Its every football fans dream, if you cant be a player, be a manager. I think.
I played at a good amateur level until injury stopped me in my tracks, I hated watching it and confined myself to live television matches. And along came fantasy football. My preference is The Sun’s Dream Team and my love of the game was rekindled with a vengeance. All of a sudden I'm having to consider budgets, transfer windows, injuries and the performance of not just the team that I have supported all my life but all the teams in the league, whether Celtic are playing them or not.
It also opened up my eyes to the English Premier League. Being Scottish, I have mostly concerned myself with the game in my own country, but entering the English variant of the competition increased my interest in this league.
Much has been said about the Old Firm going down to play there as they are obviously too big for the game in Scotland, and as a result in my opinion the game up here has suffered for it.
Football is no longer just a game. Lets be honest it’s a business, and as such not permitting the Old Firm to play in England must constitute a restriction of their ability to conduct their business. The Old Firm are massive. I don’t think that most of the English football fans truly believe how big they are. Or for that matter how much revenue they are capable of generating in their own right. Being part of the EPL would only benefit both parties. Playing the Old Firm would add at least another two full houses to all of the clubs out with the so called big four. In times when clubs are desperate to get the fans back in surly this would be a major asset to all concerned.
Yes I know in order for this to occur two clubs would have to miss out on a season in the EPL. I think that if the Old Firm consider themselves good enough to compete in this league they should prove this not by going straight in but to earn the right by qualification. What I would propose is at present the winners of the Championship enter the EPL as normal, whoever it is will be champions after all and have earned the right to be there. The next four teams however play off between themselves until two are remaining. These two teams will then face the Old Firm over two legs. The losers remain in the Championship. In effect if the Old Firm can’t beat the Championship also ran’s’ then they don’t deserve to be in the EPL.
I don’t deny that the EPL has massive pulling power as well as huge financial muscle. Maybe two much financial muscle. In the past, the Evil Empire in particular have been able to attract top class players in the shape of Gascoigne, Laudrup, Butcher to name but a few. But over the years the gap in money matters has widened to enormous proportions. Simply put the Scottish game and in particular the OLD Firm can’t compete. Okay both teams have made it to the EUFA Cup Final in the past decade. But the money generated from winning this competition is not a patch on Champions League success. I quantify this statement by saying there is more money in the latter rounds than is available to the winners of the lesser European competition. So if the Old Firm have ambitions in the European theatre, which they do, they need the finances to carry this dream through.
In a scenario where say Celtic and Everton are bidding for the same player and both have met the transfer fee and the players demands, the reality is that Everton will invariably win the players signature. Why? Well, even though Celtic are a fifity fifty bet for winning the League and the same could be said for the cups, as well as playing in Europe, the appeal of playing certain clubs four times in the league and say travelling to Cowdenbeath in February in a cup tie, probably does not hold the same attraction as that offered by the EPL. Given the opportunity this players signature might be instead on an Old Firm registration document.
Make no bones about it, after a couple of years in the EPL, the OLD firm would turn the term big four into the big six. There are reasons why so many English clubs invite Scotland’s big two down for testimonials and the likes. Their fan base is huge, and huge fan bases generate huge amounts of cash. Never mind the so called trouble that it would cause with the old Scotland / England argument. There will always be crowd problems in football. It is a tribal sport after all. You just have to go to the sports sections in most bookshops to find book after book on soccer hooliganism. I know up here it is really no longer a problem, and as we don’t get much coverage of troubles surrounding clubs like Leeds, Millwall, west Ham to name but a few, that is not to say that it doesn’t exist, only it is kept out of the public eye as much as is possible.
So who knows, maybe in the future I will get my chance to pick my dream team consisting of players from my beloved Celtic along with players from the EPL. With a Scotsman at the helm I'm sure that my fantasy team would come to dominate the Dream Team competition for years to come.