Glasgow Rangers

[supergeorgegraham]

Right fellow Gooners I need some feedback. I have just read an article on Sky Sports saying that the chief executive of Rangers says they are looking at joining the EPL and only Man United are bigger than them. He states and I quote

"But Scottish football without Rangers and Celtic might actually become more competitive within the remaining clubs rather than having these two monsters sat above them.

"As a football club, if Rangers were in the Premier League only Manchester United would be bigger. Arsenal haven't got more fans than Rangers... the fan base is so big."

Now as I understand it Arsenal have a massive fanbase all over the world and still have more fans than Chelsea and City but less than United and Liverpool.
Is this man correct or just mad ?

[Perryashburtongroves]

Ridiculous statement. They've got more fans than the chavs but then so do about 91 other league clubs but nowhere near as many as us, scousers or mancs. Nobody wants them anywhere near English football and quite how they think they can get anywhere near when they play in the third tier of Scottish football which is about the same level as 8th division pub league in San Marino or Malta, I do not know.

[Top Londoner]

It's all about the money money money.
Never gonna happen.
No bigger than the toilet imo.

[augie]

Easy for me to say this cos I ain't English but give those Glasgow clubs the type of sky tv money that the existing prem league clubs get then you would def be talking about two serious heavyweights in the premiership. It is easy to be patronising about the Scottish league cos it is absolutely shit but if you took away the tv money from the prem lge clubs then English football would rapidly return to the dark ages. The 2 Glasgow clubs have massive massive fanbases worldwide and whilst many are bigoted that doesn't detract from the size of their clubs

Anyway I don't see it as something that will happen anytime soon anyway so it is a moot discussion

[brazilianGOONER]

maybe i'm seeing the wrong game, but celtic and rangers always look like championship sides to me

[RioGooner]

maybe i'm seeing the wrong game, but celtic and rangers always look like championship sides to me

you were, they usually look like league one sides

[augie]

maybe i'm seeing the wrong game, but celtic and rangers always look like championship sides to me

Without a doubt they are but I am old enough to remember the english game before they started getting all that tv money and believe me it wasnt a pretty sight - either take that tv money away from them or give the glasgow clubs the same money for a few seasons before you can make a fair comparison

[SteveO 35]

maybe i'm seeing the wrong game, but celtic and rangers always look like championship sides to me

Without a doubt they are but I am old enough to remember the english game before they started getting all that tv money and believe me it wasnt a pretty sight - either take that tv money away from them or give the glasgow clubs the same money for a few seasons before you can make a fair comparison

Agreed. Remember the pre-Sky days and when we were banned from European competition. That period saw some of the most shitey football in living memory with teams like Wimbledon, Watford and Sheffield United all playing the sort of shit that I see if I ever I'm channel flicking and end up watching an SPL game. Rangers and Celtic would be competitive within 2-3 years if they received the same money.

In the season that Derby got 11 points and were relegated they received more money from Sky than the whole of the SPL teams combined

[Bunting14]

He's right. So lets have the top two in the spl in the premier league next year, the next two in the Championship etc. That will mean Rangers will be in the Glasgow sunday league next year.

[TheWineMouse]

Im a Gooner who supports Rangers.Glasgow Rangers are a bigger club than we are worldwide cos of the Scottish and Northern Irish diaspora.Arsenal by nature of our position in the money soaked Prem rightly get more recognition,especially as Rangers are down in the lowest league possible.Actually i may be talking nonsense Arsenal are massive in Asia now and ive witnessed those Gooners at The Grove.If the Bears got an equal share of the TV cash and werent stuck in Scotland they would compete easily with us.The Two best clubs in the world!First ever friendly fixture as well!

[Almunia is a clown]

Celtic got 14,399 in a home League Cup quarter final a few weeks back. Arsenal always get much higher gates at home league cup ties usually close to capacity.

No way are the Glasgow pair of bigots bigger than Arsenal nor Liverpool worldwide.

What would happen to the Scotland national team?

We don't want their extremist nutcase supporters in the league either

You can't support two clubs in one league unless you are a complete twat!!

[augie]

Celtic got 14,399 in a home League Cup quarter final a few weeks back. Arsenal always get much higher gates at home league cup ties usually close to capacity.

No way are the Glasgow pair of bigots bigger than Arsenal nor Liverpool worldwide.

What would happen to the Scotland national team?

We don't want their extremist nutcase supporters in the league either

You can't support two clubs in one league unless you are a complete twat!!

Agree with last point totally

Also agree that worldwide neither club is as big as us or scousers but what I am saying is that the gap isn't anywhere near as big as some believe it to be

[MK Gould]

Wherever you go in the world you'll see people wearing Arsenal shirts.... Can't remember the last time I saw a Rangers shirt abroad! They're bigger than us in Scotland & Northern Ireland, but that's about it....!

[QuartzGooner]

I guess Rangers and Celtic have some support in Northern Ireland, the USA and Canada, perhaps a bit in Australia, but cannot imagine they have much in Africa or Asia.

Would be very surprised if either of them had a bigger worldwide fanbase than us, but would like to see figures to support the argument either way.

Whilst I would not want extremist fans in the Premier League, I am not sure that the sectarian tension would have much effect when they played most English clubs who by and large have avoided any kind of religious tensions.
Though I can guess that perhaps fans of Chelsea or some of the Northern clubs such as Leeds (if they got promoted) might have a tension with Celtic?

From a football point of view, if the two Scottish giants got TV money it would introduce welcome spice to the league, but I think maybe try them playing in a revamped League Cup first?

[Herd]

It is all about the money but not just the TV Money Celtic and Rangers have been trying to leave the SPL for years because of it .
English Clubs can and do charge more to get in every week ,I dont think the Scottish fans could afford to charge what we charge,certainly not @ Arsenal.
I wouldn't want either sets of the sectarian soap dodgers in the EPL !

Anyone remember those ridiculous ski hat things that people wore in the 80's ?? with two teams on them one scottish ??????????
I had my girlfriend do a rangers half with a celtic one and wore it up there once when we played rangers .........didnt go down very well at all !