Celtic, The EPL, The Atlantic League and all that jazz!

Article by e-Celtic's Jim Payne

Follow e-Celtic on Twitter!

Firstly, congratulations to St Johnstone on winning the Scottish Cup for the first time in their history. Indeed it is their first major honour in 130 years - the Saints rode their luck a bit at times but mostly deserved to win an exciting match.

The big rumour surrounding Celtic has been the 'Neil Lennon to Norwich' tale which reached its apogee when Garth Crooks OBE tweeted that it was a done deal and would be announced within 48 hours. The Twitter account was announced to be fake and, for the time being at least, Neil Lennon remains Celtic's manager. But who knows?

A lot of words have made their way onto various blogs and social networks querying why Neil would choose to leave a successful team with a decent chance of Champions League participation for a team in the second tier of English football - and moreover a club which is not usually seen (north of the Border at least) as being a 'sleeping giant' a la Wolves, Forest or even Preston. If he does go it'll be for pragmatic reasons. I wouldn't blame him for wanting a new challenge, to escape the crap he puts up with - if you believe some it's all because he's got red hair and is a bit feisty- and because Norwich will pay him more than Celtic. He'd leave a fairly big hole at Celtic. I think the club would cope if he left but I don't think it would be a great move for Neil Lennon. He's too immersed in Celtic I suspect to be that much use to anybody else. If he does go I'd hope he'd prove me wrong.

The discussion regarding Neil Lennon's future has inevitably led to conversation surrounding where Celtic should play its league football. I say right now that Scottish football would benefit, long term, if Celtic played in another league. Sure sponsorship and TV coverage would be affected in the short term but I believe that without the behemoth of Celtic distorting the scene competition would be improved. At the weekend Atletico Madrid's coronation as La Liga Champions was hailed as something of a miracle. Were anyone other than Celtic to win next season's Scottish Premiership Atletico's triumph would seem far less remarkable. I'm not saying it won't happen but I reckon I've as much chance of my having a torrid affair with my favourite Italian actress, Manuela Arcuri, as there is of Celtic not making it 4-in-a-row. Such lack of competition doesn't do Celtic that much good whilst starting out a season in which the highest you feel you can finish can finish is 2nd is an unhappy state of affairs.

Ever since I was a child the subject of how Celtic would do in the English League has been a topic of discussion. Back in the 60s and early 70s Celtic would have done well in Division 1 of the old Football League. 9 in a row would have been unlikely but we'd have won it a couple of times at least in our peak years. Now? Top 6? Unlikely but not impossible. Mid-table Respectability? Possible. Relegation dogfight? Possible also. Hypothetical but fun to discuss over a pint. It isn't going to happen any time soon though. Despite various Celtic board members suggesting that Celtic switching league was a distinct possibility, I've never heard or read a single thing from south of the Border (or from UEFA or FIFA) that suggests it will happen or that the possibility (of Celtic joining) even enjoys significant support with anybody who might matter.

30 years ago when English football was at a low ebb and Celtic's huge travelling support would have helped fill some stadia it might have made sense. But it didn't come to pass and the football scene in Britain has altered radically since. The only scenario where Celtic might play in the English leagues is if the club known as Celtic Nation - a Carlisle based club that wears green and white hoops and which plays in Division One of the Northern League - gets promoted up the leagues and drops the Nation bit from its name. It might happen I suppose - at least one Observer journalist has suggested that the Cumbrian club are Celtic's 'Trojan Horse' into the English League.

Fanciful as the entry of Celtic (Glasgow or otherwise) to the upper reaches of English football is, the once vaunted Atlantic League now seems an even less plausible scenario. Those who are unaware of what this League was meant to be will need some education.

During the nineties, when the Champions League was in its fresh faced infancy, it quickly became evident that teams from the big leagues of Western Europe were likely to dominate it in a way that they had not quite dominated the old Champions Cup. Big clubs from countries with relatively low populations- Portugal, Scotland, Belgium and Scandinavia especially- did not like the thought of missing out on glory and discussions were held. A so-called Atlantic League was mooted- a league in which Celtic, Porto, Ajax etc would compete, earn lots of TV money and challenge the big clubs from the big national leagues in the later stages of the Champions League. As an idea it seemed to be quite attractive even if the logistics were obviously difficult. Not surprisingly given that it would have required some lackey of Lennart Johannsson to actually think 'outside the box', UEFA nixed it.

The Atlantic League proposals have surfaced now and again in the years that have followed the original discussions - but there seems no chance of this League becoming reality. There are lessons from the failure to establish a new league and neither Celtic nor the rest of Scottish football are necessarily going to like those lessons.

The reality is that the other clubs in the leagues involved in the possibility of establishing the Atlantic League have got on with things and found their new level. The Portuguese have coped best and, alongside Sweden and Norway, the Scottish league has coped least well with the re-ordering of European football that has taken place in the last 20 years. Despite there being far less likelihood of clubs from anywhere outside of the big 5 leagues and the leagues of Ukraine and Russia winning the Champions League or even the Europa League, football still seems popular in all of these countries. It might still rankle in Lisbon, Eindhoven and Brussels that success in the 'big cup' is a lot less likely than it appeared to be in 1994. Despite this the clubs from these cities have neither given up trying nor, to my knowledge, made repeated entreaties to their bigger neighbours asking to be let in. Celtic will play in Scotland and, however much we don't like it we must lump it.

The other clubs in Scotland will have to like or lump it as well. There have been signs that Dundee United and Aberdeen are improving, though both finished the season disappointingly. It is a monumental task for either of these clubs to challenge Celtic but, hopefully, they will at least try. Scottish football needs suspense at the top. As for Rangers, who will play in the second top division next season, they seem to be mediocre on the field and in a state of near permanent civil war off it, and their readmission to the top league as advocated in various mainstream media outlets up here would bring little in the way of challenge to Celtic and not much more in the way of quality to the league as a whole. If and when they make it up on merit they may well mount a strong challenge. Eventually. As Celtic have to accept that it is here for the duration then so do the other clubs.

It'll be difficult for Aberdeen, United or any of the other teams to challenge for the title. As unlikely as Celtic being toppled in Scotland next season might seem it does, alas, seem slightly more plausible than Celtic winning next season's Champions' League. But nothing is impossible.

Hello Manuela? You coming round to mine on Saturday to watch the Champions League final? Aye? Well mind and get us some Buckie.

© e-Football 2014 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football