The future...

I think we should all recognise the very important job Peter Lawwell does for us

 

The league won't crumble no one has said that, the league will get worse overall, the standard will drop, yes there are always shocks but you can't honestly believe any other team can realistically challenge Celtic for the title, Motherwell? No, Hearts? No, Hibs? No, Aberdeen? No, even if there was an increase in fan interest in these clubs they still wouldn't get near Celtic to be honest.

 

I honestly believe any of those teams could give us a hard time, and challenge for the title if Rangers were gone.

 

Yea would be ideal.

Humping them in the league most years, extended European runs to rub in their face.

Watching the atomosphere at CP get even better while the * pit turns into a Morgue

Would be less fun without them.

 

Financially the key for all clubs (if minus the huns) is generating attendances, sponsorship and other comercial opportunities to cover the short fall. Should the clubs do so effectively then, even with a dilution in quality on the field the league would still continue.

Fans will now be shown up/or not for their reasoning behind supporting their respective clubs. Do you do it for the big games or rival matches; or are you interested in the club and football itself. Celtic main source of income isn`t TV; its the people who turn up week in week out. I for one will not desert my club because we won`t be playing Rangers four times a season;will others only the future will tell.

The future (minus Rangers) will be decided in the clubs attendance;

Is what being offered attractive to fans?

Economic conditions (Ticket Prices)
Quality Perception and Outcome- Is the league competitive or not? Will potential success encourage people to attend?
TV Deal or No TV Deal- With no Live match Screening the only way to see the game is to attend it live, Will a move back to 3pm kick-offs make a difference?,
Potential League Reconstruction- Been in discussion for a long time, No more 4 games against each team(which discourages many) Relegation Play-offs from SPL? Promotion Play-offs for First Division?

There are loads of issues outwith the current situation, where lots of emphasis from various sources is on the negative factors. Talking down other clubs potential, league will be won before Christmas, Celtic Fans will get bored and not turn up(didn`t see many get bored under Martin O`Neil, pumping teams week in week out 5-0). In the grand scheme its posible if the beasties are liquidated, it may take 4 years before they return to the highest level.

Is that long enough to wait if that is your main reason for attending?

The familiarity of having Rangers there is something we and Scottish football hasn`t been without for donkeys years. For some that is a scary thought, for others the change isn`t.

Again its hypothetical and these are just opinions without facts; just like the assumptions made by many within the media.

 

Agreed he has been given some unfair critism on here

 

I like the guy and I think he's right about the huns.

 

This is without doubt the weakest SPL and weakest Rangers team I have seen and I have been watching for over 30 years. Normally you have a semi decent Hearts and Hibs sides but they are really poor and skint. This shows that even between Rangers (before the deduction) who are awful there is a huge gap to 3rd. Basically the whole Scottish game other than Celtic is on an almost uniquely bad downwards spiral. Everyone has been selling of their decent players ever summer and you cant do that forever and maintain any sort of strength. I personally think the SPL will be dreadful now and I have said a lot of times I hate turkey shoots against rotten opposition. I would rather be given a good run for our money so it means something. I still believe the few titles we won in the 80s mean more than recent ones because we had to win against European finalist Aberdeen and Dundee United sides and souness's Rangers and 4 different teams held the title in a 5 or 6 year period.

 

Well said Gunt. We all love watching them squirm but an ever weakening SPL does NOBODY (including us) any favours. EPL is a pipe dream that some wouldn't want anyway. Celtic should take the lead in championing a North Atlantic league imo - not that that's likely either but it would be my preferred option.


In my heart I'm still dancing...in my head, I'm already looking to the future...

 

I believe the SPL will remain competitive. We will lose quality, yes. No need for players like Hooper and Kayal when we have no Huns, but in losing that bit of quality it will make the SPL a tighter race. We won't be buying to beat the Huns but buying to beat Hearts etc. Which will mean the league remains a competition. It will also mean we bring through more youngsters of our own and I have no doubt the national side will flourish because if it.

 

For a good few years now, we have battled like * to keep pace with increasingly wealthy European opposition. And, on the whole, we have done an admirable job! Look at Rangers - they tried to do it by spending beyond their means. We have done it using craft and cunning. Despite the fact that it gets harder every year, I for one, am not yet prepared to give up on that dream.

What you are saying is technically correct - no Rangers = less pressure to invest and attract the best. However, it also essentially means giving up on Europe in any meaningful sense.

And I say, "NO"!

 

Less pressure to attract "the best" Also means time to let ourselves catch a breath and bleed our own young. We have to give up on Europe, it's simply fantasy to expect anything else while we are a Scottish club in the current climate, but given time to bring forth our own I believe we will have a squad of young Celtic bred players capable of doing the same, if not better than what we are capable of doing in Europe right now.

Just my opinion of course. I'm ecstatic to be rid of such a bigoted organisation as Rangers and I believe Scottish football, Celtic and the general society as a whole will benefit hugely.

 

It's not fantasy at all, teams from smaller countries are in the last sixteen of the champions league and quite a few make the group stages. The Cypriot team for example, can't remember their name but they qualified for the last 16 and they play in what amounts to a one team league. Basel also qualified for the last sixteen from a country similar in size to Scotland.

 

in europe we will really struggle for a few years due to the knock on effect of rangers going out of business if/when it happens.

i only say this for 2 reasons, firstly short term there would be less outside investment in the scottish game hence Celtic missing out on all kinds of deals whether it be fairly lucrative Nike deals, tv deals, shirt sponser deals, stadium sponser and the list goes on. secondly this would also effect our FFP meaning we have even less to play with to financially be allowed to play in europe in the first place, something of which i'm confident we can still meet but when you think of what that would do to the amount we are able to spend on trying to sustain such glories the FFP really is going to be more a hindrance for the clubs who are actually quite big but play play in a pish poor financed league.

 

Totally agree manI'm saying that without Rangers after a while we WOULD have hope of some joy in Europe but right now we will struggle in Europe as our squad is packed full of prospects and not fully fledged stars (yet), and if Rangers die we will likely lose a lot of those prospects in the short term