[unbalanced zealot]

I'm inclined to think that if they started in the conference and went from there it would be kind of cool.

What do people on the cold wet island think about this?

[Fasces]

If you wanted to kill the SPL like the Irish league, then by all means.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_coefficient

Ireland and Wales get to enjoy a competitive environment similar to the great footballing leagues of San Marino, Luxembourg, Andorra, or Malta.

[The Clockwork Rat]

The Scottish leagues would lose the little trickle down from European football that currently exists; Rangers and Celtic would be relegated to mid-low level table mediocrity instead of being the best in the league (well, Celtic is at the moment at least), and two English teams would no longer make it into the EPL.

No-one wins.

[Heisenberg]

The Scottish league is hardly a model of competition as it is. This year, the winning team (Celtic) and the relegated team (Hearts) were decided before a ball was kicked.

Otherwise, I agree with TCR. I doubt anyone in England would want them anyway. Celtic fans basically hate everyone who isn't an aggressive Plastic Paddy, and Rangers fans have an annoying habit of trashing every city they play an away game in.

[Fasces]

The Rangers should not have been relegated, for the health of the league. It was a terrible mistake by the SPL, and short-sighted. It'd be like kicking Barcelona out of the LFP.

[The Clockwork Rat]

Glasgow Ranger Football Club as it existed before the meltdown no longer exists as a legal entity. The SFA were generous to allow the Frankenstein monster of a replacement to start in Division 3.

Besides, whilst it sucks for the Hearts fans that they haven't got a hope in hell of staying up this season and Celtic were nigh guaranteed to end up top, I don't think the SPL is actually that bad this season (though I'm slightly biased as a Caley supporter ).

[Fasces]

The new club has retained trophies, so it can be argued that it is the same club. Wimbledon just took back their trophies from MK, I think, for a similar example.

Anyway, the degradation will happen long term. Already some of the better players are leaving, without similar quality replacements being purchased.

[unbalanced zealot]

Actually if Scotland secede from the UK it would create problems too.

[The Clockwork Rat]

If.

That would be the least of our problems.

[Quantum]

The Scottish leagues would lose the little trickle down from European football that currently exists; Rangers and Celtic would be relegated to mid-low level table mediocrity instead of being the best in the league (well, Celtic is at the moment at least), and two English teams would no longer make it into the EPL.

No-one wins.

There are two Welsh teams in the EPL, Swansea and Cardiff so putting Scottish teams into the EPL is not a novel idea. However, Celtic and Rangers are established teams in Scotland and their move to the EPL would destroy the SPL and as you said, make them mediocre in the EPL. The best course of action would be to court investors to seriously invest in other teams like Motherwell, for example, to increase competition in the league.

[The Clockwork Rat]

Swansea and Cardiff are just that much further ahead of the rest of Welsh football than they can't not be in the EPL. Though Celtic has quite a handy lead at the top, it's not an unimaginably large gap.

[Decky]

Should Rangers/Celtic play in the EPL?

Rangers, you mean that nothingy team playing in the Scotish third division with the other minnows?

Maybe other giants of the same level like Berwick Rangers, Annan Athletic and East Stirlingshire should be considerd too.