Don’t leave Celts rout in the cold
Brendan Rodgers has pleaded with UEFA to stop the Champions League becoming a superclub closed shop – despite Celtic’s 7- 0 beating from Barcelona.
The Hoops boss fears for the good of the game if plans to let top clubs from England, Spain, Germany and Italy dominate the Euro scene are railroaded through.
And new UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin muddied the waters further last night by revealing he’s backing a European regional league, which would involve Scottish clubs. But Rodgers insists the Premiership champions are entitled to share the same stage as the big guns after earning their place the hard way.
As he prepared his troops for a recovery mission in Inverness this afternoon, Rodgers said: “I don’t think that’s right for football if it becomes a closed shop.
“If you’re in one of those big leagues you want to guarantee as many places as you can– but surely there’s a right for other
countries and other professional leagues who maybe don’t have the luxury of TV money or the base to promote your brand.
“They need protecting. I know finances and TV money in Asia are dictating a lot. They probably don’t want to see Leicester in the Champions League, that’s the reality.
“They maybe don’t want to see Celtic but the governing body has to protect football. Or else everything will distort reality and football gets taken away even further from fans in countries who have to earn the right to be there.
“I suppose results like the other night will always prompt calls for change – but football’s for all.”
Slovenian lawyer Ceferin has been coy on his thoughts on the Euro revamp since taking over from disgraced Michel Platini last week.
But he has now revealed he backs a regional European League to run in tandem with the SPFL.
He said: “We have spoken about this and there will likely be further concrete talks about regional leagues in the future.
“It is very important a regional league does not replace national championships because this would mean the death of smaller leagues like in Scotland, Croatia or Slovenia.
“My idea would be matches could be played involving teams who did not qualify for the Champions League and Europa League groups.
“The prize would be inclusion in the next European competitions.
“I know there is interest in countries like Scotland, Ireland and Belgium.”
Rodgers, meanwhile, admits he was ignorant of how big the gap between the haves and have-nots has become.
The former Liverpool gaffer said: “Sometimes it gets downplayed, what it actually takes for clubs in Scotland to qualify. And I was maybe ignorant to that, working in the south.”