We keep talking as if the “top six” in any league are meant to stroll through the rest, but it’s not really the way the game looks now. More and more, sides further down the table are organised enough to take points off clubs with bigger budgets, bigger squads, and supposedly bigger ambitions.
The gap isn’t what it used to be
You see it across the board. Even down south, teams that used to get brushed aside are a proper nuisance now, and that’s largely down to structure. They sit in, they press in spells, they’re well-drilled on transitions, and they don’t panic when the big names come to town.
That’s why the whole “top six” thing can feel a bit dated. In reality, a couple of bad results can snowball, confidence can dip, and suddenly it’s not about talent, it’s about whether the team can control matches when the game gets scrappy.
When styles change, wobble is normal
Take the English sides that are in the middle of changing how they play and who they rely on. If you’re shifting personnel and asking players to learn new patterns, inconsistency is basically the entry fee. It doesn’t mean the plan is wrong, it just means it takes time to land. The hope, as you’d expect, is that once the dust settles they end up stronger and more coherent.
It’s the same with a squad packed with young players. You can get days where it looks brilliant, then you get the inevitable dip when decision-making goes or the rhythm disappears. That’s not a shock. It’s the trade-off.
The bit nobody talks about: coaching time
There’s also a point that hits home for Rangers as much as anyone. When you’re playing twice a week, the manager isn’t getting long blocks on the training pitch to hammer home ideas. You’re managing bodies, doing recovery, squeezing in shape work, then right back into a match. That’s hard even for elite squads. It’s even harder when you’re trying to bed in a new style or tidy up recurring issues.
So when performances swing, sometimes the explanation is boring: there just hasn’t been enough time to coach it properly.
Europe’s “fairness” problem
The European side of it is where it starts to grate. The bigger leagues getting smoother routes, better safety nets, and easier access to the main stages creates an uneven playing field. Clubs from leagues like ours can do plenty right and still find the path stacked against them.
UEFA will dress it up as merit or coefficient logic, but the truth is it’s driven by money. More big-name fixtures, more broadcast value, more guaranteed cash. No surprise there.
Still, one encouraging thing closer to home is seeing the top group actually taking points off each other. It might be frustrating in the moment, but over time it forces standards up. If you can’t sleepwalk through half the league, you’ve got to improve. And Scottish football needs more of that edge.
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