Will Clark - Is Scottish football really as bad as Derek Adams thinks?
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I’ve never been to Morecambe, the only thing I know about the town is there is a statue of legendary comedian Eric Morecambe.
It might be ‘Wise’ for me to go for a visit and take in a match at the town’s football’s club.
According to Ross County manager Derek Adams, Morecambe FC are 100 times better than what is on offer in Scotland.
For a team that are in eighth place in English League Two, where with that logic would most Scottish Premier League clubs be in the English set-up?
Would Ross County struggle to get out of the ninth tier Northern Football League and overcome the likes of Bishop Auckland, Newcastle Benfield and Tow Law Town?
Adams’ comments on Saturday about the standard of Scottish football sent shockwaves around the country and sparked a huge debate.
A number of pundits, including former Inverness Caledonian Thistle interim manager Neil McCann, argued Adams’ outburst about the quality of the game in Scotland, may have been down to the emotion of losing to Dundee with the last kick of the game.
However, in the short time of knowing Adams, having not previously encountered him as Ross County manager, he is not a man who sits on the fence.
Give him credit, he will always give you an honest evaluation of how he sees a situation.
Whether people agree with it or not, he is a manager who stands by what he says.
While there were those who disagreed with Adams’ view on the state of the Scottish game, it also has to be acknowledged that there was a number of people who backed what he said.
A number of Ross County fans took to social media and supported Adams’ comments about the state of the Scottish game.
Personally, I don’t.
However, I have never watched an English League Two match in my life and i’m not qualified to comment on its level of quality.
But are Morecambe really 100 times better than the standard of clubs up here? I love Scottish football and while a number of clubs in English League Two are probably bigger than the likes of Ross County and Livingston, to suggest they are 100 times better may be an exaggeration.
This weekend wasn’t the best argument against Adams’ claims though.
Taking Hearts’ excellent 2-0 win at Celtic out of the equation, there were only two goals in the four other Premiership matches on Saturday.
Goalless draws between Livingston and Kilmarnock as well as St Mirren and Motherwell would have hardly had fans on the edge of their seats. With St Johnstone beating Hibs and Dundee beat Ross County in 1-0 wins. The League Cup final between Aberdeen and Rangers was hardly a classic either.
It wasn’t the most exciting weekends. But Scottish football is not as bad as some people think.
Yes we’ve all had to sit down and endure some dross following our respective clubs.
But it is no different in any league or competition, you are going to get good matches, you are going to get bad matches, that is the joy and misery of football.
In the Premiership, you can’t expect to watch the likes of Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Real Madrid or Morecambe. But it is what I was brought up on and I love it for what it is. Even if some say it is 100 times worse than what is on offer south of the border.
