After the torrid events of last season, Is it now up to all football fans in Scotland to make sure that the new season is better than the last?
Are we really prepared to endure another season where the game tears itself apart, or can things really change for the better?
On the field the Old Firm will fight it out for the title again, while Hearts look the best bet to finish third again.
There is bigger picture to be painted though, than merely what happens on the park this coming term.
The summer break may well have put the last campaign's traumas out of mind, but they have not disappeared.
The sectarian issue will still be there next season and it will take a long campaign to rid the game of it.
For most clubs the financial worries will also continue.
And, as the Scottish Premier League clubs fail to find a common solution to re-energise our game, the infighting within that body may soon reappear.
Already we can see that league reconstruction is as dead as the dodo, despite the countless hours spent trying to achieve it.
After the holidays there is a natural surge of optimism amongst supporters that things will get better.
In our heart of hearts we may know they won't, but it's part of the DNA of every football fan, and it's what drives us to keep going year in year out.
We are hardwired to expect failure but hope for success.
Without a sheer tribal sense of loyalty the game would not survive.
I was going to say those who run the game know and exploit that fact.
But that is simplistic and lets all of us off the hook.
If fans truly want things to change then they can make it happen and they can start this season coming.
From our recent past the game has many examples of how fans have managed to effect change.
Celts for Change, United for Change and Hands off Hibs are all good examples of how organised fans' campaigns can achieve their goals.
All of those groups should be inspirations to fans who complain about the way the game is being run, but who think their voice counts for little.
All of those groups proved that a cause which unites and binds supporters can achieve results.
Throughout the country, supporters trust movements and individual fans groups are working hard to secure a better future for their teams.
I know from your responses to my previous entries that there is a huge intelligence and energy among fans who are desperate for the game to change for the better.
Great ideas and fresh thinking are needed now like never before to kick start our football.
Can this be the season we start to achieve the goal?
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jimspence/2011/07/fans_can_change_the_game_for_t.html
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