Chris Sutton livid at suggestion Scottish football would ‘die’ without Rangers and Celtic
Chris Sutton has engaged in a heated debate with Mail Sport journalist Ian Ladyman as the latter claimed Scottish football would wither and die without Rangers and Celtic.
This claim was made following suggestions that Scottish football is miles behind other top leagues in Europe, especially the Premier League, after Celtic beat Aberdeen 6-0 on Sunday.
The conversation then spiralled into what Sutton labelled elitist and disrespectful claims that the Old Firm clubs are the only teams driving revenue to the league.
The pair were debating on the It’s All Coming Up podcast, where Sutton explained: “It’s not always about the money, it’s about the product. It’s about supporters, bums on seats, going and supporting their local team, that’s what it’s about.
“You’ve got two of the clubs in Scotland that are every bit as big, with the focus on them Celtic and Rangers, as any club down south. In terms of television money, we know what the biggest issue is, they get a couple of million.”
Ladyman then shared his view: “There’s another argument about whether Celtic and Rangers should, not that it would be that easy, but say it was that easy, Celtic and Rangers just come and play in the English setup.
“Just say for the sake of argument that did happen, I think everybody would recognise that they would bring something absolutely remarkable and almost unique to the English pyramid.
“But what would worry me if that happened would be what they would leave behind and what would happen to Scottish football without them. No TV company would pay to film it and the whole thing could wither and die.”
Sutton, clearly fed up with the claims, simply hit back with: “That is, once again, elitist and disrespectful.”
Sutton is right, it’s not about the money
While the Scottish Premiership may not be a match for the Premier League in terms of the money it brings in, the viewers, players, or even quality, it holds the basics of what football is really about, which Sutton describes perfectly.
It’s about bums on seats, people attending and supporting their local clubs, passion and desire to see your side win regardless of whether they’re spending millions of pounds on fancy flash new players every time a new transfer window rolls around.
This season alone we’ve seen Hibernian and Aberdeen earn positive results in European competition despite their limited financial power, with the latter in particular earning hard-fought points in the Conference League.
The suggestion that without Rangers or Celtic Scottish football would die is quite simply ridiculous and completely misses the spirit of what football as a game and a spectacle for the fans is all about.
It’s becoming clear that more and more people have lost the essence of the game in favour of the bright lights and money on display in England.
In other Rangers news, one Ibrox star has earned a new tag after a dramatic Clement turnaround.