'We would lose £750k-£1m' - Premiership boss on why Celtic and Rangers exit would be bad for the SPFL

David Martindale admitted a curiosity as to how Celtic and Rangers would fare in England if they were to leave - but the Livingston manager revealed he wouldn't want the Old Firm to go.

The Livi boss was responding to comments made by Craig Levein who believes the Premiership would benefit without the presence of the Glasgow behemoths. The former Hearts and Scotland manager said he “would absolutely drive the Old Firm down there myself” if the time comes and that the duo should give Scottish football a fee for allowing them to leave.

Martindale took an alternative view. He is a manager who enjoys the challenge of going up against Celtic and Rangers and with his “Livingston head on” he is wary of what the OldFirm do for the West Lothian side with both the broadcasting money and the visiting support when they play at the Tony Macaroni Arena.

“If they were to go we would lose a lot of the broadcasting money,” he said, via the Scottish Sun. “Personally, as a fan, I would love to see them in the Premier League to see how they got on. But as a manager I wouldn’t want them to leave.

"Our business model is based on away fans, it isn’t on season ticket holders. It’s not rocket science, if we were to lose between 24,000 to 32,000 away fans coming here every year then we would probably be in the Championship now. Because where does that money come from? How do we generate revenue like that? We would lose about £750,000 to £1million.”