Change of league......progress?

Micmac

Well-known member
I cannot help but feel the present set of circumstances we find ourselves in , European qualification , financial challenges re TV money , and competition from other leagues for players cannot be maintained much longer as a working model for our club. Historically I have been totally opposed to Celtic moving out with Scottish football for weekly competition. I have been prepared to accept dodgy refereeing decisions skulduggery from the SFA and all sorts of other weighting against us for more years than I care to remember.
However, what I refuse to accept is the totally biased and unfair weighting of the new Uefa competitions towards the big money clubs. Rather than grub around hoping to qualify for crumbs from the rich mans table we should be in the forefront of a radical change of tack , football competition wise. I truly believe we are in a "who blinks first" scenario the fat cats and their TV sponsored cash, or the vast majority of clubs,those who are very much on the outside looking in.
This is not an argument to forget meritocracy , rather one to keep the game true to its roots. There surely must be moves afoot at some level to frustrate the elite. As a club we are continually running after a bus which is pulling further and further away from us as we chase it over the hill and out of sight
 
I’ve often thought that these huge ‘operating expenses’ on the balance sheet could perhaps include some significant funds that are stashed away for when Celtic get an invite from somewhere to join another setup
 
Totally agree but you would have to call uefa's bluff and you would need need a lot of support. say if us along with ajax psv benfica porto anderlecht etc all issued joint statements warning that unless the current format changes we will all refuse to play in any european competitions it would then at least make everyone at uefa sit up and take notice.
 
Peter Lawwell was a member of the Executive Board of the ECA. This is recognised by UEFA as the organisation for the Elite Clubs. Celtic have been active in this organisation and hope that if there is a European league for the Big clubs then we get an Invite.

Bayern, Milan, Real Madrid Barcelona, Juventus, Man Utd, Arsenal, Lyon, Ajax, Anderlecht, Olympiacos are all represented on the Executive
 
Peter Lawwell was a member of the Executive Board of the ECA. This is recognised by UEFA as the organisation for the Elite Clubs. Celtic have been active in this organisation and hope that if there is a European league for the Big clubs then we get an Invite.

Bayern, Milan, Real Madrid Barcelona, Juventus, Man Utd, Arsenal, Lyon, Ajax, Anderlecht, Olympiacos are all represented on the Executive
The problem with this executive though is half those teams mentioned already have a European league it's called the champions league why would they want to rock the boat ?
 
The champions league has been growing exponentially since its inception, with UEFA contriving to make the rich richer and poor poorer. A system based on endless growth is unsustainable and sooner or later the arse will fall out of it and things will change or evolve (this is also true of the EPL). I believe the much vaunted Atlantic League will happen in some guise or another with promotion/relegation.
If we left Scottish football tomorrow I wouldn't shed a tear. Its not like SFA corruption/Rangers* bias is a new thing, it's been going on since the 1960`s for God sake! We've proven since 2012 we don't need a club from Ibrox to survive. We've thrived.
As for Scottish football itself, for what it's worth I happen to think it'd be a very watchable competitive league, granted a bit of a back water like N.I but still...
 
With the right TV contract for an Atlantic League, we could run our Under 23 team in the Scottish Premiership and compete. Or perhaps enhance the squad size by 5-10 and use the youth teams to fill in. Everybody gets a game every week and Paradise sees a game every week by cross scheduling with the runoff going to Hampden. We always worry about attendance but I suspect we cap our own attendance by not making the moves to challenge in Europe, leaving people's imaginations unchallenged. I think the big challenge would see tickets sales rise again. Aggressive, yes? But really only if you think the money machine will roll over soon, which I don't, despite knowing the arguments pro and con quite well,
.
 
I'm sure Peter Lawell has said plans are in motion to develop the 2 European competitions over the next 5 years. Basically more teams in the group stages of both or rather than qualifiers a pre group stage, group stage. Idea being Celtic have a better chance of getting European football after Christmas, while a Hibs or Aberdeen will make a group stage minimum (likely hood is for example Hibs getting 3 home games guaranteed in Europe before the end of August).
Not ideal but a slow improvement.
Remember, as bad as we find it some other scottish clubs have decent fan base but no access to Europe and struggle big time with it.
 
Also, the group stage money goes up every 2 to 3 years. Within 6 years I can see the group being worth 50 million alone, which would almost double our turnover each time we make it. Plus a pre group on top would be a pretty big wedge of cash from Europe for us. The problem we always face is no matter how much we earn we never compete with the teams with similar turnover to us in the transfer market.
 
I’ve often thought that these huge ‘operating expenses’ on the balance sheet could perhaps include some significant funds that are stashed away for when Celtic get an invite from somewhere to join another setup
Petty I know, but operating expenses are in the Income Statement (profit and loss) not the Balance Sheet.
 
I'm sure I read somewhere where Peter Lawwell said that the countries not included in the elitist so-called Champions League were making plans for some kind of pan-European league and that Celtic were involved in these discussions. It is only by strength in numbers that the non-CL clubs can hope to force any change! I find it incredible that associations from these countries did not kick up blazes when the latest changes to CL format was announced ensuring that, realistically, only rich clubs had any chance of really participating in that competition which should be re-named the Elite Clubs League because that's what it is. Champions from many countries don't even get a sniff of the competition while 4th placed clubs from rich countries get automatic qualification. This is not a sporting competition it is a commercial exercise!
 
There's a lot of big clubs in smaller leagues in the same boat as us. Ajax, Feyenoord, PSV, Anderlecht, Benfica, Sporting Lisbon, Porto, Red Star Belgrade, Steaua Bucharest to name a few. It'd be a crying shame to see names like that fade into history through wealth distribution. Unfortunately UEFA has shown it'll cave to the bigger leagues time and time again. A proper European league would allow greater equality in revenues to all participants meaning strength can be dictated by fan power and the smooth running of a club. That has to be the aim for Celtic. To a degree Cardiff/Swansea etc have done similar in playing outside their national league. Prior to the Crimea troubles, the Russian and Ukrainian leagues were looking at merging too.
 
My idea has been creating an atlantic league type competition to run alongside the top 4 leagues in europe. With the top 4 of the atlantic league qualifying directly to the champions league. This would increase tv revenue by pooling tv incomes from all of the atlantic league countries. The national leagues could also run underneath the atlantic league with promotion & relegation. The national league champions could play off against each other (like the current champions league qualifiers) to be promoted to the atlantic league each season. Say a 20 team league with the top 4 qualifying for the champions league & the bottom 4 relegated back to their national leagues.
 
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