Old Firm should stay in Scotland. (Football in General)

Name: paul-marcus

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Product:	Football in General
Date:	13/08/01 (33 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: money

Disadvantages: loss of identity

Speculation about the Old Firm joining the Premiership has died down somewhat mainly because the football season has started and papers have some real news to fill their pages.

I still think the whole story was a great PR coup by the Celtic board in a runup to a new shares issue. The prospect of all that Sky money coming in may have helped open a few wallets.

The proposition should be a complete non-starter. Before explaining why I should mention that I am a Celtic supporter living in the Midlands. From a purely selfish point of view the move would be ideal giving me an opportunity to watch Celtic play the likes of Villa and Leicester.

I also know that most of my fellow Celtic supporters relish the idea of playing Man. Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal on a regular basis. From a purely business point of view the move makes sense, England is a far bigger market than Scotland and the Old Firm will make much more money to invest on new players and facilities and thus join the elite teams in Europe.

I have know doubt that in global terms Celtic and Rangers will become major brands in a way that other teams,e.g. Leeds or Chelsea, will never match due to the Scottish and Irish diaspora.

However I do not believe that this financial gain is worth the loss of the Old Firms Scottish identity. I would love to see Man Utd. playing at Celtic Park but the likes of Derby, Southampton, Bolton ( think I better stop before alienating too many people!) I can live without.

I would rather see us playing Motherwell because there is at least a bit of history there. They may not be up to much just now but I can still remember Davie Cooper’s grin when he walked over to the Jungle to take a shy, he used to linger on the touchline as long as possible to milk the ‘adulation’. The same goes for any of the other teams in the SPL with the exception of the new boys Livingston, though I am sure they will make their own history.
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br>Dare I say that the move may also be a bit insular. They way forward is to compete on a European stage, the Champions League is surely just a precursor to a larger European league. Celtic or Rangers would nearly always qualify automatically for this however in England big teams (look at Liverpool) can go through cycles of failing to even qualify for Europe. The Old Firm may be the envy of some teams in England playing in a relatively poor league but being guaranteed European football.

Football is not just a business. Speaking as a Celtic supporter brought up in Glasgow I used to go and watch Partick Thistle, St. Mirren and even Rangers (always good for a laugh in the early 80’s!) when Celtic where playing away from home. Fanatical about Celtic but also aware of there place in a wider Scottish context.

I guess when it comes down to it Mr. Murdoch’s money is worthless if it denies my son the pleasure of quizzing Aberdeen supporters about there unnatural desire for woollen products.

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