Celtic chief Peter Lawwell flys to Geneva to lead Scottish football's fight...

[Scott7 5,242]

Was it Parkhead Peter or SFA Peter who went to Geneva?

 

Both of them.

[RANGERRAB 3,304]

Is this the Bayern model?

 

I wonder if people in Scotland will continue to fork out cash to TV companies to watch the Champions League if Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has his way?

 

If they want to watch the CL they have no choice.

[RANGERRAB 3,304]

Both of them.

 

The other week he accused clubs in this country pushing for a 16 club top flight of acting in self-interest.

His trip to Geneva was exactly that on the yahoos behalf. Pot, kettle, black anyone?

[ian1964 10,457]

Keith Jackson: Neil Doncaster and Peter Lawwell have to fight for Scottish football before the big boys win

 

KEITH believes that all of Scotland should be backing Peter Lawwell in his bid to block plans for a revamped Champions League.

 

IF you’re wondering what that smell is then it’s the whiff of full scale panic.

 

When Peter Lawwell flew to Switzerland last Thursday he wasn’t clocking up air miles for the sake it, Celtic’s chief executive was launching a one man mission to prevent Scottish football effectively being wiped off the game’s global map.

 

This was an emergency dash across central Europe from Paris, where Lawwell had been attending a meeting of the European Club Association earlier in the week. That involved 220 clubs, a broad church from all corners of the continent but Lawwell also has a seat in a more elite, inner sanctum of the most well heeled movers and shakers. This is where the real action goes down.

 

As a nation we should be grateful that Lawwell still wields enough influence to have a seat at that table. But the question is, for how much longer? Because the really big boys have grown tired paying lip service to the likes of Lawwell. Or any of the rest of us little guys for that matter.

 

The Germans are behind this latest power play with Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in the driving seat. If they get their way then the Champions League will be closed down and handed over in it’s entirety to a hand-picked cartel at the end of next season. It will amount to a robbery. An organised heist of the game’s crown jewels by a bunch of corporate bully boys carried out while UEFA and FIFA were too busy self harming to notice.

 

That Lawwell is better placed than most to see this coming from a mile off is one thing. That he could ultimately be powerless to stop it is quite another.

 

There is a horrible irony here too because Lawwell is partly responsible for his own diminishing clout. Had he appointed a manager who was capable of actually qualifying for the tournament then his position wouldn’t be so marginalised.

 

It was not so long ago that Celtic’s CEO was able to rub shoulders with these big hitters and to look them in the eye with all the confidence of a man whose club had just unleashed all of its considerable thunder on Barcelona.

 

These days, in comparison, he’s farting in the giant wind tunnel of the Europa League. A place where no-one hears your screams or pays them the slightest regard.

 

Celtic’s decline on the European stage is in danger of rendering Lawwell irrelevant but, for as long as he remains part of the discussion, he is speaking up for all of Scottish football. And for that, he is due our gratitude and national support.

 

No wonder then that the likes of Rangers and Aberdeen are backing him in this battle because if the door to the Champions League is slammed in Scotland’s face for good then the ramifications will be widespread and hugely damaging.

 

If the access to this annual cash bonanza is closed down than not only will our champions be denied the chance of a £20million hand-out but also the drip down from this – which was worth a total of £1.5m to the rest of Scotland’s clubs in 2012 – will be gone for good too.

 

No wonder than that Lawwell, too, is reaching out and looking for hauners in Holland as the situation is just as desperate for the Dutch. After Thursday’s talks Lawwell made contact with the top brass at Ajax and his call to Edwin va Der Sar is just the start of what will be increasingly urgent back channelling back and forth over the North Sea.

 

The SPFL are also about to step into these negotiations as chief executive Neil Doncaster is only too well aware of the possible consequences of this power play which also involves the French, Italians, Spanish and English.

 

The early indications from down south suggest that the PremierLeague clubs, while not the major players behind this bid to force through change, are perfectly relaxed about allowing it to happen. They certainly will not stand in the way of ‘progress’ in the name of their wee neighbour or rail against these German proposals for world domination. Why would they when they too stand to make another fortune from it in TV revenue.

 

In that regard, England’s big guns hold all aces. In commercial terms, there are only two shows in town. One of them is England’s domestic top flight and the other is the Champions League.

 

They own one of these cash encrusted pies outright and have four fingers rammed knuckle deep into the other. It’s called ‘position A’.

 

By comparison, a startled Scotland currently sits in ‘position WTF’ as the realisation of what’s being hatched here behind closed doors begins to dawn.

 

For that reason, Doncaster has been busy sounding the alarm in public but also speaking with a number of his counterparts in private discussions about how best to limit the damage.

 

Doncaster, who also holds a position on the board of the European Professional Football Leagues, met with like-minded officials from a host of second tier European countries in Geneva on Thursday including representatives from Holland, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium and Scandinavia. The need to hold an urgent summit was agreed and it is likely that these talks will be scrambled at some point in the next month or so.

 

The hope is that together they might build a community of opposition which will be strong enough to resist the changes which are being threatened by the big boys. And if not, then at least they will have enough numbers and financial muscle to take the matter to the court room and fight it out there.

 

They too can see the way the wind is blowing and perhaps this move by the Big Five is the first step towards the eventual globalisation of the Champions League. With the vast amounts of money currently being pumped into football in China, America and Australia perhaps, say in 20 years from now, this competition will have evolved and gone fully intercontinental.

 

It could well be that what we consider as European competition today will become tomorrow’s domestic set-up with the likes of Real Madrid and Manchester United fighting it out on a Saturday in the hope of qualifying for a crack at LA Galaxy or a wet Wednesday night in Shanghai. That’s if earning the right to qualify for anything still exists in this brave new world of unrestricted greed.

 

Who knows what these suits have in mind for football which is why, in the here and the now, it is only right and proper that Lawwell stand his ground and attempts to fight Scotland’s corner. For all our sakes, we ought to wish him well.

 

Read more at http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/keith-jackson-neil-doncaster-peter-7371089#h7qDjkeFdI2TlMc3.99

[RANGERRAB 3,304]

It was always inevitable that the big clubs from the top leagues in Europe paying the top wages & transfer fees were going to want to keep the CL money amongst themselves.

 

Not saying I agree with this but isn't there something ironic about Liewell going there to try to secure SPFL entry to the CL when his club voted Rangers out the then SPL four years ago which has seriously weakened the game in this country, not least financially. Since then all clubs including his own, have been reducing their costs and subsequently the product on the park has got poorer.

 

In Europe this season we've seen the yahoos finish bottom of their EL group(including home & away defeats from the mighty FK Molde) St Johnstone put out by Armenian opposition & Aberdeen put out by a team who finished third in the Kazakhstan league.

Do these teams really deserve to be in the CL LIewell? Or allowed the opportunity to do so? I don't think so.

Edited February 15, 2016 by RANGERRAB

[ranger_syntax 3,795]

If they want to watch the CL they have no choice.

 

I wonder if people in Scotland will want to watch the Champions League if Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has his way?

[ranger_syntax 3,795]

It was always inevitable that the big clubs from the top leagues in Europe paying the top wages & transfer fees were going to want to keep the CL money amongst themselves.

 

Not saying I agree with this but isn't there something ironic about Liewell going there to try to secure SPFL entry to the CL when his club voted Rangers out the then SPL four years ago which has seriously weakened the game in this country, not least financially. Since then all clubs including his own, have been reducing their costs and subsequently the product on the park has got poorer.

 

In Europe this season we've seen the yahoos finish bottom of their EL group(including home & away defeats from the mighty FK Molde) St Johnstone put out by Armenian opposition & Aberdeen put out by a team who finished third in the Kazakhstan league.

Do these teams really deserve to be in the CL LIewell? Or allowed the opportunity to do so? I don't think so.

 

Surely some interesting questions to ask. For example, if Scottish football is left out you might wonder how independent, of Rangers, Celtic's business plan was.

[RANGERRAB 3,304]

I wonder if people in Scotland will want to watch the Champions League if Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has his way?

 

I'm sure there will be those who will want to still watch europe's elite. How many though?

[RANGERRAB 3,304]

Surely some interesting questions to ask. For example, if Scottish football is left out you might wonder how independent, of Rangers, Celtic's business plan was.

 

Voting Rangers out the SPL in 2012 allowed Celtic a virtually free crack at the CL every season. Club chairmen wouldn't stand up to Liewell even though they knew it wasn't in their clubs best financial interests.

And wining & dining Greasy Platini at the San Giro was done for a reason you know. As was the UEFA pursuit of Rangers for alleged sectarianism whilst the yahoos had by far the bigger problem with their support.

So to answer ur question I think their business plan was to try and put us out of the way for as long as possible to allow them access to the CL.

Now though Karl Heinz Rumenigge & maybe other too have other ideas. Liewell could always tell him & UEFA about 'sporting integrity' . You would be able to hear the laughter in this country all the way from Geneva

Edited February 15, 2016 by RANGERRAB

[ian1964 10,457]