Celtic and Rangers 'hold initial talks' over joining the Women's Super League in England

ngers have held initial talks with the Women's Super League to explore a move to play in the English top flight.

Celtic and Rangers have reportedly held initial talks with the Women's Super League over a potential move to play in the English top flight.

Nikki Doucet, the chief executive officer of the company that has taken over the running of the WSL, is exploring ways to expand the women's game, including learning from the rich history of men's football, with the added benefit of hindsight.

This does not necessarily mean mirroring what has happened in the men's game, and possibilities such as the involvement of Celtic and Rangers and a closed league (like the NWSL in America) are being explored.

Four Women's Championship teams — Bristol City, Southampton, Birmingham City and Newcastle United — are trialling a new pilot to allow fans to drink alcohol in the stands, a scheme partly given the green light because of the different demographic of fans in the women's game.

Scottish women's football is some way behind the English game — the Scottish Women's Premier League was only formed in 2022 when the clubs playing in the existing top two leagues decided to move the ownership and operations of the elite competitions into a new structure.

As a result of Scotland's qualification for the 2019 Women's World Cup there was a significant increase in support and funding for Rangers and Celtic — previously Glasgow City had been the dominant club.

Since then, however, they have not enjoyed the same level of growth in attendances and commercial success as teams in England.

Celtic won the league last season — on a tense final day when Rangers could also have lifted the title had results gone their way — but are bottom of their Champions League group in the first year they have qualified for the competition.

They narrowly lost 2-1 to Chelsea at Celtic Park, but there is a feeling that further investment is required in Scottish football to help those leading teams compete in Europe.

It was reported last year that Rangers had held informal discussions with the FA over whether it could be feasible to join, and those exploratory conversations have continued with Women's Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL), the company that took ownership of the WSL and Women's Championship in August.

The WPLL, the Scottish Women's Premier League, Rangers and Celtic declined to comment.

It is understood that talks are at such an early stage that there has been no official approach to the SWPL or the Scottish FA, the latter of which would have to agree on any future proposal, which seems unlikely.

The notice period for leaving the Scottish league is two clear seasons, which puts any possible inclusion of Celtic and Rangers far into the future, given official conversations have not yet begun.

In 2022 Michael Nicholson signed Celtic up to the Sydney Super Cup, following sustained protests from Ibrox fans their club pulled out with Everton stepping in to take up the fixtures in November 2022 ahead of the World Cup Finals.

It seems that no-one from either club is prepared to comment on the story from a reputable source, it could well be a case of testing the water to see what reaction there is to the proposal before deciding on further negotiations.