Walter Smith On League Reconstruction

[ian1964 10,448]

RANGERS legend Walter Smith has paid tribute to Neil Lennon â?? and says Celtic have SAVED Scottish football this season!

The ex-Ibrox boss says EVERYONE has suffered from Gers being out of the SPL â?? but claims thatâ??s the top flightâ??s own fault for booting his old club down the divisions.

 

Smith, now on the Light Bluesâ?? board, reckons Celticâ??s Champions League campaign has rescued the Scottish game from mediocrity and a one-team monopoly.

 

He said: â??Thereâ??s no doubt the SPL is worse off without Rangers.

 

â??Celtic have had a hell of a burden placed on them.

 

â??Itâ??s not easy for the manager to motivate his players when they know theyâ??re the best team in the league â?? and they are, by a mile.

 

â??In many ways, Celtic have saved Scottish football this season by having a decent run in Europe.

 

â??Theyâ??ve kept up their level but they need the competition, because even their crowds are down.

 

â??We are all missing the main thing â?? itâ??s finance thatâ??s necessary and Rangers need to play in the Premier Division to maximise the amount of finance thatâ??s coming into Scottish football.â?

 

That, Smith insists, is the key to it all.

 

More money in the game will allow clubs to bring in better-quality players.

 

And he says beside that, talk of leagues being reconstructed or more clubs joining is just window-dressing.

 

He said: â??Weâ??ve put this emphasis on shuffling teams about â?? but theyâ??re still the same teams.

 

â??The Premier League has suffered, Celticâ??s performances domestically have suffered and itâ??s going to be increasingly difficult for them to gain the motivation thatâ??s necessary to win leagues.

 

â??Scottish footballâ??s suffered, but the clubs did so knowingly. Itâ??s their own fault.

 

â??Weâ??ve restructured leagues before but we always come back to the same problem.

 

â??I donâ??t think itâ??s the reconstruction of the league, itâ??s the generation of finance.

 

â??The gameâ??s become financially-based and youâ??ve got to be able to generate money.

 

â??We have to be sure if we change the leagues itâ??s going to generate more money to raise their standards.

 

â??We find ourselves saying: â??Letâ??s change the leagues, the supporters will like that, itâ??ll be a changeâ??. Then five years later weâ??re back at the same situation again.

 

â??If theyâ??re telling us that itâ??s better financially and will bring in more finance for the clubs, then fine.

 

â??Otherwise, youâ??re only shuffling for the sake of shuffling.

 

â??If thereâ??s going to be a gradual decline, there will still be a gradual decline whether weâ??ve got 12, 14, 16 or 18 teams. That doesnâ??t matter.

 

â??Itâ??s how we halt it. Iâ??m not bright enough to know what will bring in the extra finance thatâ??s necessary.

 

â??Itâ??s an improvement in standards thatâ??s required.â?

 

Smith also rubbished the proposed changes which SPL clubs will discuss tomorrow.

 

He said: â??I donâ??t know how anyone can tell me going to two leagues of 12 then into three leagues of eight would attract anybody.

 

â??A team thatâ??s fourth-bottom of the Premier Division could be 12 points ahead of the team thatâ??s bottom.

 

â??Then all of a sudden theyâ??re back to zero, the team thatâ??s bottom could buy a few players in the winter transfer window, end up back in the league and the team who were 12 points ahead could maybe be relegated.

 

â??People keep saying we need play-offs. We donâ??t need play-offs, we need an increased standard of play â?? and that can only be brought about by a better level of player.

 

â??There was a lot of criticism of the ten-team league but it was probably the most successful era of Scottish football.

 

â??Was that because we had ten teams or because we had good teams?

 

â??Aberdeen and Hearts were breaking the Old Firm dominance. Was that because of the league or because weâ??d good players playing in good teams? I think thatâ??s what it was.â?

 

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/spl/4886650/Saved-by-Celtic.html