UEFA offer Celtic hope over moving to England

The general secretary of UEFA has given Celtic’s aspirations to exit Scottish football a boost by declaring the association were ready to discuss the proposal with the Scottish champons.

Celtic are lobbying to make clashes such as these, a Champions League match against Manchester United in 2006, a more regular occurence. Picture: PA

Gianni Infantino responded to suggestions by Fergus McCann that Celtic should move to the English Premier League by saying UEFA was “open to discussing everything.”

Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell was appointed to executive board of the European Club Association, a position from which the club will hope to increase their influence among European football chiefs.

Ifantino suggested that the outcome of an experiment in women’s football, where Belgian and Dutch teams play each other in a newly-formed championship, would determine the likelihood of more high profile cross-border mergers taking place.

Celtic and Rangers have been agitating periodically for a move to the English Premier League for a number of years, with both clubs until recent times on unison over claims that they had outgrown the Scottish game.

The general secretary maintained that UEFA firmly opposes cross-border leagues at the game’s elite level at present, and added that nothing would happen in the short term.

But, offering Celtic hope of a long-term solution, he said: “I don’t know what will happen and there are other discussions going on in Scotland at the moment about independence in any case. One part of the country wants independence and another wants to join England. There is an experiment, a test, going on in the BeNe League in women’s football with Belgium and the Netherlands.

“This has gone on for a year and we will take a look into that after the second year.”