Why a non-Old Firm title win in the Scottish Premiership is now a near impossible task
No team outside the Old Firm has won the Scottish top flight since Sir Alex Ferguson led Aberdeen to back-to-back titles in 1985
It's comfortably the longest spell of two-team domination in Scotland and there's no suggestion of it ending any time soon. In recent times, Leicester City's extraordinary Premier League title win in 2015-16 has been a go-to comparison but they had a smaller financial gap to wrestle with when it came to challenging England's top clubs.
"But the real mover is qualification for European competition. In the SPFL, there's a ceiling for broadcast revenue. That's not the case in Europe." Scotland's current coefficient ranking opens the door to Champions League qualification for the runners-up in the Premiership. Managing that is hard enough with both Old Firm teams in the league but it's not impossible, as Aberdeen showed in 2016-17 and 2017-18.
That season will forever be a 'what if?' for Hearts fans, but Pressley is "far from convinced" that the Edinburgh side would have gone on to win the title had Burley remained in his post. "He spoke down about a lot of other teams and players in Scotland. He was almost dismissive. When you look back to the Ferguson and McLean eras, they put huge emphasis on the psychology and building a venomous mentality."
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