Football. The beautiful game. Barcelona showed the rest of Europe how to play in the Champions League this week, while images from Anfield were beamed across the world last weekend as Liverpool secured the English Premiership title. Scottish export Scott McTominay has achieved cult status as Napoli push for Series A honours, the “scudetto”, in Italy, while more than 85,000 people watched River Plate put bitter rivals Boca Juniors to the sword in Argentina. By the time the World Cup takes place in North America next year, the value of the global soccer market value is estimated to be in excess of £50 billion, with the UK contributing something in the region of a fifth. However, in Scotland, in common with many other countries, you could argue that football, while valuable to the economy, is not always the beautiful game we make it out to be. In fact, it can be downright ugly. As a Glasgow native, I’ve seen this first hand. Tribalism and mob mentality can ruin the spectacle for the fans who attend matches to follow their team, not to aim vitriol at the opposition or increasingly share hatred on social media. Some may say it’s part and parcel of football, the nature of the beast. I guess it comes down to comfort zones. When I lived in West London, I wanted a local football team to support. I tried Chelsea first, went along to a few games, but I found some of the chat in the stands unsavoury enough to put me off. A few weeks’ later, at Fulham’s Craven Cottage on the banks of the Thames, I found a more wholesome fan experience and have been a Fulham supporter ever since. These days, as an Edinburgh resident with kids of my own, I’ve tried to be as non-tribal as possible, easy I admit when I’ve not grown up in this city. I’ve taken my son to Tynecastle to watch Hearts and Easter Road to watch Hibs, although we’ve settled on an ambitious Edinburgh club from the lower tiers, one that has community and purpose at its core. This afternoon at Ainslie Park in the north west of Edinburgh, Spartans play their final Scottish League Two game of the season against Edinburgh City. Very much in the mix of the promotion play-off picture until results went against them last weekend, today’s derby game is not as meaningful as it could have been. Still, it will be a chance for the Spartans faithful to thank the team for a brave campaign in a very competitive league. With news this week that former Hibs legend and Finland striker Mixu Paatelainen is taking up the reins as Sporting Director at Spartans, the club has shown how serious it is about moving up the Scottish football order. Scratch the surface, and the business of football is increasingly ingrained at Spartans – with ticketing technology startup Fanbase handling online ticket sales, and wearables startup PlayerData’s tech helping coaches work out the biometrics and performance of players in real time. No less, both companies hail from Scotland’s capital. Nick Freer is the founding director of corporate PR firm the Freer Consultancy