St. Johnstone won by 2 goals to 1. Wright’s header was cancelled out by a ‘nothing’ goal, then Samuel had space to control the ball and shoot from close range to take all three points. Luckily, the Buddies scored to level against the Bairns otherwise we would be two points adrift. St Mirren are safe all but arithmetically, so it’s definitely us or Falkirk. Steven Pressley’s promise that they’re not going down might come true. We now need that level of determination.

We’ve been sliding slowly down towards the trapdoor with an air of inevitability. We hoped Calderwood and his team would be able to bring a new spirit to the club, but it seems that’s a bust.

I thought Killie played better today overall, better even than we did against St Mirren. But still not good enough. The “wow” of the crowd when Hooky brought down a high ball demonstrated what little we’ve come to expect of these professional footballers.

Oh, for a player with speed and skill, or drive and dig and positivity. A leader, a battler, an organiser.

But it’s not done yet. The players need to dig really deep, each one needs to take personal responsibility. Play the ball, guys, play the ball, play the ball.

The McLeish report, available here, can be summed up uncharitably as a mere moan about developing youth. In that aspect it is fair enough, although the conclusions about academies have already drawn scorn from Celtic stand-in sumph, Neil Lennon. I don’t want to just moan myself, but on a brief perusal there is a glaring ommission that needs to be urgently addressed. It is that reform must happen from the top of the leagues, not just the bottom – and I don’t mean the 3 governing bodies working closer together.

The report advocates a bottom-up approach to the development of the game, but ignores the potential for a corresponding shake up at the top of the league structures and how football is promoted which can only stimulate aspirations among youth throughout the land.  Doesn’t McLeish see the parlous state of the SPL, in particular the potential loss of the oldest professional club in the land? Or doesn’t he care when he talks about the OF being an asset and how we can all learn from them?

It’s worth quoting a paragraph from the report:

The role of Celtic and Rangers in this debate…an appreciation of what they do and what
they contribute…they will remain key providers in this area of youth development and
talent recognition and in this regard there is probably a great deal that the wider game
could contribute to both the clubs as well as enhancing the prospects of the other clubs in
the SPL. The future of both clubs will be in Scotland. In the medium term there will be
opportunities for the game to learn from both Celtic and Rangers and hopefully an
opportunity for the SPL, SFL and the Scottish FA to be working more closely together in
agreed areas of the game, in particular youth and talent development, with more shared
responsibilities. Celtic and Rangers should be seen as a considerable asset within the
Scottish game. The behind the scenes tensions and conflicts- the big two against the ten,
the twelve against the thirty and the forty two against the National game- need to give way
to a tacit acceptance that the game has many challenges and any further fragmentation in
either our thinking, our approach or our actions will only worsen confidence and lead to a
sharper level of deterioration. A unity of purpose is an important first step. There is a fan
base out there, hungry for National and club success at the highest levels. There are
many other Scots who just want to see success as part of their dream for their country and
to share the excitement the passion and the emotion of another Italy or Holland at home or
qualifying for the World Cup finals or the European Championships. All of them are
looking to every section of the Game for inspiration, ideas and a new ways forward. There
is a tendency to forget that the fans are the ultimate shareholders of our National game!

The report perhaps politically misses the point. The fans, the “ultimate shareholders,” apart from OF fans, can see how the problem in the game is not one of people outside the Old Firm VIEWING it as being “the big two against the ten” etc. One major problem is that it IS the case that the big two suck up talent and money and fans and media interest and potency from all areas of Scotland, leaving the other clubs with small ambitions and openly spoken of as mere feeder clubs.

What retreating satisfaction we followers of smaller clubs have comes as schaedenfreude when the big two get denied access to the EPL, or report financial hardships, or bleat about refereeing decisions, or have their best players tempted away to clubs with which they cannot compete. Well, welcome to our world, guys!

McLeish’s report should have tackled the problems of the imbalances in the league structures. To generate and maintain interest in the game in the modern era clearly requires a levelling between the big two and the other clubs. Watching your team get pummelled four times a season by Celtic or Rangers provides no inspiration for a young fan or potential player. There has to be excitement brought to the Scottish game. There has to be concentration from top-down as well as bottom-up otherwise the aspirations of the developing talent will continue to be to simply use their local clubs as a springboard to the OF and from there onto the English leagues. Although there is an often-spouted argument that there have always been four big teams in the EPL, the league restructure in England brought an exciting anything-goes, gallus attitude that pervaded right throughout all the clubs in the EPL itself and even the lower leagues. There is a can-do attitude  and although the imbalances are there and it’s far from perfect, way back at the start of the Premiership and pyramid systems there was a refreshing interest in football generated.

One important aspect that contributes to this excitement is the TV coverage, as part of a wider promotional strategy. The tv coverage of football in Scotland is not just bad, it is embarrassing and actually actively discourages interest in the game with it’s cheapness, monotonous drone, OF concentration and lack of, well, interest! If done well, however, this would provide a significant element of the top-down inspiration that fans and aspiring players need, but also to widen the catchment of football interest in a modern society where cheaper and more fun alternatives are to be had.

The existing fans are gradually drifting away, but the core is there. The fans of the future are not there because there is better use of their money and time. Football in my experience is not a fun pastime, it is expensive, awkward and too-often ultimately frustrating. Any report into the problems of the Scottish game should be addressing these issues, too.

Two ways to make football better from the top-down:

• Level the playing field – deal honestly with the OF hegemony that stifles effective competition and local interest across the country; e.g. introduce independently determined spending caps, or inter-club transfer limits
• Free-up tv rights and encourage development of new media, not the old pals act. Encourage innovation and widespread coverage. Let fans in on the act with their own social media!

In the next phase of the review I hope McLeish will tackle these issues with an honest, open acknowledgement of the fans’ views. It’s all very well to talk about youth development, but as McLeish himself all-too-briefly says, “there is a tendency to forget that the fans are the ultimate shareholders of our National game”!