‘Celtic and Rangers could face financial blow after £10m deal agreed’
Celtic and Rangers could face a financial blow after a £10million deal has been agreed.
Celtic were crowned Scottish Premiership champions for the fourth year in a row after finishing 17 points above Rangers in the 2024-25 campaign.
Brendan Rodgers’s side also landed around £38million in prize money after reaching the Champions League knockout round play-offs before suffering defeat against Bayern Munich.
Meanwhile, Rangers banked around £17million from the Europa League after reaching the quarter-finals of the competition before being knocked out by Athletic Bilbao.
Finance expert Stefan Borson exclusively told Football Insider the Old Firm clubs’ European revenue could be impacted if the Scottish Premiership becomes more competitive following Tony Bloom’s investment in Hearts.
The Brighton owner, who also owns shares in Belgian champions Union Saint-Gilloise and Australian club Melbourne Victory, has now completed his £9.86million deal to buy a 29 per cent stake at Tynecastle.
The English businessman said he wants to “disrupt the pattern of domination which has been in place for far too long” within Scottish football.
No club outside of the Old Firm has won the Scottish top flight since Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen were crowned champions in the 1984–85 season.
Celtic and Rangers could be in ‘worse’ financial position
Borson insisted Scottish football could perversely end up in a “worse” position after Bloom’s investment.
He told Football Insider: “I think you’ve got to balance what’s good for the league in terms of making the domestic product better versus how it might impact the overall revenue coming in due to European revenue.
“Perversely, one of the best things that can happen to Scottish football is that Celtic and Rangers consistently qualify for the latter stages of European football and generate a lot of money from outside of the league that they are then bigger clubs, albeit that they dominate the league.
“Arguably, that is better than a super competitive domestic league, where the European revenues are spread out, but at a lower level. It depends what you want.
“Clearly, everybody would say we need a more competitive domestic league, but there are costs to that because if those teams then start to impact upon European football for Rangers and Celtic, it could well be that the net position overall is worse.”
Celtic backed to beat Everton to Evan Ferguson deal
Rodgers is currently scouring the market as he looks to strengthen his attacking options this summer.
Recruitment expert Mick Brown told Football Insider Celtic are confident of beating Everton to signing Evan Ferguson, with Nottingham Forest also keeping an eye on his situation.
The 20-year-old forward struggled on loan at West Ham in the second half of last season, but he could be allowed to leave Brighton on another short-term deal to prove himself.
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