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Premiership Football News: Old Firm To Premier League?

Andy Greeves

The possibility of Celtic and Rangers joining the English Premier League was on the football topic agenda once again this week, as a meeting of the Premiership clubs was held in central London.

Bolton Wanderers chairman Phil Gartside put forward proposals of the Scottish clubs joining the league along with suggestions for the re-structuring of the Premiership into a two-tiered format. It is Gartside's belief that a two-tiered Premiership would mean a greater share of wealth for more clubs and ease the financial fears of relegation. His proposals, though well-meaning, were rejected at this meeting, but one doubts the issue of a two-tiered Premier League, or the Old Firm joining England's elite has gone away for long.

Gartside's Bolton Wanderers reported recent losses for the financial year of £13.2m, increasing their net debt to £62m. This figure stands despite the fact Bolton have been in the Premier League for the last nine consecutive seasons. The chairman delivered a damning report on the state of the English game in a recent Bolton Wanderers financial report, which read:

"The same few clubs are continuing to benefit from the huge additional revenues from the Champions League and the remaining clubs find it enormously difficult to challenge.... At the same time, the gap between Premier League revenues and those of the Championship continues to widen and I believe a fear factor is beginning to emerge amongst Premier League clubs outside the top few. Addressing this polarisation of clubs will be the major strategic issue for the Premier League over coming years."

Manchester United reported a turnover of £256m in the last financial year, while Bolton Wanderers profits for the same period stood at £59.1m. These kind of figures emphasise the huge gap between the 'have's' and the 'have-not's' in English football. Though ironically, Manchester United find themselves in a far greater operational debt than Bolton Wanderers - £600m+ compared to the Trotters £62m. This is of course, mostly to do the buy-out structure put in place by the Glaziers when they took charge of the Old Trafford club.

What is perhaps most staggering in the financial gulf between the Premier League and Championship level. The Premier League has been negotiation it's television rights separately to the Football League since 1992 and top flight teams make a reported £40m more a year than their Championship rivals when it comes to broadcasting revenue. Relegation from the Premier League is purely and simply a financial catastrophe.

Phil Gartside's proposals of having two Premier League divisions, each with 18 clubs, aims to see a fairer distribution of this television revenue. The hope that this format might create a more level playing field is probably misguided though. While a two-tiered Premier League would give 36 clubs a slice of the broadcasting money, as opposed to 20 currently, the hegemony of English football is unlikely to be broken.

Gartside has been accused of 'self-interest' in bringing forward to the re-structure proposals, especially by suggesting promotion and relegation between the Premier League and Football League be done away with. Should a system ever be in place where teams in lower divisions know they can never get promoted to the top-flight, one would seriously question the credibility of English football. Without Rangers and Celtic in the Scottish League, fears would be about as to the future of the game north of the border too.

Movement between leagues - the relegation battles and the promotion fights - are as intriguing to the average football fan as the race for the Premier League title. Remove that and you essentially take the competition out of football. The Premier League's lesser likes could become contempt to be cannon-fodder for the big guns, know they're place in the division and financial safety was always secure. While the pressures of staying in the top flight do promote an unhealthy 'spend today, worry tomorrow' culture, it does mean that clubs are fighting for their lives on the football pitch and that's what the public wants to see.

Rangers and Celtic's automatic election to the Premier League would prove unpopular with many too. Especially the Football League clubs, who spend decades building squads that will one day take them into football's equivalent of the promised land. How would these clubs feel watching Rangers and Celtic getting a free-pass into the league they've been legitimately working towards joining for years? Despite backing from the likes of David Moyes, Harry Redknapp and Martin O'Neill, grass roots supporters would suggest this idea to be abhorrent.

In the Premier League meeting, as many as 16 clubs are believed to have rejected Phil Gartside's ideas regarding re-structuring. Change to the league system in the future is still thought be very much on the agenda, with a large proportion of Premier League clubs believing their needs to be great equilibrium in the division. Dave Whelan, chairman of Wigan Athletic, is opposed to Celtic and Rangers joining the Premier League but believes "eight to ten Premier League struggle just to survive". He would be likely to support a more moderate system of change to the league format, if or when the issue is raised again.

Reform of the English leagues is an emotive issue and the arguments for and against change, indeed the arguments regarding the type of change, are set to run and run. These issues are as likely to divide clubs as much as bring them together in a business where ultimately everyone is out for themselves.

Andy Greeves

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