The jockeying for cash between English footballs two cartels is quite a sight. The English Football League (EFL) currently earn just north of £500m a year in handouts from the Premier League (PL). They want that figure to increase to around £900m, while enough Premier League clubs are reluctant to share more of the money they create with those down the food chain.
The football model in England is broken (not that we are a perfect example). The PL is one of the world’s premier sporting brands. The EFL is one of the world’s wealthiest football league structures, but the disparity between their wealth and those above them make the gap precipitous for clubs having to deal with relegation.
The PL’s decision to decline the EFL’s offer to pay them £900m a year made your Conservative government angry, apparently. Yesterday, in stepped a prime minister in trouble and looking for a populist cause to show you he understands real people. Maybe I’m not real people but it’s not having the desired effect on me.
The PL and the EFL operate cartels inside the UK to the economic exclusion of Scottish clubs. This has a very real economic impact on the wider economy. Celtic would bring in around £400m more to the Glasgow economy each year, if they were able to compete with the rest of the UK.
The last time the EFL wanted leverage in their negotiations with the PL they threatened to offer Celtic and Newco a place in their league, introducing two clubs with prospects of promotion to the Premier League itself. The threat worked, the PL folded and the UK football market remained a fractured set of cartels.
If the government wants to genuinely protect the interests of disenfranchised clubs and supporters, breaking these cartels should be top of their agenda. Unfortunately, they don’t have the vision or intellect to act properly.
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Hail Hail.
Bada
Great memories of Manhattan as a teenager. Rudy’s, McSorleys and so many more. I still love them. Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be.
Last time I saw Celtic in the US was 2012 in Philly vs Real Madrid.
I had been 10 months in the country and thought, ‘wow, we get to do this every summer?’…..
Roll on July!
BRRB McSorley – cracking pub have a picture on my bar at home with some family members outside it a few years back.
Texastim
You have a bar at home? And I haven’t been invited?🤔
TEXASTIM
BRRB and I will be at your bar in t minus 10 hours.
Assuming I get tickets to all 3 games. NC and Notre Dame will be road trips for me and DC will be a long weekend with my Loovul lover.
Excited!
Also, first day of spring, act accordingly.
EBee- no more info mate
BRRB- Was in Rudy’s in June,that is a proper old school NY bar
Texastim
If that doesn’t worry you nothing will. 😂
Bada
Was there in August. The small doll has not been impressed by my choice of public house over the years. Can’t think why. 🤔
Saturday night after I got back to Auld Reekie after the the game, my niece introduced me to a beautiful young Norwegian lady, a student at Edinburgh University, who just happened to be the daughter of Celtic hero Harald Brattbakk.
Had a great evening in the company of this delightful young woman as we talked about her father, now plying his trade as an airline pilot.
Despite her youth, she was very well-versed on her father’s biggest achievement of scoring the vital goal that helped Celtic win the league.
Test.
Tam
Ya silver tongued devil that ye are. 😉
BIGRAILROADBLUES
During my stint in NYC I worked in Fox’s Bar on Broadway, just along from the Beacon Theatre.
Another traditional old Manhattan bar gone but not forgotten.
Great memories.
Varadkar resigns
Well I don’t think the government are the only ones lacking vision, although I have to say that’s an impressive looking tour of the States – fair play to whoever organised that.
Certainly a lot better than a game in Sydney against an “unknown opponent”. There’s just no telling who those pesky “unknown” opponents might turn out to be!
Bada
Did he wipe the Tynecastle var tapes?
GGH
Probably wiped his a#£e with them.
Aipple – Thanks for the ticket info on previous thread. I’ve registered my interest in Notre Dame, so hopefully tickets will be secured. Will bring my son and maybe one or two others. We’ll likely need to fly to Chicago and hire a car. Feels like it might be a weekend to remember!
GGH
Song from Rory to the SFA hun.
https://youtu.be/TQrSUs1d1RM?si=F6_kW3HaJ7rCsF78
BRRB
Good description of Alfredo’s earlier 👍, now known as Alfie’s Sports bar 🙈😂🍺
Parkroad 67
Aye G. It’s called a lot of things. 😂
A major repositioning of football leagues in the UK giving Celtic a place alongside Man Utd and Liverpool would as P67 says see Celtic’s revenue increases by multiples. I’m sure it wouldn’t harm our share price. A major share holder would make an awful lot of money in such an event.
For many years now it’s been clear to me that Desmond effectively put Celtic into cold storage while he waited for the EPL money to arrive.
I personally have very little time for English football and probably wouldn’t want to see us competing in a such a league.
Regardless, I wish we had a major shareholder that was determined to see us excel as we are rather than kicking tyres for years waiting for the phone call to come in from London.
TOM MCLAUGHLIN on 20TH MARCH 2024 12:45 PM
—————
Hi Tom,
There’s a good chance I’ll be in Edinburgh for the Huns game at Ibrox on Sunday 7th, and wondered if you’ll be booking your booth at O’Shea’s and if I’d be ok to join your company for the game?
BIGRAILROADBLUES on 20TH MARCH 2024 1:04 PM
GGH
Song from Rory to the SFA hun.
https://youtu.be/TQrSUs1d1RM?si=F6_kW3HaJ7rCsF78
_____
Saw him at Green’s playhouse in 1973 (support act, Greenslade). I’d only heard one of his albums but the concert was amazing. Lost count of the amount of guitars he played that night. One of the best live acts ever
BIGRAILROADBLUES on 20TH MARCH 2024 12:11 PM
Texastim
You have a bar at home? And I haven’t been invited?🤔
BRRB and Aipple – nice one! It must be the only bar BRRB hasn’t been in…
MNCelt – was thinking the same for Notre Dame, fly then drive. My plans are to be at all three games, with members of my family joining, per their work schedules etc. Will try to get as much of the family as possible for the Notre Dame game, as a straight shot north to Chicago, and a weekend.
BRRB
Another great track.
Ziggy
First time I saw him was 74. Used to go anytime he was at the Apollo.
Always put on a fantastic show.
Ziggydoc1
Seen him at Greens/Appollo a few times, National Stadium Dublin and most memorably at the Bottom Line in NYC. Pat Benatar was in the audience, a fine looking girl…..where was I? 🤔
Melvin Udall
My son and I will definitely be at Kitty’s on the 7th. It’s a great and safe place to enjoy it for sure. Hopefully the same result as last time too !
I hate not being at these games….. but this place is a humane place to witness it amongst loads of likeminded folks. Credit to Tom Mc for the heads up on it last time.
Anyone else going along to Murrayfield on Friday night. ?
It’s the 40th (hard to believe) anniversary of the esteemed institution known as the ‘Tommy Burns Supper’. Incredible they they have taken to Murrayfield to accommodate the numbers. I can well remember Tommy attending and doing his trademark ‘Mac the Knife’ in those early years.
It promises to be a really special genuine Celtic occasion.
The good old days, at Green’s and the Apollo. So hard nowadays to find good new music
BURNLEY78 on 20TH MARCH 2024 1:45 PM
Melvin Udall
My son and I will definitely be at Kitty’s on the 7th. It’s a great and safe place to enjoy it for sure. Hopefully the same result as last time too !
I hate not being at these games….. but this place is a humane place to witness it amongst loads of likeminded folks. Credit to Tom Mc for the heads up on it last time.
—————
Cheers Burnley!
Didn’t realise you were an Edinburgh guy.
I’ll keep an eye out for your posts on here until nearer the game and if I’m definitely in Edinburgh for the game, we could arrange to catch up at O’Shea’s?
Will get you a pint!
Cheers again. 😃🥰🍀🇮🇪
I saw you in Rudy’s ,
You were very high……..
HH
Phil.
Good afternoon all from the Shilling Brewery Co. West George Street. More than a Shilling for a beer in here. 😂
Memo to Paul et al
Just found out recently that the ‘Premier League’
hates being referred to, as is more commonly the case,
as the ‘EPL’
CELTIC MAC on 20TH MARCH 2024 2:38 PM
Memo to Paul et al
Just found out recently that the ‘Premier League’
hates being referred to, as is more commonly the case,
as the ‘EPL’
———-
Cheers CM.
The “EPL” it is then.
GGH- VG
Never to late to begin a good plan.
– Buy a club in England
– Sign lots of prospects (don’t we already?)
– Loan the prospects to the club in England
– Bring them back when they’ve reached a standard
– STOP. RESET.
– Make the first really tough call
– Send better players to English club
– Get them promoted a few times, ideally up to League One
– As the level, profile AND income rises of English club gets closer to that of parent club, have a genuine consolidation of coaching, scouting, recruiting, sports science
– grow both clubs along similar pathways
– Celtic’s holy grail is respectability in Europe
– English club’s is English Championship
– When English club reaches Championship … make that difficult call – switcheroo and get Celtic into the EPL.
I’ve just described perhaps 12-15 years of work ….
… running alongside which would be another “work stream”
Slow “decouple from, or GTF to, the SFA”
Aah – If only if was that simple
(it’s not).