Old Firm Slip Behind The Elite - 01/05/2005

Two of the highest attendances in Europe are at Parkhead and Ibrox. Celtic regularly fill their 60,000 seats and Rangers their 50,000. Yet the Old Firm are slipping behind the football mainstream. Over several years they each ran up sizeable debts by paying English Premiership-level wages without Premiership-level income. With their ambitions to move into the Premiership receiving little encouragement south of the border or from international footballing authorities, these heady days are over. Celtic's directors are under immense pressure to finance the £5m fee and £45,000 a week wages that would convert Craig Bellamy's successful loan deal into a permanent transfer from Newcastle. To do so would exhaust their resources and leave no more funds for manager Martin O'Neill to replenish an ageing side. O'Neill has made a series of veiled criticisms about the lack of funds to improve the team. Rangers and Celtic constantly complain that Scotland's meagre football broadcasting income gives them an insurmountable handicap when they try to compete in Europe. Both clubs have a much higher turnover, salary budget and support base than PSV Eindhoven, CSKA Moscow or AZ Alkmaar, yet these sides are among those still involved in the semi-finals of the Champions League and Uefa Cup. The lack of competition in the Scottish Premiership is a warning about what could happen to its English counterpart.