Premier League chief Richard Scudamore has told Scottish soccer giants Celtic and Rangers to forget about joining the lucrative English top flight, insisting that “no means no.”
The chairmen of the 20 Premier League clubs decisively rejected on Thursday a plan put forward by Bolton Wanderers’ Phil Gartside to include the Glasgow rivals, who have two of the largest fan bases in British soccer, from joining an expanded, two-tier, competition.
Bolton chairman Gartside’s other proposals, including a re-distribution of television money designed to promote a more competitive league and break the stranglehold of the “Big Four” — Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool — on the leading places, will now form part of a strategic review.
There has long been talk of Celtic and Rangers “moving south,” but Premier League chief executive Scudamore told BBC Radio Five Live: “The clubs discussed this and, as far as Celtic and Rangers are concerned, it’s a non-starter.”
“The clubs constitutionally voted to say we are not going to take this any further,” he said. “We have made a clear and unequivocal statement. No means no — Celtic and Rangers are not coming in.”
In response, both Celtic and Rangers issued similarly bland statements making it clear they had nothing to with Gartside’s plans.
However, Scottish Football Association chief executive Gordon Smith was far more forthright.
“I’m glad the uncertainty has been taken away from the situation,” he said. “It wasn’t beneficial having that uncertainty hanging over the game in Scotland.”
There had been widespread concern in Scotland about the effect on the club game there if Celtic and Rangers, the two biggest drawcards, were no longer involved in domestic league action.
Hibernian manager John Hughes, whose side lie just behind the Old Firm in the Scottish Premier League, told Sky Sports: “I want to take my team to Ibrox [Rangers’ home ground] and Parkhead [Celtic’s base]; I want to go to those arenas, in front of those supporters. And, being a manager of an SPL side, I think they’re the cherry on the icing on the cake for us. I feel for them but I’m delighted they’re still part of Scottish football.”
Gartside, in his annual report last week, said the inequality of wealth between the “Big Four” and the rest was inhibiting competition while leading some teams to put their financial futures at risk in a bid to stay in the Premier League.
Champions Manchester United earned £52.3 million (US$86.7 million) in television money while bottom of the table West Bromwich Albion received £31.6 million — and were still relegated.
Gartside wrote: “The gap between Premier League revenues and those of the [second-tier] Championship continues to widen and I believe a ‘fear factor’ is beginning to emerge amongst Premier League clubs outside the top few.”
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