SPL: Old firm hopeful of tv deal

The Scottish Premier League clubs arrived at Hampden Park this morning in hopeful mood that an agreement can be reached regarding television rights for next season.

A stalemate has already occurred over the live TV coverage of games next term after Rangers and Celtic both rejected proposals for an SPL TV channel at a meeting last week.

Representatives of both Old Firm clubs arrived together today as the 12 SPL clubs attempt to thrash out an agreement over highlights packages, and both Rangers and Celtic maintain there is no hidden agenda.

Ian McLeod, Celtic chief executive, said: ‘‘Let’s hope that common-sense is going to prevail we are going to look at a vision for Scottish football and we want to play an active part in that.

‘‘There is no additional agenda and there is no additional deal on the table. We voted against the resolution last week because we didn’t think it was financially viable.

‘‘There are other resolutions on the table today and we want to take a constructive view of that in court.’’

Rangers director John McClelland said: ‘‘We (the Old Firm) are standing side by side. We supported the SPL channel conceptually but not the business case so last week we didn’t vote for it.

‘‘The dialogue today will hopefully be concluded with some plan to go forward.’’