Topics: Ben Foster, Rangers, Celtic, Premier League, Football
Former Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster has claimed that Rangers and Celtic would get relegated from the Championship if they entered the English football pyramid – and it’s fair to say fans of both Glasgow clubs are not pleased with his take.
Foster, who represented clubs such as Man Utd, Watford, Wrexham, Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion during his playing career, made the controversial claim during an episode of the ‘Fozcast’.
When discussing how well – or badly – the Old Firm clubs would do if they entered the Championship, Foster claimed that he thinks they’d “get relegated straight away” to the bemusement of his co-hosts.
Foster then rubbished claims that the Glasgow sides would be Premier League title challengers within 10 years before he claimed that “nobody would vote [for them to enter the English pyramid]” because it would “ruin Scottish football”.
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“There’s no way on this earth that they’d be allowed to come down here,” Foster said.
“It’d ruin Scottish football for one, but all the teams that are in the Premier League and the Championship are going, ‘Hang on a minute, you want to bring more big boys down here and compete with us and potentially knock us out of the Premier League?’”
Foster then elaborated on the reasons for his take and suggested that they don’t have the team to get promoted from the Championship.
When it was put to him that within 15 years both sides would be in the Premier League’s top six, Foster replied: “From the get-go, they’re going to struggle.”
And as you may’ve expected, fans of both Rangers and Celtic piled in the comments section.
One fan said: “Add Celtic to that league and the associated riches involved, it wouldn’t be long to see them challenging.
“Assuming they have the right leaders pulling the strings with signing players, it becomes a wholly attractive proposition.
“Very few in England can match the Celtic and Rangers fanbase passion.”
Another added: “Does Ben Foster understand how money and football work? If Rangers and Celtic had the same money as English teams, of course, they’d get promoted out of the Championship. Explain how Bournemouth are a Premier League team and the Old Firm wouldn’t be?"
While a third claimed: “Ben saying they'd be relegated. This is the ignorance of the warped English football view.”
As a fourth commented: “There isn’t a single club in the championship bigger than Celtic or Rangers, more history, more fans, bigger infrastructure. You think players want to play for Middlesbrough over Celtic? They only choose to leave Scotland because there’s a ceiling on what you can win and what you can earn; you put either club into the English leagues, and that barrier disappears within years.”
