Celtic Club Cup For Soccer.
I would like Scottish clubs to play
more cross border games.
I see the UEFA authorities seem to
be against cross border leagues. But I think that they seem to have tolerated
cross border cups.
As we can see the Royal League, an
annual Scandinavian football cup trophy, was allowed. Plus UEFA allowed the
Scottish to have Welsh, Irish and English sides in their Scottish Challenge
Cup.
So I think we should go a stage further
than the Scottish Challenge Cup, and have an actual Celtic Club Cup.
We would need to accept travel is
tough.
But we would need to accept Scotland
would be bringing the most to the table.
So Scotland should have the most
teams.
My idea is Scotland changes to 16
team Scottish Premier, with a 30 game league season.
This opens up the season for more
games.
Then all Scottish Premier sides play
in the new Celtic Club Cup.
The Welsh, and Northern Irish could
enter 4 teams each in the trophy.
While the Republic of Ireland, could
enter 6 teams.
Plus one team from the Isle of Man,
and one team from Cornwall.
This would be a group stage trophy.
So;
Scotland – 16 teams.
Northern Ireland – 4 teams.
Republic of Ireland – 6 teams.
Wales – 4 teams.
Cornwall – 1 team.
Isle of Man - 1 team.
That equals 32 teams.
The idea would be a group stage
trophy. With 4 teams in each group. Each team plays a home and away game in
their group against each team in their group. That is 6 games ensured. 8 groups
of four.
The top two teams in each group would
qualify for the knockout stages. I would have single leg knockout stages, leading
to a final.
With the final played of two legs.
So the team that reaches the final
would play 11 games.
Imagine games like Aberdeen v Cork
City, Linfield v Glasgow Rangers, Glasgow Celtic v Derry City, Truro v Ross
County, Hibernian v Dundalk, Dundee United v Shamrock Rovers, Heart of
Midlothian v Bohemians, Livingston v The New Saints, Motherwell v Connah’s Quay
Nomads.
I think this would be fun for
Scottish football. It would allow the big Scottish clubs to expand their brand
and markets.
It would allow them to show they are
not just the biggest sides in Scotland.
While the Welsh, and Irish clubs
would be able to play top sides from other countries. Which would allow their clubs to grow in
support.
The population of the island of
Ireland is 6.5 million.
The population of Scotland is coming
up for 5.5 million.
The population of Wales is 3.1
million.
So the market for the Celtic Club Cup
would be over 15 million people. That is a large market.
The games would be intense, and
would put up national rivalry for banter, and competition.
I know travel is tough. But if South
African club sides can play in the rugby PRO14, against Italian, Welsh,
Scottish and Irish club sides. Then surely travelling around the British and
Irish Isles is not asking too much. Look at the long trips sides play in
Canada, Australia, Russia, China, the USA, and Brazil.
So as long as the trips are
affordable, I think the clubs can do such long trips each season. Each team
would be expected to have 3 away games in the groups.
The Celtic Club Cup would be on top of
domestic, and European football. So it would be on top of the League, domestic
cups, and on top of the UEFA Champions League, the Europa League and Europa
Conference League.
I think this could grow the Welsh League.
As top Welsh sides would be ensured the chance of playing pro Scottish sides
each season.
The same would be true for Northern
Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
I think that such a trophy would get
good market share of the football World.
Wales already has strong clubs like
Cardiff City, Swansea City, Wrexham and Newport County playing in the English
system. But Ireland is a sleeping giant of football. They could have massive
clubs in Belfast, Dublin, and Cork.
I would love cross border games each
season. In rugby teams play cross border games so why not in soccer?
I would also support Brittany having teams in the trophy as they are a Celtic land. They have some massive sides who could play in the trophy.
