Graeme Souness calls for unprecedented Rangers and Celtic collaboration for Premier League move
Graeme Souness believes Rangers and Celtic should join forces by building a 100k-capacity stadium and make a push for the Premier League.
The Scottish giants have both suffered massively in this season’s UEFA Champions League and the nations’ TV rights deal has been put under the spotlight once again.
Souness suggested he would have Rangers and Celtic playing in the Premier League in a “heartbeat” and believes the clubs need to utilise their massive fanbases.
“Well, I live in Bournemouth where the club has an 11,000-seater stadium but play in the Premier League on the back of annual TV income upwards of £90million,” said Souness in his Daily Mail column.
“Celtic and Rangers are huge clubs with massive fanbases and capacities in excess of 50,000 but their TV money is about £2m or £3m a year. So there is your answer.
“If they agreed to build a 100,000-capacity stadium to share and joined the Premier League they would soon be top-half clubs. I would have them down here in a heartbeat. The rest of Scottish football would not collapse. It would simply have to find its own level.”
Change.
Something needs to change in Rangers TV rights dealings, the club aren’t making the most out of its huge fan base.
It’s been an angst of the club’s fans for countless years and nothing seems to be changing with it anytime soon.
If there was ever a time when it was clear that Scotland have fallen behind in the pecking order it’s in Europe this season.
Building a joint stadium with Celtic is very far-fetched, but joining a more prosperous league like the English top flight or a European Super League isn’t out of the question.
Rangers, Celtic and Hearts have all crumbled to teams in European competition and a lot of this comes down to the difference in money available at the clubs through TV deals.
With streaming services like Amazon, DAZN and even Netflix offering chances at lucrative contracts, there are multiple opportunities for Rangers out there.
Unfortunately, the club have been bypassed by the league in Scotland and the Sky agreement will be continuing for a few more years, at least.
In other Rangers news, this ex-Premier League manager is a “stand-out” to replace Giovanni van Bronckhorst as the manager at Ibrox.