Scottish Football On The Slide

Imagine, if you will, Manchester United and Chelsea playing week in, week out in The English League 1. No matter if they won the league or finished second they didn’t get promoted. What affect would this have on the clubs?

How could you expect the grounds to be full for every home game? Do you think the top players of world football would be attracted to the clubs, if this was the scenario? Finally, how would the other teams in the league feel towards Man U and Chelsea, if they released a press statement every couple of months complaining of their predicament and their longing to be accepted into the Championship or Premiership and escape their purgatory?

Now, look at Rangers and Celtic and you can understand why these two Scottish giants are in football freefall!

It’s not just hurting the Old Firm, it’s hurting Scottish football in general. Expectancy levels in Scottish football are hurtling towards an all time low. Most football betting punters have seen this coming for a good few years. The Old Firm have a domestic stranglehold on the game which is slowly choking it to a slow and painful death.

Rangers were humiliated at Ibrox on Tuesday night, beaten 4-1 at home by an unknown Romanian side, Unirea Urziceni. This follows on from a similar, 4-1 battering home defeat from a classy Sevilla. It hurts to say this but Rangers are now seen as Champions League fodder.

The other provincial clubs in Scotland have fared no better in Europe this season.

Hearts were beaten 4-2 on aggregrate from Dinamo Zagreb in the UEFA Europa League play-off round.

Aberdeen were gubbed 8-1 on aggregrate by Sigma Olomouc in the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round.

Falkirk were beaten 2-1 on aggregrate by Vaduz in the UEFA Europa League second qualifying round.

Motherwell were trounced 6-1 on aggregrate by Steaua Bucuresti in the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round.

If you look at the national team, the results are hardly worth writing home about. Scotland have lost 3 of their last 4 games. They have scored only twice and conceded 7 times. Their out of the World Cup 2010 and most likely will be demoted to pot three seeds for the 2012 European Championships Qualifying groups.

Tonight, sees Celtic in action in their latest UEFA Europa League Group Stage. Already beaten away 2-1 by Hapoel Tel Aviv and drawn their home game 1-1 against Rapid Vienna. The Hoops need a victory to give Scottish football a much needed shot in the arm. German side, Hamburg, of course won’t make it easy for them. A defeat for Celtic will all but end their qualification hopes and another nail will be firmly hammered into Scottish football’s coffin.

Celtic vs Hamburg Betting Odds

Hamburg	6/4	5/4	7/5	13/8	6/4	7/5	11/8	13/10	7/5	13/10
Celtic	15/8	15/8	19/10	79/40	17/10	15/8	2	9/5	9/5	15/8
Draw	11/5	12/5	23/10	27/11	12/5	23/10	9/4	11/5	9/4	23/10