Once again, Celtic moving to play in England is being spoken about.
It seems that woman’s football in Belgium & Holland are joining up, I’ve also being reading about the possibility of Lithuania and another country playing together. I can’t remember who they’re supposed to be joining with but I did read this shortly after 6am so I can be excused for forgetting.
As much as this is an age old question and fans are divided over whether or not they want to see Celtic playing in the English premiership, there’s a massive amount of things to think about.
Would we want to play there every week? The ‘big’ ties would be great but what about us away versus a team like West Brom for example? From Glasgow, that’s about 280 miles. If that was a mid-week game on a cold and wet February night, would there still be enthusiasm for it? How long would it take before, realistically, we could challenge for trophies and league championships?
How long would we have to go without European football if we were playing in the premiership? I don’t think for a minute that we’d go there and become a top three or four team within a season or two. Unfortunately, having a big stadium and large fan base doesn’t guarantee success so how would some of our fans cope with not being the number one team any more?
Of course, there’s a group of fans who would turn up regardless of how well the team are doing, I’d like to think I’d be in that part of our fan base. I started going to the games when we were barely winning anything. I was 15 years old when we first won a league title that I properly remember so I wasn’t used to us winning things. Maybe that makes me and folk of a similar or older age a bit more tolerant but some of our fans expect us to win and don’t take it very well when we don’t.
You only need to have a look at the crowds leaving v Juventus when they scored their third goal against us in last season’s Champions League or have a look at social media after any loss or draw to see that some fans do not accept defeat.
I’m not saying that’s wrong, I’m just saying that I grew up supporting the club in a different era but if we did move to England and were not winning regularly, would we still continue to have the majority of our stadium full ? Or would the fans who only know a winning Celtic team move on to something else?
Would the expense and time taken to travel down south every few weeks become too much for some? I’d imagine that a move to England would result in more games changed at short notice for TV. Would that turn a lot of fans off from going?
The guy next to my Dad at Celtic Park travels approx seven hours on a bus to get to Glasgow, would he be willing or able to perhaps double that journey time?
From what I’ve written so far, I’ve only given reasons against us moving to the English league and it’s only things that might happen so it’s time to balance it a bit.
If we did move, I think we’d be able to keep our top players, we’d expect to have a bigger transfer budget and to be able to attract better players to compete with opposition teams.
Playing against better opposition would force our players to be at the top of their game every week which can only be a good thing.
As much as I want us out of the Scottish league, I’ve said that for years, I’m not convinced that the English league would be the best place to go. It’s probably the most cash rich league in the world but I don’t think it’s the best league in the world.
But, where else could we go? Based on our location, I think that it’s safe to say that England would be the most realistic place to go to.
However, for me, a European league would be the best option. But we do already have a Champions League which we struggled badly to compete in this year.
The reality is that we will need a massive amount of money to even consider competing with the top teams. And as we know, spending too much money can kill football teams.
I guess the other option is to sit tight and wait for some competition in Scotland. If we do that, do we want competition from a team who pays for players that they could not afford? Yet not be deemed to have gained a sporting advantage? Most definitely not. For me, the Scottish game is rotten to the core and we need a new start with a new league involving teams from various countries to be set up.
Over the years, the top flight in Scotland has been called various things but changing the name while keeping the same people in charge doesn’t really fix anything.
Got into the first verse stopped reading then 280 v west brom . itravell from wicklow to dublin flew to glasgow prestwick met my mate drove me to wee mans got a coach wich was waiting for us ready to and headed straight to berwick for a cup game on a cold winters day . so i think west brom be no problem …..
Good article Joe, and you covered it from both perspectives i.e. pros and cons. The Champions League is relatively young in football terms and might yet be expanded/evolved into something bigger. until then I think Yes, we should sit tight a bit longer; world football is like the sea, it’s always changing and moving and there are probably ideas being booted around in UEFA/FIFA think tanks as we speak.
Being patient doesn’t mean you don’t have ambition. With the expenditure and debts that many English teams have there could be a bubble that is ready to burst down there. We don’t have the gift of seeing the future, so let’s continue in the direction we are going on…strengthening the club financially and competing with pride in the club and the fans….who are the soul of Celtic. HH
Well said,Funky.
But,if we were offered the English Championship,I would take it,in a minute.
League games at CP are no longer exciting.Fans and atmosphere,can make
a dull game,enjoyable.
To have an English away support,would add spice to every game at CP.Plus the
players their are of a better quality.
As posted,last night,I don’t want to play
the disgraced,cheating club EVER AGAIN.
England would welcome us,due to Sky,
without the scum.
I know we will probably play them again.
But the fallout doesn’t BEAR thinking about.A+E across Scotland and NI, will be
beyond breaking point.
Is this what a game called football is all
about ?
I am half-blinded in one eye,after a game
in the 80’s,when a group of scum,kicked
my head,like it was a football.
Yes,we have our element,but I would say
their fans,in general,are FAR MORE NASTIER.
So,give me the Championship,then EPL.
Within a few years,we would be a BIG player,like ManU and Real,as European
heavyweights.
As a Celtic season ticket holder living in London, i can promise you there would be Celtic fans at “away” games. Away to West Brom? Think of the Scottish and Irish communities in & around Birmingham… Any London games? No bother – look at the crowds when we play Fulham pre-season. It might require a bit more organisation – perhaps a register of Celtic fans for different cities or regions here in England (and of course Wales…) – heck the club could bring in a wee fee to register…
I remember being quite surprised at David O’Leary testimonial in 1986, the majority of the Celtic support at Highbury seemed to be English based, discovering the true extent of the Celtic support in England would be interesting.
Friendlies at QPR and Fulham have probably created the biggest away supports at those grounds in years.
You say we would need a massive amount of money to compete , I have this argument on a weekly basis with people , if we get into the epl then straight away we would get at £millions more than we will ever get in Scotland, this then gives us funds to buy better plays which in turns makes us a better team than what we at now, season ticket money would bring in even more cash . The only team who are capable of getting more fans than us is man utd ,if they keep going the way they are we could and would be the biggest supported team in epl. We might not win anything or a while till we find ur feet . But would I swap what we have now for that . In a flash .
From someone who currently writes from afar, A huge well done on a fantastic article, you articulate perfectly on the pros and cons of such a move, personally it will always be the spl for me. clearly the epl would be a tasty product but huge round trips every week and without champions league matches, No thanks in my opinion.
Give me Celtic at West Brom every week vs Celtic at Inverness.
A say we do 10 in a row first then go..Seriously tho…Celtic v Arsenal…Newcastle…Chelsea …Liverpool….Spurs…Everton….Sunderland and yes West Brom.. A huv m8s who support all these teams and would luv the banter if we played in the EPL…Written fae a purely selfish standpoint… CL fitba would come in time?(europa league first) no titles for quite a while, I would be willing to swap that for the change in opposition weekly, it would generate a new excitement and raise the standard of player in a Celtic jersey…..Gimme Danger
You have to remember these English clubs all have big supports in any case; added to that are the Celtic fans in England and there will always be others who will attend home and away. Some others may only be able to attend home games but whatever Celtic will be in the big time and home or away there will be big numbers at the games.
Distance, no problem, this is coming from Ontario Canada. Any way what is the allocation for visiting fans at EPL clubs? there’s the first part of the WBA question.
Also what happens if Southampton have to play a mid-week FA Cup replay in Newcastle? How many travelling fans go to that from the south coast and their fan base is south coast. What is our fan base? Answer that yourself!
Sky in particular must be really impressed when they are committed to showing Stoke City Versus Cardiff City. That’s the answer to all this, it will be revenue driven and will be addressed before the next t.v. contract. It’s going to be a European League and we’ll be one of the first invited.