Hibs got smashed by Aston Villa last week and this week – boys vs men in a Europa Conference playoff. Eight nil across two matches.

The Hibs fans went into the tie with some confidence – which looks naïve in retrospect. Hibs were the team that finished fifth last season in the SPL. Villa finished seventh in the EPL and while, in the past, that might have been approximately equivalent, today there is a vast financial and quality gulf between the two leagues which will only get wider.

The money paid to clubs in the top leagues, especially the TV money, means the EPL clubs (for example) can purchase players and pay salaries far beyond the budgets of smaller leagues. This means that teams from the smaller leagues have almost zero chance of competing with the big boys – on the rare occasions they get to play them.

To give an example of how this works, numerous players have been purchased in the recent transfer window for around one hundred million pounds. Nearly any club in the EPL could afford this, if they wanted.

In contrast, the entire transfer budget of Hibs this window has been less than two million pounds (according to Transfermarkt). The value of the entire Hibs squad would be less than just about any single member of the Villa starting eleven.

Of course, the astronomical sums being thrown about by the Saudis massively complicates matters and who knows where that might lead. But one thing will remain certain – clubs like Hibs and all others outside the top few leagues of Europe compete only for the scraps that fall from the tables of the titans. Is it any wonder the titans sometimes call for a Euro Super League?

Which would only make the problem (and the gulf) a thousand times worse.

To some extent, the fans are to blame for this. Too many casual fans are obsessed only with success so follow clubs with which they have no personal nexus. They do not live locally. They are not part of the culture. But they buy the merch and make once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimages to their clubs of choice to get a taste of reflected glory.

In fact these pilgrimages have become so lucrative for the big clubs that they have started to price their own hard core fans out of the matches by ensuring there are enough seats for the one-off pilgrims who don’t care what it costs, eat the prawn sandwiches and leave with all the latest kit.

It is also the same fans who are, to some extent, to blame for the lack of growth in the leagues in the countries where they live. This is the other pole in football’s North South Dialogue.

If fans have no interest in their own local leagues, how can those leagues ever grow to challenge the big leagues? Or even just grow into the best possible versions of themselves?

The irony is, of course, that in a salary capped league like the A League, just about all matches are competitive spectacles but too many potential fans (the Eurosnobs) aren’t interested – would rather follow the Euro-leagues from afar.

Most smaller leagues have already accepted that they will only ever be development leagues with feeder clubs sending the occasional rough diamond off for polishing. And even then they can’t demand the fee that the player is worth. Unequal bargaining power, plus the player’s desire to move, means clubs in Asia, or Africa, or even South America get only a fraction of a prodigy’s worth, with maybe a sell-on percentage if they’re lucky.

The Mariners never got a bean (extra) for Tom Rogic as Celtic never sold him. Arsenal wanted him at his peak when he might have been worth as much as 30 million (although Celtic would never have got anything like that).

And yet, the Mariners are suddenly regarded as highly successful in terms of business model, having made (it’s rumoured) around six million dollars from player sales in the last two seasons. Six million from maybe eight players?

It does not stack up against Declan Rice to Arsenal for over a hundred mill, or Neymar to PSG for two hundred mill.

Before the Saudis muddied the fiscal waters, PSG, and Manchester City were the main offenders when it came to buying success (Chelsea have spent plenty without success), but how can their fans enjoy that?

How does a Man City fan truly get joy from beating all comers, every year?

How does an Aston Villa fan get joy from thrashing Hibs? (I’m sure they do but it’s like playing against a five year old in the park.)

I know that many fans are turned off by the obscene sums being paid to players, but the sums being paid for players can no longer be understood. Who but a billionaire can possibly comprehend two hundred million pounds? You could build a decent sized hospital for that (probably).

To sum up… I fear that the culture of the big clubs is being sold off at the expense of the fans, while the culture in the smaller leagues rarely gets to grow to critical mass in the first place.

Could this ever kill football?

Probably not. Two and a half thousand Hibs fans travelled to Villa last night despite being 5 – 0 down in the tie and sang their hearts out during a 3 – 0 defeat, which is an epic, poetic kind of defiance.

And while ever a couple of kids are kicking a ball with jumpers for goals then some of us will watch.

 

Adrian's books can be purchased at any good bookstore or through ebook alchemy. His first sci-fi novel (Asparagus Grass) was published by Hague Publishing in July 2023. The ebook can be purchased here and the paperback can be ordered here or at your local store.