday.

 

The awards and the garlands have been handed out but what sort of experience has it been for those who shell out week-in, week-out to subsidise it?

 

Well, contrary to general perception, itâ??s not been that bad. In fact, it many cases, itâ??s been pretty-much okay.

 

Of course, there wasnâ??t a genuine title race. When one club can pay two players a weekly wage which would cover entire squads elsewhere, it was never going to be, was it?

 

But Celtic fans had the smoked ham of the Champions League to go with the SPL bread and butter and that whetted their appetite until March. And they still have a Cup Final to come.

 

At Motherwell, the Fir Park faithful have had another superb season.

 

They started playing Champions League qualifiers and ended up as SPL runners-up.

 

They also have a Manager and Player of the Year in Stuart McCall and Michael Higdon.

 

And prodigal son James McFadden returned.

 

In the Highlands two teams with low budgets led by Terry Butcher and Derek Adams were tipped by many to be battling relegation.

 

Instead, their fans saw them fighting for Europe while beating big-city sides on a regular basis.

 

County only fell away near the end replaced in the fight with Inverness by St Johnstone, who again over-achieved under Steve Lomas.

 

Why he does not get more recognition when the awards are handed out is bizarre.

 

Dundee United made up the top-six. It wasnâ??t vintage but they have a new management team led by Jackie McNamara, some vibrant young players and three derby wins over Dundee.

 

For the bottom-six, each of them had clouds with a silver lining.

 

Hibs topped the table early on, have a cup final looming and a star act in Leigh Griffiths.

 

Hearts also made a cup final, have young talents like Jamie Walker and Jason Holt to add to the joyous fact Vladimir Romanov is leaving.

 

Kilmarnock missed the top-six on the final day, but some games at Rugby Park this season have been terrific and Kenny Shiels lights up many a dark day.

 

Aberdeen were pretty average for long spells but have been lifted by the arrival of Derek McInnes and the promise of better times.

 

St Mirren survived a relegation battle and won a major trophy for the first time in almost three decades.

 

Even relegated Dundee got something like a happy ending, with Bomber Brown giving the promise of a successful 2013-14.

 

There are aspects of this termâ??s SPL which have lifted fans.

 

You can scrutinise poor technique, quibble over lack of quality and rip your hair out in reconstruction debates.

But if we can just tempt more fans through the turnstiles next season they might just enjoy themselves and the future might not be as bleak as everyone fears:roflmao:

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/craig-swan-spl-still-lots-1893812

[ian1964 10,720]

[Super_Ally 0]

Na, not convinced.

[calscot 0]

The main problem with the SPL is that not one team had ANY influence on where the title went. What an empty, soulless league that is. With two clubs fighting for the title all teams can at least somewhat have a say in where it goes.

 

The European results should be irrelevant to the subject in hand, and with Celtic highly unlikely to repeat their CL results next year, you have to wonder how bored their fans will get with a team that just has to turn up to win the league, even losing a load of games on the way to an easy title.

 

I think clubs are also too stupid to realise that the split does not work without pairs of matching teams. Instead of three OF visits guaranteed, some will only get a third of that and the seeding must be all over the place making more anomalies of home and away games.

 

It's a complete joke of a league and the worst thing is it's what the members and fans voted for.