Taking a break from the Glasgow Derby coverage for a second, the discussion has now turned to how Celtic would perform if they ever made it into the English Premier League.
The snobbery directed towards our game from pundits and football fans south of the border is well known. Celtic fans are well used to the quality of our league being shouted down at almost every opportunity.
We all know the types of phrases that they like to use as well. ‘Farmers League’ and ‘My nan could score’ are just two of the most popular ones which is strange because whenever Celtic come up against English opposition in Europe, we more often than not send them home to think again.
So whenever the suggestion is made of Celtic joining the Premier League, it is often scoffed at. But in comes Simon Jordan.
£120m reason Celtic could compete in the Premier League
The outspoken talkSPORT pundit generally has a very good and balanced view of the Scottish game. Instead of jumping straight to the nonsense of Celtic being relegated and not being able to compete, Jordan reminds his listeners of one key fact that is never taken into consideration.
Jordan said [talkSPORT], “When you get a Battle of Britain, when you get Celtic or Rangers playing against an English side, it’s not cut and dried in Champions League or European football.
“It becomes a difficult battle. And I think if you put Celtic and Rangers into the Championship with 60,000 crowds, they’ll be in the Premier League within three years.
“And then, once they’re in the Premier League, hold on a second then it’s all bets off.
“They’ve got the revenue, they’ve got the worldwide eyes on the prize, they’ve got another £120 million.
“They would be a top side, no doubt about that.”
Celtic would win the English Premier League
And the money that would be available to Celtic is the zinger. £120m just for making it into the EPL is a total game-changer.
Think about the kind of player we could attract and think about the quality of player we would stop losing.
Moussa Dembele, Kieran Tierney and Odsonne Edouard. Do you think they would have left Celtic if we were competing in England? What about Victor Wanyama, Virgil van Dijk and Ki Sung-Yeung? Absolutely not.
Keeping players of that quality and then building on it wouldn’t mean we would just compete in that league, we would eventually win it.