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Embracing SPFL excitement

Tom Rogic playing for the Citizens (Image: AAP)
Roar Pro
6th February, 2017
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Aberdeen moved into second place on the SPFL Premiership table with a 2-0 win over Partick Thistle on Saturday at Pittordrie Stadium as the race for European spots heats up.

A fifth victory from their last six games has the Dons in blistering form as we move into February in Scottish football.

But where is Premiership football? And is it still exciting?

With Celtic already clinching the Premiership title this early in the season and having one of the great Premiership runs in Scottish football history, all eyes are now starting to shift towards the battle below.

Aberdeen and Rangers are battling it out for second and third, while Hearts are nipping at the heels keeping the pressure up as they continue to push for a Europa League spot themselves.

Second to fourth might not seem like much of a difference to many, for Aberdeen, Rangers and Hearts finishing as high as possible is always the goal for each club. Not to mention the nearly £300k difference between second and third places comes seasons end, with second to fourth an even bigger pay gap.

The lower you finish within the Premiership, the lower the prize money for each club.

Further down mid-table places are still alive and the relegation battle still not assured as Hamilton Accies (21pts) who currently sit 11th one win from sixth place (Motherwell 24pts), while Inverness Caley Thistle (18pts) who are at the foot of the Premiership are five points from moving out of the drop zone with Dundee in 10th spot on 23 points.

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If the season were to finish now Inverness would collect close to £1 million and be relegated to the Championship, the money would allow for a better chance at instant promotion the next season, however avoiding the drop is more important than cash in the coffers.

Many will criticise Scottish football and the Premiership as a boring league with two teams generally – Celtic and Rangers – only having a chance of winning the title, with the last non Old Firm top division winner coming from the 1984-85 Aberdeen side.

I find the positions in the Premiership below first place just as intriguing and exciting as the fight for the Premiership crown. Not only for the European places that are on offer, but the change that Scottish football takes each season.

Who finishes in the top half? Who gets relegated? Who fights for Premiership survival in the Playoff games?

If you asked football fans five years ago if we would see Hibernian and Dundee United relegated to the Championship you would have been laughed at, with Hearts also having a stint in the Championship over the past three years.

It’s here where the Scottish game continues to surprise, with the more fancied teams for relegation in Ross County, Hamilton Accies and Partick Thistle holding onto their top flight football status, while bigger and wealthier clubs are unable to avoid being relegated.

It’s the old saying of ‘Money can’t buy success’, which in large parts is true. You need more than money, its culture, environment and it all coming together to form on-field success.

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With sixth to 12th place still not settled with 19 games remaining, the eye on the prize for clubs in that block of teams isn’t the jostle for money, it’s the prize of another season in the Scottish Premiership.

Hamilton have been here before, history has shown they are up for the fight, Kilmarnock too. Inverness haven’t felt the relegation heat for eight years, losing that battle and dropping to the then First Division.

We have seen last day drama across major leagues around Europe with Scottish football often getting overlooked, the finish to the 2016-17 season looks to be another exciting drama-filled run home with so much on the line.

January transfers have come in thick and fast as clubs bolster their squads for the back half of the season, and come May, all will be revealed as the drama in the SPFL Premiership will be at its ultimate peak.

I might be a Scottish fitba tragic, but I love embracing the excitement that is the SPFL.

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