Old firm's Premier League for Tony

Albion boss Tony Mowbray believes Scottish giants Celtic and Rangers would jump at the chance to join the English Premier League.

But the Baggies manager, who played for Celtic and managed Hibernian against the Old Firm duo, reckons the future of the Scottish Premier League must be protected before any move is sanctioned.

Bolton chairman Phil Gartside has championed a two-tier Premier League that includes the Glasgow clubs and the issue will be discussed next week by league officials.

Mowbray said: "This got brought up a few years ago. Will Celtic and Rangers ever come to England? I would think it would have happened already if it was going to happen, but the crux of it is what happens with the finances?

"Will it take money out of the coffers for the teams already in the Premier League. Will it dilute the money? If so, then I can't see many going for it.

"If the Premier League can find more money, then maybe they will. If it dilutes the funds, then turkeys won't vote for Christmas.

"I think Celtic and Rangers fans would want to compete in this league.

"I played up there for four years for Celtic and I managed for two years in Edinburgh and the feeling I get is that the Old Firm would relish the opportunity to come to England, because they're huge clubs with huge supports.

"Yet there are huge clubs in this country who can't get anywhere near the top four. There are teams at the moment in the division from massive football clubs who never seem to get near Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United or Chelsea.

"So why would Celtic or Rangers do it? It won't be because they have 60,000 fans every week.

"Will they be able to attract better players than a club like Newcastle United? So why would they be any better than Newcastle United?

"The rest of Scottish football has to be the bigger question and there are two arguments.

"One is that it would kill the game up there. Nobody would be watching games, the television money would fall away and the newspapers wouldn't be writing about Scottish football and would only be interested in the Old Firm in the English leagues.

"The other argument is that it would be a more competitive league and that Hibs, Aberdeen, Hearts and Dundee United would be challenging every year to win the title.

"As long as they could keep the interest going in their league then maybe it could work."