(Photo by AMA/Corbis via Getty Images)
Nobody has ever claimed Scottish football to have the best leagues in the world or the most entertaining games – but when it comes to sheer competitiveness, there’s nothing comes close to Scotland’s Championship.
Before this weekend’s fixtures (including last night’s clash between Inverness and Kilmarnock) the second tier of the SPFL had found itself bunched into two very, very close groups of five with the top five split by just two points and the bottom five split by a single point.
While there a substantial gap from the top five to the bottom five, having so many teams still very much involved in the race to finish as champions – or avoid relegation by ending the season in tenth – there’s an incredible amount at stake in every single game.
Having the likes of Arbroath pushing for a place in the Premiership with Raith, Inverness, Kilmarnock and Partick Thistle has given the romantics something to root for as the part-timers continue to punch well above their weight.
At the bottom end, Hamilton sit starting at a potential second relegation in succession while the likes of Ayr and Dunfermline also hover around the danger zone despite starting the season with ambitions of challenging for promotion themselves.
And it isn’t just the competitiveness of the Championship that makes it so much fun just now.
Having characters like Dick Campbell, Yogi Hughes and Ian McCall on the sidelines means there’s usually some sort of sub-plot going on that is every bit as entertaining as the football on the pitch.
With it being Scottish football, there’s never a comical moment or two far away and the Championship has delivered a few of those this season already – such as former Dunfermline boss Peter Grant binning a player for allegedly swanning off on holiday after claiming he was ill
After 15 rounds of fixtures, there’s little doubt that the Championship is providing some of the best entertainment in Scottish football so far this season and, with another 21 rounds to go, hopefully, it stays that way until the end of April.
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