Saturday 23 September 2017 11:13, UK
In an interview with Soccer AM's Tubes, Brendan Rodgers says having Celtic in the Premier League would be "amazing", but concedes he cannot see it ever happening.
Celtic, who went through last season in the Scottish Premiership unbeaten, have won the last six Scottish titles to take their tally up to 48, six behind the 54 titles rivals Rangers have won.
Though the scenario is often raised within Scottish football, there are no plans to place either Old Firm clubs in the Premier League, but Rodgers says it would show the true size of Celtic's stature.
"Celtic in the Premier League would be an amazing story," he said. "It would be an amazing experience for everyone, not just for Celtic but for other teams.
"I just don't think it would ever happen. There are so many barriers to go over. Celtic are one of the great iconic clubs in the world.
"If they were in the Premier League, what that would generate… we played, for example, Ross County at the weekend, we got 58,000-odd thousand.
"Around 60,000 every home game. You could take over virtually every away stadium when you go away, the travelling support will bring 10 or 12,000.
"It's the pure scale of the club, if you're talking big clubs, history, supporters, all of that. What it doesn't have is finance. It doesn't have the money that the Premier League generates."
SPFL chief Neil Doncaster admitted for the first time in the summer that the door could be open soon for the Old Firm to play in England, adding that UEFA are willing to back the notion.
But Rodgers insists there would be too many hurdles to jump over before that happened, and says it is more likely that Celtic would play in a combined European league than the Premier League.
"I think there are just so many processes it would have to go through," the Hoops boss added. "I think there's more of a chance of it being in a European league, than Celtic being in the pyramid system down south.
"One thing I'd say with England is that every team will believe that they can be a top flight team - Brentfords, Huddersfields - lots of clubs in England have that vision, that ambition to do that.
"So I think it would be very, very tough for a Celtic and a Rangers to be in there. It would be absolutely amazing, and then you would see the true, real size of a club like Celtic."
Catch Tubes' full interview with Brendan Rodgers on Soccer AM from 10am on Saturday, Sky Sports Premier League, and watch Rangers v Celtic live from 11.30am on Sky Sports Main Event & Sky Sports Football.
