AS INTRIGUE bubbles away at both ends of the Scottish Premier League on this final weekend of the league season, the temptation might be to mistake a thrilling conclusion for proof of the vibrant state of the game in Scotland at present.
In actual fact, it obscures what should be obvious to anyone who has watched football in this country on a regular basis this season. Indeed, the failing brand that is Scottish football has been put on display elsewhere, courtesy of performances by S
cottish teams abroad. The national side wilted in the heat of Macedonia in September, by which time Rangers had already taken their leave of the Champions league at the penultimate qualifying stage against the hardly stellar FBK Kaunas. Motherwell lost comprehensively to the rather more stylish Nancy, while First Division Queen of the South were the victims of a very average Danish side Nordsjaelland. Indeed, those who have watched lower division football in Scotland this season will confirm bleakly that such poor fare is flushed right through the tiers.
The game is rotting from the head down. When a team boasting a seven-point lead just a few weeks ago, and who at one point strung together 12 successive wins, ends up hoping for another result to go their way on the final day, it is clear we are dealing with a lack of quality. Celtic could showcase how to throw away a league title, handing it to a Rangers team that is as average as the one gifted the championship in 2005.
According to Celtic player Georgios Samaras, Rangers' style of football is unworthy of champions. Ignoring the Greek player's generous helping of hair, the argument about which Old Firm side plays the more attractive football calls to mind the classic rammy involving two bald men and a comb.
Such a spectacle might actually be more entertaining than some of the matches viewed this season. Celtic themselves have featured in a few of them, something which Samaras should know as well as anyone from his normal position on the substitutes' bench. It's not only the diminishing standard of play apparent in the Old Firm which alarms. All teams save for Hearts can be said to have gone backwards, and even Csaba Laszlo's side, for all their sometimes admirable battling qualities, have been no-one's idea of an entertaining outfit. Dundee United have run the OId Firm close on each occasion they have played them, but again this perhaps says more about Rangers and Celtic than the Tannadice side whose league form dipped after Christmas.
Hibernian at least seemed to want to entertain. Mixu Paatelainen's formations at the beginning of the campaign were often top-heavy with forwards. A run of poor results saw him return to the drawing board. In general, the less imaginative Hibs have been, the better their results.
In the bottom half of the table the unseemly scuffle to avoid relegation becomes the likes of Falkirk, St Mirren and Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Hamilton survived, having also ditched their expansive play of the opening weeks. Falkirk's reputation for passing football un-stitched horribly. Anyone who viewed their performance in last week's defeat against St Mirren can lay claim to have witnessed the nadir: the worst display posted by any team in a season crammed full of rivals for this crown.
In short, it's often felt like an endurance test. Having reached the penultimate weekend of the season, even next weekend's Homecoming Scottish Cup final between Falkirk and Rangers can't help but look a bit low-rent. Falkirk could be relegated today and thus will be the latest First Division to compete in this supposedly showpiece occasion. The loss of status won't help convince anyone that they can provide a stiffer resistance than managed in the Co-Operative Insurance Cup final in January, when going down 3-0 at the same venue and against the same opponents. We were not handed much cause for optimism from the start. Indeed, before the start. Rangers' inability to score against Kaunas in the first leg of their Champions League qualifying tie with the Lithuanians always left them vulnerable. The loss of a late winning goal to Kaunas signalled a long hard season ahead for Walter Smith. Nothing that has occurred since has disproved this notion, although the manager has got away with pitching a midfielder with only limited experience of professional football into the fray over these last few, vital weeks. His original preference had been to introduce former Toronto FC player Maurice Edu more gradually.
But perhaps the most devastating critique on the current state of Scottish footballer has been delivered via the soles of Davie Weir's sleek white boots. The 39-year-old has strolled serenely through yet another season.
