A former EFL chairman has revealed a secret £40m plan that nearly brought Celtic and Rangers into the English Championship, a move that would have dramatically reshaped the league Millwall Football Club competes in. Keith Harris, a former chief of the English Football League, said a signed agreement was "very nearly sealed" to place the Old Firm clubs into what was then Division One.
Harris described attending a private lunch at the Perthshire home of then-Rangers chairman David Murray, where board members from Celtic and the Scottish FA were also present. The proposal involved a £40m financial package, with some revenue returning to Scotland, and included the prospect of Hearts and Aberdeen competing for league championships north of the border.
The collapse of the deal
The plan collapsed after a journalist's leak.
For Millwall, currently 13th in the Championship with 15 points from 12 games, the story shows the fluid nature of the competition's structure. The Lions have recorded four wins, three draws, and five defeats this season, scoring 19 goals but conceding 20. Their recent form has been mixed, with one win, two draws, and two losses in their last five outings, a sequence that includes a 2-1 defeat at Portsmouth last Friday where Jenson Metcalfe scored an early opener. That result followed a 2-2 draw with Lincoln City on Saturday 17 October, in which Kyrell Lisbie and Jake Cooper found the net after the team fell two goals behind. The club's top scorer this season is L. Dykes with four goals. The club will be looking to build on the point gained from that 2-2 draw with Lincoln City earlier this month when they face Derby at The Den.
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