RALPH Topping, the outgoing chairman of the Scottish Premier Football League, has predicted that the future of a number of Scotland's bigger clubs will involve pan-European cross border competitions. The 66-year-old, who stepped down as chief executive of bookmakers William Hill in 2014, is due to end his seven-year association with the SPFL this summer, at a time when the continent's big clubs are flexing their financial muscle.
Reforms guaranteeing the top four finishers in each of the top four leagues in Europe automatic access to the Uefa Champions League group stages will kick in from 2018, creating a new status quo which will be locked in until 2021 at least, but it is then that Topping feels that oft-mooted moves to create a platform for the bigger clubs in small TV markets could finally come to fruition. He expects clubs like Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs could all have a role to play.
"There is an imbalance, but there is an imbalance in football all over the place now," Topping told Herald Sport, during a season which saw teams from Wales and Northern Ireland enter the Irn Bru Cup. "With the emergence of China and now US money and Arab money coming into football in England and France, the big are getting bigger and the smaller are having to redefine their place in the world. In Europe there are loads of clubs who were traditionally thought of as big clubs but because of the domestic market they play in, and the prize money available to them, they are all questioning their future and asking where it lies.
"I think there could be [a cross border future for Scottish clubs]," he added. "And we need to get out of that mindset that it is just Celtic and Rangers. We have got substantial clubs like Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs there too who if there are any cross-border tournaments that emerge, or even a league, then you would like to see them participating perhaps. That is a decision for them, for the clubs themselves. But what way is the world going? I think it is heading, slowly, towards cross border. Everybody has settled down until 2021. But after that, who knows what will happen.
"The EFL are quite happy with what they have got just now, they are not driving for a bigger league. I don't think it [the idea of Celtic and Rangers going to England] will ever go away up here, it will always be talked about. But cross border is more interesting now than being contained within the British Isles. It will be interesting to see how Uefa cope with the political climate."
The SPFL recently kicked off talks with Sky Sports and BT Sport over an extension to their current TV deals, which run until 2020 and guarantee the league a sum rising to £18.75m a year. While there is also an improved package for terrestrial highlights in place with the BBC, this is an embarrassingly small sum compared to a TV deal south of the border which guarantees the Barclays Premier League £1.75bn a season and Topping feels the Scottish game is overdue an investment of broadcast capital. As dominant as Celtic are - they are 27 clear, and 33 ahead of Rangers - it is not a situation which Topping expects to last forever.
"I think Scotland gets a raw deal, that is my own personal opinion," said Topping. "It is not a region, it is a country. And we suffer because of the proximity of the EPFL. I think Scotland should get a better deal and hopefully it will be a much better deal by the time the next one comes around."
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