Old Firm speculation 'has been put to bed' - SPL chief

Published on Friday 13 November 2009 12:54

THE Old Firm should reconcile themselves once and for all with staying in Scotland, according to Scottish Premier League chief executive Neil Doncaster.

• Neil Doncaster

Celtic and Rangers are coming to terms with the latest and most crushing blow to their long-held dreams of moving to England.

A proposal by Bolton chairman Phil Gartside to include the Glasgow giants in a revamped Premier League set-up was yesterday rejected as neither "desirable or viable", a decision that did not surprise Doncaster.

"Whilst football can often appear to be hugely resistant to change, the way the beautiful game has evolved over the past 15 years is remarkable, by any measure," he told www.scotprem.com.

"But one thing that has not changed is the constant speculation about Rangers and Celtic leaving the SPL.

"This is one story that has continued to surface, time and again, with monotonous regularity.

"Clubs throughout the world have always tended to look at any proposed change from one perspective – i.e. what's in it for them.

"And therefore it came as no surprise that the English Premier League announced this week that their clubs 'were of the opinion that bringing Celtic and Rangers into any form of Premier League set-up was not desirable or viable'.

"Why is this so? After all, Rangers and Celtic both have a worldwide support, heritage and reputation that is the envy of many clubs throughout Europe.

"But English Premier League clubs, particularly those at the bottom end, will not vote for Celtic and Rangers to be welcomed in with open arms.

"This is because that would simply put at further jeopardy their own place in English football's elite.

"It's an attitude which is difficult seeing change in the future.

"Some say that all publicity is good publicity – that having Scottish football so much part of the UK sports scene over the past few weeks leading up to the discussion of Phil Gartside's paper can only be a good thing.

"Well, perhaps there is some truth in that. But it is certainly helpful that the speculation has now been put to bed."