[HerefordBull]

In my opinion yes! .....................Money / broadcasting rights and fees etc.

Up to even the mid 90's Airdrieonians had a fairly good record even reaching the Scottish Cup Final twice during the early 90's, losing narrowly once to Celtic and once to the old Glasgow Rangers. Money started to talk during and since this period which eventually ended up seeing them in liquidation in 2002 whilst trying to keep up with other clubs.

They are back now but in the modern game can now never achieve the previous heights of the old club. I couldn't find the exact figures for Airdrie but looked at the average players wages for a similar sized club Alloa. Their average is around £500 per week with one on around 1k and some on a lot less. According to the site I was on the average wage for Terriers players came in around 7k a week with one on around 27k. Hence up here we have the big 2 and even in the EPL there are the big six which few clubs can get near.......Newcastle may challenge in the future but once again this is due to money.

This financial distance has been set up over the last 30 years and is gradually getting bigger and in my eyes has changed the game forever and up in Scotland can never see Airdrie ever getting to the Scottish Cup Final again. From the time you lost to them in the early 70's they got to the final three times and regularly won the second tier of Scottish football.......not any more.