“Every now and again, an absurd idea appears on this excellent site, usually in the form of a CFC fan saying that Celtic need an outlet to accommodate their massive fan base (Celtic Park seems half full for most home games with a distinct lack of interest, but let’s not focus on that). And that outlet, as suggested above, is the honey pot of the English Premiership. Indeed, teams like Swansea and Bournemouth do have modest attendances. That’s not a lack of interest. It’s because they have small grounds (Bournemouth are creating more capacity, Palace are planning a bigger stadium, as are Spurs to accommodate 61,000 souls, Liverpool and Chelsea are both expanding) and Chelsea attendances are down a few thousand because of fitful and poor performances.
The EPL is full of life, healthy and exciting. Especially this season. The Championship is also extremely competitive and attendances are generally very healthy.English football has, frankly, never been healthier, and some of the stadiums compare with some of Europe’s finest (The Emirates in particular).
English football don’t need the appalling product called Scottish football. Very occasionally, we will take in a live lunchtime game on a Sunday before the main event. The main event could be, say, Arsenal v Man City, Spurs v Leicester or whatever. The lunchtime game from Scotland could be Caley v Dundee, Thistle v Celtic. These games are so poor that they make for compulsive watching followed by a derision and the usual brief discussion along the lines of ‘what happened to Scottish football.’
None of the players on show today could get a game for an EPL team. If they were good enough for any EPL team, they would be down here already. Heck, Scotland’s top goalscorer, Griffiths has some modest interest at QPR, but that’s about it.
No, we do not NEED Celtic (nor Rangers). Nor do we WANT them. We can all have our views regarding the level at which Celtic could operate. My view, which I share with JJ, is that Celtic would be a Championship team (mid table, like, say, Preston). As for Rangers, I see them as a League 2 team at the moment.
I think that the problem with having a proud past, a proud history and a decent fan base is it results in delusion about their importance to the game as a whole. No one down here blinked when Rangers were liquidated. And many fans of proud, successful clubs continue with this delusion of self importance. Celtic is a good example. Rangers fans occupy a similar space, notwithstanding the new club debate. Down in England, we have a long list of deluded fans of ‘big’ clubs. Newcastle for starters (haven’t won the league for 90 years nor a domestic trophy since the ’50s), Villa (because they won a European cup), Forest (for similar reasons), Leeds and Everton.
And to put it into context from a financial perspective, Stoke City and Crystal Palace have a combined market cap to buy out ALL teams playing in the four Scottish leagues.
Celtic and Rangers had a marvelous opportunity to join English football after Celtic floated on the exchange all those years ago. Desmond promised some of the wealthier backers that he could ‘fix it’ with Murdoch to parachute Celtic straight in to the top level. Murdoch, who at the time had made no such promises but was under pressure from the Monopolies Commission, told Desmond where to go. BUT, he offered an olive branch. And that was to join the old Conference Division. Yes Division 5.
Who knows if either or both of Celtic and Rangers would have glided through the leagues. But if they had indeed made it, they would be BOTH be looking at market caps north of £400m (conservative).
It was an opportunity missed and one which will not present itself again. The game here is healthy, wealthy and thriving. No one team would vote a Scottish team to the top or lower table at their own expense. It simply is not going to happen.
Scottish football is regarded as toxic and hopeless. Celtic, and Rangers, are stuck in this vehicle called Scottish football. They need to get on with that and make the most of it because the English avenue is not open to them.
We don’t want them and they have nothing to offer us except mediocrity.”
The preface to this article, in bold italic font,was written by The Mensch, who is one of my favourite contributors to this site. He, Gordo, thekarmageddon, Salted Popcorn and I all began writing about Rangers and Scottish football on the RIFC LSE AIM shares chat page. One of the traits I admire about TM is that he does not sugar coat his opinions. Neither of us are pulling our punches or sitting on the fence. The 3,572 individuals who follow me on Twitter under my listing as @sitonfence realise that my moniker is an exercise in irony. I could add that West Ham are also expanding given their forthcoming move to the former Olympic stadium. The Hammers have done well to secure the rights to a stadium that was used to host the London games in 2012. When compared to one my old haunts, The Stadio Olympico in Rome, West Ham are fortunate that they don’t have to share their stadium with the national team, The Azurri, one of Roma or Lazio, and the Italian RFU side who all share a stadium that was modified in 1960 to host the Rome games.
TM’s comment was in response to one of my own in regard to the Glasgow duopoly and their respective credentials for participating in the English set up. More often than not as is noted in the preface it is more likely to be a CFC supporter that advances this hypothesis. The collective UEFA accomplishments of all Scottish clubs stands at three, with one European Cup and two lesser trophies won by CFC, Aberdeen and Rangers. Celtic won the European Cup in 1967, Rangers lifted the Cup Winners Cup in 1972 with Alex Ferguson’s excellent Aberdeen side prevailing in Gothenburg against Real Madrid in 1983. The Glasgow duopoly also featured in the UEFA cup finals of 2003 and 2008, but the prospect of success in the new format Champions League and Europa Cup formats, and the rigour of qualification rounds prior to the group stages, clearly highlights how inadequate the Scottish clubs have become.
If we accept The Mensch’s thesis, Rangers are an English League Two side with CFC as a mid-table English Championship club. Given that Rangers are awaiting two Bosman signings from EFL2 side Accrington Stanley, with other players in the squad sourced from Alvechurch FC and one who formerly played at Harrogate Railway AFC, I can understand his premise. As for CFC, are they not superior to Brentford and would feature in the Championship play-offs?
If you were to inquire of the CFC supporters whether they would prefer to play in The Conference Division, I posit that the majority would vote to transfer to the English FA. They are sick to the back teeth with the SFA/SPFL decision that nothing occurred in 2012 and that Rangers, formed in 1872, continue unabated having shed its debts of £96.6m+ with all 114 titles intact. They are also aware that the SFA chose to overlook the £2.8m owed by Craig Whyte’s Rangers in 2011, which everyone knew was a condition of the sale by David Murray, to gain a UEFA licence for the new Rangers regime. If Rangers had qualified for the Champions League group stages, they would have participated to the backdrop of bailiffs instructed by HMRC attending Ibrox in August.
However the CFC board are not prepared to lift an eyebrow in protest, much to the chagrin of the CFC support. They will be punished for their inertia at the box office. The board are hoping that they can offset the anticipated protest with season tickets sold to engage in The Punch & Judy show of old.
As for Rangers, if we were to believe the hype, Mark Warburton who was dismissed by Brentford, climbed the managerial ladder by his appointment at Rangers. No-one in EFL 1 or EFL2 will be paid £750,000 for gaining promotion. The three coaches who have earned promotion to The English Premiership in 2016 will probably earn a similar bonus to that of Mr Warburton. In salary terms he most certainly has made a step up. In terms of his media profile, it has never been better. He even has his own dedicated journalist in Chris Union Jack at The Evening Times, who is prepared to make a risible case for Mr Warburton emulating Graeme Souness by taking up the reigns of Liverpool FC. Mr Jack should be apprised of the fact that Mr Souness won four first division titles in a row.
The pre-eminence of Scottish clubs is a media construct. Playing in a properly governed English league would require imagination; an ability to think outside the Punch and Judy box. Rangers will not be invited to join any English league after what has become regarded as the last battle on English soil, The Battle of Manchester. CFC and Aberdeen, the two leading clubs in Scotland, would be attractive additions to the conference league, but would prefer to sink without trace in the UEFA qualification mire.
