It really would be difficult for Scottish football to plunge even further but the weeping and wailing over Fixturegate has certainly sent the ‘credibility’ of the game further in the wrong direction
How on earth have Partick Thistle and Motherwell survived over the last four season?
Do both clubs know which teams will be in the top and bottom half of the Premiership after the 16/17 split?
Kilmarnock were rightly slaughtered for abstaining in the 2012 vote to transfer Rangers (IL) share in the SPL to the new club formed by Charles Green however there was a level of honesty to their decision, an admittance that a club from Ibrox is vital to their wellbeing.
There was little boardroom support for that deal but after a period of silence supporter groups mobilised to inform clubs that a red carpet welcome for Sevco would be suicidal. Thistle and Motherwell fell in line without any sign of conviction, they almost apologised for a fresh start without financial doping sulking in the corner.
Season after season both clubs were denied prize money by a club that played to their own set of rules with placeman Campbell Ogilvie ensuring that no-one asked awkward questions.
In the 2003 Scottish Cup semi-final Thistle lost out to Alex McLeish’s EBT All Stars, could they have won a cup final against Dundee?
Motherwell lost the 2005 League Cup Final by the same means, as the Fir Park club recovered from their recent administration they were up against a club robbing Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and failing to declare full payments to players to the SFA and SPL.
With the details of the doping years readily available on line not a word has been heard from Firhill or Fir Park.
Last week however all hell broke lose as the SPFL announced their fixtures for the new season.
Locked in a 2012 time-warp it seems that it’s just not fair that the club from Ibrox is being treated as the winners of The Championship.
After four years of fair competition Thistle and Motherwell seem to be traumatised into living for the mystical blue pound.
The Rangers that died in 2012 is very very different to the current incarnation that has run up £30m of friendly debt to arrive in the top division with barely a player that other clubs would envy.
Add on the crushing weight of expectation and it’s easy to see why Mark Warburton is keeping a sensible distance from the PR machine that is hoovering up any equally desperate 30-something from England.
The fixture fury is no 48 hour wonder, today it is continuing with Thistle in the front seat calling for a new set of fixtures.
Managing Director Ian Maxwell said: “We spoke to the SPFL briefly on Friday and sent a letter on Saturday morning outlining our position and asking for a quick response from them.
“We need to get together and see how we are going to work it out because it is not something which we feel we can just let lie. It’s far too serious for that and the other clubs involved feel the same.
“I’m hoping to achieve a new fixture list. However, I don’t know how realistic that is at this stage. There’s the financial and sporting implication of us travelling to the two biggest clubs twice more than others.”
Rather than whinge and girn about the fixtures perhaps Maxwell could show a little confidence in his manager and players.
Why shouldn’t Thistle, unburdened by a debt mountain and crippling expectations, reach the top six next season?
That would almost certainly earn them a second visit from Celtic, perhaps a league clincher like the one they enjoyed in 2013.
If that is too much to ask for perhaps they could get a second visit from Sevco as four years of madness come home to roost with a manager working to a break-even budget and discovering how the others live?
With each passing comment and statement Thistle are losing credibility with supporters and others sympathetic and supportive of how the club has been revived over the last half dozen years.
If their purpose in life is to host a club from the southside of the river and humbly take their place in the bottom half of the Premier League it’ll take more than slick work from Kingsley to convince that it’s still a sport that is being played at Firhill.