Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has said that the thought of his side playing in the Premier League would be an "amazing" prospect but has conceded that it is unlikely to ever happen.
The idea of Celtic and rivals Rangers joining the English league setup has long been mooted but has never gained significant traction, with former prime minister Tony Blair recently admitting that he had failed with an attempt to integrate the Scottish and English leagues during his time in No 10.
Under Rodgers, Celtic have been dominating the Scottish football landscape and went last season unbeaten domestically, winning the league, the Scottish Cup and the Scottish Challenge Cup, but the former Liverpool manager thinks that despite their success, joining up with England's elite is a step too far.
"Celtic in the Premier League would be an amazing story," he told Sky Sports News. "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. I think there are just so many processes it would have to go through. 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."
Celtic travel to Rangers for the first Old Firm derby of the season tomorrow afternoon.
