LAWWELL’S EURO PLAN

The Hoops supremo has already made contact with Dutch giants Ajax as he bids to gain backing among other clubs who could face being shut out of playing among Europe’s elite.

Lawwell has asked the Amsterdam club’s marketing director, former Manchester United keeper Edwin van der Sar, for crunch talks aimed at forming a united front.

Former Bayern Munich star Rummenigge is chairman of the European Clubs Association – of which Lawwell is a board member – which met in Paris last week to discuss reform.

And while the Parkhead boss is trying to garner support from like-minded clubs, his SPFL counterpart Neil Doncaster is attempting to set up an urgent summit with league bosses from a host of smaller European countries as a response to the moves to revamp the competition at the end of next season.

Doncaster, who sits on the board of the European Professional Football Leagues, held informal discussions with representatives from a number of countries including Holland, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark and Sweden in Geneva last week.

It is now anticipated that a more detailed crisis meeting of these countries will take place at some point in the next two months as they discuss what action can be taken to stop the Big Five – Germany, Italy, Spain France and England – closing off access to the most lucrative competition in club football.

Celtic would be affected along with clubs such as Ajax, PSV, Basel, Porto, Benfica and Olympiakos who are being left behind because of the dominance of the clubs from the big TV countries.

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