Old Firm's cash conundrum

By Matt Slater

The day after Rangers followed Celtic out of European competition for this season, both clubs announced another pre-Christmas tradition - the novelty record.

The moment the Old Firm's stay in Europe ended for another year

Not content with kicking seven bells of festive cheer out of each other at least four times a year, the Glasgow giants are now lined up for battle in the pop parade.

The 20-track compilations - comprising current players' favourite tracks - are certain to become the stocking filler of last resort for thousands of parents across the land, and will no doubt earn both clubs a slightly cynical penny.

But unless the CDs prove more popular than Thriller and Bat Out of Hell combined, they will not have any real effect on the Old Firm's chances of progressing in Europe beyond Christmas 2005.

Now that's what I call Old Firm: Vol I

Now I like Blackstreet's No Diggity as much as Celtic goalkeeper David Marshall does, but I can't see millions agreeing with me to the extent that they will buy it again on a compilation that also boasts I'll Make Love to You by Boyz II Men (Ross Wallace named and shamed).

The market the Old Firm really needs to target isn't music, it's television.

The Henri Camara gear is proving to be a tougher sell than expected

Earlier this year, the 12 Scottish Premier League clubs signed a deal with Irish broadcaster Setanta to televise 38 games a season on a pay-per-view basis over the next four years.

The deal was worth £35m to the SPL, with the Old Firm expected to share about £10m of that between themselves.

The deal England's Premier League brokered with BSkyB is worth £1bn over three years.

A harsher judge than me might say that if Rangers can't finish in the top three of a five-team group that includes AZ Alkmaar, Auxerre and AK Graz then they don't deserve greater TV revenues.

McLeish ready for criticism

But the fact that the once free-spending Ibrox club has banked a £20m profit on its transfer dealings over the last five years should cut them a little slack.

The team that once competed for the signatures of Europe's best players, must now learn to live with Fernando Ricksen and Alex Rae.

And the five-year firesale hasn't done much to alleviate Rangers' debts. It has taken £50m of the chairman David Murray's personal fortune to get the current debt down to a slightly less scary £22.6m.

O'Neill at a crossroads

The situation is fairly similar over at Parkhead.

Despite winning three of the last four Scottish titles and enjoying two decent Uefa Cup runs, Celtic have a transfer deficit of just £16.5m since 2000, and have spent the grand total of £350,000 in the last 18 months.

Nobody said replacing Barcelona-bound Henrik Larsson's 242 goals in 315 appearances would be easy, but if summer signings Henri Camara and Juninho were snooker shots, they would be deliberate misses.

It's hardly the kind of loadsamoney profligacy you would expect from a club that waves 60,000 fans through its turnstiles every fortnight.

The now traditional Celtic pre-match whip-round

But then the reigning champions even managed to make a £5m loss in the season they reached the Uefa Cup final.

The full extent of Celtic's Champions League task this season didn't come against group favourites AC Milan or Barcelona, it came in the battle for third place against Shakhtar Donetsk.

The Ukrainian champions have an expensive multi-national squad that includes £14m Brazilian striker Matuzalem.

The Scottish champions have an ageing squad bolstered with cheap as chips youngsters. Their Brazilian is Juninho, and he cost nothing.

O'Neill proud of Celtic efforts

So what happened? Shakhtar pip Celtic for the Consolation Cup berth - thrashing them 3-0 in the process.

Oh, and Matuzalem played much better than Juninho.

These situations - the Old Firm's financial constraints and the widening gap in performance between Juninho and the 24-year-old Matuzalem - are unlikely to improve in the near term.

Celtic and Rangers will remain sharks in the SPL goldfish bowl, broadcasters will continue to pay accordingly for rights to televise the feeding frenzy and Europe's big leagues will move further and further away into the sunset.

The Old Firm's only hope is hopping Hadrian's Wall and joining the BSkyB-funded party down south.

But as long as the rest of Scottish football, the lesser lights in England and most importantly Uefa have breath in their bodies, that just ain't going to happen.

Happy Christmas Glasgow, and put me down for a couple of those CDs - ship a million more and the days of Momo Sylla and Dragan Mladenovic can be consigned to the bargain bucket of history.