Old Firm ‘need to cash in on bitter rivalry’
Economist proposes united front
CELTIC and Rangers should be teaming up to stoke the bitter rivalry between the two sides, according to a leading economist.
Dr Fatih Karanfil said the clubs’ PR teams could use adverts and social media to make a play of Old Firm antagonism.
The economist said both clubs will suffer if the rivalry between them fades because Rangers are now so far behind Celtic.
Karanfil has studied football derbies across Europe, including the Old Firm.
By crunching decades of results, he found that some bitter rivals feed off each other’s success, so that when one of them does well, the other raise their game. He suggested that hyping up the rivalry would mean Rangers are inspired to close the gap and Celtic are fired up to keep them at bay.
Karanfil, who is an academic at Paris Nanterre University, also said Rangers should link players’ bonuses according to how far behind Celtic they are in the league.
He said: “If Celtic has a good striker, Rangers should find a good striker. What my study shows is that this has not been the case. If this trend continues, the Old Firm will be seriously damaged if not destroyed.
“The nonexistence of performance-based rivalry between the two clubs is not a problem just for Rangers. If Celtic fans are no more interested in what Rangers do, this will hurt fans’ identification.
“So a closer collaboration between marketing and public relations departments of the clubs is needed.”
Neither Celtic nor Rangers wished to comment.
But Drew Robertson, of the Rangers Supporters Association, said: “Most Rangers fans wouldn’t want us collaborating with Celtic. any more than Celtic fans will want their club collaborating with us.”