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A former EFL chairman has revealed how a secret £40m plan to bring Celtic and Rangers to the English Championship was on the verge of completion. The Old Firm have ruled Scottish football for the past four decades. Envious of the riches south of the border, they have often been linked with a move to English football, starting in the EFL. Former Rangers striker Michael Ball once disclosed that the prospect was used as a carrot to lure him to Scotland from Everton. Now, former EFL chief Keith Harris has revealed that an agreement was signed and very nearly sealed. Harris, who chaired the English lower leagues for six months in 2002, says a private meeting was held at then-Rangers chairman David Murray's home, where representatives from Celtic, alongside the SFA and the SPL, struck a £40m deal which would have placed the Old Firm in Division One (now the Championship)
Harris, speaking on the Keys and Grey Unleashed podcast, claims a financial payment proposed to the SPL, combined with the prospect of Hearts and Aberdeen routinely competing for league championships, secured an agreement.
He said: "What would happen if Celtic and Rangers were to join the Football League? Hmm... I attended a lunch at David Murray's house in Perthshire.
"The Celtic and Rangers board were both there in the same house. David said, 'I'll invite them in, but I won't host them. You can host them.' It was an interesting experience, it was certainly exciting!
"It was quite fast-moving. Between the SPL and the Scottish FA, there was broad agreement that they would come into the Championship. It was a triumph [getting them all to agree to it].
"I'd like to take praise, but it wasn't that difficult. Because suddenly Hearts and Aberdeen weren't playing for third or fourth place, they're playing for first. There was an agreement that some of the extra £40m [of revenue] would go back into Scotland."
Harris disputed the claim that Scottish football would have floundered without the Old Firm before revealing how the plan collapsed. He said: "I got stopped by a journalist who said, 'I've got the story.'
"I think he was an Observer journalist. He said, 'We're going to be running this.' And that blew it, no question. You get some quotes going in, and it died on the maypole. But it was that close."
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