The Old Firm

The discussion at work today was centred around the prospect of Celtic and Rangers joining the English league, Celtic Cheif Executive Peter Lawell has said Celtic would be happy to start at the bottom of English football with the future outcome being part of the Premiership.

I think the initial reaction of all Celtic fans, would be..NO WAY!!!!


After some more thinking I am really for the idea, I have always thought that Celtic and Rangers leaving the SPL would benefit everyone, from the SPL's point of view, it would instantly turn into and open league, with any of 4-6 teams winning it, thus giving 1 or 2 teams a chance in the Champions League, leading to bigger name players going to the league and those teams could become stronger over time, creating hopefully a better league, the trouble would come from the TV station not being as interested in striking a deal, I'm sure they could still acheive some kind of deal.

And Celtic and Rangers could realistically achieve promotion to the Premiership in at least 6 years, of course it would be very tough it first, what players would stay and who would jump ship, the big name europeans would leave, and probably the impressive British players would move on to Premiership/Championship teams.

They would have enough clot to bring in the best players from the SPL and League 1 etc, to advance up the leagues, Once they made it up to the Championship they would both have more money than they ever have had in the SPL, taking away Champions League income which I think would be offset by the owners who do have money behind them, but don't invest as much into the teams at the moment, as it's not an investment, but with the prospect of Premiership football on the horizon it would be worthwhile.

Dermot Desmond one of the Celtic board members is one of the richest men in Britain, and could quite easily help the backing of the team, Rangers are part owned by EINC who are also involved with Spurs, although the FA may have an issue with this, they could bankroll Rangers rise.
The question is always asked to me,


"How well do you think Celtic would do in the Premiership?"


I'd love it if there was a simple answer, but there's not, right now Celtic live of money from fans and european football, only receiving £2m for winning the SPL, so with that kind money, to be able to compete in the Champions League and Europa Cup, is an achievement, and with the team right now, we could compete in the Premiership, we would not be of the top 6 level, but I woudl think we would come between 11th and 16th, I don't think we would go down, or Rangers for that matter.

However once inducted into the English league after 4-5 years even be it, 2 years in the Championship and 3 years in the Premiership we would be up there challenging the European places.

With over £30m to spend each year, the Old Firm could attract players of a high standard, Glasgow is an attractive place to play, the Stadia and fan base is already in place, and both teams would prosper so much.

Another road block, is of course how they would enter the league, no matter where you put them, someone is not going to be happy, If they go straight in the EPL, every football league club would be furious, and if they entered at League 2, every non league club would let their feeling known.

Personally I think there will be a restructure of the EPL and Championship, and Celtic and Rangers would be involved, starting on the Championship plateau, ready and waiting to move up to the big boys.

Leeds United v Liverpool - 22nd September

This was requested by my friend and Leeds fan Matt.

Leeds: Higgs - Crowe, Kisnobo, Michalik, Hughes - Snodgrass, Howson, Doyle, Johnson - Becchio, Beckford
Liverpool: Cavalieri - Degen, Carragher, Krygiakos, Dossens - Spearing, Mascherano, Babel, Riera, Auerlio - N'gog

2 of the countries biggest teams met in the 3rd round of the English League Cup, 6 years ago this would have been an even bigger game, but Leeds are now in the third tier of English football, Rafa Benitez has already said he wants to win the Cup so a strong Liverpool team was expected, and for Leeds a chance to battle again with the big teams and recreate the glory days.

Living in Leeds myself you would expect I see alot of Simon Grayson's team, but I have only made my way to Elland Road once in 5 years, a mixture of the over priced tickets, and that my girlfriend is a Sheffield United way, big rivals of Leeds, so I was looking forward to seeing what sort of football Leeds could play, I have only watched them in the past years in the League Playoffs and time after time, they disappointed.

However they redeemed themselves in this match, playing some lovely flowing football, the midfield 4 were superb, some great 1-2, passing and moving, Doyle was a great force going forward, and the Man of the Match was Scotlands Richard Snodgrass was performance earning him a call up to the Scotland team to the upcoming friendly in Japan.

In defence Jason Kisnorbo was fantastic, the ex Hearts and Leicester centre dealt very well all night with David N'gog very rarely did Liverpool get past him.

It was Leeds front pair that disappointed, Luciano Becchio usually so impressive failed to get into the game, he ran hard but created little, the one moment he was involved in was a controversial one, Michalik got his head to the ball in the Liverpool box, it has flicked past Cavalieri, and Becchio made sure it went in, the Leeds fans went crazy but the Linesman lifted his flag and ruled both Becchio and Beckford offside, after numerous TV replays it was very very close, and in my opinion the goal should have stood, and with Leeds confidence high they could have went on to win.

The most disappointing player for me in the Leeds side was Jermaine Beckford, 27 league goals last season and 7 this season, if anyone was going to be Leeds catalyst it should have been Jermaine, but he failed to live up to the massive expectation on his shoulders, the 25yr forward was expected to move away from the Yorkshire club this summer but has stayed to again try and get Leeds promoted, as I have said I don't want Leeds every week, but in now 7 games I've seen Beckford play, only in 1 league game were he scored 2 goals was I impressed, in 4 playoff semi-finals and 1 playoff final in my eyes he disappeared, for the bigger teams watching him, I'm sure they've seen this too, and that would explain the lack of big money offers.

Beckford has the best of Leeds chances, an overhead kick went very close, and over the top pass found him through on goal and he couldn't finish.

Liverpool survived Leeds attacks and finally took the lead, Mascherano who was lucky to be on the field after an elbow to the back of Beckfords head was deemed an accident, lashed out to volley the ball, the wayward shot was controlled by N'gog he turned and finished calmly to put his team in the lead.

Until the goal, Liverpool never ever looked like scoring, although not their strongest team, and was in no way a full 2nd choice team, Carragher, Dossena, Mascherano, Riera all 1st team players, and the respect shown to Leeds increased when both Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard both came on to see out the match.

It was Liverpool that got the victory and move on the next round, but I'm very sure both sets of fans would have left with their heads held high.
Liverpool fans got a chance to see N'gog step up, the young Jay Spearing had a good match in the midfield and long time Injury victim Philip Degen had a good match.
Leeds showed they can play with the big teams and impress, there are no excuses for them not achieving promotion this season, no points deduction no managerial unrest, It's about time Leeds got back up to the higher tiers of English football.

Match Rating - 7/10

M.O.M - Richard Snodgrass - Leeds