SPL better without Rangers or not.

There has been much debate this week about how well the SPL is faring without Rangers this season, and for me there are mixed results.

The figures who that after the first round of fixtures average attendance haven’t changed very much from last season when Rangers were still part of the SPL.

There is no doubt this has been helped with Aderdeen and Hibs doing well at the top of the table and taking larger than normal away supports with them. The Dons taking excellent supports to both Tannadice and Dingwall in recent weeks, close to a couple of thousand on each occasion.

Hibs took over a thousand toFirParkfor a Friday night fixture that was on TV, which for me is an excellent effort.

On the other hand Celtic are struggling to average just over 40000 for their home games, with some pundits putting this down to the fact there is no challenge from Rangers to make it more exciting.

This is a bit of a surprise as you would expect the Greatest Fans in the World to take every opportunity to fill their stadium, particularly as they are only top of the table on goal difference.

There is also another worry inPerth, yesterday they had a crowd of only 3112 for their clash with Motherwell. This was a game at the end of seven game unbeaten League run that could’ve seen their team go top of the table.

With over 400 Well fans there this means there was only about 2700 home fans who made the effort to turn out. This must me a major worry to the Brown family as they try to sustain a squad to make the top six.

Hearts are also in financial trouble, but nothing to do with the absence of Rangers or not. This is down to their reckless spending over the years and Romanov not prepared to dig into his pocket any more.

Therefore it is hard to come to any conclusion yet whether the League is better without them or not, but the race for second place, and maybe even the title could still be very close. This can only be good for the SPL!