SFA chief fears “widespread consequences” to Old Firm switch

SCOTTISH Football Association chief executive David Taylor insists any move to England by the Old Firm would result in chaos for the game north of the border.

Celtic majority shareholder Dermot Desmond has hit out at clubs, broadcasters and administrators and claimed a cartel is thwarting competition both north and south of the border.

He wants to see Celtic and Rangers admitted to the Barclaycard Premiership, claiming there would be benefits for the English game and also claims the current television rights system is illegal.

The Football Association and the English Premier League have both delivered a verdict of ‘no chance’ on any such move.

Now Taylor has joined the chorus of disapproval over Desmond’s proposal.

Taylor said: “Any move by Celtic to join the English Premiership would have widespread consequences for the national game in Scotland and not just the two Old Firm clubs.

“This is still entirely hypothetical because Celtic have not been invited to join the league in England nor is there any indication this is likely to happen. With these two points being made, I don’t think there is anything further to say.”

And FA director of football affairs David Davies maintains there are far too many obstacles for an Old Firm move south.

He said: “We have a situation where 204 countries in the world compete against each other and if you go down this road then frankly international football is dead.

“Whenever this matter has come up at the Premier League, the clubs understand the initial attraction and then go into the reality of it.

“I can remember when Manchester United entered the World Club Championship in Brazil and I went up there for a press conference with Sir Alex Ferguson and Martin Edwards and fans said to me ‘David, what you have got to understand is we much prefer to be playing Bolton or Leicester on a Saturday afternoon than facing teams from all around the world’.

“Domestic football is right at the heart of the game worldwide. If you have a strong league everything else stems from that.

“I’m not going to go into the legal rights and wrongs of it and I understand the attraction. This comes up perennially in August, but it never actually takes off.

“The other side to this is to ask the Scottish Football Association, ask the other clubs in Scotland and what the effect of Rangers and Celtic leaving would have on them?

“Are Rangers and Celtic suggesting they be catapulted into the top flight or are they going to work their way up from the bottom of the pyramid? If they are going to be catapulted, is that sporting, is that what sport is about?

“You could go to North America, you could go to Asia, there are a lot of clubs there who would like to play in England.

“But this is a generation and a time where we have a Scottish Parliament. Scots defend their independence in football terms very fiercely and they are absolutely right to do so.”