Will Celtic and Rangers join the English Premier League?

[najr01]

The English Premier League is to discuss the possibility of splitting into a two-tier league and inviting Rangers and Celtic to join.
http://sport.stv.tv/football/89451-celtic-and-rangers-in-premier-league/ (http://sport.stv.tv/football/89451-celtic-and-rangers-in-premier-league/)

This would let the Glasgow clubs compete against the high quality English teams and bring a huge amount of money into the two clubs.

http://sport.stv.tv/football/89485-financial-impact-of-an-old-firm-move-down-south (http://sport.stv.tv/football/89485-financial-impact-of-an-old-firm-move-down-south)

Is this a good thing for Scottish football?

[Pedro's greasy do]

This again? Must be a slow week for football news. I’d say the answer is no. Why would any team outside of Liverpool or Man U want this? Ranger and Celtic are massive clubs as it is. In the premiership who knows what would happen.

[najr01]

Might be good for football in Scotland though. Imagine Premier League teams coming to Ibrox and Celtic Park week in, week out. At the moment it's pretty stale.

Don't think the big cheeses in England would be too worried about the Old Firm though.

[YankHibee]

Don't see any chance at this point, and even less chance it would be good for Scotland.

[frasermc]

have to agree with Pedro's on this one.

this idea will slowly fade away until a similar one appears in the summer at a time when the transfer window is in a go slow mode.

as it stands, and the question has been done to death, what do the majority of the EPL teams and the EPL itself get from this?

they're hardly in need of a ratings boost. haven't they just renegotiated the contract with it pretty much the same as the last one in price or even slightly higher?

[barack_obampot]

No. The Old Firm have a lot more to gain from England than they do for us. They already have enough global exposure, and while Rangers and Celtic are as big as most clubs in the Premiership they don't need us.

The Preston North End chairman said something about us joining a Premiership second tier, saying it would be good for the game and it would give clubs like Preston, Wolves, Burnley et al a massive cash injection, but if Rangers were to join an English league I'd only want to be in the top tier. We're far too big for the Championship.

[YankHibee]

The fact that clubs far too big for the Championship periodically find themselves there is one big reason I doubt the OF will ever go South.

[Pedro's greasy do]

The more I think about it, the more I actually hope it does not happen! Let’s put a plan in place and get Scottish football going again.

[The Tartan Hoop]

Let's rob a couple of banks and put the money into our teams.

[najr01]

I hope that the SPL go for the ideas they were talking about before where the OF could play second teams in the 3rd div. Bringing a crowd spark to the lower divisions could invigorate the whole system.

[st mirren till i die]

i hope the pair of them ******** off and take their collection of bigot arsehole suppoters with them.

[ThePebble]

No.

While I can certainly understand the sentiment from “SMTID,” the reality is that if both teams depart, the SPL will become worse than MLS. There will be no money. There will be no guaranteed Champions League slot. There may be a playoff, but does anyone see Dundee United beating out, say, Werder Bremen to qualify? The UEFA slot won’t be guaranteed either. The league would choke under its own weight.

To top it off, the benefit to the Old Firm to move down is only in the short term. They will get an immediate infusion of cash, but they will lose out on Champions League prestige as the best they can hope for is a EUFA Cup slot.

The other factor involved deals with relegation. What happens if either one can’t stay afloat? Do they return to the SPL? Do they move down to the Championship?

There are far many unknowns and far too few answers.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

The proposal currently being floated from Bolton Wanderers involves the OF joining a new Premiership second division along with Championship clubs. I don't think the top teams will agree to share the TV money like that so this is a non-starter. If it did happen though I think the OFGTF brigade might be unpleasantly surprised by the eventual outcome. Clubs like Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen to reasonably aspire to play in that sort of setup as well and any move in that direction once the precedent had been set by the OF might lead to the total demise of Scottish football as a separate entity in both league and national team terms.

[st mirren till i die]

The proposal currently being floated from Bolton Wanderers involves the OF joining a new Premiership second division along with Championship clubs. I don't think the top teams will agree to share the TV money like that so this is a non-starter. If it did happen though I think the OFGTF brigade might be unpleasantly surprised by the eventual outcome. Clubs like Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen to reasonably aspire to play in that sort of setup as well and any move in that direction once the precedent had been set by the OF might lead to the total demise of Scottish football as a separate entity in both league and national team terms.
fair enough, we've been a footballing backwater since the mid 80s and the SFA is a corrupt little gang of cronyism and secrecy.

international football is shite so i couldn't care less about losing the NT.

[barack_obampot]

international football is shite so i couldn't care less about losing the NT.

If a Rangers or Celtic fan had said that he'd have gotten pelters.

[HoopsBhoyInNC]

It sure as heck would make it easier to watch games.

[AllWhitebeliever]

Why don't you get them to join the SPL instead? It would be a nice rumour to spin in the media.;)

[j.fisher]

They both obviously want to, but as has been said a billion times.. it would kill the Scottish league.

[Billybluenose]

i hope the pair of them ******** off and take their collection of bigot arsehole suppoters with them.


Listen mate... everyone that likes Rangers FC or even Celtic FC for that matter are not arseholes as you so politely call them.

Decent fans of any club shouldn't automatically be labled arseholes because of the mindless acts of idiots that claim to support the club and yet do nothing but embarrass themselves and the club with their anti social behavior.

For instance , I bet a lot of Saint Mirren fans are really good company and highly intelligent... unlike you - a complete tit of the highest order.