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It is getting to the stage where teams who have regular access to the Champions League can take their pick of the available players while only a few others that can buy their way into that select group through wild spending can even hope to challenge for top honours.
Maybe it is time for regular European league football rather than the more limited Champions League format.
Obviously smaller clubs are going to want to still have the big clubs playing at their stadiums but it might be that such a gap has opened up that the giants should be playing regularly to meet the massive financial demands on clubs.
I'm a fan of Rangers, a huge club who are in financial hell at the moment. There are three major bids in for the club at the moment, from a Scottish lead consortium called The Blue Knights, an American consortium lead by a Georgia based towing millionaire called Bill Miller who launched a failed motor racing series and also another bid led by Singapore millionaire Bill Ng.
The club apparently owe £134m, although the takeover process is very complicated as there are unresolved tax bills in that figure and the club is in administration (the first stage of bankruptcy, although making a percentage offer on debts can lead to the club exiting this situation if accepted by people owed by the club as long as over 75% of the debt is covered) and returning to normal operation.
The alternative is liquidation, which is full bankruptcy and would mean the club would need to be reformed as a new company and would not necessarily be readmitted to the Scottish Premier League, or even the Scottish Football League (1st, 2nd and 3rd Division level) and the club would be banned from Europe for 3 years.
This season, Celtic won the SPL very quickly due to Rangers being hit with a 10 point deduction for entering administration and the star striker, Nikica Jelavic being sold to Everton. Rangers are likely to be denied a licence to play in Europe next season which will cost the club over £10m. They are also not allowed to sign any players at the moment either, even on free transfers.
The key problem for clubs in Scotland has been the terrible TV deal we have that means that even Rangers and Celtic are getting around £1.5m a season from the SPL in TV money while English Premier League teams get more than £35m.
In the 80s, 90s and early 2000s, Rangers imported players like Terry Butcher, Chris Woods, Mark Hateley, Brian Laudrup, Paul Gascoigne, both De Boer twins, Giovanni Van Bronkhorst, Gennaro Gattuso, Mikel Arteta in their team. Rangers smashed the Scottish transfer record with the £12m signing of Tore Andre Flo back in November 2000. They also held the Bryish transfer record back in 1994 with the £4m signing of Duncan Ferguson.
Celtic in that same era had players such as Henrik Larsson, Chris Sutton, Paulo Di Canio and Pierre Van Hooydonk.
The Old Firm was a glamour game in terms of British football for several years until the money pretty much dried up, especially at Rangers.
To put things into perspective though, Rangers held the British transfer record in 1994 after paying out £4m. That record is now £50m while the Scottish record has stood at £12m for over 11 years.
Maybe the only way for clubs from nations such as Scotland to be able to stand on equal footing with the teams from bigger nations is to be playing other major teams in a league format. Scotland has three clubs who have won European trophies, Celtic (European Cup 1967), Rangers (1972 European Cup Winners Cup) and Aberdeen (1983 European Cup Winners Cup and European Super Cup) while Dundee United also played in a UEFA Cup final in 1987. Both Old Firm teams have reached 4 finals while the two others have played in one major final each.
Both Old Firm teams have excellent stadiums, Ibrox (Rangers) holds 51,000 while Celtic Park holds 60,000. They both have huge international followings.
The super clubs of countries like Scotland, Holland, Portugal, Belgium and the Scandinavian nations have struggled along with pathetic TV money for years while the minnows of countries like England get collosal payouts.
No wonder Rangers have run into problems when they get less than 1/20 of what English Premier League club Swansea City (from Wales) get in TV cash despite being huge in comparison to the EPL minnows.
I've heard some people in English saying Scottish teams wouldn't be good enough to play in England but the clubs involved would have massive increases in finances just with having access to a bigger league and all the benefits that would bring. Gate receipts would massively increase, TV money would multiply, merchandise sales would explode and the clubs could bring in far more glamour signings.
Probably what the major leagues fear is that outside clubs would be taking revenue from their own small clubs and could potentially even win trophies and take European places as well.
Pan European leagues are probably what should be happening but there are too many small clubs holding the future back.
Originally Posted by afroloq
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