but look at the credentials of those three horses!!

 

Hardly Talizman your way off

 

rangers and celtic in the premier league? i think its a good idea.... at least only 1 english team would get relegated that year

 

yes man, I love this argument.

Celtic are better than Rangers - FACT at time of printing, but as we all know this will ebb and flow like it has done for years. It can't happen any other way with only 2 teams in a league.

Celtic and Rangers could handle life in the Premiership - FACT, both teams have proven this in recent years, more recently Celtic. We can only beat what is put in front of us. Last year that happened to be Blackburn and Liverpool, ok, not the strongest sides in the premiership, but decent at least, I think we can all agree on that.
Man U whupped Rangers, ok, but they have whupped most premiership sides in the last year or two, so does that mean that most of the sides currently in the premiership couldn't hack it in the Premiership ,mmmmmmmmmmm, an impossibility.

It really comes down to this:

The Scottish league is pants, so any side from the Scottish league couldn't possibly surive in the Ultra Super Fantabulous Premiership.

Pish.......and everyone knows it, it's just a 'we are better than you argument' and nobody can win one of those.

Remove blinkers, look at evidence, all will become clear

 

lol @ matt85

I think Rangers and Celtic would do fairly well in the premiership and would be fighting with liverpool for 4th/5th place. Dont think they could stick with manutd, arsenal and chelsea (this year anyway) for a whole season though, but then neither can the rest of the prem.

Would be a bitch for travelling fans in both directions though.

I honestly cant see what can be done about the massive divide in the premiership. You cant punish teams for winning too much. Thats like taking points of Micheal Schumacher as he wins to many GP's & Titles.

At least we have presence in Europe these days. Remember only a few years back when we were a laughing stock in the Champs League. Nowadays we can beat anyone and no one comes to england (even Real Madrid) thinking they have easy points. That to me is something to be proud of.

Simon.

 

Oh and Pedro, I misread your post and thought you were referring about Man Utd in your "british players" statement. Apologies as I reread it and you said arsenal and rangers.

Simon

 

no probs p1fanatic. would be nice to see man utd. v celtic in the next stage of the ch. league (if we get through!). Having said that an away trip to Madrid or Milan sounds slightly more inviting than Old Trafford, No offence!!

Pedro

 

no i dont think they could live with english teams at all. you are judging them on results against english teams but what is forgotton is that for rangers/celtic, that is the cup final, to show the english that they can play. lets face it.. scottish league is a joke and in all honesty i think that i could play in that league. at time of writing rangers won 3-0, celtic 5-1 away.. competitive outside the top 2?i think not. ok, granted old firm games are sometimes good but can they match that intensity 38 times a season? i dont think so.. plus throw in the fact that many of the players wouldnt get games in the englsih 1st division then you have problems..

 

so u are saying sheffield utd. or the equivalent could reach the final of the uefa cup final?

utter pish

 

Yeah sure let Rangers and Celtic into the English division,but hey start them in the conference like every other team has to,why should they get priority treatment

 

Matt85 - as I type this the top three prem teams are 9pts ahead of the 4th placed team after only 13 matches. The goal differences are 18,18,17 - the next best team is +4. So how is our league any different from the Scottish Prem League???

Simon.

 

P1Fanatic hits the nail on the head. No one is disputing that the prem. is of a higher quality to the SPL, but to suggest that all top footballers swarm to england to play the finest league in the world is bollocks. Yes, a lot of wayward has-beens swarm there too not because of the quality but because of the pay check.
You see everybody would love to see English sides play Scottish sides. The only way to settle it is to let messrs. Celtic & Rangers in and get on with it

Pete

 

im a second team r rangers fan and my uncle is a celtic fan and ilike too annoy him and i dont want rangers in the premier league its just not right

 

I am a Gers fan and I don't want to see Rangers or Celtic play in England. The only reason they want to move down there is the money. As for the heritage of Scottish football, Rangers and Celtic are a big part of it, yes there is a large gulf between 2nd & 3rd in the SPL but this will change in the next 12-18 months. So for a Scottish club to play in England week in week out is morally wrong. From a fans point of view, it would be nice to see the Arsenals, Liverpools, Chelseas & Man Us every 2nd week and have a good test of competition but its all wrong IMHO.

Lets be honest, both Old Firm clubs tried to compete in the world transfer market, paying big transfer fees, wages etc for so-called World Class players well dud's.....the truth is the cash isn't in Scottish football hence the money move south. Since the demise of the old firm bottomless cash pit, these so-called good players will be history when they retire, contracts expire and that'll leave them having to play the youth/home grown talent. This then means a leveler on the pitch. As someone mentioned earlier, the lack of current Scottish 1st team regulars at both clubs is poor and it shows how poor the state of the game in Scotland is.

You just have to view the recent European history

82-83 - Aberdeen ECWC Winners
83-84 - Dundee United European Cup beaten semi-finalists
86-87 - Dundee United UEFA cup runners up
02-03 - Celtic UEFA cup runners up

Scotland haven't faired too clever over the past 20 years. Yes Aberdeen won but Dundee United & just recently Celtic have managed final appearances. This isn't good enough from a nations point of view, however good for the Scottish game to see Celtic come so so close last season.

So where is the justification to let the Old Firm venture into a different league in a different country & compete every week...... I don't think there is any.

 

Hiya Caz

You have made some good points there, but I just don't agree with most of them

I want Celtic to move down to England to play and it is not for the money. It's for two main reasons

1. Competitiveness (sp?) - I am sick of watching Celtic whup teams 5-0 every week. ok the occassionl team give us a game away from home, but this is happening less and less. I followed Celtic away in Europe last year, all the way to Seville and it was awesome. I would swap the treble every year for the same run in Europe.

2. Small minded bigoted W*nkers - Scotland is full of them and it all stems from footaball. Don't get me wrong, I am as guilty as some, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. The town I grew up in still has Protestant and Catholic schools still segregated and seperated only by a couple of football pitches. Running battles are still the order of the day. Maybe a move to England where every game is competative will change the US against THEM mentality.

I really can't agree with this statement in any shape or form. There is no chance any club in Scotland can or ever will compete with the Old Firm. To say the bottomless pit has run out is certainly true and Rangers have found this out this year as they are trying to manage a 70Million debt. Celtic are guilty of buying Sh1te aswell ( quite literaly, he was Brazilian, cost 6 million, got 40k per week for 3 years and played 2 first team games, no he wasn't injured) Both Celtic and Rangers are global brands and will always generate huge amounts of money in comparison to Hearts/Hibs etc. This alone will keep us leagues above any other Scottish teams, never mind that fact that kids just do not aspire to play for Livingston or Partick, it's Celtic or Rangers full stop.

With this I can agree, it is poor, but why should my beloved Celtic suffer because Scottish players are pish. Celtic would have got nowhere in Europe last season had it not been for our foreign players. To blame Rangers and Celtic for this is unfair, you can only strive to be the best you can and if that means foreign players then so be it.

The ONLY thing I want really is to see Celtic play in a more competitive league, if Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelski all came chapping on the SPL asking to join, I would welcome them with open arms. Don't think that is going to happen. Celtic moving to England, a possibility, it's going to come down to Sky in the end and with Celtic having a huge TV audience all over the world, it may happen.

And someone posted earlier that we should start in the conference and work through the divisions. OK then, I'd accept that, where do we sign.

 

Are Staylebridge Celtic and Cove Rangers still in the Conference? Personally id go and watch celtic play anywhere and that includes european 1st qualifying stages like Cwmbran town. Is it just me or do most rangers fans wish to stay in the SPL?

Pete

 

What would be good to see would be something along the lines of the Community Shield, but with the SPL winners v the Premiership winners. It'd provide some competition too.

 

Being a Rangers fan doesn't stop me from pointing out my reasons for my statements above. Couple them with my next comment, The SPL is Scotlands top league which funnily enough has Scottish clubs playing in it. I see no Dutch teams playing in Belgium or French teams playing in La Liga so why should Scottish clubs have a devine right to play in the FA Premiership ??????

 

Caz, we don't have a devine right to play in the premiership, it's what we want, that's all.

Cardiff and Swansea are Welsh teams and play in England and could be in the Premiership. Berwick Rangers is an English team and play in Scotland and could be in the Premier in Scotland.

So it's not even a though this is unheard of.

 

caz1562, i was asking a serious question and not trying to play silly buggers. Honestly i have never met a single celtic fan who would not like to see them play south of the border. Now maybe if rangers wanted to do the same at boardroom level, Ferguson and Amuruso might have thought twice about leaving. Wouldn't you like to see the gers play better opposition?

Pete

 

This is a pretty good thread although the title sucks - agree with alot of the points mentioned.

I'm kinda split on the premiership idea. Yes its good for more money and better class competition, but on the other hand its likely to be the death knell for the scottish league IMO.

Rangers and Celtic could live in the premiership no problem - as Hail Hail said the Celts are on the up right now, but its always shifting back and forth with Rangers. First though they both have to be let in, then prove once and for all that they can do it - that'd shut up the doubters once and for all - thats my 'proof of the pudding statement'

Have also got to say that Hearts are definately the 3rd team - if they had some money to spend....who knows? They have an excellent manager.

Marky

 

Hey Marky San, whats up with the title

 

hehe!!

 

Proof enough tonight by being beaten by Aikos.

There is no point raising your game against Man Utd or Celtic, you need to do try and do your best against ALL teams

 

yes but we are really ****e at the moment.

too much money spent on poor players. Years ago we supposidly had a scouting system second to none - somebody was having a laugh.

As for the premiership debate - why not how can you say having a laugh when its all money, if you have the money you can purchase anybody.

There is always 2 sides to every story. If they did i reckon after a season or two they would be top half of the table.

Main thing is fan base - Rangers have a larger fan base than most people think. Most home games I end up speaking to guys who have travelled up from down south to see the game.

 

Late in on the topic but the argument about most United fans being from outside of Manchester is simply not true.

More United season ticket holders have an 0161 dialing code than City season ticket holders. That is a fact.

The reason why people make the assumption that all United fans are southern is because the reach of the club makes it popular all round the world. City have a huge (I mean HUGE) fanbase in China because of Jihai Sun, does that mean that all City fans are Chinese? I think not! Its just more is made of the United fans coming from all over because of the oh so sad ABU brigade and their green ways.

Manchester Is Red.
(As unveiled in the Kippax during City's last game at Maine Road)

 

The Panathinaikos game was good first half from Rangers - superb reactive goal from Mols, then the 2nd half was straight down the pan. I havent seen them play like that for many many years.

Every team goes through a good and bad spells and you cant judge them on a 'snapshot'. Rangers are in a bad spell which is bloody awful I'll tell you, whereas Celtic are doing really well. Suppose none of the premiership teams have bad spells then?