By Andrew Warshaw in Manchester
March 3 – Celtic and Rangers face expulsion from the Scottish Premier League (SPL) if they dare try to negotiate their own television deals, warns SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster (pictured).
The loss of one Champions League place the season after next has increased pressure on the two Scottish giants to try and secure extra revenue.
But Doncaster said any attempt to go it alone in terms of TV deals would be resisted.
Doncaster, speaking at the Soccerex conference in Manchester, said: “The coefficient being as it is leading to the loss of Champions League representation for one of our teams will certainly increase the pressure for change.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that we need to look very carefully at where the SPL is going.
“There are two very big clubs in our mix and they certainly in the past made no secret that they may be open to invitations from elsewhere.
“But the Premier League made it unequivocally clear where they stand on that last year and that means that the two clubs, Celtic and Rangers, are likely to be there for the foreseeable future.
“I don’t think it has any impact at all on individual selling because that is not allowed under the SPL constitution.
“I find the idea of individual selling very difficult – for me that’s not what football is all about.
“Collective selling makes a more level playing field for the game.”
Doncaster said the expansion of the SPL was one possibility in an effort to beef up interest in Scotland.
“There has been talk of the SPL expanding to 16 teams and we have been talking to supporters and there does seem to be some desire to freshen things up.
“That could mean more teams in the SPL but we have be open to all ideas.
“We know the play-offs in the [English] Football League have been a tremendous success and innovations like that can create so much in terms of excitement, interest and revenue so we have to be open to all ideas.”
Doncaster also expressed his opposition to the part UEFA’s financial fair play proposals which will not allow clubs to spend more than they earn courtesy of white knight foreign owners.
“It’s very important that it doesn’t close off the avenue for wealthy owners or sugar daddies who have the best interests if the club at heart being able to invest in the right way, through equity or a gift.
“That’s just part of living the dream.
“So long as you avoid the plight of clubs such as Portsmouth with debts they cannot pay off, then you need to keep wealthy owners being able to finance clubs – it’s the way many clubs have been financed for many, many years.
“If you kill the dream you stand a real chance of killing football.”
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