Celtic & Rangers playing in England..your thoughts

Lex Luthor

Does anybody think this will ever happen? Last I heard the reason was that a team from one "country" couldn't play in a league from another country. Apart from the fact that 2 teams would have to make way for them and they are also thinking of reducing the Premier League by 2 teams, it would make the move harder. Can they not just decide to play in Division 1? Cardiff City play there so I can't see the problem. Both teams would push for promotion within the 1st year anyway.

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Originally posted by Lex Luthor
...decide to play in Division 1? Cardiff City play there so I can't see the problem...

The problem is that Cardiff earned the right to play in Div1, they didn't just come on over from Wales and plonk themselves in the division. Look at the other Welsh teams, Swansea and Wrexham, they play in the lower divisions. Cardiff have come up from there because they won promotion form the lower divisions.

I'm not entirely sure which division they started out in, but I do know that back in the 70s Swansea nearly won the league.

There remains no reason why two Scottish teams should be allowed to leapfrog other english teams and start out in Div1.

However, I do think that we will see such a move relatively soon. I think what will happen is that some Div1 teams will break away from the Football League ( as the Prem Teams did back in 92 ) and form a "second tier Premiership", and it is here that the Old Firm will begin Life playing in English Football.

Xterminator

Because of the lack of competition for Celtic and Rangers in the SPL, i think its fair to say they need premiership football more than Premiership football needs them.

That is the only way they are going to increase revenue, and gain that competitive edge, is through playing Premiership football.

For the premier teams, it means a coule of the smaller teams will not be in the premiership, which i think the likes of Bolton and Wolves will fight tooth and nail.

However it will add spice to the cup competitions for a while, (Battle of Britain etc) which is probably much needed.

At the end of the day as a fan, i'd like to see it happen!.

X

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Another thing about the Scottish teams coming down to play in England would be the potential for hooliganism again rearing it's ugly head in the "Battle of Britain" matches.

Another thing is the fact that if teams from one Footballing Association ( The SFA ) play under the jurisdiction of another ( The FA ) they cannot qualify for UEFA competitions. I don't know if this applies to the Welsh teams or not, but the rule does exist in the UEFA rulebook. ( I am sure of this but I am too busy to go trawling through the UEFA website for a cite ).

Gillie

Theres no doubt that they would have to move to the 1st Division coz it wouldn't be fair on the other teams if they were put into the Preimership.

It has to happen some time tho!

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Originally posted by Gillie
Theres no doubt that they would have to move to the 1st Division coz it wouldn't be fair on the other teams if they were put into the Preimership.

What about the 2nd and 3rd Div teams then. Is it fair on them? what do you propose? A 26 team Div1....or for some of the teams in Div2 that finish in the promotion places to just sit back and take it...think again.

Gillie

Do you think that a 2nd or 3rd Division team are better than Celtic or Rangers?
I certainly don't!

Let them go into the 1st Division. If they sink so be it.

leeroybrown

Most of the English clubs won't stand for it. The lower divisions won't want anyone plonked in on top of them, especially as it would cause extra relegations. The premiership teams have no real reason to want them in so they'll no doubt object too. Most English club supporters and a decent chunk of Celtic's core support won't want it to happen.

Ultimately if it does happen it'll be down to an huge amount of money to do it.

gudpony

Who came up wit this. Celtic and rangers wud hockyed out of the premiership league. der both muck. Id say der wud even struggle in the first div as well..

Gillie

Did u txt dat in?;)

Nike_Dude

There are too many problems for this to ever happen. Celtic would be a top ten team but rangers are definatly not good enough for the premiership. The premiership is already too big as it stands and there is always the hooligan element to take into account. Its unfortunate for Celtic, but I dont think it could ever happen

The Phenom

Originally posted by gudpony
Who came up wit this. Celtic and rangers wud hockyed out of the premiership league. der both muck. Id say der wud even struggle in the first div as well..

Even thogh he wrote this all arseways i do agree with him i don't think Celtic and Rangers could hack it in the Premiership.

Villain

Originally posted by The Phenom
Even thogh he wrote this all arseways i do agree with him i don't think Celtic and Rangers could hack it in the Premiership.

I think Celtic could, might only be a mid table team but I couldn't see them getting relegated!

The Phenom

Originally posted by irish1
I think Celtic could, might only be a mid table team but I couldn't see them getting relegated!

Well imo maybe not relegated but i think they would be a teams that would just be round the bottom all the time and if thats the way it was gonna be what would be the point in having them there.

Although there is no competition in the SPL because of them but thats because every other team in the SPL arent good so if they took celtic and rangers away the SPL would probably lose most of its popularity.

smemon

if celtic and rangers were to move into the PL, they would overtake all clubs from liverpool down within 5 years.

On the same tv revenue as the big clubs, massive ticket sales home and away and bonuses for positions in the league, cup runs so on....... celtic would easily become one of the richest clubs in the world.

added to that, they'd be able to attract top players and build a quality side within a few years. if they can beat liverpool now, imagine what they could do to them in 5 years time if they were in the PL.

They'd blow most clubs out of the water on and off the pitch and thats reality. talk of them going down and struggling is rubbish. celtic could fill an entire away stadium every game by themselves if they were to go into the PL such is the fanatical support they have - unrivaled in any league.

AmenToThat

Sure the old firm would struggle for a few years but they are both massive clubs only Man U is bigger in Britain,
Within a few years they would (financially) overtake all other clubs and would be able to attract the top players.

Not gonna happen though, not even in the mediam term in my opinion.

leeroybrown

Rangers are somwhat weak this season but Celtic (if they were ever to join the Premiership) would probably manage to finish mid table and build from there. They're a better team (team as opposed to group of individuals) and defensive unit than most of the Premiership teams if you exclude the top 6 or 7.

England has a population and TV audience of over 50M. Scotland has around 6M. The difference that makes in terms of TV money and consequently the overall spending power of teams is obvious. There have been situations (particular weekends of fixtures) where the entire SPL attendance would have fit in Old Trafford or St. James' Park. It's obviousl that theres a hell of a lot more money in the English league. Both Rangers and Celtic already have decent financial situations so they would benefit enormously.

That said I don't thinkt they'll be able to reach an agreement to join at any stage soon.

eirebhoy

As someone has said already, the English league's might be changed so that it has 2 premier league's. Maybe the Old Firm could go into the 2nd Premier League?

tHE vAGGABOND

Celtic fan here, saying this aint gonna happen..

UEFA dont want it, as it would mean clubs meoving countries all over the shop..(few belgian clubs to holland, Im sure monaco and PSG would love to play in serie a as there is **** all money in french league etc etc)

they would have to agree. never will.

Lower english clubs would have to agree, and they never will, it decreases their chance of getting to, and staying in the premier league..

they would have to agree..

The english premier league clubs would never agree as its no real benifit for them bar the increased crowd, but since most of them already sell out all their games they dont care about that. For one its increased competition to stay in the league, and then to get a uefa/champions elague place so they would not vote for it..

Therefore its never going to happen, so I wish the media, and people in general would just let it go