Now the Belgian-Dutch BeNeLiga is an actual thing happening, we have entered the Wild West for proposed merging leagues.
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As if the idea of a European Super League and its subsidiary, the dreaded “Atlantic League”, was not enough to creep in, there are now strong reports of a borderless “North American league”, with MLS set to merge with Mexico’s League MX.
And that’s just the beginning. In a pitch that absolutely no one demanded, the French economist Jean-Pascal Gayant has emphasized the idea that the Scottish giants Celtic and Rangers will join France’s Ligue 1.
?? Celtic and Rangers ‘should be invited to join Ligue 1 to save Scottish and French football’ https://t.co/u5I6OtleZv
– Scotsman Sport (@ScotsmanSport) March 30, 2021
With a description of the ambitious proposal in his Le Monde column, Pascal reckons it would “benefit both the French and Scottish leagues” if Old Firm were to be torn out of the SPFL and thrown into a 16-18 Ligue 1 team contract. .
Now, even apart from the fact that it would unfairly move at least two teams from France’s top flight, and the lack of any real advantage for Scotland (it would be “more competitive” without its two biggest sources of media interest … right then), it is a rather horrible idea that lacks substance and vitality.
But we are nothing but open-minded 90 minutes, so we go there. What would happen to Scottish football’s biggest clubs if they were thrown into the mix in France?
No matter how you measure it, the Old Firm clubs are as big as almost everyone in France. Under normal circumstances, Celtic draw more home fans than anyone else in Ligue 1 (58,000), while Rangers (49,000) are only beaten by Marseille (52,000).
Celtic Park is one of the largest arenas in the UK Mark Runnacles / Getty Images
The only thing clubs in France have like Celtic and Rangers is not money. Much has been made of the collapse of Ligue 1’s TV deal with Mediapro, but even their short straw deal with Canal + is worth around £ 300 million for 2019/20 – ten times more than what the entire 42-club SPFL receives from Sky Sports.
That kind of TV revenue would be a game changer for the two Scottish clubs. Along with increased access to the Champions League, there would be room for significant and rapid growth – so there is no real limit to how far they could eventually go with that type of platform.
How they would do it now is another matter.
The standard in France’s top flight is clearly better than in the Scottish Premier League, but players who go between the two tend to do well. Celtic’s French delivery line has more hits than misses: Moussa Dembele and Jason Denayer have both enjoyed themselves in France after playing in Scotland, while Odsonne Edouard and Christopher Jullien have succeeded in the opposite direction.
There is reason to believe that the current Rangers team, which is still undefeated in this year’s Scottish Premier League, would at least push for a Champions League place. Their defeat to Slavia Prague was a heartbreaker for Steven Gerrard and his team, but they met Benfica, Standard Liege and Lech Poznan in their Europa League group and did not lose once.
? We Are Rangers
? We Are Champions # Champion55 pic.twitter.com/UjiBguexfe
– Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) March 7, 2021
It can not be denied that Celtic is the weaker of the two, but even they, at their lowest ebb in a decade, could take four points from Lille in their group this season. Lille is currently the joint top in Ligue 1, behind PSG only on goal difference.
The conclusion we inevitably come to after this wild journey down the hypothetical alley is that in the short term the Old Firm clubs would do well in France.
Long term, who knows? We do not, and we probably never will, because it will not happen.
Sorry, Jean-Pascal.
