Martin O'Neill has chirped in with his opinion on this and it got me to thinking about it, which as you all know when it comes to things like this, leads to a quick question, where you get to answer yes or no, but before you answer, think of the changes that this would bring.
Now, I only know what I've read and I don't expect for a minute that we'll get all the details, just the stuff we need to know, much like the 39th game shambles. All we really needed to know about that mess was that they were thinking of adding it and we all knew it was wrong, mostly because it wasn't fair. But would this be wrong?
From what I understand there are going to be talks this summer about splitting up the Premier League into two divisions of 18 teams and that Celtic and Rangers would be invited to take part. Does this sound right to you so far?
It sounds to me like all they are doing is changing the name of Division Two The Championship to Premier League 2 and adding Celtic and Rangers, probably to the lower of the two divisions to start with.
It doesn't sound that bad does it, but surely you have to consider what happens when Celtic and Rangers join the league and is it right that a team from another country is allowed to come and join?
Celtic and Rangers are massive clubs with huge support and if they find themselves playing in the English Premier League, it won't be long before they have the financial clout to really muscle in. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for competition and just because they get a lot of support it doesn't mean it's instant success, but it's the different country thing that makes it feel wrong for me.
We've got teams in this country, playing in the English Premier League, who get or could get as many supporters every week as Celtic and Rangers and it hasn't guaranteed them success, in fact Celtic and Rangers could struggle if they come down and play in the English Premier League. It will certainly be a lot more challenging.
Despite the support and the success they are used to, I don't think either team would be that much of a threat to our current top four and they may even struggle to fight for a top six place, but again, that isn't the bit that makes me think it is wrong.
For me, it's wrong simply because they are in another country and while I'm all for competition, when you strip everything away, I suspect the real reason for this is financial, either for the clubs or the league and rather than try and paper over cracks or create new ones, I just think it might be better to fix it before adding to the problems.
However, this is just my opinion. Celtic and Rangers should stay in Scotland and we should just stick to the one league. However, Martin O'Neill thinks otherwise and I know my opinion is sort of a double standard as we have Welsh teams playing in the English league system but that sort of, feels different.
My personal thought is that Celtic and Rangers would enhance the Barclays Premier League.
Glasgow is a phenomenal football city. Celtic house 60,000 fans and Rangers house 50,000 fans every game. I'm not sure about Rangers but I know Celtic's capacity could go from 60,000 to 80,000 overnight, without a doubt.Martin O'Neill, April 29th 2009