Fear is the key – and it has gone.
No longer do Hearts and Hibs tremble with fear when facing Celtic or Rangers.
The Old Firm have weakened and both Hibs and Hearts have quite clearly improved.
Now there is some fear in Glasgow.
At Parkhead, a decent man and manager has been given no chance by a club board that have sold big and bought small once too often. They arrogantly thought 10-in-a-row was automatic. Now they fear mid table obscurity, as Celtic fold like a wonky deckchair on their travels.
At Ibrox, the results have been largely ok, but the performances have been lacklustre.
Let’s be clear. Two wins against Rangers for the Edinburgh clubs by 16 October COULD damage the Ibrox clubs league challenge irreparably.
However, winning at Ibrox or Parkhead is NOT a prerequisite for winning the Premiership title.
What IS required is consistency against all the other clubs, winning week in, week out.
I believe Hearts are now strong enough to put clubs outside the Old Firm to the sword almost ever time they play them.
Hibs may be in the same position.
If both Edinburgh clubs can find the required consistency, whatever happens at Ibrox over the next two weeks, Hearts and Hibs can finish 1st and 2nd in the Premiership.
As a Hearts supporter, I hope Hearts can be the winners – but whichever one of Edinburghs finest wins the league, it would be biggest boost to Scottish football for four decades. I would cheer a Hibs victory almost as madly as a win for my own club!
Meantime, the five club funded investigation being carried out by a major firm of business consultants must be seen through in parallel with the major strides by the Edinburgh clubs on the pitch.
Let no one be fooled into thinking that disrupting the Old Firm this season will make a permanently more competitive Scottish Premiership inevitable. Major changes off the pitch are needed if Scottish football is to be restored to a healthy position.
Two clubs winning the league for 36 consecutive seasons is something that has never happened anywhere else in Europe and is quite definitely NOT healthy.
2021/22 can be momentous for Scottish football, both on and off the pitch.
Time for Change.
BELIEVE
— Read on www.scotsman.com/sport/sport-opinion/aidan-smith-as-hearts-and-hibs-will-discover-splitting-the-atom-is-easier-than-splitting-the-old-firm-3405506
Scottish Football Matters 