Would a new fifth football league see Celtic and Rangers join English pyramid?
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ByEurosport
Updated 19/05/2016 at 18:07 GMT
The proposals for the introduction of a fifth football league in England to ease fixture congestion could open the door for Celtic and Rangers.
Rangers v Celtic
Image credit: Reuters
In a statement released on Thursday, the Football League has proposed four divisions of 20 teams below the Premier League by the start of the 2019-20 season in the most radical overhaul of the English game since it was founded in 1888.
There are 24 teams in each division below the Premier League, but seven teams could be relegated from the Championship in 2019. No clubs would drop out of League Two.
Six teams would be added to League Three to take the number league clubs to 100, probably from the non-league Football Conference, but a debate will reopen on the possibility of Glasgow clubs Celtic and Rangers moving to England to play.
Football League chief executive Shaun Harvey is quoted as saying the discussion over Celtic and Rangers playing in England will again resurface to sell the product.
”The whole discussion can be had," said Harvey. "But I suspect the wider this gets drawn, the harder it would be to deliver to our clubs and the rest of the stakeholders in the game."
A final decision will taken at the football league's AGM in June 2017.
Barry Hearn, the former chairman of Leyton Orient, says that the proposal should be welcomed as long as it does not include the potential for Premier League clubs to field B or youth teams in the lower leagues.
KEY POINTS
- Clubs are being asked to consider the re-organisation of the domestic league system into five divisions of 20 teams from the 2019-20 season
- The Football League would become a four-division competition below the Premier League
- It would include a new League Three, with 100 clubs competing across the professional game
- In addition, the League Cup and Football League Trophy will be retained with the latter potentially having a revised format to include a group structure of three games before becoming a knockout competition
KEY BENEFITS
- To maximise the number of weekend/Bank Holiday league fixtures
- To remove where practical fixture congestion and scheduling conflicts
- To protect/improve financial distributions/income generation for Football League clubs
- To maintain the Football League Play-Off Finals as the last event of the domestic season
- The importance of each individual fixture will increase
- Reduced travel costs to four games which are often at a distance
- Midweek travel for fans vastly reduced
- At least six new clubs (30%) to play each season
- No relegation out of the Football League in 2018/19
- Different formats for the Football League Trophy available
- Opportunity to standardise promotion/relegation
Information via The Football League
IS CELTIC AND RANGERS MOVING SOUTH FINALLY A VIABLE PROSPECT?
The prospect of the Glasgow clubs starting in a new League Three in England would seem to make sense from a financial perspective, namely in selling the new League Three to television. Would English clubs prefer Celtic or Rangers to join the new league or clubs from the Conference sounds like a no-brainer and as the new system would be based on invitations, there would be no damage done to clubs who would see them being denied their rightful place in a new setup.
The late Bolton chairman Phil Gartside suggested Rangers and Celtic joining a possible EPL Two years ago, but their introduction to a League Three in England would be more palatable if they were forced to work their way up through the divisions. It seems remarkable that Welsh clubs can play in England, but Scottish clubs can't. Even if it was a relic of a different era, two Welsh clubs have already competed in England's Premier League.
The same opportunity should surely be afforded to Scottish clubs, not only Celtic and Rangers, but FIFA will be reluctant to see such a move as they seek to protect national associations in the global game. Scottish clubs moving to England could set a precedent yet the financial disadvantage of playing in Scotland compared to being part of the league across the border means such a debate is hardly going to slip quietly into the night.
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