The former Scotland manager Craig Levein suggests that Rangers and Celtic join the Premier League so that other Scottish teams may benefit from the extra money.



St. Johnstone’s head coach suggested a $63 million annual fee for the Old Firm teams. The decision to join England’s high earners would face support for Scottish soccer.



Rejecting Ross County’s Derek Adams’s assessment of the <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/scottish-premiership-tv-schedule/">Premiership</a> as “rubbish,” Levein reignited the long-debated prospect of Rangers and Celtic competing in England’s top division.



The Ibrox hosts Levein’s squad on Wednesday, and before the game, the coach told <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2023/12/19/rangers-celtic-premier-league-scotland-craig-levein/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Telegraph</a>: “I’ve been there. I’ve been upset after games and said things I have probably regretted.



“I’m not going to sit here and criticize other managers for what they say. I have said enough nonsense in my life to fill two books. I don’t know if he will regret it but, I shouldn’t laugh, but I thought it was funny.”



<h2>Rangers and Celtic should play in the Premier League</h2>



Among the 59-year-old’s many complaints about the present state of Scottish soccer are the TV agreements and the prize money distribution. Still, under certain circumstances, he thinks Celtic and Rangers’ departure would be the best way to raise the bar generally.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><figure class="image"><img loading="lazy" width="1200" height="675" src="https://ds-images.bolavip.com/news/image?src=https://images.worldsoccertalk.com/webp/full/WST_20231220_WST_478738_Craig-Levein-1200x675_36e8dc14.webp&amp;width=1200&amp;height=675" alt="" class="wp-image-478781" srcset="https://worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2023/12/Craig-Levein-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2023/12/Craig-Levein-300x169.jpg 300w, https://worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2023/12/Craig-Levein-768x432.jpg 768w, https://worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2023/12/Craig-Levein.jpg 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px"></figure></figure>



“How do you gauge whether it’s in good health? That’s what I find difficult. Is the game in good health financially? Probably not. I think the TV deals we have got are terrible.



“We are sitting next to the biggest football nation in the world, and they get hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions and we get a fraction of that. I also think the way the prize money is split in Scotland, the top two get a massive amount compared to the rest and that keeps the rest down.



“There’s a lot of people trying extremely hard, and I see Scotland as a place where people still want to come and play football. The game on the pitch is really competitive until you look at the money the Old Firm have got compared to everyone else. But the rest are really competitive.



“I have seen a lot of good games this season and St Johnstone have been involved in quite a few good games, I think it’s no worse than it was last season or the season before. I will come back to my base camp, I would love to see the Old Firm playing in the <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/watch-premier-league-on-us-tv-internet/">English Premier League</a>.



“They would be able to afford to pay $63 million each per season to the rest of Scottish football and then I would support Celtic and Rangers playing in the English Premier League. But will it ever happen? I don’t think so.”



<h2>What does Levein think of facing Rangers?</h2>



Levein is optimistic about the Saints’ chances at Ibrox. The side has only lost twice in seven games under his tutelage, against Hearts and Celtic.



“It’s going to be tough, but I think we have shown enough to go there with a reasonable degree of confidence, to try and play a little bit and see if we can create opportunities,” he said.



“We need a number of things to go in our favor to come away with points: we need to defend excellently and take any chances that come our way.



“It will be difficult, but I can only talk in a positive manner about the players. They have worked really hard and tried their best to support each other during games and I am beginning to see some encouraging signs.



“Results are the most important thing for confidence and playing well is helpful. We come off the last game against Hibs where we won the game but we also played well.



“I’m a little bit unsure of how we will perform but what I do know is, we will work our backsides off for sure and hopefully we can get something out of the game.”



PHOTOS: IMAGO.

Ex-Scotland boss proposes crazy idea to improve Premiership

The former Scotland manager Craig Levein suggests that Rangers and Celtic join the Premier League so that other Scottish teams may benefit.

Ex-Scotland boss proposes crazy idea to improve Premiership - World Soccer Talk

<div id="attachment_2782" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><div><figure class="image"></figure></div>The Spanish national team hopes to relive this moment in 2012.</div>
The Congress Hall of the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, Poland held the draw for UEFA Euro 2012 on Sunday afternoon, and while there is no clear consensus about a “group of death” among the nine groups, Spain’s group would not be considered in contention for that infamous moniker.
Spain was chosen in one of the three groups that contains five national teams, so their qualifying campaign will consist of two less games than the teams that were selected in the six groups that had six teams.&nbsp; Second, the schedule for these fixtures will be negotiated in Madrid on February 18 and 19.&nbsp; The international calendar for the next two years will be comprised of twelve dates for these matches to be played, so for four of these dates, Spain will either play a friendly or not play at all.
As for the competition that the Spanish national team will face in Group I, Spain should and will be heavy favorites to qualify for Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine as group winners.&nbsp; The four teams with whom they will square off did not qualify for World Cup 2010, and none of those teams finished higher than third in their World Cup qualifying groups.&nbsp; These European national teams are as follows: Czech Republic, Scotland, Lithuania, and Liechtenstein.
The Czech Republic provides the only significant threat in this group to dislodge Spain from its perch at this moment.&nbsp; Considering their results from the past two years, however, internal strife within the team has spilled onto the pitch with their inconsistent play.&nbsp; Three coaches during the two-year World Cup campaign and a scandal that led captain Tomáš Ujfaluši to retire from international football have hampered the Czech Republic’s efforts to move beyond the first round of the major international tournaments.
Scotland remains the perennial bridesmaid, as their last four qualifying campaigns for the World Cup and the European Championships combined included three third-place finishes in their groups as well as a second-place, where they lost in a playoff to the Netherlands 6-1 on aggregate for Euro 2004.&nbsp; The disastrous reign of George Burley, which included the Barry Ferguson – Allan McGregor late-night drinking scandal and a measly three wins out of fourteen, forced the Scottish FA to make an immediate change, giving the services to now-former Dundee United manager Craig Levein.
Lithuania has steadily improved since their birth from the fall of the Soviet Union and has managed to achieve positive results against some of the top national teams in Europe.&nbsp; Although they finished in the lower halves of their groups in their last couple of qualifying campaigns, European teams do not see Lithuania as a pushover by any means.&nbsp; Many La Liga fans will recognize Lithuania’s versatile defender/midfielder Marius Stankevicius, on loan to Sevilla from Sampdoria, but other players such as FC Dinamo Moskva midfielder Edgaras Cesnauskis and Livorno striker Tomas Danilevicius, Lithuania’s all-time leading scorer, ensure the starting eleven depth that Lithuania needs in order to compete for second place in the group.
The Liechtenstein national team will be the cellar-dwellers of this group, as they have finished last in their groups in every single World Cup and European Championship qualifiers.&nbsp; A majority of the current squad falls under the age of twenty-five, but the leadership comes from Liechtenstein best and most famous player ever, Mario Frick.&nbsp; At age thirty-five, he has not made any declarations about retiring from the team, so for the foreseeable future, he will nurture this young and talented team, including midfielder Martin Büchel and the little lightning bug David Hasler, the attacking midfielder/striker who has caught the eyes of several top European teams.&nbsp; While they will not threaten to compete for the top two spots in the group, do not be surprised if they pull off a shock result during these next two years.
As in life, nothing should be taken for granted, but if Spain plays the way to which they are accustomed from the last four years, they should clinch the group with matches to spare.&nbsp; While the likes of Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernández, Joan Capdevila, and Marcos Senna will be heading into their mid-thirties by 2012, most of the current Spanish guard will still be in their twenties, and rising stars Iker Muniain, Javi Martinez, César Azpilicueta, Sergio Canales, etc. will have two more years to mature into the quality players that their talent indicates.&nbsp; Whomever the manager of this team will be during the Euro 2012 campaign (mostly likely Vicente del Bosque will stay on for another two years), he will be blessed with a team with chemistry and talent that surpasses any national team in Europe.

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