England move would triple value of Celtic, says McCann

In terms of finances lets say our average income is 60M a year, sometimes its 55 sometimes its 75 depending on CL qualification.

Inclusion in the EPL means instant 60M increase from t.v money alone. Our 5M per year deal with nike would triple.

Our 2/3M deal with magners would triple.

There would be a line out to the forge for stadium naming rights. We are talking going from 75M to 180-200M overnight. I don't think some fans just realise how much of a sleeping giant we actually are.

I am not even including match day income / season ticket sales or merchandise from selling tops etc... which would all increase exponentially.

Of course it would take 2/3 seasons to really cement ourselves but we would be challenging for CL and the title within 5 years, i have no doubt about it.

 

Im as proud of this club as the next Celtic fan but there is some really arrogant optimism here.

The one thing that has been remarked, is that it will take 2-3 seasons to cement ourselves in the league. But we can fall really hard and fast in that time and it could take a long time to get back our feet.

To me going to the EPL not only spits in the face of over one hundred years of tradition, its also playing with fire. Maybe we will be lucky and in 2-3 seasons we'll be competing for a Europa League spot. But we could also be battling relegation and wondering if the chance for the television money was worth it.

Anyway its going to be awhile before we'll ever be invited into the EPL. They've said over and over again that no, we're not invited. Its going to take some major personnel changes in that league before our day will come. I hope that it turns out the way you all claim. I really do, if the day comes. Because it would be sad to see us battling for a spot in the middle of the EPL and never see another European night again.

 

Are you mad Do you not realise how huge Celtic are? We'd be fighting for the title in 5 years.


Your seriously underestimating how massive our club is, and that's a club from the small * nobody gives a * about Scottish Premiership. A would imagine our fan base would grow 5 folds more if we joined the EPL

 

* moving to a foreign country, we are not an english team...

 

I guess it depends what you want for Celtic. If you want the club to represent a community (divided though that community currently is), we shouldn't touch England with a barge pole.

If you just want to see some of the world's best players in the hoops and to be in with a chance of winning the big cup again, England would be great for us.

I think most of us want both of these things (I certainly do) but currently you can't have both. Any move to England would greatly accelerate the process of alienation that is already underway and we would be left with a very, very different club alongside the great players and the cups etc. We would need to think very carefully over which of these things is more important to us as a support because you can be sure the board already know what is more important to them. #beCeltic

For what it's worth. I want us to stay in Scotland, heal the rifts in our support, unite to defeat the bill and rebuild a fan culture that reflects all sections of our support (that will absolutely include the GB but hopefully see those in our support with views that differ from the GB starting their own singing sections/ banners etc) and, to be blunt about this, remain Celtic. The EPL bubble will end one day. I don't know if it will be in 2 years or 20 but it will end because all financial bubbles always have.

 

You'd be playing man utd, Chelsea, man city, Liverpool, arsenal etc every year.

 

If we moved to the EPL, the only clubs that would be bigger than us are Manchester United and Liverpool.

It will never happen, our potential is way too big and the other top teams in the league do not want us coming in and spoiling it for them.

 

Honestly I would be over the moon if Celtic moved the EPL. Plastic league or not, we are a big fish in a small pond and our growth is stunted as such.

 

Absolute horse dung, we could go down to the EPL with the squad we have right now and comfortably avoid relegation. Our home form would see us through no problem.

 

Moving to a better league, be it English or European would give Celtic one tiny little thing that's usually present in sport... competition.

 

No thanks. Wouldn't be the same club for me.

Then there's travelling to England every weekend in a league where NO ONE wants us apart from people who only see profit?

What even makes our own supporters think we'd be a top 10 team challenging for the title and a Champions League spot every year down there anyway? Simply because we're Celtic?

What happens if things aren't the utopia some insist and we end up relegated instead, becoming a team floating around the lower English divisions indefinitely with even less of that lucrative money we left in the first place for?

I'm just not seeing enough pro's tbh.

I'd rather we stayed where we are (Home, where we belong) and remained the best team in our league competing regularly for Champions League football with a solid rich history.

And not of one who jumped ship for English riches.

 

How about the team that finishes just above relegation in EPL have to play one season in Scotland ... they can use Celtic Park and we can use their ground... give them a shot at CL football

 

This- and I'm English!

I just think it's wrong. I have no doubt Celtic would flourish financially with a move to England, and within a short time they would be competing at the top end of the league, but I just don't think it's the right thing to do.

 

Just read on newsnow celtic the head of eufa is open for discussion for celtic to join the EPL.
Could be the start of the process of change.

 

I would rather see Scottish football grow slowly than see our bank balance triple in one night. They don't deserve our club because Celtic stands for much more than money.

 

Very good post mate, all the Celtic related points you raised are valid, also the brand epl is nothing about football, its more to do with money, business and profits, sport and fans come a very poor second.

 

I want Scotland to be independent. Why the * would I want Celtic to join the EPL? * that!

Preferably I would rather wait and hope our league catches up with the modern game. However, I did choose a European set up. The Atlantic league or whatever it was called would be great.

Celtic, Rosenborg, Copenhagen, PSV, Ajax and so on...

 

There's no dought we are Scottish but we could use the Cardiff& Swansea example of what can be done and we are massive in comparison to they 2 sides. I think we'd be more like 8th the first 2 seasons then booom!!! We'd be up their chasing Europe each year.
After the dust settles it's obvious we'd be one of the big bhoys.
On the flip side spl would be no better than the league of Ireland once we left!
Unless the spl somehow has massive investments so the who:bbpd:le country sees the benefits we should do everything to get out.

 

Something else that should be given due consideration when discussing the possibility of a move to England is ticket prices. I have seen an awful lot of people on this forum, myself included, citing ticket prices as one of the main reasons for Celtic Park being half empty these days. Well there is one thing I can say with absolute certainty - ticket prices will not be coming down if we start playing in the English league! In fact, if we were playing in the English Premier League next season I would go so far as to say that ticket prices would double overnight.

What would happen to attendances at Celtic Park then?

I think there would be some fans, particularly the least well off amongst our support, who would overnight be priced out of attending matches. I would not be comfortable with that. I doubt Brother Walfrid would be either. Celtic, from it's very beginnings, has been a champion of the less fortunate and the club are never shy about playing the 'club founded for charitable reasons' card. I don't believe that expecting fans from some of the most deprived areas of Scotland to cough up £50 to attend each home match really fits in with the founding principles of the club.

If we went down south we'd be turning ourselves into another soulless money making machine and a corporate stooge for the already hideously overfinanced English Premier League. We'd be starting down the road of becoming a club for the upper middle class. A club for those who can afford to pay rather than a club that represents a community and a diaspora.

That's not what I want to see for Celtic. Not ever.

 

A European league set-up for me, far better than playing the likes of Hull or Wigan.