Glasgow Rangers manager Walter Smith has revealed that the club would be prepared to field a ‘B’ team to fulfill their Scottish League obligations in order to bridge the gap with Europe’s elite clubs. The Rangers manager has floated the idea of an updated version of the Atlantic League, an idea unsuccessfully advanced in the late 1990s by the continent’s geographically handicapped. He foresees a new European league made up of the top sides in Holland, Belgium, Scandinavia and Scotland, running in parallel with the domestic divisions and providing entry to the Champions League.
Glasgow Rangers manager Walter Smith has revealed that the club would be prepared to field a ‘B’ team to fulfill their Scottish League obligations in order to bridge the gap with Europe’s elite clubs. The Rangers manager has floated the idea of an updated version of the Atlantic League, an idea unsuccessfully advanced in the late 1990s by the continent’s geographically handicapped. He foresees a new European league made up of the top sides in Holland, Belgium, Scandinavia and Scotland, running in parallel with the domestic divisions and providing entry to the Champions League. Rangers’ earning power this year has been ruined by their failure to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League. Celtic’s domestic dominance has been financed by their European progress in the last three years, qualifying for the last 16 on two occasions prior to this season.
Smith believes that the Old Firm brand deserves a better platform and despite the Scottish Premier League agreeing to a £125m 10-year television deal with Setanta Sports, he believes they are still being sold short. ‘We are two huge clubs who deserve to be in better circumstances than we are in Scotland,’ he said. ‘There are a number of big clubs in Europe who find themselves in the same situation. We are all hamstrung in terms of finance in comparison to the other leagues and there are not too many people doing a great deal to equalise things.’ When the Atlantic League scheme was put forward in 1999 with the backing of the Dutch Football Association, Rangers well less public in their support than Celtic. If UEFA do not act, Smith warned that a club from outside the financially powerful leagues may never again win the European Cup.