Celtic are one of the biggest and most recognised clubs in world football.
On the pitch, Celtic are Scotland’s most successful club, as well as the current champions, but unfortunately, it’s in the backdrop of a league that doesn’t generate the crazy money brought in by the English Premier League.
That’s why, for a long time, there has been a lot of talk about Celtic, as well as Rangers, possibly playing in the English top-flight.
This was first mooted just after the turn of the century, and there was a lot of noise around the situation, but for a while now, it has died down.
However, on Go Radio, it was shared why Celtic aren’t building their Main Stand, and it seems as though the Hoops sitting in the SPFL has a lot to do with it.
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Why Celtic aren’t planning to rebuild the Main Stand
The two pundits in the Go Radio studio, alongside host Paul Cooney, were Peter Grant as well as Billy Dodds, and their guest was Paul John Dykes from A Celtic State of Mind.
He shared with the room that a meeting Celtic had with the ‘associations and the affiliation’, showed that the club aren’t looking to rebuild the Main Stand ‘whilst we are in the SPFL.’
Paul Cooney: “A report which said that, ‘money being spent on the ground which could be conditional, until they come out of Scottish football.’ You saw that. What exactly was it?”
Paul John Dykes from A Celtic State of Mind: “I found that really interesting. It was the minutes from the meeting that the club had with the associations and the affiliations.
“Basically, they were talking about the main stands, which is now an ancient relic, no hot water, etc, rebuilding that. They said, ‘it’s not happening whilst we are in the SPFL.’
“That jumped out at me because I didn’t realise that was still on the table – I found it really, really interesting.”
Peter Grant on Celtic playing in English football
As mentioned above, that is rather ‘interesting’ because clearly, those from inside the club still harbour those thoughts or dreams of playing alongside England’s elite.
Former Hoops star Grant tried to look at it from various angles, including how the English clubs, even the ‘lowest-ranked’ ones, simply wouldn’t move out of the way for Celtic or Rangers to enter.
Whilst Grant feels that it would make the SPFL ‘more competitive’, in the overall picture, Scottish football would become weaker.
“It’s very interesting,” responded Grant. “I don’t know where to go on that. Remember, before, we went down to Wales to try and get another team in Wales, and that’s the way Celtic were going to go. All this sort of thing. I don’t know who is going to accept it.
“The problem is in England, if we went down to England, for instance, from the lowest-ranked one, they would all say, ‘no way are we moving out for Celtic or Rangers. It’s not happening.’
“Up here, would it make it stronger? It would be more competitive for the league, but it wouldn’t be stronger.”
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