Football loves itself a good old underdog story. However, as the 2023/24 season gets underway, there is little to suggest that a team other than the Old Firm rivals can clinch the Scottish Premiership title. This is the 38th season since a team other than the two Glasgow giants won the Scottish League trophy. Then, Sir Alex Ferguson led his Aberdeen side to back-to-back league victories. Aberdeen's titles came on the back of Dundee United's triumphant 1983 season under the stewardship of Jim McLean.
Since then, the top football division in Scotland has been rebranded twice. In 1998, it was changed from the Scottish Football League Premier Division to the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Premiership in 2013.
Still, Celtic and Rangers maintain a stranglehold of top honours. Here's why we are unlikely to see a surprise top finish from any of the other ten teams in the division, and Rangers remain the best team in the division to end Celtic's dominance:
Fierce Old Firm Rivalry
The Celtic vs. Rangers game, also known as the Old Firm Derby, is the biggest showpiece of Scottish football. It is a fiery and heated affair on the pitch and a matter of joy and pride among the fans as they push their side to outwit their bitter rivals.
This rivalry incentivizes the two teams to go at each other in the title race. The fact they are both based in the largest football-dominated conurbation in Scotland - Glasgow and its greater area - allows these teams to draw on a larger local support base than the other clubs in the league can muster.
Since the league was renamed to the Scottish Premiership in 2013, Rangers are the only side have won a title as Steven Gerrard led The Gers to a memorable title in the 2020/21 season. That was Rangers' first Scottish title in 10 years, during which Celtic had won all the nine available titles, including in the three years Rangers spent in the lower leagues between 2012/13 and 2015/16.
Financial Muscle
Rangers are the only side in the league that can realistically match Celtic's spending power. According to Statista, the average annual player salary in the Premiership in 2019/20 saw Celtic top the spending charts, closely followed by Rangers. Celtic spent £828,000, second-placed Rangers spent £600,000, third-placed Aberdeen spent £130,000, while last-placed Hamilton spent £38,000.
It was not surprising that Celtic won the league in that season. In football, the team that spends the most on wages is most likely to win the division. Still, there are cases like Leicester City's remarkable 2015/16 title win that defies the odds as teams on small budgets punch above their weight and topple top clubs.
Such is the gap in the financial power of the Premiership clubs that Celtic and Rangers account for about 70% of the league's total revenue, and 69% of its wages, and their squads make up 96% of the Premiership's combined squad cost. In the 2021/22 season, the Old Firm clubs made up about 895% of the division's transfer fees.
Michael Beale's Decent Start
Rangers' manager Michael Beale has enjoyed a decent start to life at the Ibrox Stadium, guiding Rangers to a second-place finish. To build on that finish and potentially challenge for titles this season, Beale has dipped into the transfer market to strengthen his side. Outright SPL betting markets are already speculating as to whether the Rangers have it in them to claim their second Scottish Premiership title.
Outside of both Old Firm sides imploding or a major takeover of one of the other clubs, a league title remains an elusive dream for the other ten teams in the league. Leaving Rangers as the best-placed team to go toe-to-toe with Celtic.