SFL season preview

If the financial crunch has winded the SPL clubs over the past few years, that is nothing compared to its impact across the Scottish Football League. Frankly, there is no money in lower division football in Scotland, and the lack of a league sponsor (Bell's walked at the end of last season) makes a tough situation worse. At least Setanta has stepped in with a TV package after STV ended their coverage.

Livingston's first act after being relegated to Division 1 last season was to demand that the league be restructured, and a proposal was published soon after. There has been some variation on the idea of a SPL2 for years, but as yet nothing has come of it. Frankly, the critical state of the game is unlikely to be turned around by introducing a new play-off arrangement for promotion into the SPL. What Scottish football needs is for a long-term strategy - and investment - to turn bland aims such as "putting clubs at the heart of the community" into reality, and that surely is the responsibility of the Scottish Executive.

Scotland has a very poor public health record, football is a healthy activity, and schools don't have the sports facilities they should. One proposal often mooted is that all lower division clubs should instal artificial playing surfaces. It sounds horrible, but if it meant the grounds got used on a daily basis, giving schools and other youth teams somewhere to play, rental fees to the clubs, and got the local community involved again, maybe it's not such a bad idea. Football is a game played on grass, and should continue to be as far as possible (eh, Dunfermline?), but the Scottish climate is not ideally suited to maintaining perfect turf all year round.

Meanwhile, the SFL season kicks off on Saturday, and most pundits are expecting the Gretna fairytale to continue. By that, I think they mean that they'll be in the SPL this time next year, rather than UEFA Cup champions. Anyhow, full preview at the trusty ol' beeb: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_div_1/default.stm