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| <-Page | <-Team | Sat 25 Nov 2006 Inverness Caledonian Thistle 0 Hearts 0 | Team-> | Page-> |
| <-Srce | <-Type | Herald ------ Old Firm | Type-> | Srce-> |
| Eduard Malofeev | <-auth | DARRYL BROADFOOT | auth-> | Iain Brines |
| 66 | of 071 | ----- ----- | L SPL | A |
Celtic eye European leagueDARRYL BROADFOOT, Chief Football Writer, and MARK WILSON November 30 2006 Peter Lawwell has given his backing to the formation of a European superleague after conceding Celtic no longer have a realistic hope of playing in England's Premiership. The Celtic chief executive revisited the debate at the Soccerex conference in Dubai, claiming Celtic continue to suffer in an "unattractive" Bank of Scotland Premierleague. Sky Sports recently agreed a new three-year contract for live rights to the Premiership at a cost of £1.3bn, with Setanta Sports also providing supplementary live coverage and paying £392m for the privilege. That, allied to member apathy in England, finally torpedoed any lingering aspirations of a move south. Allan MacDonald, the former Celtic chief executive, was at the vanguard of the ill-fated Atlantic League proposal in the late 1990s but Lawwell confirmed the Scottish champions would support any new proposals for a European league. "The Premiership door has been firmly closed because of the new Sky Sports deal so we have no real hopes on that one," said Lawwell, "but we want to take the Celtic story around the world. The problem is we're playing in a fairly unattractive league in comparison to Europe's major championships. "There are maybe five or six clubs with truly global recognition and Celtic are one of them. I think looking forward we're going to need some form of reconstruction of the game in Europe, maybe a superleague at some point." Celtic have qualified from the Champions League group stages for the first time despite a prolonged period of financial prudence. The SPL's sponsorship deal with the Bank of Scotland expires at the end of this season, with Clydesdale Bank taking over with an £8m four-year sponsorship, a paltry sum compared to the riches available in the Premiership. "What we want to do is compete at the highest level because the size of the club and the history of the club demand that," said Lawwell. "I would like to be involved in any restructuring that would do that, but the fact of the matter is that in a Scottish nation of five million people, the media values are so low. "There is an argument that if the market is allowed to develop the way it has done over the last 10 years, without any intervention, then inevitably the strong will get stronger and there could be a circumstance where, in order to develop competition, there is a restructuring. But we're not instigating, we're sitting back and observing." Lawwell also admitted that cultivating Celtic's global brand is now a significant consideration in the club's transfer policy. "Obviously they must be able to play, but to find players in the markets where we think there is growth is also important," he said. "We have Shunsuke Nakamura from Japan, we have brought in two Polish players and last year we brought Roy Keane to Celtic, which helped increase growth in our market in Ireland. "Rather than sitting back, we have quite an ambitious plan to go out and bring Celtic to the world. If there is some sort of environmental change in football, with an extension of the Champions League for example, people around the world will know about Celtic and want this club involved." Meanwhile, Kenny Miller believes remaining unbeaten for the remainder of the Bank of Scotland Premierleague season is a feasible target as Celtic seek to retain the championship in emphatic fashion. The Scotland striker insisted he was not glibly predicting a whitewash of opponents over the rest of the season, but reflecting the confidence with which Gordon Strachan's side approach each game. Sunday's 2-2 draw with Hibernian was the first time in 12 SPL outings that Celtic failed to win and they have not been beaten in the league since a 2-1 reverse against Hearts at Tynecastle on August 6. "There are 22 league games left and it's hard to look at that and think we are not going to be beaten," said Miller, who helped launch the Royal Mail's St Andrew's Day stamps in Edinburgh yesterday. "But if we take it game to game, then we don't go into any one expecting that to happen. "We go in there expecting to win every single game. So, yes, it [staying unbeaten] is definitely possible. I'm not saying we are going to do it, but that's what we are aiming for. "We set out at the start of the campaign to win the league and, at the moment, we are in a great position to go on and achieve that. If we win every game we are going to win the league; it's as simple as that." Celtic have a 13-point lead over Rangers and Aberdeen, with Jimmy Calderwood's side visiting Parkhead on Saturday. "Aberdeen are doing well at the moment and have made a charge up the table after six games without defeat," said Miller. "We had a tough game at Pittodrie earlier on and won only 1-0. "Take out the Falkirk game in the CIS Insurance Cup and we have a 100% record at home in the domestic league and the Champions League. I hope I'm not putting a jinx on that, but we are making Celtic Park a hard place for anyone to come and get anything." Miller also insisted Celtic can cope without Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, who could be out for three weeks with a hamstring injury. "We want to have our best players out there and Jan comes into that category," said Miller. "But we have a good enough squad to cover and have shown over the past couple of months that we can still go on and win games without the so-called bigger players."  Taken from the Herald |
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