Scottish football is poised to once again capture the imagination of neutrals beyond its borders. While the national team struggles for form and has to watch on as its neighbours take part in EURO 2016, the nation’s clubs are busy preparing for the their most high profile season in years.
Anticipation is sure to reach fever pitch by the time the first matches kick off on August 6th, with a long, hot summer transfer window sure to raise the stakes. Celtic and Rangers especially seem intent on delivering bums on seat signings and appointments. Elsewhere the other sides, Aberdeen in particular, are looking at the Old Firm rivalry and hoping that the battle will leave the door ajar for a title push, while those at the lower end of the Premiership will be battling against the worrying drop.
Here are our FIVE reasons the upcoming Scottish season could be the best for years…
Big Clubs…
With Aberdeen, Celtic, Hearts and Rangers all competing in the same league, the nation’s best supported clubs will all be doing battle in the same league.
Rangers have spent the past four years working their up the divisions and are defiant in their assertion that they can compete for honours in the coming campaign.
Aberdeen and Hearts are in the best shape they’ve been for two decades and if not competing for the league will certainly be among the favourites for the cup competitions. Both are beginning to sell out their stadiums again and tens of thousands of their fans are eagerly waiting to see what can be accomplished.
Celtic are showing ambition beyond their domestic duties with the appointment of Brendan Rodgers, dreaming of big European nights and confident of winning a sixth title in a row.
…Big Names
Joey Barton made the switch to Scotland after leading Burnley back to the English Premier League as their player of the year. Giving up the opportunity to play in one of the world’s biggest leagues to challenge himself at Rangers shows how much pull Scottish football can have.
More are expected to follow this summer both for the Gers and for the Bhoys, ready to do battle in one of the world’s most famous rivalries.
There have been some outlandish rumours North of the border (Zlatan?!?!) showing that fans, if nothing else, have an excitement about potential signings not seen in almost a decade.
It’s not a real derby unless it’s in Glasgow.
The last two seasons in Scotland have seen a Glasgow derby on neutral territory at Hampden and while they were both as intense and engrossing as ever, nothing quite compares to the regular visits to Celtic Park and Ibrox.
A return to having the derby at least four times a season will write its own story within the context of the season. Fans are already anticipating the fixture list announcement to see where the first one will be played.
Fresh from defeat to Rangers just a couple of months ago, Celtic will be especially keen to re-assert derby dominance. There’s absolutely no doubting that all four league fixtures between the two clubs will be likely be the biggest games in Europe on the weekends they are played. Everyone will be watching with baited breath…
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The Rodgers effect
Brendan Rodgers has Celtic fans queuing outside the ticket office to buy season tickets in a way that hasn’t been seen at the club since the Martin O’Neill era. Everywhere you go he’s the name on people’s lips.
A confident, swaggering Celtic can be a wonderful thing not just for their supporters but neutrals too. Scrutiny will be fierce, especially in the media both north and south of the border. After leaving Liverpool there are many wondering what Rodgers’ next steps will look like.
There’s also the trophy question. Despite being a respected name in the game, he still hasn’t won silverware as a manager. Will this be the season he finally does it?
His appointment brings an X factor to the coming Scottish football season.
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The new League Cup
Scotland’s new league cup format brings competitive summer football to the country and an innovation to how domestic cup tournaments are organised.
Partnering with Betfred and BT Sport, the competition will be shown live from July onwards in a new round robin group stage system based on the old Europa League. Not only that but bonus points will be awarded in the result of a draw, decided by penalty shootouts, ensuring something is always at stake.
The groups are also regionalised meaning there will hopefully be more local interest and therefore bigger crowds.
The knockout stages begin once the groups are done and the whole tournament will be wrapped up by November, a much better timetable than the previous disjointed one with months between rounds.
It’s the cherry on top of what already promises to be an exciting season.
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