Soccerex dubs itself as “the only global convention dedicated to the professional b2b football environment”. In layman’s terms this means “how to make money out of the world’s favourite sport”.

Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell gave a speech at last week's conference in Dubai in which he characterised his club as one of only five or six with global appeal, hampered by a domestic league that is “fairly unattractive”. Lawwell has finally accepted that the chances of Celtic joining the English Premiership are non-existent, although expect to hear a lot of bleating from Glasgow if Cardiff City ever make it to the promised land. Instead, he is arguing for a further-expanded elite European competition, a long-stated dream of that unlikeable group G14. The aim, of course, is to make more money.

But one wonders if Lawwell had the chance to watch last weekend’s Hibs v Celtic match before he flew out, because here was football that certainly was attractive for all the right reasons – fast, technical, and exciting. It was a match that kept the crowd on the edge of their seats for the full 90 minutes, as Celtic fought back from 2-0 down and Hibs held on, before conjuring a chance that would have won them all three points right at the death.

For all that, Scottish football is dismissed as agricultural. Yet just look at the squad of the runaway leaders. Players like Shaun Maloney (last season’s Player of the Year, by the way), Aiden McGeady and Kenny Miller are quick, skilful and like the ball played to feet, not hoofed at them from 40 yards.

Yes, there were full-blooded tackles, and confrontations between players that would probably not be allowed anywhere else, but these are part of the character of Scottish football, part of its unique identity, and to be treasured all the more as football increasingly becomes a contact-free sport elsewhere. Not better, not worse – just different.

Compelling spectacle though it was, this match was nowhere near as valuable a commodity as even the most mundane fixture in the English Premiership. Scottish football is a poor relation compared to its obscenely wealthy neighbour. Hibernian's Easter Road ground has a capacity of around 17,000, which is an obvious limit on the number of tickets that can be sold for a game. The domestic TV market in Scotland, with a population of only five million, is also limited, so the obvious route to growth is through 'overseas' sales. In the poly-channel digital TV market, live sports events are increasingly unique, as viewers cannot skip through the ad breaks. This makes them attractive to advertisers and broadcasters alike – indeed, BT has just announced a deal with Setanta to sell Premiership and SPL matches to their broadband customers.

It is not entirely fanciful to suggest that the SPL could grab an increased share of the 'overseas' market for televised football. After all, leagues fall in and out of fashion: a decade ago, Serie A was much admired and watched across Europe. Then viewers started turning away after too many boring games, and there are signs that the all-conquering Premiership is also losing some of its excitement. To do so, however, depends on making the league competitive on a consistent basis. Unfortunately, Hibernian’s own experience of the past week show just how hard that is.

Scott Brown had a great game against Celtic. A tenacious and dynamic midfielder, he is a genuine flair player and has a very promising career in front of him. Everyone – including Hibs – accept that his future probably lies at a bigger club. Unfortunately, that is not enough for the Old Firm. Along with Kevin Thomson, the Hibs captain, Brown changed agents in the summer, and has been promised immediate riches by Willie McKay. Despite only signing an extension to his contract in the summer, McKay has now declared the terms of this contract unacceptable, and has been agitating to renegotiate terms, aided by the Daily Record newspaper, wich has printed a succession of leaks from the agent while Hibs remain silent. When this failed, the player handed in transfer request after Saturday’s game against Dundee United. The clear aim is to force Hibs to sell in January, probably to Rangers, and hopefully for a knockdown fee.

None of this is healthy for the Scottish game. Either Scott Brown stays, and helps Hibs to compete against the Old Firm, or he leaves, to the highest bidder, earning Hibernian the money to try and replace him and strengthen their squad. Having one of their key players deliberately destabilised is not in Hibs' interest, obviously, but here’s the interesting thing – long term, it’s not in the Old Firm’s interests either.

It might be unrealistic to expect Lawwell and his fellow delegates (Willie McKay was at Soccerex, too) to put short-term, narrow self-interest aside for a while, and think of the bigger picture. Dubai, after all, is the prime exponent of such thinking - a desert state that found billions of dollars worth of oil under the ground, and had an unprecedented opportunity to create a sustainable legacy for generations to come. Instead, they are splurging the lot on seven-star hotels, environmentally ruinous golf courses and holiday apartments on artificial palm-shaped islands, all built through exploiting cheap migrant labour from the sub-continent.

Celtic – and Rangers – need a healthy SPL. It’s about time they recognised this fact, and did something constructive, rather than endlessly moaning about it.

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