Giakoumakis' Celtic opinion has truth - but reasons for it are complex

When the season concluded, Giakoumakis was proved right.

Still, though, football clubs’ carefully managed PR operations then dictated the striker rarely, if at all, be allowed in front of a microphone again, lest he repeat the unthinkable of speaking his mind without restraint.

But Giakoumakis is off the leash now, signing for Atlanta United and immediately lobbing grenades back across the Atlantic. Apparently.

‘Trashing Scottish football’, I believe was the accompaniment to the viral social media footage of Giakoumakis’ first MLS press conference. His tone may have been interpreted as derisory, but was he wrong?

Judge for yourself.

"In Celtic it was a totally different style of play,” he said. “The competition there is not so good. There are two clubs, and all the other clubs try to defend. Most of the opponents were trying to block us in their box, we were keeping possession and trying to create spaces, score in a different way.

"I think this league (MLS) is a bit more competitive, they all try to play, so I think I will have even more space in the back of their defence and create more problems."

It’s worth noting Giakoumakis is coming at this issue with only one perspective, one that doesn’t apply to Scottish football at large. The experience of a Celtic player, in terms of competitiveness, is very different to most of their Premiership colleagues.

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Celtic have by far the biggest budget, pay the highest wages and, therefore, have far superior personnel. Clubs with a fraction of the resources cannot realistically hope to match them technically, so the go-to approach when the Parkhead side stand opposite is to make scoring as difficult as possible for them, mostly at the expense of troubling Joe Hart at the other end.

All Giakoumakis really knows is stuffiness when it comes to the game here, the vast majority of the matches he played here followed the above pattern. He was portrayed as attacking the mindset of the rest of the league, bar Rangers, of shaming the other 10 clubs in the division.

From here, it seemed like he was just describing his experience. Granted, it may not be the most complimentary of parting comments, but since when was Scottish football defined by the opinions of one player, anyway?

I’m not convinced he was saying anything particularly controversial, or that his comments had any deeper insinuation. Plenty of games involving Celtic, domestically, don’t feel particularly competitive, at least in terms of there being much uncertainty over what the result is going to be.

The last time I attended one in the league was when they hosted St Johnstone on Christmas Eve, and when Reo Hatate opened the scoring after 14 minutes, the rest of the afternoon immediately felt like a bit of a formality. Celtic are so far advanced in terms of resources, and, therefore, quality, that a lot of their bread-and-butter Premiership matches, particularly at home, are lacking in jeopardy.

The Parkhead side are entitled to maximise their superior finances, just as opponents are entitled to set up how they like against them.

Measuring Scottish football’s competitiveness does not start and end with this imbalance. The rest of the top-flight, and below, is almost absurdly competitive.

It would be a bit unfair to expect Giakoumakis to explain all these nuances, but his comments do give way to an interesting debate on the reasons for the seemingly increasing lop-sidedness between Celtic, Rangers and the rest – and over what could be done to address it.

Money, of course, is the primary driver. Celtic just posted a £33m profit in their latest accounts, a completely incomprehensible figure for most. In the same week, Livingston announced they would not be using VAR at their Scottish Cup tie with Inverness on Saturday because it was too expensive. Rangers, too, are on a completely different financial plain, which is why they have shared every league title between them since 1985.

For context, Rangers’ 41-year-old keeper Allan McGregor was just three when that happened. With Scotland’s improved UEFA coefficient offering both clubs greater opportunity to qualify for the Champions League and the riches it brings, means that money gap is only going to widen.

So what are they supposed to do when it comes to visiting Celtic Park or Ibrox? What their fans, justifiably, won’t do, is be told that their team should just turn up and have a go. Such an approach would likely bring a smile to the face of Ange Postecoglou or Michael Beale, which tells you why it doesn't happen more often.

READ MORE: Yosuke Ideguchi admits Celtic disappointment after loan exit

It’s understandable, if you’re a Celtic fan and craving something other than attack vs defence when watching your team at home, but it’s probably wishful thinking. Hibs, one of the more well off clubs in the Premiership, played open football at Parkhead earlier in the season and were walloped 6-1 for their cheek.

The only intervention that could realistically alter this is some sort of financial redistribution. Giakoumakis’ new home in the MLS is certainly more competitive in terms of who can win the title, but the league is specifically designed to ensure parity.

Clubs are subject to salary caps, and everyone is free to play daring football without the spectre of relegation hanging over them, ensuring a more level playing field. Going from the Premiership to the Championship here, meanwhile, has real world impacts on people’s livelihoods.

Curtailing the impact of Glasgow wealth, however, feels like such a non-starter it’s barely worth even discussing. It’s near impossible to imagine a scenario resulting in greater sharing of wealth, and Celtic and Rangers will argue there’s nothing wrong with spending the money they make.

Fans of other clubs will likely accept that they do not always maximise their own potential, but there is very little they can do to realistically bridge the gulf.

But, either way, there is so much more to Scottish football than how teams choose to set up against Celtic and Rangers. The addition of the Europa Conference League has given teams an extra incentive, the battle to survive at the bottom of the league is as fascinating as ever, and the Scottish Cup remains one of the most dramatic and gripping tournaments in world football.

Giakoumakis’ wasn’t necessarily wrong in what he said, but the reasons for it are more complex, nor is it the be all and end all for our game.