I don’t actually agree that the national team would be at threat as there is a precedent for this kind of thing both with the Welsh teams and elsewhere in Europe.

I also think that, leaving aside the Atlantic League for a second, if the Old Firm went down south you would see clubs from Portugal trying to get into Spain and Belgian and Dutch clubs looking elsewhere. FIFA are unlikely to be able dissolve all those national teams. Any attempts or noises FIFA and UEFA make are just them trying to close the stable door after the horse has done one.

The big clubs are the power brokers in football now. If the big English clubs want the Old Firm, or the big Spanish clubs want Sporting, Porto or Benfica then it will happen.

That won’t of course stop the continued devaluing of international football but that’s another story.

Not true, the big downside from the loss of the Old Firm to England could very well be the loss of the Scotland National Team. The affair over the Olympic Football team has shown that there are people high up in FIFA (Warner, Hayatou, Blatter) who would like nothing more than to amalgamate the English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish teams into a GB international team. By thinking of the money, both Lawell and Bain are puting the very existance of Scottish Football at risk.

Oh and by the way, you missed out the Dundee game, when we won the Scottish League, in your list of above 10,000 at the gate to watch the mighty bud’s.

In a way I hope it happens, i think it’s the only way to keep the game in Scotland alive.

With possibly 6 clubs able to win the SPL any season home fans would also increase. It is a fact that crowds increase with the chance of winning trophies and not necessarily on the quality of the play. Watch the crowds increase for any 1st Div team who are sitting top as they get into April.

The real loss will be to the Old Firm fans. Huge travelling costs both in terms of time and cost. Imagine a Sunday lunchtime ko away at Portsmouth. You would be lucky to be back in Glasgow by midnight and at great cost. And years of winning hee-haw and no Europe. How will their satiated fans cope with nothing to celebrate year on year bar the odd big 3 points? I reckon a growing number would soon want back, but we shouldnt let them.

It is time they left and left completely, no entry into the Scottish Cup or anything else. It will take a while for Scottish football to adjust, but the end result will be a much better, more competitive league and families can go to every game of the season without having to see and deal with sectarian nuggets. Lets hope the process speeds up as the whining from both sides is a right pain.

S