It would seem that Celtic want to be a proper club and start playing with the big boys now that they’re in the nosebleed territory of the Champion’s League. It seems that they’re for getting out of Scotland’s crappy league (contrary to what Gordon Strachan thinks mind you) Celtic’s chief executive Peter Lawwell insists that they are well positioned for any new developments in European football.
"There are maybe five or six clubs with global recognition and we are one of them," he said.
"We are a club in a small region with a massive reach with the Irish-Scots diaspora around the world. If there is some sort of environmental change, with an extension of the Champions League, people around the world will know about Celtic."
Lawwell was speaking at the Soccerex conference in Dubai and believes Celtic must set their sights beyond Scotland.
Lawwell stated: "I think looking forward we’re going to need some form of reconstruction of the game in Europe to compete with the NBAs and so on, maybe a super league at some point," he added.
"But we are not instigating anything, we are sitting back and observing. We want to take the Celtic story around the world," said Lawwell.
"The problem is we’re playing in a fairly unattractive league in comparison to Europe’s major championships week in, week out. What we want to do is compete at the highest level because the size of the club and the history of the club demand that. I would like to be involved in any restructuring that would do that, but the fact of the matter is that in a Scottish nation of five million people the media values are so low. That’s a fact and I don’t see how that’s going to change. So we need to be a part of any restructuring that may take place in the future. The challenge is how do you grow and how do you compete with the Manchester Uniteds, Barcelonas, Real Madrids and Inter Milans?"
I personally didn’t realise that there were plurals of the mentioned teams, but no matter; it would seem to me that Celtic are getting a bit too big for their boots and wishing away from the country that has supported them all these years. The Bhoys chief has conceded that there is no chance of Celtic moving to England’s Premiership, and that Celtic have no voice at the G14 table (the group that represents the interests of Europe’s elite clubs). Lawwell added that the club’s recent signing policy has been conducted with market growth in mind.
He said: "We’ve got (Shunsuke) Nakamura from Japan, we have brought in two Polish players – Maciej Zurawski and Artur Boruc – and last year we brought Roy Keane to Celtic in order to squeeze growth out of the market in Ireland." Does that sound cold to anyone else? Of course, football is a business, but put in such a cold light, it would seem that Celtic are intent on becoming the Scot equivalent of Chelsea, which in my view, is very sad indeed. [Mof Gimmers]