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This however is not a good thing as any points won by Rangers or Celtic now get divided by 5 instead of 4 , given the 3 other teams will by and large contribute next to nothing going forward it only makes it harder to stay in the top 12 positions .Again the MSM miss the point as the show their usual ignorance towards the whole coefficient issue .

And we got 1704 that was the year of the battle of Blenheim and troops led by John Churchill the 1st Duke of Marlborough

In addition, the pace of change other than at the top level, is glacially slow. The old "joining the EPL" story gets re-hashed a few times a year when its a slow news day, but the reality is that nothing has really changed on that front for decades rather than years.

Peter Lawwell is on the European Club Association board, as such you'd expect he has some insights into what is planned regarding European competition, so Celtic pulling out of this is probably quite telling. There were talks at quite an advanced stage between the Belgians and Dutch to create a unified 'super-league' with clubs from both nations competing. I suspect Covid has interfered with its plans but it was being reported that UEFA were open to it. The Dutch and Belgians are neighbours so the extra travel isn't a big issue, 60% of Belgium speak Dutch and they use the same currency so commercially, culturally and logistically it makes sense. For me it makes sense for the Danes, Swedes and Norwegians to get together for similar reasons. But we're being shoe-horned in as no one else wants us. If the the direction of travel in UEFA is amalgamating domestic leagues then clearly a 'British Isles' league is the obvious one for us to join, but I can only see that happening if the big 6 or so English sides leave and join some NFL style closed league with selected German, Italian and Spanish clubs. We might then be attractive to sponsors and broadcasters playing in a league with sides like Aston Villa, Wolves, Leicester and West Ham. UEFA and the big club sides are involved in an on-going power struggle. UEFA want to keep smaller football associations, like Scotland, onside as smaller FAs help keep the big ones in line on important votes. Even the biggest clubs are very nervous of unilaterally leaving UEFA and going it alone, so it's likely to come down to how much UEFA are willing to give up and what compromises the bigger clubs are willing to accept. It's important, I think, that three of the big 6 English sides, and a number of Italian sides have American ownership or substantial influence now. I suspect they'll be pushing very hard for a closed league structure with guaranteed clubs and no relegation, as works in American professional sport. I also fear it's a matter of when, not if, this happens. I can't see any scenario where we're part of that.

From a commercial perspective it's a league with a combined population of around 30 million, which would make it the eighth largest in Europe. It wouldn't be as attractive as the others as they all operate in one economic area with one main language, this league would have 5 different economic areas, 3 in the EU, 2 outside, 5 different currencies and at a push 3 languages if we group the Swedish and Danish together. In four of these countries English football teams are the best supported club sides. Football isn't even the most popular sport in Ireland and none of their clubs attract any kind of significant support. It has the potential to be a stronger league than the SPFL financially and certainly it would be more competitive, but it'll still be miles behind the big 3 or 4 in Europe. It's not an easy sell.

Interesting number for Mhanks---1690

There's a lot of matches before we get there but the following fixtures have been announced by Sky (and will obviously also be shown on RTV): Rangers v Hibs - Boxing Day at 1230. Rangers v Separate Entity - 2nd January at 1230. Hopefully it's a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Misspelling or a Freudian slip, compo? ?

I don't think its ever been a starter

Without the Dutch & Belgian clubs this league is a non-starter

Sunday Times article on Kenyan youngster Andre Kamala who was at Rangers Academy last season.

Back when the pipedream involved Portugal, Netherlands and Belgium it was at least exciting. But playing against teams from Ireland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden? Torpedo away!

Simple combine SPFL/SFA get rid of Doncaster or Maxwell,preferably former,and prune much of the dead wood at top.