New Premiership, Celtic and Rangers

I'm fairly easy on this one.

+Adds a bit of extra hype and razzmatazz to the league when it kicks off
+Potentially boost crowds in the 2nd tier (depending on distances of course)
+Puts an end to the debates about how the Old Firm would get on the English leagues
+Increased revenue might let them kick on and progress further in Europe

-They aren't English, GTFO!
-Brings up a huge quagmire with regard to European qualification, effectively they'd have to be classed as English sides and be allocated default coefficients accordingly
-Further to the above, participation in Cup competitions would need consideration. Presumably they would want to stay in the Scottish cups as a way of getting into the Europe in the short term, but what implications would this have for fixture arrangement etc?
-Could increase pressure from UEFA/FIFA to see a GB national side
-The EPL is hugely popular and financially successful under the current model. It doesn't need this.
-Arguably unfair on the 35th and 36th best English sides who would be booted down to the 3rd tier by foreign clubs just waltzing their way into the 2nd tier.
 
jakeke said:
And the other Scottish teams need them to stay!
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Maybe but on a purely personal level I'd not be sorry to see them leave the SPL, then again living down here now I'd see and hear more about them than ever probably - I just can't win.

Tummy said:
They wouldn't be in the Prem long, they're awful and would probably be playing in the Championship :)
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That's a bit of a rash statement I'd say, they aren't the forces they once were due to a much restricted transfer policy in recent years but every time a "battle of Britain" comes round they seem to do ok. Now a league competition isn't the same obviously but if they can beat the best of the EPL or at least perform creditably at least once every couple of years then what makes you assume that they'd struggle against the rest?

Really though I'm not too fussed either way, I'm just mightily bored of the whole saga and quite bored by Rangers and Celtic in general, particularly the way so many of their fans seem incapable of being civil to each other.
 
We don't need this, they do. But they can start right at the bottom if that's the case. :/

I'm against this just like I'm against the Welsh sides that are involved. However they've been there for years.

This is also a bit harsh on some of the Southern sides in particular. It's like playing away in Europe if you imagine the distances..
 
I can only presume the "two-tier Premiership" system they keep referring to must be different to the current Premiership/Championship model somehow? Because I can't see what the Football League is doing wrong with the latter at the moment. It gets decent press coverage, high fan attendance (isn't it bigger than Serie A or something like that?), close competition, and some of the clubs in it are even solvent!

So what do they mean by "two-tier"? Like American Football with two separate divisions that play each other in a knock-out tourney at the end? Because that wouldn't be an unmitigated failure?
 
Weebull said:
So what do they mean by "two-tier"? Like American Football with two separate divisions that play each other in a knock-out tourney at the end? Because that wouldn't be an unmitigated failure?
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That's "sort" of how the MLS works... it's just ridiculous.

If they're putting them into the EPL, they should start at the bottom or in the Championship or League 1.

They aren't of the quality of the top 6 or so in the EPL and on a week to week basis wouldn't handle it straight off the bat.

If they stick them in the lower leagues and they prove their quality then fair enough... but the away trips would be an absolute nightmare for some fans.
 
Just read Gartside has also suggested that the bottom clubs don't even get relegated back down to the rest of the league. How shockingly small-minded and inconsiderate can you get.

This is nothing more than a chairman wanting to preserve his own team's cash cow.
 
Mr-White said:
Celtic and Rangers will be saying good bye to European football if they join the EPL.

MW
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Exactly what i was about to say...i dont have a problem with it per say but they are going to struggle against the top 4-5 teams in the EPL...they can definitely kiss goodbye to European football if they come to the EPL.
 
I'm really not fussed either way. Celtic and/or Them Lot can join the Premiership. I really think that the whole Premiership is becoming stale. There is only so many 'Super Sundays', 'Clash of the Titans' and 'Grudge matches' I can watch before it gets a bit OTT.

If they do join then I really would not expect them to add to the competitiveness of the league. Given them lot from Castle Grey Skull are pretty much owned by the banks and not being able to sign anyone of any quality. Celtic I would put on par with a current Premiership team lying 5-10 in the prem then are they really going to tear up any trees either ?
 
If Celtic had the TV revenue of the English clubs it would be a fair fight when we play against them. We have played England's elite in Europe over the last few years and it hasn't gone too badly although the Arsenal game was hard to take. Now, let us have the same amount of cash to spend on players and we'll see just how much stronger the Celtic team could be.
 
eddiemcgarrigle said:
If Celtic had the TV revenue of the English clubs it would be a fair fight when we play against them. We have played England's elite in Europe over the last few years and it hasn't gone too badly although the Arsenal game was hard to take. Now, let us have the same amount of cash to spend on players and we'll see just how much stronger the Celtic team could be.
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It just doesn't work like that though. Doing well in a few European games doesn't mean you'd be contenders in a league, didn't Portsmouth draw to AC Milan a few years ago?
 
Smaller managers are probably happy with a 22 team premiership, 4 more games, no extra wages, more income, could mean an extra 2-4 million a year depending on the team, few would say no. Everton if not involved in Europe(which will probably be better for them) will be happy with more fixtures. Those like the top 4 who often have lots of euro and cup games where they general go further, don't really want an extra 4 games.

Problem for everton is if they know they'll be in Europe every year they can afford a bigger squad, if they buy the players and pay the wages, and miss Europe, they start making a loss, like a lot of teams who hit Europe, overspend, drop out and end up in heavy debt. Everton are currently suffering from small squad but too many games syndrome.


Personally I can't see a way to intergrate them into the top league, the only fair way is to drop them into a lower league and let them work their way up, Rangers will go bust as people don't go to see them play against Torquay, Celtic would probably get in a lot of debt before hitting the prem league. Letting them in the top tier would be completely unfair to other teams, but the only realistic way to have them join anyway.

Frankly we can increase revenue for the top teams by just making the Prem league 22 teams and have one season where a couple extra people get promoted from all leagues to get the teams. I don't know why we need to add Rangers and Celtic.
 
Gilly said:
Get rid of Cardiff and Swansea, let them join the sweaties in a too-big-for-a-tiny-pond league. No need for them in our league system.
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Don't forget Colwyn Bay and Wrexham!!!! (and Chester!) :rolleyes:
 
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...And Newport County (currently top of the Blue Square South).

There was a thread on this the other day, where I explained why Welsh teams were in the English league pyramid. To remove them from the English leagues now would most likely kill the clubs.
 
eddiemcgarrigle said:
If Celtic had the TV revenue of the English clubs it would be a fair fight when we play against them. We have played England's elite in Europe over the last few years and it hasn't gone too badly although the Arsenal game was hard to take. Now, let us have the same amount of cash to spend on players and we'll see just how much stronger the Celtic team could be.
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It would be interesting to see how much Celtic have spent recently, anybody know the figures? Arsenal have made a profit on transfers recently (or haven't spent much) so I'm pretty sure money can't be an argument for poor performances
 
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