Old Firm fans along with many other big teams in small leagues have been
following it very closely. The most obvious reason is his planned
restructuring of the UEFA Champions League which will see big leagues like
the English Premiership and LA Liga given a maximum of 3 places meaning that teams like Celtic and Rangers might have an easier time qualifying for the group stages either through direct qualification or only one qualifying
round.
What is not so obvious is the effects of increasing ties with the EU. Such
relations have already been evident this season concerning the transfer of
Javier Mascherano to Liverpool. FIFA rules say that a player cannot play for
more than two clubs in a season but EU law says that a worker cannot be
stopped working, the EU is the more powerful body and so the transfer was
given the green light.
Another major EU law is the competition law which guarantees that any
business can operate anywhere in the 15-nation EU without discrimination.
Celtic (and rangers) are not just football clubs but PLCs and businesses as
well and our ability to do business is quite severely restricted by playing
in the Scottish Premier League. These points were made by Dermot Desmond, Celtic's major shareholder, a few years ago when entry into the premiership was high on Ian Macleod's agenda previous to these proposedties being made with the EU.
Desmond also classed the Premier League teams as a cartel because of the way they sell their television rights as a group and not individually. Could it
be that because of the money these clubs are making through these television deals that they have an Oligopoly in the transfer market? After all, Celtic could not even retain Shaun Maloney because of the high wages offered by a poorly-performing midtable Premiership team.
Another widely-reported story this season is Cardiff City's potential
promotion into the Premiership for the first time ever. Welsh domestic
football is another league that cannot compete with the Premiership which is
why Cardiff (and Swansea) plays in the English Leagues. But because they are Welsh team and not an English team surely they should be refused entry by the same people who voted to keep the Old Firm out?
Mr. Desmond is a businessman as well as a supporter and joining the
Premiership is good business as far as he is concerned so it is unlikely
that he has given up all hope. If he believes he can make a case of it
especially considering Platini's objectives then he will try and sooner
rather than later.