The €7 million-rated star declared he would still pick Rangers despite the Celtic transfer hijack.

In terms of the Champions League, Celtic and Rangers are in a tough situation since they are both too big to be excluded and too rich to be able to properly compete.

According to former Parkhead manager John Barnes,

if our teams are eliminated from Europe’s premier competition, it will be a concern for Scottish football going forward.

Following the Czech Republic’s overtake of Scotland in the country coefficient standings for the 2025–2026 season,

the winners of the Scottish Premiership will not definitely automatically advance to the Champions League.

Rangers’ club coefficient may yet save them, but according to Barnes,

they still run the possibility of being caught in the same trap as Celtic or anybody else, who will undoubtedly need to compete starting in 2025–2026.

This is due to the financial ramifications,

which will further hinder Scottish teams’ ability to participate.

Naturally, this makes it more difficult for any club to qualify for Europe after placing second through fourth; the cup winners or the team in fifth place will all have to go through extra qualifying rounds.

Additionally, it implies that the third-place team will not have the luxury of playing guaranteed group stage football.

What implications does that hold for the Scottish game? Barnes seemed to be saying something fairly alarming. especially for the titans of Glasgow.

“There’s a very strong possibility that the Champions League could start properly without one of Celtic or Rangers in there,” he said to Genting Casino. Even in their more prosperous days,

Scottish clubs have never been able to compete with the top teams in Europe.

Of course, there were times when Celtic and Rangers were rivals.

I’m thinking of the teams led by Graeme Souness, who could afford to spend a little money and bring in some great players, and Celtic, who had Gordon Strachan and Martin O’Neill.

The problem is that Celtic and Rangers find it extremely difficult to compete financially for the finest players,

which affects the teams’ ability to play successfully in the Champions League.

“Not that I have anything against Celtic or Rangers, but many other European coefficient teams struggle with the same issues;

they are simply not as big as Celtic and Rangers.

It’s bad news for Scottish football, and if neither club qualified for the Champions League as intended,

that would be a financial concern.

Regretfully, that is just the way things work with the regulations.”

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