Ginge
Last week I was channel surfing and I spent a bit of time watching Hibs vs Hamilton in the SPL purely because it caught my eye that there were virtually no spectators in what looked like a good stadium
The official attendance was just over 8000 but I reckon that was a crock as there would've been a maximum of 100 people behind each goal and maybe a 1000 on the opposite side to the camera
Anyway, how can these clubs survive (let alone start to compete with the Rangers of this world) if this is the sort of crowds they draw?
8,000 probably isn't that unrealistic - the stadium holds 20,000, most of those who bothered to show up would've been in the stand where the camera is.
Short answer, they can't. Short of developing good young players (which both teams have done in the recent past, Hibs are in a very healthy financial position because in the last 4 years they've raked in close to £10m in player sales, both McArthur and McArthy at Wigan came through the ranks at Hamilton) on a consistent basis, there's not much that can be done to challenge.
It has ever been thus in Scotland. There have been times when some of the provincial clubs have had excellent sides (usually co-incides with one of the OF being gash - see Hearts and Hibs in the 50s and early 60s, when Celtic were ****, and Aberdeen and Dundee Utd in the early 80s when Rangers were utter crap) but no provincial side has really, over a significant period of time, have ever really been top dog in Scotland.
Financially, Scottish football is a mess because the SPL have whored themselves out to TV companies, which results in every single away game involving Rangers or Celtic being televised, usually at ridiculous kick off times. Ticket prices are a joke - £40 for my last visit to see Rangers at Celtic Park - the turnstyles failed half an hour before kickoff and I missed the opening 15 minutes, and Celtic completely fobbed me off when I wrote seeking a partial refund, often you'll pay about £25 for other away games which all kick off between 12:30 and 2pm, and will always be on TV - fans are voting with their feet and staying away from grounds, which loses the clubs even more money.
I think only St Mirren, as a result of selling their old ground to Tesco and having a new ground built for them, and Hibernian as a result of player sales, are in the black.
