SPANISH FOOTBALL & THE "SCOTTISH MODEL"

When one thinks about Scottish Football, one thinks Celtic Glasgow or Rangers. These two Clubs dominate & always win (with the odd exception) the Scottish Premier League. Its the typical "two horse" race that limits the chances & opportunities of the other Clubs present & active like Aberdeen, Dundee Utd, Hibernian, Motherwell ... etc..

Some Spanish Football observers & Club Presidents have predicted that the Spanish Football League is headed towards the "Scottish Model", with FC Barcelona & Real Madrid always winning & always taking all the titles ( & the money) . Yesterdays 5 - 0 victory by Barça over Villareal gave the pretext for Villareal President Roig to voice his concern publicly about the imminent "death" of Spanish Football in the coming seasons, if things do not change. Sevilla FC President Del Nido has been very active in this area & also predicts the "Scottish Model".

Will the below image be the future Real Madrid or FC Barcelona uniform? 


Traditional Scottish Outfit


There maybe part truth & part over exaggeration. The truth is that Spanish Football is undergoing a severe financial crisis that is limiting many top Clubs in being competitive, but this is due mostly to bad business management than to the "Braveheart" effect. What is the true issue is the money cake that Spanish Football generates ( mostly due to the "Big Two" by the way) & their desire to shift the balance of power away from the two dominating powers: Real Madrid & FC Barcelona.


The current model is simple. The "big two" have the biggest numbers in fans, thus the biggest TV audiences - here & globally. Said this they get the biggest slice of the Media rights (TV) & money which allows them to invest in the "Best Players in The World". This last point makes them super competitive over the rest of the Liga Clubs & naturally difficult to beat, which added with continued European Football presence, more richer & more powerful. 


The "smaller Clubs" like Sevilla, Villareal, At Madrid, Valencia CF etc. are claiming that the "cake" be cut into more equitable pieces, or said differently, they all wish a better & bigger slice of the Spanish Football money cake. They claim they can therefore invest in better World class players to compete better with the "big Two" & thus add extra attraction & excitement to Spanish Football.


Its an age old situation that is not new in Spanish Football. Although there could be some truth in the "smaller Clubs" claims, what needs to be done I think is to better manage their Clubs financially (administrative & marketing wise)  & begin nurturing (investing) & building the local young player base. The future of Spanish Football - as in all countries - is in its local young talent , which is far more economical & could be a good exporting model to generate those wished extra cash flows. The example is Barcelona with its "Masia" ( young talent school), that is,  churning out players which are allowing to generate money by exporting if they dont make the A team: Bojan, Jeffren, Nolito, Romeu etc etc.  


Said all this, as with most things, the difference between the economical & the political (power) is a question of perspectives. My brief summary here is just that, very brief & more arguments exists which makes it all more complex. But I do think that in its essences its all out power & money,  & some claiming,  where is my piece of the action.

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